A comparative retrospective study of RT-PCR-based liquid hybridization assay for early, definitive diagnosis of dengue.

Dengue is an important flaviviral infection in tropical and subtropical regions. Early diagnosis of dengue infection helps in monitoring the disease, determining when hospital admission is necessary and reducing case fatalities. The objective of this study was to carry out a retrospective comparison of an RT-PCR-based liquid hybridization (RT-PCR-LH) assay with PCR amplification, virus isolation and serological techniques for laboratory diagnosis of dengue infection.

STR polymorphisms in Sri Lanka: evaluation of forensic utility in identification of individuals and parentage testing.

Objectives: This preliminary study was carried out to determine the allele frequencies and forensic efficiency parameters for the short tandem repeat loci CSF1PO, TPOX, THO1, D16S539, D7S820, D13S317, vWA, FESFPS and F13B in a test sample population of Sri Lankans.

Design: Test samples were obtained from 305 non-related individuals originating from all 9 provinces of Sri Lanka. DNA was extracted from whole blood using chelex-100 and amplified by PCR using the GenePrint STR kit and silver stained.