To the Editor: Coronavirus HKU1 is a newly identifi ed human coronavirus (HCoV) that was reported fi rst in 2005 in Hong Kong Special Administrative Region, People's Republic of China; later in Australia, Europe, and the United States, and more recently in Brazil, demonstrating a global distribution (1–3). We examined the circulation of HCoV in Brazil and the possible presence of the new HCoV t...

Real-time reverse transcription polymerase chain reaction (real-time RT-PCR) is routinely used for the rapid detection of Avian influenza virus (AIV) in clinical samples, but inhibitory substances present in some clinical specimens can reduce or block PCR amplification. Most commercial RNA extraction kits have limited capacity to remove inhibitors from clinical samples, but using a modified com...

The Multiple Myeloma Research Consortium has established a tissue bank for the deposition of bone marrow samples from patients with multiple myeloma to be mailed and processed under good laboratory practices. To date, over 1,000 samples have been collected. At this time, limited information is available on shipped bone marrow aspirates in regards to cell viability, yield, purity, and subsequent...

BACKGROUND Visceral adipose tissue is known to release greater amounts of adipokines and free fatty acids into the portal vein, being one of the most predictive factors of nonalcoholic fatty liver disease (NAFLD). Our study has the purpose to evaluate sirtuin 1 (SIRT1), adiponectin, Forkhead/winged helix (FOXO1), peroxisome proliferator-activated receptor (PPAR)gamma1-3, and PPARbeta/delta mRNA...

BACKGROUND Severe acute pancreatitis (SAP) remains a potentially life-threatening disease. Gastrointestinal motility disturbance such as intestinal ileus is seen in every case. By now, the mechanisms of pancreatitis-induced ileus are largely unknown. The main purpose of the present study was to observe changes of nitric oxide synthase-immunoreactive (NOS-IR) neurons in ileal myenteric ganglia i...

BACKGROUND Leukemia inhibitory factor (LIF) is a 45-56 kDa glycoprotein that has an important role in proliferation and embryo implantation. Its effect on oocyte maturation and how to exert the function remained to be elucidated. METHODS Immature mice superovulated with human menopausal gonadotropin and germinal vesicle (GV) oocytes were obtained from ovary 48 hours after. GV oocytes were cul...

Background: TEX15 is a novel protein that is required for chromosomal synapsis and meiotic recombination. Human TEX15 is located on chromosome 8(8p12 region) and expressed in testis and ovary, as is its mouse ortholog. Loss of TEX15 function in mice causes early meiotic arrest in males but not in females. Specifically, TEX15 deficient spermatocytes exhibit a failure in chromosomal synapsis. In ...

This study was carried out to optimize conditions for using real time RT-PCR as an efficient and precise quantitative method for estimating the transcript levels of genes expressed in samples containing miniscule amounts of RNA, such as single mammalian oocytes and embryos. First, using mouse eggs and blastocysts, we tested three kinds of RNA isolation or collection methods: TRIZOL reagent, oli...

Echovirus (Echo) 30 or human enterovirus B is the most frequent enterovirus associated with meningitis cases. Epidemics and outbreaks of this disease caused by Echo 30 have occurred in several countries. In Brazil, Echo 30 has been isolated from sporadic cases and outbreaks that occurred mainly in the south and southeast regions. We used RT-PCR to examine Echo 30 isolates from meningitis cases ...