The various types of chemiluminescent and bioluminescent reactions are described. Applications of luminescence in the analysis of substancs of clinical interest are surveyed. The advantages, disadvantages, and prospects for luminescent assays are discussed.

Background: In recent decade, human umbilical cord blood derived mesenchymal stem cells (hUCB-MSCs) provide enormous potential for appropriate cell therapy, but they have limited growth potential and cease to proliferate due to cellular senescence, so providing a strategy for increasing the stem cell survival is necessary.  Methods: In this investigation, MSCs characterized by flow cytome...

Frequent use of Xylitol may decrease the S. mutans levels. However, very little is known about whether this effect on the levels of cariogenic bacteria is maintained after the interruption of short-term usage of xylitol. This study aimed at evaluating changes in mutans streptococci (MS) salivary levels after using a chewing gum containing xylitol. Twelve volunteers harboring > or = 10(5) CFU MS...

This research illustrates the qualitative and quantitative composition of the mycoflora of both a green compost (thermophilically produced from plant debris) and a vermicompost (mesophilically produced by the action of earthworms on plant and animal wastes after thermophilic preconditioning). Fungi were isolated using three media (PDA, CMC, PDA plus cycloheximide), incubated at three temperatur...

INTRODUCTION This study aimed to identify airborne fungi in São Luis, Maranhão, Brazil, to determine the prevalent genera and to correlate these genera with the area and season. METHODS In total, 1,510 colony-forming units (CFUs) of airborne fungi were isolated from the north, south, east and west sides and from the center of the city from January to December 2007. The samples were collected ...

Bcl-2 expression has been shown in hematopoietic progenitor cells. Through the use of Bcl-2 specific antisense oligonucleotides we herein report the biologic importance of Bcl-2 expression in primary human CD34+ hematopoietic progenitor cells committed to the myeloid lineage. In bone marrow or peripheral blood derived CD34+ cells Bcl-2 specific antisense decreased cell survival and inhibited th...

The effects of recombinant human macrophage colony-stimulating factor (rhCSF-1) in long-term marrow cultures (LTMC) established from normal bone marrow cells were examined. When added during the first 3 weeks of culture (every second day, at 15 ng/mL), rhCSF-1 strongly inhibited the growth of all hematopoietic progenitors analyzed (colony-forming unit-MIX [CFU-MIX], CFU-granulocyte macrophage [...

The replating capability of human multipotential (colony-forming unit-granulocyte-erythrocyte-macrophage-megakaryocyte [CFU-GEMM]) and erythroid (burst-forming unit-erythroid [BFU-E]) progenitors was assessed in vitro as a potential measure of self-renewal using purified, recombinant (r) human (hu) or murine (mu) mast cell growth factor (MGF), a ligand for the c-kit proto-oncogene receptor. Pri...

Antibody 14F3 is a murine monoclonal antibody that recognizes an antigen expressed on in vitro colony-forming cells, including virtually all CFU-GM. CFU-Meg, BFU-E, and CFUMix. In the present study we examined whether cells that do not express the 14F3 antigen include precursors of hematopoietic colony-forming cells. Colony-forming cells were depleted from marrow by treatment with l4F3 and comp...

Normal mouse serum (NMS) devoid of colony-stimulating factor (CSF) was found to enhance the interleukin 3 (IL-3)-driven colony formation of bone marrow in vitro. Inclusion of NMS in bone marrow colony-forming assays resulted in greatly increased numbers of colonies and clusters following seven days incubation; however, incubation of bone marrow with NMS before the colony-forming assay had no ef...