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Endometriosis is a common gynecologic disorder characterized by chronic pelvic pain, dysmenorrhea, and infertility. Although this condition places significant financial burden on the healthcare system and negatively affects patient's quality of life, the pathophysiology of the disease remains unclear, and noninvasive diagnostic methods are insufficient. The object of this study was to identify potential biomarkers for endometriosis from peripheral blood. We hypothesized that serum biomarkers modified in endometriosis patients would be detected by multiplex cytokine panel, and identification of a combination of these biomarkers would improve diagnostic power. A total of 141 women, aged 15-52 years with regular menstruation, participated in this study. Twenty-one serum cytokines were detected using the commercially available MILLIPLEX MAP Human Cytokine/Chemokine Kit Panel IV. Among these cytokines, breast- and kidney-expressed chemokine (BRAK)/chemokine (C-X-C motif) ligand 14 (CXCL14) was significantly decreased, and proliferation-inducing ligand (APRIL)/tumor necrosis factor ligand superfamily member 13 (TNFSF13) was significantly increased in endometriosis group. APRIL/TNFSF13 and BRAK/CXCL14 alone or in combination, however, failed to show adequate sensitivity or specificity for the diagnosis of endometriosis. Combination of APRIL/TNFSF13 and BRAK/CXCL14 with serum CA-125 levels yielded significantly higher sensitivity (71.2%) for detecting endometriosis without compromising specificity (80.8%) than CA-125 alone in a logistic regression model (P = 0.050). In conclusion, we identified a biomarker combination that detects endometriosis better than CA125 alone. Therefore, we conclude that multiplex cytokine panel is an efficient method for detecting endometriosis, and analysis of additional cytokine panels may lead to identification of a novel biomarker combination with superior diagnostic power.

Ochratoxin A (OTA), a mycotoxin classified as a potentially carcinogenic to humans, is slightly soluble in water. In this study, the transfer rate of OTA in herbal medicines to decoctions was investigated. Herbal medicine decoctions were prepared by boiling and autoclaving herbal medicines contaminated with OTA after soaking and not soaking in water. OTA amounts in decoctions and residues were analyzed using HPLC. Transfer of OTA (12.72–61.33%) from herbal medicines to decoctions was observed. Soaking and autoclaving steps enhanced the transfer rate of OTA to decoctions. The results meant that there is a potential risk for consumption of herbal medicine decoctions. Therefore, regular monitoring for mycotoxins, including OTA, in herbal medicines and proper management to ensure the safety of herbal medicines is necessary to protect consumers.

The effect of different light conditions on the specificity and reliability of thermoluminescence (TL) analysis to detect irradiated samples (potatoes and garlic) during 2 years of storage was investigated. The silicate minerals separated from the nonirradiated samples provided a low-intensity TL glow curve with a maximum peak after 300 °C demonstrating the absence of an irradiation history. The TL glow curve from the irradiated samples provided easy discrimination with TL glow curves of high intensity and maximum peak in temperatures range of 160–185 °C. The results were also confirmed by calculating the TL ratio (TL1/TL2) through normalization (re-irradiation) step. The key parameters of the TL analysis including the TL intensity, TL glow curve shape, and the TL ratio exhibited a time-dependent change. The bleaching effect of different light conditions was also significant, which was most prominent in the case of natural light with a prominent decrease in the TL intensity and ratio. The maximum TL glow peak also showed a shift towards the higher temperature. However, all irradiated samples, irrespective of the storage conditions and time, were easily discernable from the nonirradiated ones considering the shape and intensity of the TL glow curve.

Production of chicken immunoglobulins Y (IgYs) and their applications in prophylactic, therapeutic, detection of microbial contaminants and as a diagnostic tool has been widely studied with limited information from other avians. This study produced Coturnix quail (Coturnix coturnix japonica) egg yolk IgYs against Vibrio parahaemolyticus and Vibrio vulnificus. Formalin inactivated (FIVP, FIVV, mixed FI-VP/VV) and heat inactivated (HIVP, HIVV, mixed HI-VP/VV) Vibrio immunogens (109 CFU/mL) were intramuscularly immunized into quail through thigh muscles. Egg yolk IgY was purified by water dilution-ammonium sulfate precipitation method and the activity was determined by enzyme-linked immunosorbent assay (ELISA). Formalin inactivated immunogens induced high humoral immune response for both V. parahaemolyticus and V. vulnificus over heat inactivated immunogens. However, IgYs resulted from HIVP and FIVV immunogens, showed high specificity to V. parahaemolyticus and V. vulnificus respectively. Detection limits of the indirect ELISA using the produced IgYs were 105 CFU/mL for V. parahaemolyticus and 106 CFU/mL for V. vulnificus. The developed antibodies showed high binding affinity to their corresponding immunogens, very little cross reactivity to Staphylococcus aureus and not other bacteria strains (p

Designing high density DNA arrays representing all the genes of an organism could be limited when the entire genome sequence of the organism is not available or if only a limited number of ESTs are available. In an effort to prepare coding sequences as DNA sources for a microarray, we found that coding region enriched genomic DNA libraries can be produced by S1 nuclease treatment of partially denatured genomic DNA. Sequence analysis of about 1,000 clones using BLASTN and BLASTX searches showed that 46% of the clones in the library have regions which share significant similarity with sequences deposited in the rice EST and nr data bases. These data suggested that clones produced in this library could be directly used as PCR templates, where the resulting PCR products could be spotted on slides for microarray analysis. This technique might be applicable in designing a high density DNA array for an organism whose entire genome sequence is not available.

Clusterin, also known as apolipoprotein J, is a ubiquitously expressed molecule thought to influence a variety of processes including cell death. In the brain, it accumulates in dying neurons following seizures and hypoxic-ischemic (H-I) injury. Despite this, in vivo evidence that clusterin directly influences cell death is lacking. Following neonatal H-I brain injury in mice (a model of cerebral palsy), there was evidence of apoptotic changes (neuronal caspase-3 activation), as well as accumulation of clusterin in dying neurons. Clusterin-deficient mice had 50% less brain injury following neonatal H-I. Surprisingly, the absence of clusterin had no effect on caspase-3 activation, and clusterin accumulation and caspase-3 activation did not colocalize to the same cells. Studies with cultured cortical neurons demonstrated that exogenous purified astrocyte-secreted clusterin exacerbated oxygen/glucose-deprivation-induced necrotic death. These results indicate that clusterin may be a new therapeutic target to modulate non-caspase-dependent neuronal death following acute brain injury.

5-Aminolevulinic acid and its derivatives, which are known to affect the early diagnosis and treatment of cancer, have been synthesized. Simple methods for the synthesis of 5-aminolevulinic acid (ALA), a precursor of porphyrins, have been developed in our laboratory for use in studies on the biosynthesis of porphyrins.

Background Impaired axonal transport may play an early, pivotal role in a variety of neurodegenerative disorders, including Parkinson’s disease (PD). For example, postmortem studies on PD patients show widespread axonal pathology preceding the loss of cell bodies, animal models of PD-linked mutations such as the R1441G LRRK2 mutation exhibit decreased dopamine (DA) terminal fields together with increased dystrophic processes and abnormal axonal swellings, reduced axonal transport is also seen with a-synuclein mutants, and the PD-like toxin, MPP, de-polymerizes microtubules leading to axon fragmentation as well as directly inhibiting axon transport in the isolated squid axoplasm. Thus, PD-linked environmental and genetic factors support the hypothesis that axon transport failure plays an early, critical role in this disorder.