BACKGROUND Tumor-associated trypsin inhibitor (TATI) was originally isolated from the urine of a patient with ovarian cancer. It was later shown to be produced by many other tumors and several normal tissues. It had earlier been isolated from the pancreas and was hence called pancreatic secretory trypsin inhibitor (PSTI). It belongs to a family of protease inhibitors presently called serine pep...

BACKGROUND Due to the differences in the oncogenic activity of human papillomaviruses (HPV), it is clinically important to accurately identify HPV types in a simple and time effective manner. OBJECTIVES We aimed at developing a straightforward and cost-effective assay to individually identify all mucosal HPVs, based on the amplification of L1 gene using MY09/11 primers, and subsequent restric...

We have investigated the use of dU excision by uracil N-glycosylase (UDG) to create cohesive ends on PCR fragments "mimicking" those generated by restriction enzymes. The feasibility of this approach for directional and nondirectional cloning using cohesive ends mimicking SacI or PstI ends is demonstrated by the subcloning of a 383 to 388-bp fragment of bovine basic fibroblast growth factor int...

We compared four phenotypic and six genotypic methods for distinguishing Campylobacter jejuni strains from animals and humans involved in four epidemics. Based on a comparison with epidemiologic data, the methods that correctly identified all strains in three milkborne outbreaks and one waterborne outbreak were heat-stable and heat-labile serotyping; multilocus enzyme electrophoresis (MEE); DNA...

Proteus mirabilis PM13 is a well-characterized chloramphenicol-sensitive isolate which spontaneously gives rise to resistant colonies on solid media containing chloramphenicol (50 micrograms ml-1) at a plating efficiency of 10(-4) to 10(-5). Such chloramphenicol-resistant colonies exhibit a novel phenotype with respect to chloramphenicol resistance. When a single colony grown on chloramphenicol...

BACKGROUND AND OBJECTIVES Varicella-Zoster virus (VZV) is a human herpes virus that usually attacks young children and commonly causes chicken pox (Varicella). Following primary infection, a lifelong latent infection is established. The virus often reactivates during adulthood or senesces to cause shingles (Zoster). Little is known regarding the genotypes of Varicella in Kuwait. The aim of this...

Eleven adenovirus strains including six ovine prototypes, three uncharacterized ovine and bovine isolates and two uncharacterized llama isolates were digested with four different restriction enzymes (RE). This investigation was conducted in order to identify their specific RE patterns which may help in comparing different isolates and assist in classification. Digested viral and cellular DNA sa...

BACKGROUND To determine the relationship between DNA polymorphisms in the angiotensin I converting enzyme (ACE) gene, serum ACE activity and the risk of diabetic nephropathy. METHODS A case-control study was carried out in a population of Jewish insulin-dependent diabetes mellitus (IDDM) patients. Cases (77 IDDM patients with diabetic nephropathy) and controls (89 IDDM patients with normoalbu...

Salmonella typhi is the only species of Salmonella which grows exclusively in humans, in whom it causes enteric typhoid fever. Strains of S. typhi show very little variation in electrophoretic types, restriction fragment length polymorphisms, cell envelope proteins, and intervening sequences, but the same strains are very heterogeneous for ribotypes which are detected with the restriction endon...

Proviral integration of a simian retrovirus highly homologous to human T-cell leukemia virus type I was examined in cellular DNAs extracted from primary peripheral blood lymphocytes of 31 adult African green monkeys (Cercopithecus aethiops) that were seropositive for simian T-cell leukemia virus type I (STLV-I). Among these monkeys, one case with overt leukemia, showing pleomorphic leukemia cel...