A preliminary investigation of the genetic biodiversity of Mycobacterium tuberculosis complex strains in Cameroon, a country with a high prevalence of tuberculosis, described a group of closely related M. tuberculosis strains (the Cameroon family) currently responsible for more than 40% of smear-positive pulmonary tuberculosis cases. Here, we used various molecular methods to study the genetic ...

In conventional percutaneous disc surgery, introducing instruments into disc space starts by inserting a guide needle into the triangular working zone. However, landing the guide needle tip on the annular window is a challenging step in endoscopic discectomy. Surgeons tend to repeat the needling procedure to reach an optimal position on the annular target. Obturator guiding technique is a modif...

Expansions of triplet repeats are responsible for more than 15 hereditary neurological disorders in humans. Triplet repeats are fairly stable when the number of elementary units is under approx 30, but become polymorphic in length with a clear bias for expansions when this threshold is exceeded. This results in the rapid addition of hundreds or even thousands of extra repeats and, ultimately, d...

OBJECTIVE This study investigated the effect of stethoscope side and tube length on auscultatory blood pressure (BP) measurement. METHODS Thirty-two healthy participants were studied. For each participant, four measurements with different combinations of stethoscope characteristics (bell or diaphragm side, standard or short tube length) were each recorded at two repeat sessions, and eight Kor...

We developed a technique to improve the efficiency of producing TAA repeat microsatellite markers linked to interspecific conserved genes. Template DNA was prepared from cultures derived from single bacterial artificial chromosome (BAC) colonies using a simple alkaline lysis miniprep. The presence of conserved genes in each BAC clone was verified by sequencing with gene-specific primers. The BA...

Single-pass SAR interferometry is an established method for generation of precise digital elevation models (DEM). Although being a well established technique, it has one main disadvantage: At X-band, the penetration of the waves into vegetation layers is very small; the interferometric phase centre, which is measured by the interferometer, lies close to the top of the vegetation. An alternative...

Reliably marking larvae and reidentifying them after metamorphosis is a challenge that has hampered studies on recruitment, dispersal, migration and survivorship of amphibians for a long time, as conventional tags are not reliably retained through metamorphosis. Molecular methods allow unique genetic fingerprints to be established for individuals. Although microsatellite markers have successful...

Cardueline finches have become important models in studies of sexual selection. Here I describe eight polymorphic microsatellite loci isolated from the American goldfinch ( Carduelis tristis ) that are useful in parentage and heterozygosity studies. The number of alleles per locus ranged from eight to 38 based on 252 goldfinches. The markers are polymorphic in at least four other Cardueline fin...