background and purpose: fungal keratitis is a suppurative, ulcerative, and sight-threatening infection of the cornea that sometimes leads to blindness. the aims of this study were: recuperating facilities for laboratory diagnosis, determining the causative microorganisms, and comparing conventional laboratory diagnostic tools and semi-nested pcr. materials and methods: sampling was conducted in...

outbreaks causing mass mortalities have been observed in the golden grey mullet (liza auratus) population in southern coastal area of the caspian sea since 2002. the clinical signs include neurological abnormalities, such as erratic swimming behavior, spiral swimming, belly-up at rest and over inflation of the swim bladder. three hundred and twelve samples of moribund fish with sizes that range...

background and purpose: pneumocystis pneumonia, caused by pneumocystis jirovecii, is a fatal disease threatening patients with aids or immunosuppression. assessment of colonization in these patients is of great significance, since it can lead to severe pulmonary disorders. considering the scarcity of published reports on pneumocystis jirovecii isolates from patients in mashhad, iran, we aimed t...

background: hepatitis c is a disease with significant global impact. the distribution of hepatitis c virus (hcv) genotypes in mashhad (the northeast and the biggest city after the capital of iran) is unknown. the purpose of this study was to determine the prevalence of hcv genotypes among hcv seropositive patients, and to study the relationship between types, virologic and demographic features ...

Previously, we designed an internally controlled quantitative nested real-time (QNRT) PCR assay for Mycobacterium tuberculosis DNA in order to rapidly diagnose tuberculous meningitis. This technique combined the high sensitivity of nested PCR with the accurate quantification of real-time PCR. In this study, we attempted to improve the original QNRT-PCR assay and newly developed the wide-range Q...

An ultra-sensitive and quantitative diagnostic system by combining nested PCR and TaqMan PCR in a single tube was developed for detection of "Candidatus Liberibacter asiaticus". The procedure involves two PCR steps using the species-specific outer and inner primer pairs. Different annealing temperatures allow both the first and the second rounds of PCR to be performed sequentially in the same c...