No associations of a set of SNPs in the Vascular Endothelial Growth Factor (VEGF) and Matrix Metalloproteinase (MMP) genes with survival of colorectal cancer patients.

In this study, we aimed to investigate the associations of genetic variations within select genes functioning in angiogenesis, lymph-angiogenesis, and metastasis pathways and the risk of outcome in colorectal cancer patients. We followed a two-stage analysis: First, 381 polymorphisms from 30 genes (eight Vascular Endothelial Growth Factor (VEGF) and 22 Matrix Metalloproteinase [MMP] genes) were investigated in the discovery cohort (n = 505). Then, 16 polymorphisms with the lowest P-value in this analysis were investigated in a separate replication cohort (n = 247).

Detection of antibiotic resistance in probiotics of dietary supplements.

Background: Probiotics are live microorganisms that confer nutrition- and health-promoting benefits if consumed in adequate amounts. Concomitant with the demand for natural approaches to maintaining health is an increase in inclusion of probiotics in food and health products. Since probiotic bacteria act as reservoir for antibiotic resistant determinants, the transfer of these genes to pathogens sharing the same intestinal habitat is thus conceivable considering the fact that dietary supplements contain high amounts of often heterogeneous populations of probiotics.