RNase Protection Assay (RPAs) is a highly sensitive and reproducible method of quantitating the levels of specific mRNA transcripts. The introduction of the commercially available Multiprobe RPAs allow comparing and quantifying the expression of up to different mRNA species in a single sample of 1-20 micrograms of total RNA. To generate probes which are not commercially available, we prepared h...

Fe(3)O(4) particles are currently used as the core of immunomagnetic microspheres in the immunomagnetic enrichment assay of circulating tumor cells (CTCs). It is difficult to further improve the sensitivity of CTC detection or to improve tumor cell-type identification and characterization. In the present study, we prepared immunomagnetic nanoparticles with nanopure iron as the core, coated with...

Nested reverse transcription (RT)-PCR for prostate-specific antigen (PSA) and prostate-specific membrane antigen (PSM) can detect circulat ing prostatic cells in patients with prostate cancer. We evaluated the role of a combined screening approach for PSA and PSM in prostate cancer staging. We examined the peripheral blood samples from 136 patients with adenocarcinoma of the prostate (PCA), 15 ...

BACKGROUND The prognostic significance of molecular staging using thyroglobulin (Tg)-based RT-PCR analysis in the peripheral blood of patients with differentiated thyroid cancer (DTC) was investigated. Herein, the specificity of molecular staging in DTC patients after thyroidectomy and 131I ablation therapy was analysed, using different specific cDNA primers in qualitative nested and classical ...

Reverse transcription (RT)-PCR assays have been widely described for use in the diagnosis of human parainfluenza viruses (HPIVs) and other respiratory virus pathogens. However, these assays are mostly monospecific, requiring separate amplifications for each HPIV type. In the present work, we describe multiplex RT-PCR assays that detect and differentiate HPIV serotypes 1, 2, and 3 in a combined ...

Infectious bronchitis virus (IBV) causes respiratory disease in chickens all over the world. Infectious bronchitis virus has many serotypes that do not confer cross protection against each other. The current study was designed to know which IBV types were circulating in Jordanian broiler chickens. Tracheal swabs from 175 broiler flocks at the acute phase of respiratory disease were collected. T...

Aim: The objective of this study was conducted to determine the seroprevalence and S7 gene characterization of bluetongue virus (BTV) of sheep in the West of Iran, during 2007-2008. Materials and Methods: A total 372 sheep blood samples were collected from known seropositive regions in the West of Iran. Anti-BTV antibodies were detected in the serum samples by group specific, C-ELISA. Extractio...

BACKGROUND Due to an increasing number of norovirus infections in the last years rapid, specific, and sensitive diagnostic tools are needed. Reverse transcriptase-polymerase chain reactions (RT-PCR) have become the methods of choice. To minimize the working time and the risk of carryover contamination during the multi-step procedure of PCR the multiplex real-time RT-PCR for the simultaneous det...

INTRODUCTION Yellow fever is considered a re-emerging disease and is endemic in tropical regions of Africa and South America. At present, there are no standardized or commercialized kits available for yellow fever virus detection. Therefore, diagnosis must be made by time-consuming routine techniques, and sometimes, the virus or its proteins are not detected. Furthermore, co-circulation with ot...

Dengue virus (DNV) is the cause of dengue infections and Pakistan along with the world is now being overloaded with their patients. The molecular epidemiological studies reveal that there are four serotypes of the DNV circulating throughout the endemic countries. Non-structural glycoprotein (NS-1) causes the damage of hepatocytes along with the activation of the complement system which in turn ...