BACKGROUND Urinary extracellular vesicles (UEVs) represent an ideal platform for biomarker discovery. They carry different types of RNA species, and reported profile discrepancies related to the presence/absence of 18s and 28s rRNA remain controversial. Moreover, sufficient urinary RNA yields and respective quality RNA profiles are still to be fully established. METHODS UEVs were enriched by ...

Patch fluorometry has emerged as a new approach to the study of the structure-function relationship in membrane-embedded functional ion channels. Simultaneous fluorescent and electrical recordings are achieved from a small number of channels in a cell-free membrane patch, yielding high recording sensitivities. Further improvement of this approach should permit direct observation of the gating m...

We describe an assay for ethylene glycol in serum, which is based on the Hantzsch condensation reaction. Ethylene glycol is dehydrogenated by sodium periodate to form two molecules of formaldehyde, which is then combined with ammonium ion and acetylacetone to form a fluorescent diacetyllutidine derivative. The detection limit of this method is 50 mg/L. The procedure is sensitive, requires only ...

A frequent question among clinical biochemists is how sensitive analytical techniques should be in the context of clinical diagnostics. Currently, the analyte concentrations usually encountered in clinical chemistry range from 10 to 10 mol/L. By far, the most sensitive nonamplification techniques used in the clinical laboratory are based on noncompetitive immunological assays. Is there any need...

This fluorometric procedure for determining selenium in human serum or urine is sensitive (requiring only 0.4 mL of sample), accurate, simple, and can be performed on several samples concurrently. Using this technique, we found a mean selenium concentration in the serum of normal Canadian men of 142.9 (SD 16.1) micrograms/L. The mean urinary excretion rate was 124.5 (SD 76.0) micrograms/day.

......................................................................................................................... 111 Autobiographical Statement ........................................................................................ 115