The establishment of the new diagnostic category, Schizotypal Personality Disorder (SPD), has stimulated biological studies of patients with this disorder. Such studies offer the potential of better understanding the diagnosis and treatment of SPD as well as more clearly defining the boundaries of the schizophrenic disorders. SPD has been studied in the clinical setting, in family studies of sc...

This paper summarizes some of our results on the application of oligothiophenes as fluorescent markers for biological studies. The oligomers of thiophene, widely known for their semiconductor properties in organic electronics, are also fluorescent compounds characterized by chemical and optical stability, high absorbance and quantum yield. Their fluorescent emission can be easily modulated via ...

An easy and rapid protocol to extract DNA to be used as template for polymerase chain reaction (PCR) fingerprinting experiments from cultivable lactic acid bacteria (LAB) is proposed. Different procedures for rapid extraction of DNA by chelex (iminodiacetid acid) ionic resin were compared. Factors affecting the quality and reproducibility of PCR fingerprinting profiles were also investigated. T...

Biological age is a concept that takes into account the heterogeneity of the aging process in different individuals that results in differences in survival and variations in relative health. Any measure of biological age must be better than chronological age at predicting mortality. Several quantitative measures of biological age have been developed. Among them are frailty indices, one of which...

The following serum tumor markers are elevated above normal levels in 50 percent or more of patients with various malignant neoplasms: Alpha-fetoprotein in yolk sac tumors, hepatomas, retinoblastomas, embryonal carcinomas, breast carcinomas, and carcinomas of uterine cervix; Carcinoembryonic antigen in colon carcinomas, choriocarcinomas, pancreatic carcinomas, medullary thyroid carcinomas, oste...