Automated type specific ELISA probe detection of amplified NS3 gene products of dengue viruses.

Aim: To apply an automated system of nucleic acid hybridisation coupled with the enzyme linked immunosorbent assay (ELISA) for the type specific detection of amplification products of dengue viruses.

Methods: Non-structural 3 (NS3) gene targets of reference strains of all four dengue and other flaviviruses, as well as dengue patient viraemic sera, were subjected to reverse transcription and polymerase chain reaction using consensus and dengue type specific primers and digoxigenin-11-dUTP label incorporation. The amplification products were detected by biotinylated type specific primers which served as ELISA capture probes bound to streptavidin coated tubes.

Distortion in TGF beta 1 peptide immunolocalization in biliary atresia: comparison with the normal pattern in the developing human intrahepatic bile duct system.

Biliary atresia is an important cause of neonatal obstructive jaundice in which there is inflammation, sclerosis and eventual obliteration of the bile duct system. Its onset may be antenatal, affecting the normal development of the biliary system. The intrahepatic biliary system is derived from the ductal plate, a sheath of cuboidal epithelium that appears at the hepatocyte-mesenchymal junction around the portal vein branches at 6 weeks gestation.

The delta-subunit of murine guanine nucleotide exchange factor eIF-2B. Characterization of cDNAs predicts isoforms differing at the amino-terminal end.

Protein synthesis in mammalian cells is regulated at the level of the guanine nucleotide exchange factor, eIF-2B, which catalyzes the exchange of eukaryotic initiation factor 2-bound GDP for GTP. We have isolated and sequenced cDNA clones encoding the delta-subunit of murine eIF-2B. The cDNA sequence encodes a polypeptide of 544 amino acids with molecular mass of 60 kDa.

Immunologic and structural relatedness of the integrin beta 7 complex and the human intraepithelial lymphocyte antigen HML-1.

We recently cloned the newest human integrin beta subunit, termed beta 7, from a cDNA library constructed from SEA-activated T lymphocytes. In this communication, we report on the structure of the human integrin beta 7 protein complex determined using a rabbit anti-beta 7 peptide antibody raised to an N-terminal 22 amino acid residue sequence deduced from the human beta 7 subunit cDNA. The beta 7 subunit (Mr 116,000) expressed on PHA lymphoblasts associates with a single major alpha subunit (alpha H) that is distinct from the prominent T cell marker, integrin alpha 4.

Titanium hemi-great toe implant: a preliminary study of its efficacy.

The purpose of this preliminary study is to evaluate the effectiveness of the titanium hemi-great toe implant. The device is found to be successful in helping to treat painful degenerative joint disease of the first and second metatarsophalangeal joints. The implant's most promising application appears to be use in patients below the age of 50 years manifesting metatarsophalangeal joint dystrophy, with subsequent clinical debilitation, who become surgical candidates.

[Assessment of the ejection fraction of the right ventricle with echocardiography].

The purpose of this article is to evaluate and compare the right ventricular ejection fraction (RVEF) as parameter of right ventricular function by means of echocardiography. We studied 16 patients (15 male, 1 female) from 48 to 82 years of age (mean 58 years) from whom 8 had history of myocardial infarction (MI) with extension to the right ventricle (RV) in a period of time no longer than 7 days. The MI was diagnosed clinically as well as by enzymes, electrocardiogram and cardiac gammagram with 99mTc-pyrophosphate.

Seroepidemiology and molecular epidemiology of the Chinese rotavirus.

The Chinese rotavirus which causes epidemics of diarrhoea in adult humans was isolated in 1983. This virus, designated adult diarrhoea rotavirus (ADRV), resembles typical rotaviruses morphologically and has a genome made up of 11 discrete segments of double-stranded RNA. Because the Chinese rotavirus has a unique RNA pattern on polyacrylamide gel electrophoresis and is antigenically distinct from group A rotaviruses, it is tentatively included in group B.