BACKGROUND The influence of diet on intestinal microflora has been investigated mainly using conventional microbiological approaches. Although these studies have advanced knowledge on human intestinal microflora, it is imperative that new methods are applied to facilitate scientific progress. Culture-independent molecular fingerprinting method of Polymerase Chain Reaction and Denaturing Gradien...

background. orthodontic mini-implants provide skeletal anchorage for tooth movement. there are two designs of mini-implants, tapered and cylindrical, which exhibit different clinical characteristics, including possible micro-damage to cor-tical bone. complications such as peri-implantitis and pain after mini-implant placement are common. the aim of this study was to evaluate the effect of mini-...

Gene amplification using 16S rDNA primers has been proposed as a strategy for the diagnosis of bacterial meningitis. The aim of this study was to evaluate the performance of the MicroSeq 500 16S ribosomal DNA test (Applied Biosystems) from patients with suspected bacterial meningitis and CSF negative-culture in comparison to traditional methods. Twelve purulent culture-negative CSF samples were...

Three DNA extraction kits were used, all without preliminary procedures, then DNA extraction was preceded with freeze/thaw cycles in three versions. A lack of desired effect resulted in the application of liquid nitrogen/water bath cycles before the use of the extractions in further experiments. The effectiveness of DNA extraction was measured by PCR signal and C(T) values of real time PCR. A c...

Aim: Formalin fixing and paraffin embedding of tissue samples is one of the techniques for preserving the structural integrity of cells for a very long time. However, extraction and analysis of genomic material from formalin fixed tissue (FFT) remains a challenge despite numerous attempts to develop a more effective method. The success of polymerase chain reaction (PCR) depends on the quality o...

According to the Miyagi Prefectural Epidemiological Surveillance of Infection Agents, the number of weekly reported patients with gastroenteritis caused by Norovirus (NoV) has sharply increased in Miyagi Prefecture since the end of November 2006. The number reached 33.74 cases per clinic, which was about 1.6 times larger than that of last year, at the end of December 2006. Between November and ...

Many samples submitted for DNA analysis from crime scenes are often degraded or contain DNA mixtures from two or more individuals. Degradation of DNA in these samples presents a challenge as larger molecular weight STR markers are inefficiently amplified, if they are amplified at all, potentially resulting in a significant loss of information. Furthermore, deducing individual donors from DNA mi...

White spot syndrome virus (WSSV) is an important shrimp pathogen responsible for large economic losses for the shrimp culture industry worldwide. The nucleic acids of the virus must be adequately preserved and transported from the field to the laboratory before molecular diagnostic analysis is performed. Here, we developed a new method to isolate WSSV-DNA using Flinders Technology Associates fi...