OBJECTIVES Resistance to anti-tuberculosis (TB) drugs has been a great challenge for global TB control. Limited tools have been developed to detect resistance to second-line drugs that are associated with extensively drug-resistant (XDR) TB. In this study we aimed to develop a simple and widely applicable assay for detecting mutations associated with second-line drug resistance in Mycobacterium...

objective: piwil2, a member of ago/piwi gene family containing piwi and paz domains, has been shown to be ectopically expressed in different cancer cells, especially its remarkable expression in cancer stem cells (cscs), and is also known to be essential for germ line stem cell self-renewal in various organisms. the hypothesis that csc may hold the key to the central problem of clinical oncolog...

Insulated isothermal PCR (iiPCR), established on the basis of Ralyeigh-Bénard convection, is a rapid and low-cost platform for nucleic acid amplification. However, the method used for signal detection, namely gel electrophoresis, has limited the application of iiPCR. In this study, TaqMan probe-based iiPCR system was developed to obviate the need of post-amplification processing. This system in...

angiogenesis or formation of new blood vessels from preexisting vasculature is a key process in some physiological conditions such as wound healing, growth, and action of female reproductive organs. moreover, disturbance of the mechanisms of physiological angiogenesis has a role in pathogenesis of some diseases in the form of overproliferation of blood vessels such as cancers, psoriasis, arthri...

The study sought to determine the rate of discordant results between genotypic and phenotypic tests for diagnosis drug-resistant tuberculosis (DR-TB). Sputum samples cultured isolates from suspected DR-TB patients were, respectively, analyzed Mycobacterium by Xpert® MTB/RIF (Cepheid, Sunnyvale, CA, USA) line probe assays (LPA) (Hain, Nehren, Germany). Discrepant rifampicin (RMP)-resistant were ...

Carbon fiber reinforced cement is a smart material due to its sensing ability, which is based on piezoresistivity. A finite element model for simulating the measurement of electrical resistance in this material is provided. The measured four-probe resistance decreases with increasing distance between the adjacent voltage and current contacts. For a beam of size 320 × 40 × 40 mm3, the minimum di...