Background and Aims: Viroids are smallest known plant pathogens and cause several economically significant diseases. Until recently, viroid detection relied mainly on biological tests and indexing. Today various diagnostic techniques such as nucleic acid hybridization, southern blot and reverse transcription coupled with polymerase chain reaction (RT-PCR) are being used for detection and diag...

A total of 206 serum samples from children (3-14 years old) living in the Amador County (La Chorrera District, Province of Panama) were screened by indirect immunofluorescence antibody test (IFAT) for the presence of antibodies against Trypanosoma cruzi. Positive sera were confirmed by recombinant enzyme-linked immunosorbent assay (ELISA) and Western blot analysis. The presence of blood trypano...

BACKGROUND Congenital deafness is one of the most distressing disorders affecting humanity and exhibits a high incidence worldwide. Most cases of congenital deafness in the Chinese population are caused by defects in a limited number of genes. A convenient and reliable method for detecting common deafness-related gene mutations in the Chinese population is required. METHODS We developed a PCR...

A dot blot hybridization test was developed for the detection of enterotoxigenic E. coli without the use of radioisotopes. Three biotin-labeled DNA (Bio-DNA) probes corresponding to structural genes specifying heat-labile and heat-stable enterotoxins of porcine and human origin were prepared by random priming; label incorporation was significantly higher than that obtained from the use of nick ...

BACKGROUND Tuberculosis is one of the most prominent health problems in the world, causing 1.75 million deaths each year. Rapid clinical diagnosis is important in patients who have co-morbidities such as Human Immunodeficiency Virus (HIV) infection. Direct microscopy has low sensitivity and culture takes 3 to 6 weeks 123. Therefore, new tools for TB diagnosis are necessary, especially in health...

background and aims: viroids are smallest known plant pathogens and cause several economically significant diseases. until recently, viroid detection relied mainly on biological tests and indexing. today various diagnostic techniques such as nucleic acid hybridization, southern blot and reverse transcription coupled with polymerase chain reaction (rt-pcr) are being used for detection and diagno...

Several evidences for nongenomic action of ecdysteroids through membrane receptor (mEcR) in programmed cell death (PCD) of the Bombyx mori anterior silk glands (ASGs) have been reported. The isolation, characterization and sequencing of mEcR still remain elusive. In the present work, monoclonal antibodies against mEcR has been raised, for the first time, and expected to facilitate any further m...

background and objective: high-level gentamicin resistance (hlgr: mic ≥ 500 µg/ml) in enterococci is mediated by aminoglycoside modifying enzymes which is mainly encoded by aac(6′)-ie-aph(2′′)-ia gene. the aim of this study was to evaluate the frequency of   aac(6′)-ie-aph(2′′)-ia gene in clinical isolates of enterococcus facium and enterococcus faecalis collected from hospitals in northwest of...

We isolated a Campylobacter-like organism resembling Helicobacter fennelliae from a 5 1/2-year-old boy with gastroenteritis. Similar strains had been found previously in fecal specimens from healthy and diarrheic dogs. These isolates could be differentiated from H. fennelliae by a lack of catalase and arylsulfatase activities. This group of organisms seems to be homogeneous by a nonradioactive ...

Urease-positive thermophilic campylobacters were isolated for the first time from the feces of two adults with diarrheal disease and from the appendix of a child with appendicitis. They were identified as Campylobacter laridis by a hybridization dot blot assay. Urease testing should be included in the tests used for the identification of campylobacters at the species level, even for those strai...