A quantitative one step RT-PCR was developed for identification and titration of all three poliovirus serotypes. The assay could be an alternative to the traditional procedure based on cell culture isolation and subsequent determination of poliovirus serotype and virus titration. The method is based selleck chemicals on quantitative PCR performed with

reverse transcription reaction in the same tube. The multiplex assay that quantifies all three serotypes of poliovirus was found to be highly specific, sensitive, and takes only one day to complete. Published by Elsevier B.V.”
“Purpose: There has been significant criticism of how technologies such as SELDI have been used in biomarker discovery and how the data have been analysed. We initiated a proof-of-principle pilot MX69 chemical structure study using SELDI with stringent pre-analytic and analytical procedures with robust statistical analysis, to determine whether, under such conditions, using

different degrees of renal dysfunction as a model, useful data could be obtained.

Experimental design: SELDI-TOF-MS profiling with stringent quality control measures was used to examine the proteomic profile of serum from healthy controls (n = 30), patients with end-stage renal failure being treated by dialysis (n = 30) and renal transplant patients (n = 50) with varying degrees of graft stability.

Results: Principal component analysis of the data suggests that the continuum from normality to end-stage renal failure through ‘stable’ and ‘unstable’ transplant may be detected by SELDI profiling. Serum beta 2 microglobulin was identified as a major component and this was validated using immunonephelometry.

Conclusions and clinical relevance: This pilot study suggests that stringently controlled SELDI analysis however is able to detect proteins which may be useful in the stratification of patients post-renal transplant. Further studies using a larger cohort of patients with chronic allograft dysfunction, defined by protocol biopsies, are indicated.”
“Rapid and accurate diagnosis of viral respiratory infections is crucial for patient

management. Multiplex reverse transcriptase polymerase chain reaction (mRT-PCR) is used increasingly to diagnose respiratory infections and has shown to be more sensitive than viral culture and antigen detection. Objective of the present study was to develop a one-step mRT-PCR that could detect 18 respiratory viruses in three sets. The method was compared with real time RT-PCR (rRT-PCR) for its sensitivity and specificity. Clinical specimens from 843 pediatric patients with respiratory symptoms were used in the study. 503 (59.7%) samples were detected positive by mRT-PCR. Of these 462(54.8%) exhibited presence of a single pathogen and 41 (4.9%) had multiple pathogens. rRT-PCR detected 439(52.1%) positive samples, where 419(49.7%) exhibited one virus and 20(2.4%) showed co-infections.