Peptide insertions in reverse transcriptase pol gene of human immunodeficiency virus type 1 as a rare cause of persistent antiretroviral therapeutic failure.

Peptide insertions in codons 67-71 of the reverse transcriptase (RT) pol gene were detected in 11 (2.7%) of 414 genotypic analyses performed in a hospital cohort of 2900 outpatients with human immunodeficiency virus type 1 (HIV-1) infection. The duration of antiretroviral treatment (bi- or tri-therapy) before the detection of insertions ranged from 12 to 60 months.

Effect of ethanol and ether in the prevention of calcification of bioprostheses.

Background: Lipids play a significant role in the process of calcification of bioprostheses. We assessed whether lipid extraction by ethanol, ether, or a surfactant could mitigate calcification of glutaraldehyde-treated bioprostheses.

Methods: On 200 bovine pericardium samples pretreated with 0.

Denaturing high-performance liquid chromatography (DHPLC)-based prenatal diagnosis for tuberous sclerosis.

Tuberous sclerosis (TSC) is a frequent autosomal-dominant condition (affecting 1 in 6000 individuals) caused by various mutations in either the hamartin (TSC1) or the tuberin gene (TSC2). This allelic and non-allelic heterogeneity makes genetic counseling and prenatal diagnosis difficult, especially as a significant proportion of TSC cases are due to de novo mutations. For this reason the identification of the disease causing mutation is mandatory for accurate counseling, yet current mutation detection methods such as single-strand conformation polymorphism (SSCP) or denaturing gradient gel electrophoresis (DGGE) are labor intensive with limited detection efficiency.

Mutation analysis of the hamartin gene using denaturing high performance liquid chromatography.

Denaturing high performance liquid chromatography (DHPLC) is a novel high-capacity technique for gene mutation scanning. We have assessed the sensitivity and specificity of this method for analysis of the full coding sequence of the hamartin (TSC1) gene in 20 tuberous sclerosis patients, whose TSC1 genes previously had been studied by single strand conformation polymorphism analysis and protein truncation assay. All eight sequence variants previously identified were adequately detected by DHPLC.