Actin stress fibers are fundamental components of the actin cytoskeleton that produce contractile force in non-muscle cells. The formation of stress fibers is controlled by the small GTPase RhoA and two highly related proteins, RhoB and RhoC. Together, this subgroup of actin-regulatory proteins represents the canonical pathway of stress-fiber formation. Here, we show that the Rif GTPase is an a...

The determinants of Xpert MTB/RIF sensitivity, a widely used PCR test for the diagnosis of tuberculosis (TB) are poorly understood. We compared culture time-to-positivity (TTP; a surrogate of bacterial load), MTB/RIF TB-specific and internal positive control (IPC)-specific C(T) values, and clinical characteristics in patients with suspected TB who provided expectorated (n = 438) or induced sput...

SETTING A Mycobacteriology Reference Laboratory in Johannesburg, South Africa. OBJECTIVE To determine the ability of FASTPlaqueTB-RIF, a rapid bacteriophage-based test, to correctly identify rifampicin susceptibility in clinical strains of Mycobacterium tuberculosis after growth in the Bactec 460 semi-automated liquid culture system. DESIGN A comparative study of FASTPlaqueTB-RIF and conven...

OBJECTIVE To compare the performance of MTBDRplus V2 and Xpert MTB/RIF for detecting smear negative pulmonary tuberculosis (PTB). METHODS Clinical PTB suspects were enrolled consecutively in Anhui Chest Hospital and Xi'an Chest Hospital from January to December in 2014. The sputum samples of smear negative PTB suspects were collected and decontaminated. The sediment was used to conduct MTBDRp...

A tandem perfusion of the liver and kidneys of hepatectomized (hepx) rats was performed to ascertain the precise levels and time of appearance of the previously reported hepatic erythropoietic factor (HEF) and its antagonist, the renal inhibitory factor (RIF). Hepatic erythropoietic factor is produced by the hepx animal and is capable of augmenting the hepatic erythropoietin (Ep) response to hy...

We compared the efficiencies of different drug susceptibility testing methods in detecting rifampin (RIF) heteroresistance in Mycobacterium tuberculosis. Our data revealed that the broth dilution method found more resistance than MGIT did (P=0.046) for the low-resistance group. Similarly, the broth dilution method was more sensitive in detecting RIF heteroresistance in subpopulations with low g...

Two commercially available DNA line probe assays, Genotype MTBDR and INNO-LiPA Rif. TB, were evaluated for their abilities to detect resistance to isoniazid (INH) and rifampin (RIF) in 52 Mycobacterium tuberculosis isolates. The test results were compared to those obtained by phenotypic drug susceptibility testing and sequencing. Compared to the results of phenotypic drug susceptibility testing...

Objective To evaluate the performance of GeneXpert MTB/RIF in diagnosing pulmonary tuberculosis (TB) in China. Methods This cross-sectional study included sputum specimens of 240 suspected TB cases. Specimens were examined by light microscopy for the presence of acid-fast bacilli, which were cultured by the BACTEC MGIT 960 (M960) system and detected by the GeneXpert MTB/RIF assay. The positive ...

Background: Repeated Implantation Failure (RIF) is one of the most intricate obstacles in assisted reproduction. The cytokine and chemokine composition of uterine cavity seem to play important roles in the implantation process. Objective: To compare the cytokine profile in the endometrium of normal fertile women and those with repeated implantation failure. Methods: After enzymatic digestion of...

The first antibiotic of the ansamycin family, rifampicin (RIF), was isolated in 1959 and was introduced into therapy in 1962; it is still a first-line agent in the treatment of diseases such as tuberculosis, leprosy and various biofilm-related infections. The antimicrobial activity of RIF is due to its inhibition of bacterial RNA polymerase (RNAP). Most frequently, bacteria become resistant to ...