Entecavir (ETV) is a potent nucleoside analogue against hepatitis B virus (HBV). Because of development of ETV resistance requires at least three amino acid substitutions in HBV polymerase (pol) gene, emergence of ETV resistance is rare (~1%) in nucleoside-naive patients after up to 5 years of treatment. However, it has been suggested that lamivudine (LAM) therapy can preselect for HBV variants...

The laboratory plays a decisive role in diagnosing tuberculosis (TB) and the identification and drug sensitivity testing (DST) of Mycobacterium tuberculosis. For a long time the laboratories used only microscopyand culture-based diagnosis, however, due to the slow growth of mycobacteria, these procedures may require 3-4 weeks or longer to yield results. It has been necessary to look for new and...

BACKGROUND The emergence of a novel pandemic human strain of influenza A (H1N1/09) has clearly demonstrated the need for flexible tools enabling the rapid development of new diagnostic methods. METHODS We designed a set of reverse-transcription quantitative real-time PCR (RT-qPCR) assays based on the Universal ProbeLibrary (UPL)--a collection of 165 presynthesized, fluorescence-labeled locked...

Two electrochemical assays for detecting Staphylococcus aureus enterotoxin A and B genes were developed. The assays are based on PCR amplification with biotinylated primers, hybridization to a fluorescein-labeled probe, and detection with horseradish peroxidase-conjugated anti-fluorescein antibody using a hand-held electrochemical detector. The limit of detection (LOD) for both assays was appro...

micrornas (mirnas) are a group of short non-coding rnas implicated in numerous fundamental cellular processes, and their disregulations have been linked to several pathologic conditions, mainly cancers. determining tissue distribution of mirnas is a prerequisite for understanding their exact functions during development, tissue homeostasis and abnormality. in situ hybridization is a powerful te...

Phytoplasmas and Xylella spp. are bacteria that cause many economically important plant diseases worldwide. TaqMan probe-based quantitative real-time polymerase chain reaction (qPCR) assays have been utilized to universally detect phytoplasmas or Xylella fastidiosa. To develop a superior universal qPCR method, we used a dual priming oligonucleotide (DPO) with two annealing sites as a reverse pr...

Proximity assays are immunohistochemical tools that utilise two or more DNA-tagged aptamers or antibodies binding in close proximity to the same protein or protein complex. Amplification by PCR or isothermal methods and hybridisation of a labelled probe to its DNA target generates a signal that enables sensitive and robust detection of proteins, protein modifications or protein-protein interact...

BACKGROUND Emergence of Multidrug-resistant (MDR) strains constitutes a significant public health problem worldwide. Prevalence of MDR tuberculosis from Chad is unavailable to date. METHODS We collected samples from consecutive TB patients nationwide in the seven major cities of Chad between 2007 and 2012 to characterize drug resistance and the population structure of circulating Mycobacteriu...

This paper describes the performance analysis of different feeding technique for wireless microstrip patch antenna i.e for wi-max applications. In this paper four types of feeding techniques (Microstrip line feed, coaxial probe feed, proximity coupled feed and aperture coupled feed) are used. From the four feeding techniques, microstrip line and coaxial probe feeds are contacting scheme, in whi...