OBJECTIVE To assess the cost-effectiveness of identifying and treating asymptomatic female carriers of Chlamydia trachomatis. DESIGN Cost-effectiveness analysis based on previously reported cohort analytic studies and average salaries and costs of medical care in Sweden. SETTING Women attending youth, family planning, and gynecology clinics. PARTICIPANTS 1000 women and their male sex part...

We describe conditions for rolling-circle amplification (RCA) of individual DNA molecules 5–7 kb in size by >109-fold, using 29 DNA polymerase. The principal difficulty with amplification of small amounts of template by RCA using 29 DNA polymerase is ‘‘background’’ DNA synthesis that usually occurs when template is omitted, or at low template concentrations. Reducing the reaction volume while k...

We have developed a novel technique for specific amplification of rare methylated DNA fragments in a high background of unmethylated sequences that avoids the need of bisulphite conversion. The methylation-dependent restriction enzyme GlaI is used to selectively cut methylated DNA. Then targeted fragments are tagged using specially designed 'helper' oligonucleotides that are also used to mainta...

Nucleic acid amplification tests have become a common method for diagnosis of STIs due to their improved sensitivity over immunoassays and traditional culture-based methods. Isothermal nucleic acid amplification methods offer significant advantages over polymerase chain reaction (PCR) because they do not require sophisticated instruments needed for thermal cycling of PCR. We recently reported a...

Background & Aims: Tyrosinase is the most important enzyme in the production of pigments of the skin, eyes, and hair follicles. The enzyme is encoded by tyrosinase gene (TYR) or oculocutaneous albinism type 1A (OCA1A). Mutations in TYR gene result in pigmentation disorders such as albinism in humans. In view of the large number of mutations reported in this gene, the aim of this study was to id...

A functional nucleic acid-based amplification machine was designed for simple and label-free ultrasensitive colorimetric biosensing of microRNA (miRNA). The amplification machine was composed of a complex of trigger template and C-rich DNA modified molecular beacon (MB) and G-rich DNA (GDNA) as the probe, polymerase and nicking enzyme, and a dumbbell-shaped amplification template. The presence ...

Combined Bisulfite Restriction Analysis (COBRA) quantifies DNA methylation at a specific locus. It does so via digestion of PCR amplicons produced from bisulfite-treated DNA, using a restriction enzyme that contains a cytosine within its recognition sequence, such as TaqI. Here, we introduce COBRA-seq, a genome wide reduced methylome method that requires minimal DNA input (0.1-1.0 mg) and can e...