Levels of hepatitis B virus (HBV) DNA in the blood serve as an important marker in monitoring the disease progression and treatment efficacy of chronic HBV infection. Several commercial assays are available for accurate measurement of HBV genomic DNA, but many of them are hampered by relatively low sensitivity and limited dynamic range. The aim of this study was to develop a sensitive and accur...

We report on the development of a fully automated real-time PCR assay for the quantitative detection of hepatitis B virus (HBV) DNA in plasma with EDTA (EDTA plasma). The MagNA Pure LC instrument was used for automated DNA purification and automated preparation of PCR mixtures. Real-time PCR was performed on the LightCycler instrument. An internal amplification control was devised as a PCR comp...

The aim of this study was to evaluate the performance of the transcription-reverse transcription concerted (TRC) method for the detection of Mycobacterium tuberculosis complex (MTC) 16S rRNA in clinical respiratory samples for the diagnosis of pulmonary tuberculosis. TRC is a novel method that enables the rapid and the completely homogeneous real-time monitoring of isothermal sequence RNA ampli...

BACKGROUND Suboptimal specimen processing and storage conditions of samples which contain hepatitis C virus (HCV) RNA may result in a decline of HCV RNA concentration or false-negative results in the detection of HCV RNA in serum. We evaluated the stability of HCV RNA in serum and clotted blood samples stored at room temperature or at 4 degrees C for 4 days with the aim of optimizing the standa...

BACKGROUND The central nervous system is considered a sanctuary site for HIV-1 replication. Variables associated with HIV cerebrospinal fluid (CSF) viral load in the context of opportunistic CNS infections are poorly understood. Our objective was to evaluate the relation between: (1) CSF HIV-1 viral load and CSF cytological and biochemical characteristics (leukocyte count, protein concentration...

In this study, Mycobacterium tuberculosis complex isolates recovered from respiratory and nonrespiratory specimens with culture were evaluated using an automatized PCR method. Specimens with suspected tuberculous disease were decontaminated and concentrated using the standard N-acetyl-L-cysteine NaOH method and were inoculated onto glycerol-supplemented Löwenstein-Jensen media and BACTEC B12 vi...