Evaluation of gene expression in urinary sediment has been considered as a promising non-invasive approach for biomarker identification of kidney diseases. Nonetheless, there are several challenges in extraction of RNA from this valuable source of biomarkers, mostly because of the factors that have influence on quality of isolated RNA such as low cellular content. Accordingly, we compared the q...

CONTEXT Dysregulation of apoptosis may favor onset and progression of cancer and influence response to therapy. Survivin is an inhibitor of apoptosis that is selectively overexpressed in common human cancers, but not in normal tissues, and that correlates with aggressive disease and unfavorable outcomes. OBJECTIVE To investigate the potential suitability of survivin detection in urine as a no...

The reverse transcription (RT)-PCR protocols of two World Health Organization (WHO) severe acute respiratory syndrome (SARS) network laboratories (WHO SARS network laboratories at The University of Hong Kong [WHO-HKU] and at the Bernhard-Nocht Institute in Hamburg, Germany [WHO-Hamburg]) were evaluated for rapid diagnosis of a novel coronavirus (CoV) associated with SARS in Hong Kong. A total o...

BACKGROUND Zika virus (ZIKV) infection has been linked to the Guillain-Barré syndrome. From November 2015 through March 2016, clusters of cases of the Guillain-Barré syndrome were observed during the outbreak of ZIKV infection in Colombia. We characterized the clinical features of cases of Guillain-Barré syndrome in the context of this ZIKV infection outbreak and investigated their relationship...

Background: DD3 is the most prostate cancer-specific gene described to date. To assess the clinical utility of DD3 a time-resolved fluorescence-based, quantitative RT-PCR analysis for DD3 was developed. Methods: The diagnostic potential of DD3 was determined by quantitative measurement of DD3 transcripts in non-malignant and malignant prostate specimens. Moreover, DD3 transcripts were determine...

Zika virus (ZIKV) has gained global attention as an etiologic agent of fetal microcephaly and Guillain-Barré syndrome. Existing immuno-based rapid tests often fail to distinguish between Zika and related flaviviruses that are common in affected regions of Central and South Americas and the Caribbean. The US CDC and qualified state health department laboratories can perform the reverse transcrip...