Expression of arginase I and inducible nitric oxide synthase in the peripheral blood and lymph nodes of HIV-positive patients

ZHANG, NAICHUN; DENG, JIANNING; WU, FENGYAO; LU, XIANGCHAN; HUANG, LEI; ZHAO, MIN

Determination and image capture. The specimens were evaluated semi-quantitatively by two pathologists in a blinded-manner (22) . The frequencies of positive cells to total cells at x200 magnification were scored as follows: 1, ≤25%; 2, 26-50%; 3, >51%. The staining intensity above the background level was scored as follows: 0, no staining; 1, light yellow; 2, yellow-brown; 3, brown. These scores served as measures of target protein expression. The final score was the product of the above two scores: 0, negative (-); 1-2, weakly positive (+); 3-4, positive (++); 6-9, strongly positive (+++). Slides were mounted with gum for examination and captured using an Olympus BX51 microscope (Olympus Corp., Tokyo, Japan) and a Nikon Digital Camera System (80i; Nikon Corp., Tokyo, Japan) for study comparison. For this evaluation, five fields were randomly selected per section (magnification, x200).