Search for persistent enterovirus infection of muscle in inflammatory myopathies.

To investigate the hypothesis that the inflammatory muscle diseases (IMD) polymyositis (PM) and dermatomyositis (DM) may be due to a chronic, persistent enterovirus (EV) infection we sought to determine the prevalence of these viruses in muscle tissue using both nested polymerase chain reaction (PCR) and dot-blot hybridization assays. Thirty-six frozen muscle biopsies from 32 adult cases of IMD and 42 biopsies from 36 control subjects with other neuromuscular disorders were studied. Primers for PCR were chosen to conserved regions of the 5'-untranslated region of the EV genome.

Rapid sexing of human embryos by non-radioactive in situ hybridization: potential for preimplantation diagnosis of X-linked disorders.

Sixty spare human embryos at various stages of preimplantation development were prepared for cytogenetic analysis. Fluorescent staining of those with metaphases allowed scoring for the presence of a Y chromosome. In situ hybridization was then performed using a biotinylated Y-specific sequence, and the probe was detected by a standard streptavidin-linked alkaline phosphatase system.