Sensitive detection of polyalanine expansions in PHOX2B by polymerase chain reaction using bisulfite-converted DNA.

Congenital central hypoventilation syndrome, also known as Ondine's curse, is characterized by idiopathic abnormal control of respiration during sleep. Recent studies indicate that a polyalanine expansion of PHOX2B is relevant to the pathogenesis of this disorder. However, it is difficult to detect the repeated tract because its high GC content inhibits conventional polymerase chain reaction (PCR) amplification.

Correlation of neuron-specific enolase and S100B with histological cerebral damage in fetal sheep after severe asphyxia.

Experimental brain damage was induced in 16 fetal sheep by umbilical cord occlusion, and the correlation of neuron-specific enolase (NSE) or S100B with the damage grade was investigated in seven fetuses. Significant correlations of damage degree with NSE (p = 0.016) and S100B (p = 0.

Maternal methamphetamine administration during pregnancy influences on fetal rat heart development. [corrected].

Methamphetamine (MAP) is one of the most abused drugs in Japan. The rate of MAP abuse by young women has recently reached more than 50 percent in adolescents. A major health concern is that these women will continue to use MAP during pregnancy.

Real-time PCR quantitation of FE65 a beta-amyloid precursor protein-binding protein after traumatic brain injury in rats.

In cases of traumatic brain injury (TBI) in which the patient survived for only a short period of time and was without macroscopic changes at autopsy, it is difficult to diagnose TBI. To detect early diagnostic markers of diffuse axonal injury (DAI), real-time quantitative reverse transcriptase-polymerase chain reaction (RT-PCR) in an experimental head trauma model of rat was chosen. The beta-amyloid precursor protein (beta-APP) is a well-known diagnostic marker of DAI which can be detected by immunolabeling as early as 1.