We report here a unique approach to selectively label and detect specific RNA in an RNA mixture (without separation or purification) using DNA polymerase, dNTP labels, and a short synthetic DNA template complementary to the 3(')-terminus of the RNA. The detection sensitivity is high, at attomole level (10-18 mole). The selective principle was demonstrated by individually labeling and detecting ...

Ultrasensitive molecular beacon (MB) DNA biosensors, with micrometer to submicrometer sizes, have been developed for DNA/RNA analysis. The fluorescence-based biosensors have been applied in DNA/ RNA detection without the need for a dye-labeled target molecule or an intercalation reagent in the testing solution. Molecular beacons are hairpin-shaped oligonucleotides that report the presence of sp...

BACKGROUND Nonalcoholic fatty liver disease (NAFLD) is one of the aspects of metabolic syndrome (MetS). Due to the increase of MetS in Iran, this study was conducted to determine the prevalence of NAFLD, its potential predictors and their sex distribution in north of Iran, Amol. METHODS In 2008 this population based cross-sectional study included 5023 adult individuals who were randomly selec...

Dogs with compensated biventricular hypertrophy due to chronic atrioventricular block (cAVB), are more susceptible to develop drug-induced Torsade-de-Pointes arrhythmias and sudden cardiac death. It has been suggested that the increased Na(+) influx in hypertrophied cAVB ventricular myocytes contribute to these lethal arrhythmias. The increased Na(+) influx was not mediated by Na(+) channels, i...

Copper and arsenic underwent large changes in chemical form during the development and senescence of natural phytoplankton blooms in the Patuxent River, a subestuary ofChesapeake Bay in Maryland. Arsenate was rapidly reduced to arsenite and methylated species. At a total arsenic concentration of 20 nmollI , arsenate reduction rates ranged from 50 amol cellI d -I to > 230 amol cellI d -I, with t...

The nonsteroidal anti-inflammatory drug (NSAID) sulindac prevents experimental colon cancer and can regress precancerous polyps in humans. Sulindac sulfide inhibits cyclooxygenase (COX)-mediated prostaglandin synthesis and retards the growth of cultured colon cell lines primarily by inducing apoptosis. Given the known role of mitogen-activated protein kinase (MAPK) in signal transduction and th...

To test the hypothesis that changes in the expression of the glucocorticoid receptor (GCR) and the beta(2)-adrenoceptor (beta(2)-AR) contribute significantly to the abnormal glucose metabolism in skeletal muscle from patients with Type II diabetes, we have examined (1) the levels of total GCR (alpha+beta isoforms), the alpha/alpha 2 isoform of GCR and beta(2)-AR mRNAs in skeletal muscle from in...

A recent report by Kern et al. (1) described molecular mechanisms of apoptosis in human hepatocellular carcinoma cell lines in response to treatment with the selective cyclooxygenase-2 (COX-2) inhibitor (coxib), celecoxib. In their study, the authors treated Huh7 and HepG2 hepatocellular carcinoma cell lines with up to 100 Amol/L of celecoxib and found that this treatment led to tumor cell deat...