Real-time PCR technology may provide an accurate and sensitive method to quantify hepatitis C virus (HCV) RNA. So far, studies have been carried out using the Taqman technology with the ABI Prism 7700 sequence detector. An alternative and simple real-time PCR assay is described with no probe requirement, based on the SYBR Green I dye and LightCycler fluorimeter. Amplicon synthesis was monitored...

Laser-induced fluorescence (LIF) is examined as a sensitive and selective detector for microcolumn liquid chromatography (LC). This detector employs a cw helium-cadmium laser (325 nm, 5-10 mW) as the excitation source together with a simple filter/ photomultiplier optical system. Several flowcells are evaluated: (1) a flowing droplet; (2) an ensheathed effluent stream; and (3) a fused-silica ca...

ABSTRACT. We used a probe-based dual-modality optical imaging instrument to measure in vivo coating thickness distributions of a gel distributed along the vaginal lumen, in a clinical study. The gel was a surrogate for one delivering an anti-HIV topical microbicide. Imaging data from Fourier-domain multiplexed low-coherence interferometry (mLCI) and fluorimetric measurements were compared to as...

Several putative roles for ryanodine receptors (RyR) were investigated in human and bovine airway smooth muscle. Changes in intracellular Ca concentration ([Ca]i) and membrane current were investigated in single cells by confocal fluorimetry and patch-clamp electrophysiology, respectively, whereas mechanical activity was monitored in intact strips with force transducers. RyR released Ca from th...

In this project, new derivatives of fluorescein were synthesized using the reaction of maleic anhydride and saccharin with phenol derivatives in the presence of ZnCl2, and their structures were elucidated by UV, IR, and NMR spectroscopy. Fluorimetry studies showed that, the synthesized compounds can be utilized as fluorescent agents, and their efficiencies were dependent on pH of solution. Acco...