The identification of noninvasive biomarkers to monitor the disease progression in spinal muscular atrophy (SMA) is becoming increasingly important. MicroRNAs (miRNAs) regulate gene expression and are implicated in the pathogenesis of neuromuscular diseases, including motor neuron degeneration. In this study, we selectively characterized the expression of miR-9, miR-206, and miR-132 in spinal c...

The development of standardized methods for sputum induction has improved the quality and reproducibility of sputum samples. This technique has been used to optimize samples in the investigation of pulmonary tuberculosis and lung cancer, but its clinical application as a noninvasive measure of airway inflammation has highlighted the enormous potential of this technique. Sputum induction has all...

BACKGROUND Gastric cancer and colorectal cancer, the two most frequent cancers within the gastrointestinal tract, account for a large proportion of human malignancies worldwide. The initiation and progression of gastrointestinal cancer (GIC) is controlled by both genetic and epigenetic events. Epigenetic alterations, including changes in DNA methylation, specific histone modifications, chromati...

We recently reported the identification of recurrent gene fusions in the majority of prostate cancers involving the 5' untranslated region of the androgen-regulated gene TMPRSS2 and the ETS family members ERG, ETV1, and ETV4. Here we report the noninvasive detection of these gene fusions in the urine of patients with clinically localized prostate cancer. By quantitative polymerase chain reactio...

OBJECTIVE The aim of this study was to determine whether or not a noninvasive procedure utilizing maternal peripheral blood as the source of DNA and polymerase chain reaction (PCR) could be used to detect fetal rhesus D (RhD) status as well as fetal gender during different gestational stages of pregnancy. MATERIALS AND METHODS Maternal blood samples were obtained from 54 RhD-negative pregnant...

The focal adhesion kinase (FAK) gene encodes a tyrosine kinase (p125FAK) thought to be involved in signal transduction pathways used in cell adhesion, motility, and anchorage-independent growth. Because alterations in these cellular processes occur in tumor invasion and metastasis, we studied the protein expression of FAK in a variety of human tumors and found that in the 119 samples studied, i...

Noninvasive methods to diagnose rejection of renal allografts are unavailable. Mass spectrometry followed by multiple-reaction monitoring provides a unique approach to identify disease-specific urine peptide biomarkers. Here, we performed urine peptidomic analysis of 70 unique samples from 50 renal transplant patients and 20 controls (n = 20), identifying a specific panel of 40 peptides for acu...

STUDY OBJECTIVE To validate a non-invasive cardiac output monitor in pediatric cardiac surgery patients. DESIGN Prospective trial. SETTING Operating room. PATIENTS 20 pediatric cardiac surgery patients ASA physical status 3 and 4. INTERVENTIONS Aesculon noninvasive cardiac output monitor was used and compared to the cardiac output derived from the Fick equation. Oxygen consumption was m...

The present study was carried out to assess the possibility of measuring fecal steroid hormone metabolites as a noninvasive technique for monitoring reproductive function in the three-toed sloth, Bradypus variegatus. Levels of the estradiol (E2) and progesterone (P4) metabolites were measured by radioimmunoassay in fecal samples collected over 12 weeks from 4 captive female B. variegatus sloths...

The route of transmission of Helicobacter pylori, which is usually acquired in childhood and is one of the most common bacterial infections in humans, remains undetermined. Mapping the distribution of H. pylori genotypes within families could help to determine the routes of transmission and risk factors. Here we describe a noninvasive method for obtaining H. pylori DNA isolates from the feces o...