The clinical performance of two nucleic acid amplification assays targeting the cryptic plasmid and two assays targeting rRNA molecules in Chlamydia trachomatis was examined. First-catch urine samples from Malmoe, Sweden, were tested for C. trachomatis with the Abbott real-time PCR assay m2000 and an in-house PCR for the new variant strain of C. trachomatis with a deletion in the cryptic plasmi...

We describe development of an absolute multiplex quantitative real-time PCR for detection of Plasmodium spp., P. falciparum and P. vivax targets in order to produce an assay amenable to high throughput but with reduced costs. Important qPCR experimental details and information that is critical to performance and reliability of assay results were investigated. Inhibition studies were performed t...

Objective: To investigate the radioprotecting ability of the extract of the medicinal plant Holarrhena antidysentrica, especially to protect DNA from gammaradiation induced damages. Materials and Methods: Hydo-alcoholic extract of dried roots of Holarrhena antidysentrica (HAE) was prepared, freeze dried and stored at 4C. The DNA of the plasmid pBR322 was exposed to gamma-radiation in presence a...

objective: il18 is a cytokine that plays an important role in the t-cell-helper type 1 (th1) response and hence, plasmid-encoded il18 is considered as a potent genetic adjuvant for dna vaccine studies. in this study, a bicistronic eukaryotic plasmid capable of secreting a more stable mouse il18 (fused with fcγ2a fragment) was constructed and expression of this chimer cytokine was also assessed....

backgrounds: most of the hepatitis c virus (hcv) infections elicit poor immune responses and 75% to 85% of cases become chronic therefore, the development of an effective vaccine against hcv is of paramount importance. in this study, we aimed to evaluate co-administration of hcv non-structural protein 2 and il-12 dna vaccines in c57bl/6 mice. methods: a plasmid encoding full-length hcv ns2 prot...

The functional and dynamical properties of the human topoisomerase I Thr718Ala mutant have been compared to that of the wild-type enzyme using functional assays and molecular dynamics (MD) simulations. At physiological ionic strength, the cleavage and religation rates, evaluated on oligonucleotides containing the preferred topoisomerase I DNA sequence, are almost identical for the wild-type and...

Gene therapy research has advanced to clinical trials, but it is hampered by unstable nucleic acids packaged inside carriers and there a lack of specificity towards targeted sites in the body. This study aims address gene limitations encapsidating plasmid synthesizing short hairpin RNA (shRNA) that targets anti-apoptotic Bcl-2 using truncated hepatitis B core antigen (tHBcAg) virus-like particl...

The continued spread of antimicrobial resistance is a global problem. In fact, the WHO has declared one top 10 public health threats facing humanity. Molecular methods offer faster means characterizing resistant strains than phenotypic drug susceptibility testing. We have developed molecular detection method that generates visible aggregates from DNA amplified products and functionalized magnet...

Candidatus Liberibacter asiaticus (CLas) is a phloem-limited bacterium transmitted by the Asian citrus psyllid, Diaphorina citri, and the presumptive causal agent of citrus greening disease. The current method of detection for CLas within plant and insect samples is by a presence/absence qPCR assay using the CLas 16S rDNA gene target. Although qPCR is highly sensitive, low bacterial titers or s...

There are currently no standardized phenotypic methods for the screening and detection of AmpC enzymes. This study aimed to evaluate different methods to detect AmpC enzymes in Escherichia coli, Klebsiella spp., and Proteus spp., comparing the results from two disk-based methods and an agar dilution method. AmpC activity was determined for 255 clinical isolates by use of a three-dimensional enz...