Beneficial Effects of Probiotic Treatment on Gut Microbiota in Very Low Birth Weight Infants.

The very low birth weight (VLBW) infant is at great risk for marked dysbiosis of the gut microbiota. In the present study, a total of 36 VLBW infants were randomly divided into two groups, who were treated with combined probiotics and placebo, and 72 fecal specimens on days 14 and 28 of life were collected from them. Finally, 32 fecal specimens extracted from 16 preterm VLBW infants were qualified and analyzed using 16S rRNA gene sequencing.

Co-amplification at lower denaturation temperature-PCR: methodology and applications.

Co-amplification at lower denaturation temperature-polymerase chain reaction (COLD-PCR) is a novel form of PCR that selectively denatures and amplifies low-abundance mutations from mixtures of wild-type and mutation-containing sequences, enriching the mutation 10 to 100 folds. Due to the slightly altered melting temperature (Tm) of the double-stranded DNA and the formation of the mutation/wild-type heteroduplex DNA, COLD-PCR methods are sensitive, specific, accurate, cost-effective and easy to maneuver, and can enrich mutations of any type and at any position, even unknown mutations within amplicons. COLD-PCR and its improved methods are now applied in cancer, microorganisms, prenatal screening, animals and plants.

[Effects of hepatitis B virus on human semen parameters and sperm DNA integrity].

Objective: To investigate the effects of hepatitis B virus (HBV) in semen on human semen parameters and sperm DNA integrity.

Methods: We detected HBV DNA in the semen samples of 153 HBsAg-seropositive patients by real-time fluorescence quantitative PCR and calculated the sperm nuclear DNA fragmentation index (DFI) by sperm chromatin dispersion (SCD) assay. We compared the semen parameters between the HBV DNA-positive group (A, n = 43) and HBV DNA-negative group (B, n = 110) and analyzed the correlation of sperm DFI with the number of HBV DNA copies in the semen.

A meta-analysis of tumor necrosis factor-alpha, interleukin-6, and interleukin-10 in preeclampsia.

Inflammation may play a major role in the pathogenesis of preeclampsia (PE). In this meta-analysis, we determined whether maternal polymorphisms and serum concentrations of tumor necrosis factor-alpha (TNF-α), interleukin-6 (IL-6), and interleukin-10 (IL-10) were associated with PE. All studies investigating the associations between PE and maternal polymorphisms of TNF-α-308G/A, IL-6-174G/C, and IL-10-1082A/G or serum concentrations of TNF-α, IL-6, and IL-10 were reviewed.

[Evaluation PCR-reverse line hybridization assay for detection and identification of Mycobacterium species: a multicenter study].

Objective: To evaluate the PCR-reverse line dot hybridization assay (RLB) based on 16S-23S rDNA internal transcribed spacer (ITS) sequence for detection and identification of mycobacterium species.

Methods: This study was performed in five different centers simultaneously, and the performance of PCR-RLB was estimated and verified by detection of 60 reference strains belonging to 50 mycobacterium species, 10 nonmycobacterial speices and 383 clinical isolates identified by immunochromatographic assay (ICA) combined sequencing and gas chromatography (GC).

Results: The genus-specific probe hybridizied with the amplification of PCR of all mycobacteria and species-specific probes hybridized only with corresponding species, however, neither of them hybridized with the amplification of PCR of nonmycobacterial speices.