OBJECTIVE To provide Canadian health care providers with current information on the use of quantitative fluorescent polymerase chain reaction (QF-PCR) or equivalent technology in the prenatal diagnosis of fetal chromosomal abnormalities. OPTIONS Over the last few decades, prenatal diagnosis of fetal chromosomal abnormalities has relied on conventional cytogenetic analysis of cultured amniocyt...

Dysphagia is a frequent symptom in Parkinson's disease (PD). Thickening liquids facilitates safe swallowing, however, low treatment compliance major issue, due to patients’ dislike of thickened liquids. Some studies suggest negative impact gum-based thickeners, currently most used clinical practice, on sensory properties compared starch-based thickeners. This has not yet been investigated PD. s...

Prenatal diagnosis is testing for diseases or conditions in a fetus or embryo before it is born. It employs a variety of techniques to determine the health and condition of an unborn fetus. The main goal of this process is to perform prenatal diagnosis at the earliest possible stage of gestation. In this regard, quantitative fluorescent-polymerase chain reaction (QF-PCR), a novel technique that...

We tested the hypothesis that sprint interval training (SIT) causes larger improvements in glucose and free fatty acid uptake (FFAU) in lower and upper body muscles than moderate-intensity training (MIT). Twenty-eight healthy, untrained, middle-aged men were randomized into SIT (n = 14, 4-6 × 30 s of all-out cycling/4 min recovery) and MIT groups [n = 14, 40-60 min cycling at 60% of peak O2 upt...

Continuous haemodialysis and continuous haemofiltration are efficient and safe techniques for the treatment of acute renal failure. Theoretical advantages are improved haemodynamic stability and easier fluid removal. All 15 available studies comparing intermittent (522 patients) with continuous (651 patients) renal replacement therapy have been reviewed. From these studies it cannot be establis...

OBJECTIVES To clarify the three dimensional ultrastructure of proteoglycans, and their relationship with other matrix components in articular cartilage. METHODS Specimens from rat femoral heads were examined using three techniques: (1) Histochemical staining with cationic polyethyleneimine (PEI), using a pre-embedding or a postembedding method. Some tissues were pretreated with chondroitinase...

Phase transitions (liquid-solid, solid-solid) triggered by temperature changes are studied in free nanosized clusters of TeF6 (SF6) with different negative charges assigned to the fluorine atoms. Molecular dynamics simulations at constant energy show that the charge increase from qF =0.1e to qF =0.25e shifts the melting temperature towards higher values and some of the metastable solid states d...

Comparison of fluorescence distributions is a fundamental part of the analysis of flow cytometric data. This approach is applied to detect differences between control and test sample and thus analyze a biological response. Comparison of standard test samples over time provides an estimate of instrument stability for quality control. However, application of statistical methods of distribution co...

SiOxNy films with a low nitrogen concentration (< 4%) have been prepared on Si substrates at 400°C by atmospheric-pressure plasma oxidation-nitridation process using O2 and N2 as gaseous precursors diluted in He. Interface properties of SiOxNy films have been investigated by analyzing high-frequency and quasistatic capacitance-voltage characteristics of metal-oxide-semiconductor capacitors. It ...

Rapid prenatal diagnosis of common chromosome aneuploidies have been successful through quantitative fluorescent PCR (QF-PCR) assays and small tandem repeat (STR) markers. The purpose of our study was to investigate the clinical feasibility for rapid prenatal detection of Down syndrome using the quantitative fluorescent PCR in uncultured amniocytes. DNA was extracted from uncultured amniotic fl...