BACKGROUND Studies have shown that hyperuricaemia is independently related to the insulin resistance syndrome and that polymorphisms of the apolipoprotein AI-CIII-AIV cluster are also related to insulin resistance. OBJECTIVE To study the prevalence of polymorphisms of the apolipoprotein AI-CIII-AIV cluster in persons with gout and to determine whether these polymorphisms contribute to the pat...

To assess the relative contribution of genetic factors in the variation of F cells (FC) and other hematologic variables, we conducted a classical twin study in unselected twins. The sample included 264 identical (monozygotic [MZ]) twin pairs and 511 nonidentical (dizygotic [DZ]) same-sex twin pairs (aged 20 to 80 years) from the St. Thomas' UK Adult Twin Register. The FC values were distributed...

OBJECTIVES Previously described methicillin-resistant Staphylococcus aureus (MRSA) ST398 strains revealed a high frequency of phenotypic resistance to spectinomycin. However, only a few were found to carry the spc resistance determinant. The aim of this study was to identify the genetic mechanism of spectinomycin resistance among spc-negative MRSA ST398 strains. METHODS Nine spectinomycin-res...

Beta-thalassemia and sickle cell disease (SCD) are common disorders in Turkey. Compound heterozygosity for these two disorders (betaS/beta-thalassemia) is encountered frequently. In this report we present hematological and molecular data of two Turkish siblings with betaS/beta(del)-thalassemia caused by a 290 base pair (bp) deletion and associated with increased levels of hemoglobin A2 (HbA2) a...

AIM The loop mediated isothermal amplification (LAMP) was standardized for rapid detection of Clostridium perfringens. MATERIALS AND METHODS A total of 120 fecal samples were collected from enterotoxemia suspected lambs were used for screening of C. perfringens cpa gene by LAMP. The specificity of the LAMP amplified products was tested by digesting with restriction enzyme XmnI for alpha toxin...

BACKGROUND The Mucorales are an important opportunistic fungi that can cause mucormycosis in immunocompromised patients. The fast and precise diagnosis of mucormycosis is very important because, if the diagnosis is not made early enough, dissemination often occurs. It is now well established that molecular methods such as polymerase chain reaction-restriction fragment length polymorphism (PCR-R...

Stemona sessilifolia, S. japonica and S. tuberosa are the three genuine sources of Stemonae Radix specified in the Chinese Pharmacopoeia (CP) for antitussive and insecticidal remedy. Significant variations in alkaloids composition and content, as well as different degree of antitussive activity were found among them. In order to accurately identify the genuine sources of Stemonae Radix in the g...

Sickle cell disease shows several clinical manifestations in distinct levels of severity. This heterogeneity is due to the haplotype variability associated with the HbS gene, levels of fetal hemoglobin and environmental conditions, which modify the disease expression. Science community believes that the presence of a polymorphism in the CCR5 gene, which is related to chronic inflammatory state,...

Hemophilia B, an X-linked recessive bleeding disorder, is caused by heterogeneous mutations in the factor IX (F9) gene. Hence, carriers of the disease are usually detected by F9 gene linked RFLP analysis. We aimed to test a set of RFLP markers (DdeI, XmnI, MnlI, TaqI & HhaI), used worldwide for carrier detection, to estimate its heterozygosity in different population groups of India, and identi...