SNP marker development in Pinus sylvestris L. in stress-responsive genes characterized from Pinus cembra L. transcriptomes.

Massively parallel sequencing of cDNA is an efficient route for generating sequence collections that represent expressed genes under different environmental control. The analysis of their sequence helps in developing molecular markers, such as SNPs, which represent a useful tool in detecting adaptive signals in populations. In this study novel PCR markers, based on stress responsive genes, were designed from the transcriptome of the haploxylon Swiss stone pine (Pinus cembra L.

Urinary transcript quantitation of CK20 and IGF2 for the non-invasive bladder cancer detection.

Purpose: Cytokeratin 20 (CK20) and insulin-like growth factor 2 (IGF2) were previously proposed to be elevated in clinical samples from patients with bladder cancer (BCa). A two cohort design validation study was used to assess the relevance for BCa detection by transcript quantitation of both markers in urine samples. Their diagnostic value was assessed in comparison with voided urine cytology (VUC).

Epicardial fat and coronary artery calcification in patients on long-term hemodialysis.

Introduction: Recent studies have shown a significant correlation between increased epicardial fat volume (EFV) and mortality, coronary artery disease events, and measures of coronary atherosclerotic burden, for example, coronary calcium. Patients with chronic kidney disease on hemodialysis have an increased prevalence of coronary atherosclerosis and coronary calcium. The mechanisms underlying both may differ from patients with normal kidney function.

Analysis of variation in chloroplast DNA sequences.

This chapter introduces and reviews methods for analyzing variation in chloroplast DNA, mainly by polymerase chain reaction (PCR) and subsequent revelation of polymorphisms. Sources for chloroplast primers are discussed, as well as methods such as Sanger sequencing, PCR followed by restriction fragment length polymorphism (RFLP), gel electrophoresis, fragment analysis on automated DNA sequencers, denaturing high-performance liquid chromatography (dHPLC), and next-generation sequencing (NGS). A special section deals with peculiarities of chloroplast DNA variation, such as tandem repeats and mini- and microsatellites.