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Markers Useful (marker + useful)

Distribution by Scientific Domains
Medical Sciences60%
Life Sciences40%

Selected Abstracts

Aortic Valve Sclerosis: Is It a Cardiovascular Risk Factor or a Cardiac Disease Marker?

ECHOCARDIOGRAPHY, Issue 3 2007
F.I.S.C.U., Pasquale Palmiero M.D.
Background: Aortic valve sclerosis, without stenosis, has been associated with an increased cardiovascular mortality and morbidity due to myocardial infarction. However, it is unclear whether it is a cardiovascular risk factor or a cardiac disease marker. The goal of our study is to evaluate the difference in the prevalence of cardiovascular disease and risk factors among patients with or without aortic sclerosis. Methods: This observational study compared a group of 142 consecutive subjects with aortic valve sclerosis, assigned as group S, with a group of 101 subjects without aortic sclerosis, assigned as group C. Patients with bicuspid aortic valves and those with antegrade Doppler velocity across aortic valve leaflets exceeding 2.0 m/sec were excluded. Results: Mean ages of groups S and C were 71 ± 8, and 68.8 ± 6 years, respectively (P value = not significant). The prevalence of smoking, diabetes, hypercholesterolemia, hypertension, pulse pressure, left ventricular diastolic dysfunction, atrial fibrillation, and stroke was not significantly different between the two groups. However, there was a significantly higher prevalence of left ventricular hypertrophy (P = 0.05), ventricular arrhythmias (P = 0.02), myocardial infarction (P = 0.04), and systolic heart failure (P = 0.04) in aortic sclerosis group. Conclusions: Aortic sclerosis is associated with a higher prevalence of left ventricular hypertrophy, ventricular arrhythmias, myocardial infarction, and systolic heart failure, while the prevalence of cardiovascular risk factors is not different between aortic sclerosis patients and controls. Hence, aortic sclerosis represents a cardiac disease marker useful for early identification of high-risk patients beyond cardiovascular risk factors rate. [source]

Differential expression of activation-induced cytidine deaminase (AID) in nodular lymphocyte-predominant and classical Hodgkin lymphoma

THE JOURNAL OF PATHOLOGY, Issue 5 2005
Axel Greiner
Abstract Activation-induced cytidine deaminase (AID) is indispensable for class switch recombination and somatic hypermutation of immunoglobulin genes. Expression of AID has been detected in germinal centre centroblasts and in lymphomas derived from germinal centre cells. However, in situ studies of AID expression have until now been hampered by a lack of antibodies suitable for immunohistochemistry. To overcome this problem, an AID-specific monoclonal antibody suitable for immunohistochemical staining of formalin-fixed, paraffin wax-embedded tissue sections has been generated. This antibody was shown to detect AID expression in normal germinal centre B-cells as well as in non-Hodgkin lymphomas with a putative germinal centre origin. Using this antibody, a virtually exclusive cytoplasmic localization of AID in normal and neoplastic B-cells is shown. Employing a combination of immunohistochemistry and AID-specific in situ hybridization, it is demonstrated that AID is consistently expressed in the neoplastic cells of nodular lymphocyte-predominant Hodgkin lymphoma (HLnlp) but only infrequently in classical HL (cHL). This is in keeping with the notion that tumour cells of HLnlp represent transformed germinal centre B-cells showing evidence of somatic hypermutation. AID represents an additional marker useful in the differential diagnosis of HLnlp and cHL. Copyright © 2005 Pathological Society of Great Britain and Ireland. Published by John Wiley & Sons, Ltd. [source]

Are adjunctive markers useful in routine cervical cancer screening?

DIAGNOSTIC CYTOPATHOLOGY, Issue 7 2008
Application of p16INK4a, HPV-PCR on ThinPrep samples with histological follow-up
Abstract The objectives of the study were to evaluate 1) the diagnostic sensitivity and specificity of p16INK4a as a marker for high-grade cervical lesions, 2) the results of a real-time polymerase chain reaction detecting high-risk human papillomavirus, and 3) the interobserver variability of the p16INK4a interpretation. A total of 232 ThinPrep samples were stained for p16INK4a, and HPV-DNA PCR was performed on 107 specimens with inclusion of both benign and abnormal cytology. Histological follow-up information was collected. The diagnostic sensitivity of ASC+ with CIN2+ in histology as endpoint was 96% for p16INK4a and 100% for HR-HPV DNA PCR, and the diagnostic specificity was 41% and 27%, respectively. If p16INK4a had been used for triage of the ASC samples, then 18 patients (42%) could have been spared unnecessary follow-up procedures compared to six patients (21%) with the HR-HPV DNA test. Diagn. Cytopathol. 2008;36:453,459. © 2008 Wiley-Liss, Inc. [source]

Development and characterization of polymorphic markers for the sap-stain fungus Ophiostoma quercus

MOLECULAR ECOLOGY RESOURCES, Issue 1 2009
J. W. GROBBELAAR
Abstract Eight polymorphic markers were developed from South African isolates of Ophiostoma quercus. The genome was screened for repeat regions using the fast isolation by amplified fragment length polymorphism of sequences containing repeats protocol and 20 de novo primer pairs flanking putative microsatellite regions were designed. Eight loci were optimized and their polymorphisms evaluated by sequencing. The repeat and flanking regions were highly polymorphic containing both indels and base-pair substitutions revealing a total of 46 alleles in 14 isolates and an average heterozygosity of 0.68. Substantial sequence variability makes these markers useful for genotyping populations in order to calculate diversity and monitor global movement of O. quercus. [source]

Linkage mapping of gene-associated SNPs to pig chromosome 11

ANIMAL GENETICS, Issue 3 2006
M. Sawera
Summary Single nucleotide polymorphisms (SNPs) were discovered in porcine expressed sequence tags (ESTs) orthologous to genes from human chromosome 13 (HSA13) and predicted to be located on pig chromosome 11 (SSC11). The SNPs were identified as sequence variants in clusters of EST sequences from pig cDNA libraries constructed in the Sino,Danish pig genome project. In total, 312 human gene sequences from HSA13 were used for similarity searches in our pig EST database. Pig ESTs showing significant similarity with HSA13 genes were clustered and candidate SNPs were identified. Allele frequencies for 26 SNPs were estimated in a group of 80 unrelated pigs from Danish commercial pig breeds: Duroc, Hampshire, Landrace and Large White. Eighteen of the 26 SNPs genotyped in the PiGMaP Reference Families were mapped by linkage analysis to SSC11. The EST-based SNPs published here are new genetic markers useful for linkage and association studies in commercial and experimental pig populations. This study represents the first gene-associated SNP linkage map of pig chromosome 11 and adds new comparative mapping information between SSC11 and HSA13. Furthermore, our data facilitate future studies aimed at the identification of interesting regions on pig chromosome 11, positional cloning and fine mapping of quantitative trait loci in pig. [source]