Introduction: An increase in the incidence of pertussis has been observed in recent years. The aim of this study was to determine the usefulness of several procedures, including real-time PCR, for the laboratory diagnosis of pertussis, and to investigate clonal relationships among clinical isolates of Bordetella pertussis.
Methods: During the period of August 2002 to October 2003, nasopharyngeal swabs were collected from pediatric and adult patients with symptoms of pertussis, and contact cases. The samples were processed by culture, direct fluorescence assay (DFA), and real-time PCR. Most of the isolates were further characterized by pulsed-field gel electrophoresis (PFGE).
Results: Among 121 clinical samples corresponding to 117 patients, B. pertussis was detected in 17 samples by culture (14.1%), 30 samples (24.8%) by DFA and 41 samples (33.9%) by real-time PCR. Real-time PCR diagnosed 26 and 24 more cases than culture and DFA, respectively. Seventeen clinical isolates were available for PFGE analysis, 14 collected during the study period and three in 1997, 2000 and 2001. PFGE identified 5 different genotypes, 2 of which included 8 (genotype C) and 6 (genotype E) isolates. Two of the older isolates (1997 and 2001) were identified as genotype C.
Conclusion: Real-time PCR applied to the diagnosis of pertussis provided more positive results than DFA and culture, but the true diagnostic value of these results should be clarified. Two bacterial clones were dominant, and one of them has circulated at least since 1997.
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http://dx.doi.org/10.1157/13092466 | DOI Listing |
J Infect Dev Ctries
December 2024
Graduate Program in Health Sciences, Federal University of Sergipe, SE, Brazil.
Introduction: The coronavirus disease 2019 (COVID-19) pandemic has significantly impacted public transportation systems worldwide. In this study, we evaluated the rate of COVID-19 positivity and its associated factors among users of public transportation in socioeconomically disadvantaged regions of Brazil during the pre-vaccination phase of the pandemic.
Methodology: This ecological study, conducted in Aracaju city in Northeast Brazil, is a component of the TestAju Program.
Chin Med J (Engl)
January 2025
Department of Obstetrics and Gynecology, Peking Union Medical College Hospital, Peking Union Medical College, Chinese Academy of Medical Sciences, National Clinical Research Center for Obstetric & Gynecologic Diseases, Beijing 100730, China.
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Methods: Polyacrylamide hydrogels were applied to create an ECM microenvironment with variable stiffness to evaluate the effects of ECM stiffness on the proliferation, differentiation, and expression of ECM components in vaginal fibroblasts.
J Assist Reprod Genet
January 2025
UMass Memorial Medical Center, Memorial Campus, 119 Belmont St, Worcester, MA, 01605, USA.
Purpose: Induction of meiotic competence is a major goal of the controlled ovarian stimulation used in ART. Do factors intrinsic to the oocyte contribute to oocyte maturation? Deletions in mtDNA accumulate in long-lived post mitotic tissues and are found in human oocytes. If oogenesis cleanses the germline of deleterious deletions in mtDNA, meiotically competent oocytes should contain lower levels of mtDNA deletions vs.
View Article and Find Full Text PDFInt J Biol Macromol
January 2025
Department of Applied Biology, School of Biotechnology, East China University of Science and Technology, Shanghai 200237, China.
Lincomycin, produced by the actinomycete Streptomyces lincolnensis, is highly effective against Gram-positive bacteria and protozoans, making it widely used in clinical settings. This study identified LcbR2, a MarR family transcriptional regulator, as an activator of lincomycin biosynthesis. Knocking out the lcbR2 gene reduced lincomycin production by 63.
View Article and Find Full Text PDFFish Shellfish Immunol
January 2025
Key Laboratory of Freshwater Aquatic Genetic Resources Ministry of Agriculture and Rural Affairs, Key Laboratory of Exploration and Utilization of Aquatic genetic Resources, Ministry of Education, International Research Center for Marine Biosciences, Ministry of Science and Technology, Shanghai Ocean University, Shanghai, China. Electronic address:
Frog virus 3-like ranaviruses (FV3-like viruses), particularly FV3 (Frog virus 3), represent typical species within the genus Ranavirus, primarily infecting amphibians and reptiles, thereby posing serious threats to aquaculture and biodiversity conservation. We designed a pair of universal primers and a probe targeting the conserved region of the major capsid protein (MCP) genes of FV3-like viruses. By integrating recombinase-aided amplification (RAA) with lateral flow dipstick (LFD) technology and real-time fluorescence (RF) modification, we established RAA-LFD and RF-RAA assays.
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