Melanin contained in pigment cells in a variety of tissues co-purifies with nucleic acids in standard RNA (or DNA) extraction procedures. The presence of melanin in RNA (or DNA) templates can inhibit reverse transcription polymerase chain reactions (RT-PCR) and/or PCR (5). In the past, to circumvent this problem, melanin has been separated from DNA by either columnchromatography (5) or acid-pre...

PURPOSE Methods accurately categorizing the diverse biology of prostate cancer are needed. A positive baseline reverse transcriptase-PCR for prostate-specific antigen (RT-PCR PSA) in the androgen-independent setting is an independent prognostic marker of survival. The objectives of the current study were to examine the prognostic implication of baseline RT-PCR PSA positivity during treatment wi...

Real-time reverse transcription polymerase chain reaction (RT-PCR) tests for severe acute respiratory syndrome coronavirus 2 (SARS-CoV-2) are occasionally repeated when clinicians suspect false-negative results, but the conditions under which RT-PCR testing is warranted remain unclear. We evaluated practice of repeat SARS-CoV-2 in 45 patients who were retested after an initial negative PCR test...

The COVID-19 pandemic has underscored the shortcomings in deployment of state-of-the-art diagnostics platforms. Although several polymerase chain reaction (PCR)-based techniques have been rapidly developed to meet growing testing needs, such often need samples collected through a swab, use RNA extraction kits, and expensive thermocyclers order successfully perform test. Isothermal amplification...

Dengue is the most important arboviral disease transmitted to humans. In our laboratory, we have been working on the standardization of the polymerase chain reaction (PCR) diagnosis of this disease. In this work, we compared five commercial kits regularly used on reverse-transcription polymerase chain reaction (RT-PCR) protocols: two Two-Step kits (SuperScript II RT/Super Mix kit and reverse tr...

F-specific (F+) RNA phages are recommended as indicators of fecal contamination and the presence of enteric viruses and as viral surrogates to elucidate the resistance of viruses to adverse conditions or to assess the effectiveness of inactivating processes. Reverse transcription (RT)-PCR methods have been used to detect, quantify, or identify subgroups of F+ RNA phages. However, these methods ...