Comparison between electroporation and polyfection in pig sperm: efficiency and cell viability implications.

SummaryThe aim of this study was to optimize protocols for electroporation (EP) and polyfection (PLF) using polyethyleneimine (PEI) for pig sperm transfection and to determine which method was the most efficient. For EP standardization, different voltages, amounts and times of electric pulses were tested using propidium iodide (PI) as reporter. For PLF standardization, different concentrations of fluorescein isothiocyanate (FITC)-labelled PEI (PEI/FITC) were incubated with sperm for different periods of time.

Mycobacterium tuberculosis population structure shift in a 5-year molecular epidemiology surveillance follow-up study in a low endemic agro-industrial setting in São Paulo, Brazil.

Starting with 257 outpatients attending the specialized health service for tuberculosis (TB) between 2002 and 2006 in Araraquara, an agro-industrial area with low tuberculosis (TB) incidence in São Paulo state, Brazil, positive mycobacterial cultures were obtained in 130 cases, of which 121 were confirmed as Mycobacterium tuberculosis complex. This report assesses the genetic diversity observed on 69.42% (n=84) of the clinical isolates, for which both spoligotyping and 12-loci MIRU typing data were fully interpretable.

Cytotoxic lignans from the stems of Styrax camporum (Styracaceae).

An ethanolic extract from the stems of Styrax camporum Pohl (Styracaceae), a plant traditionally used for gastrointestinal diseases, was fractionated and subjected to flash chromatography and afforded two benzofuran lignans, egonol and homoegonol, and one furofuran lignan, (+/-)syringaresinol, which were identified by spectral data interpretation. Their cytotoxic activities against Hep-2 (larynx epidermoid carcinoma), HeLa (human cervix carcinoma) and C6 (rat glioma) cell lines were evaluated using the MTT (3-(4,5-dimethylthiazol-2-yl)-2,5-diphenyl-2H-tetrazolium bromide) assay at several concentrations for 24h. Activities could be observed for egonol against C6 (IC50 = 3.

A transcript finishing initiative for closing gaps in the human transcriptome.

We report the results of a transcript finishing initiative, undertaken for the purpose of identifying and characterizing novel human transcripts, in which RT-PCR was used to bridge gaps between paired EST clusters, mapped against the genomic sequence. Each pair of EST clusters selected for experimental validation was designated a transcript finishing unit (TFU). A total of 489 TFUs were selected for validation, and an overall efficiency of 43.

The generation and utilization of a cancer-oriented representation of the human transcriptome by using expressed sequence tags.

Whereas genome sequencing defines the genetic potential of an organism, transcript sequencing defines the utilization of this potential and links the genome with most areas of biology. To exploit the information within the human genome in the fight against cancer, we have deposited some two million expressed sequence tags (ESTs) from human tumors and their corresponding normal tissues in the public databases. The data currently define approximately 23,500 genes, of which only approximately 1,250 are still represented only by ESTs.