Assessment of three commercial ELISAs for the detection of antibodies against Porcine epidemic diarrhea virus at different stages of the immune response.

Three commercial ELISAs -two based on spike (E1 and E3) and one on nucleocapsid protein (E2)-were used to analyze the development and persistence of antibodies against Porcine epidemic diarrhea virus (PEDV). Seventy-five four-week-old PEDV-negative piglets were inoculated orally with a European G1b PEDV (INOC) and fourteen were kept as controls (CTRL). After the inoculation, E3 detected positive animals as soon as 7 days post inoculation (dpi), while the earliest detection with E1 and E2 was at 14 dpi. All samples were positive at 21 and 28 dpi using E1 and E3, respectively, while E2 failed to detect 23.3 % of the inoculated pigs at any time point. The percentages of positive samples were different through the study: E1 and E3 > E2 from 14 to 56 dpi; and E3 > E1 > E2 from 56 to 154 dpi (P < 0.05). Five months after the inoculation, E3 still detected 92.0 % (IC95 % = 85.1-98.8 %) of pigs as positive, while E1 and E2 detected only 27.0 % (IC95 % = 16.0-37.9 %) and 0%, respectively. The sensitivity for E2 never exceeded 0.62. Specificity was 1 for all ELISAs. These different outcomes could be related to the ELISA strategies (indirect versus competition), the antigens used, the cut-off, or to other intrinsic factors of each test. The observed differences could be of importance when assessing whether older animals, such as fatteners or gilts, had previously been in contact with PEDV.

[The development of a unit devoted to the study of the autonomous nervous system]. / Desarrollo de una unidad dedicada al estudio del Sistema Nervioso Autónomo.

INTRODUCTION: The noninvasive evaluation of the autonomic nervous system (ANS) has been developed in the last decades. The implementation of an specialized unit requires qualified personnel, adequate equipment, location and support. The purpose of the present review is to summarize some theorical and practical aspects of 11 years experience in an ANS Section within a Neurophysiology Department. DEVELOPMENT: During this time we have examined 4,082 patients, using the basic reflex screen in 58% of them with a mean of 100 minutes and 159 Euros per patient. When other types of tests were applied, the time consumed oscillated between 75 and 300 minutes. The patients age ranged from 1 to 91 years, 8% of children among them. From 4,082 patients, the screen was conclusive with some condition related to ANS in 34% of them. The most frequent cause of ANS evaluation was the existence of dizziness, loss of consciousness of unknown origin or syncopal episodes (72%). When patients had at least one spell, sincopal or not, the evaluation was positive in 43%. Patients came from Neurology (67%), Cardiology (8%), Otorhinolaryngology (8%), Endocrinology (7%), and other Departments (10%). CONCLUSION: The different disciplines dealing with autonomic functions promote the diverse origin of autonomic evaluation demand. We suggest the convenience of making an accurate estimation of tests, time and cost per patient, to achieve the best unit management.