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Safer, more convenient methods for cervical sample collection and storage are necessary to facilitate human papillomavirus (HPV) DNA testing in low-resource settings. Our study aimed to evaluate the stability of cervical specimens collected with dry swabs and stored dry, compared to liquid-based cytology (LBC) samples, as detected by HPV DNA testing. Women with abnormal cytological findings or HPV-positive results at colposcopy were recruited from the West China Second University Hospital, Sichuan University, between October 2013 and March 2014. From each woman, physicians collected cervical specimens with a swab placed into a Sarstedt tube and a CytoBrush placed into LBC medium. Samples were randomly assigned to be stored at uncontrolled ambient temperature for 2, 7, 14, or 28 days and then were tested for 14 high-risk HPV (HR-HPV) types using the cobas HPV test. The rates of agreement between dry swab and LBC samples for any HR-HPV type, HPV16, HPV18, and the 12 pooled HR-HPV types were 93.8%, 97.8%, 99.4%, and 93.2%, respectively, with kappa values of 0.87 (95% confidence interval [CI], 0.83 to 0.91), 0.94 (95% CI, 0.91 to 0.97), 0.94 (95% CI, 0.87 to 1.00), and 0.86 (95% CI, 0.82 to 0.90). The performance of swab samples for detection of cervical precancerous lesions by means of cobas HPV testing was equal to that of LBC samples, even with stratification by storage time. Dry storage of swab-collected cervical samples can last for 1 month without loss of test performance by cobas HPV testing, compared to LBC samples, which may offer a simple inexpensive approach for cervical cancer screening in low-resource settings.

The relationship between HPV viral load and histological grades in the development of cervical cancer is in argument. It is helpful to better understand the association by quantitatively detecting viral load of HPV16, 18, and a pool of 12 other high-risk HPV type (OT) independently on the samples of precancer and cancer. A cross-sectional study was performed in five medical centers of China. Histological diagnosis made by local pathologists was adjudicated via a pathology expert panel. A fully automated real-time PCR test was used for the measurement of HPV16, 18, OT, and human β-globin gene. A total of 2,513 women [1,341 normal, 209 low grade intraepithelial lesion (LSIL), 392 high grade intraepithelial lesion (HSIL), 520 squamous cell carcinoma (SCC), and 51 adenocarcinoma (ADC)] were included. There is a linear increase in the total 14 HPV viral load with histological grade from normal to SCC. This trend was not observed in HPV18 infection but HPV16. The viral load for OT was low in normal, peaked in LSIL and HSIL, and declined in SCC and ADC. In the co-infection of HPV16 and HPV18, HPV16 viral load was significantly higher than HPV18 in LSIL and HSIL. In co-infection of HPV16 and OT, higher HPV16 viral load was also seen in SCC and ADC. Viral load of HPV16 increases with cervical lesion grade and is predominant in cervical cancer. HPV18 viral load is low in precancer, but going up in cancer. OT viral load shows inverse trend of HPV18. J. Med. Virol. 89:535-541, 2017. © 2016 Wiley Periodicals, Inc.

Hybrid Capture 2 (HC2) has been demonstrated to be a feasible screening method for cervical cancer. Based upon HC2 technology, careHPV is a simple, rapid, accurate, and inexpensive screening test for women in low-resource settings. This study aims to characterize both the careHPV test and HC2 test, and to compare careHPV results of specimens stored in careHPV test collection medium (TCM) to HC2 results from partner specimens stored in Qiagen specimen transport medium and TCM. The positive rates of high-risk HPV in careHPV, HC2, and HC2 (TCM) were 13.2% (108/818), 13.2% (108/818), and 13.6% (111/818), respectively. The agreement rates of pairwise tests were 95.8% (95% CI: 94.5-97.2%), 96.7% (95% CI: 95.5-97.9%), and 97.2% (95% CI: 96.1-98.3%), respectively. The Kappa values of the pairwise tests were 0.82 (95% CI: 0.76-0.88), 0.86 (95% CI: 0.81-0.91), and 0.88 (95% CI: 0.83-0.93), respectively. Based on these findings, although careHPV is demonstrated to be a viable alternative to the HC2 test, improvements on the careHPV test are still required prior to its implementation as a suitable screening method for women in low-resource settings. Further studies on the significance and applicability of the careHPV test must be performed.

Nodal analysis, defined as a systems approach to the optimization of oil and gas wells, is used to evaluate thoroughly a complete producing system. For the systematicness easily ignored during the design of artificial lifting system, based on coordination principle of reservoir, wellbore and lifting equipment, the concept of well performance curves are proposed. With the well performance curves, a new nodal analysis method of artificial lifting system is obtained, which is more efficient. Upstream and downstream pressure of pump and pressure difference provided by pump are displayed in well performance curve, which reflects the property of the well itself. Through further research of well performance curve, the energy of well itself will be fully developed, system effectiveness will be raised, and energy consumption will be reduced.

Objective: To evaluate the role of human papillomavirus (HPV) genotyping in predicting the risk of cervical precancerous lesions or cancer in women with minor abnormal cytology. Methods and Materials: This study was conducted on 329 women with atypical squamous cells of undetermined significance (ASC-US) and 77 women with low-grade squamous intraepithelial lesions (LSIL) out of a total of 4,215 participants in a multicenter, cross-sectional study. Liquid-based cytology and the Hybrid Capture 2 test (HC2) were used to screen eligible women, and a Linear Array HPV genotyping test was performed on women with positive HC2 results. Results: The sensitivity and specificity for detecting cervical intraepithelial neoplasia grade 2 or worse (CIN2+) based on HPV 16/18 were 82% [95% confidence interval (CI): 52-95%] and 91% (95% CI: 87-94%) in women with ASC-US and 67% (95% CI: 35-88%) and 84% (95% CI: 73-91%) in women with LSIL. The women infected with HPV 16/18 had a significantly higher risk of developing CIN2+ than those infected with other high-risk HPV types in both the ASC-US (OR 9.93, 95% CI: 2.02-48.88) and LSIL (OR 7.45, 95% CI: 1.60-34.68) arms. Conclusions: Genotyping for HPV 16/18 greatly improves specificity, but at the expense of potential sensitivity in the triage of minor cytology abnormalities. The role of genotyping for HPV 16/18 in order to triage women with minor abnormal cytology should be further evaluated in future studies.

Volume 55, no. 2, p. 568–573, 2017, [https://doi.org/10.1128/JCM.02025-16][1]. The article was originally published on 25 January 2017 with a standard copyright line (“© 2017 American Society for Microbiology. All Rights Reserved.”). We elected to pay for open access for the article after