Acceptable performance was defined as any proficiency testing (PT) score more than 80%.\n\nMethods: The PT database was reviewed and analyzed to assess the testing performance

of the participating laboratories and the impact of the program over time. A total of 242 laboratories participated in the EQA program from 2006 through 2011; participation increased from 70 laboratories in 2006 to 159 in Selleckchem MAPK inhibitor 2011.\n\nResults: In 2006, 49 (70%) laboratories had a PT score of 80% or above; by 2011, 145 (97.5%) laboratories were proficient (P < .05).\n\nConclusions: The EQA program for HIV testing ensures quality of testing and allowed the LNSP to document improvements in the quality of HIV rapid testing over time. (C) American Society for Clinical Pathology”
“Persecutory delusions, a common symptom of schizophrenia, involve a disruption in the way that patients determine the intentions

of others and especially their trustworthiness. However, it is unclear to what extent general preference affects trustworthiness judgments in patients with schizophrenia and how that relates to paranoid symptomology. Patients with schizophrenia and control subjects rated unfamiliar faces for trustworthiness and attractiveness (as a proxy for preference). The results demonstrate that patients do not show an overall difference in their trustworthiness ratings of unfamiliar faces. However, they do show a significant reduction in the correlation between trustworthiness and other indicators of preference, in this case, attractiveness Cl-amidine judgments. The level of persecutory delusions is associated with selleck inhibitor this effect, such that patients with low levels of delusions show correlations near that of normal controls and high levels of persecutory delusions are related to a reduced trust/attractiveness correlation. These results suggest that patients with schizophrenia suffering from persecutory delusions rely less on normative social cues when making interpersonal judgments. Such findings underscore the importance of examining symptom-specific information when studying

trust in patients with schizophrenia. (C) 2010 Elsevier Ireland Ltd. All rights reserved.”
“Various ‘omics’ methods have enabled environmental probing at the molecular level and have created an important new paradigm in bioremediation design and management. Ecogenomics – the application of genomics to ecological and environmental sciences – defines phylogenetic and functional biodiversity at the DNA, RNA and protein levels. It capitalizes on this knowledge to elucidate functions and interactions of organisms at the ecosystem level in relation to ecological and evolutionary processes. Effective bioremediation of widespread halo-organic pollutants in anaerobic environments requires knowledge of catabolic potential and in situ dynamics of organohalide-respiring and co-metabolizing microorganisms.