BACKGROUND Molecular characterization of circulating tumor cells (CTCs) is crucial to identify novel diagnostic and therapeutic targets for individualized therapies. We developed a multiplexed PCR-coupled liquid bead array to detect the expression of multiple genes in CTCs. METHODS mRNA isolated from immunomagnetically enriched CTCs was subjected to multiplex PCR for KRT19 (keratin 19; also k...

AIM OF STUDY Ventilator-associated pneumonia (VAP) is a common cause of mortality in trauma patients admitted to Intensive Care Units. The outcome of such patients may be dependent on local host immune response, which may be best reflected in studies using bronchoalveolar lavage (BAL) fluid. The present study was conducted to ascertain the cytokine profile of BAL using the cytometric bead array...

MOTIVATION Integration of various genome-scale measures of molecular alterations is of great interest to researchers aiming to better define disease processes or identify novel targets with clinical utility. Particularly important in cancer are measures of gene copy number DNA methylation. However, copy number variation may bias the measurement of DNA methylation. To investigate possible bias, ...

We report the development and evaluation of a Salmonella O-group-specific Bio-Plex assay to detect the six most common serogroups in the United States (B, C(1), C(2), D, E, and O13) plus serotype Paratyphi A. The assay is based on rfb gene targets directly involved in O-antigen biosynthesis; it can be completed 45 min post-PCR amplification. The assay correctly and specifically identified 362 o...

Infections and sepsis are among the most common reasons for neonatal morbidity and mortality. Early diagnosis is difficult because clinical presentation is highly variable and signs are often subtle and common to a variety of conditions. Among the proposed early indicators of infection and sepsis are serum concentrations of interleukin (IL)-6, IL-8, and IL-10. It is believed that IL-8 is a sens...

PURPOSE This study was carried out to compare cytometric bead array (CBA) technology with conventional enzyme linked immunosorbent assay (ELISA) for the measurement of both vitreous and serum concentrations of interleukin-8 (IL-8), vascular endothelial growth factor (VEGF), and angiogenin (ANG) in diabetic and non-diabetic patients. METHODS Measurement of vitreous and serum concentrations of ...

The genotyping of the hepatitis C virus (HCV) plays an important role in the treatment of HCV because genotype determination has recently been incorporated into the treatment guidelines for HCV infections. Most current genotyping methods are unable to detect mixed genotypes from two or more HCV infections. We therefore developed a multiplex genotyping assay to determine HCV genotypes using a be...

Background: Cytokines are suggested to play a role in periodontitis. Objective: To determine and compare the levels of Interleukin-1 beta (IL-1β) and Tumor necrosis factor alpha (TNF-α) in gingival crevicular fluid (GCF) samples amongst healthy individuals and  those with chronic periodontitis. Further to compare the GCF cytokine levels in three genotype classes defined by the respective gene p...

A new concept for the manipulation of superparamagnetic beads inside a microfluidic chip is presented in this paper. The concept allows for bead actuation orthogonal to the flow direction inside a microchannel. Basic manipulation functionalities were studied by means of finite element simulations and results were oval-shaped steady state oscillations with bead velocities up to 500 μm/s. The wid...

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