Nucleic acid-based testing

The educational background of bench microbiologists, supervisors, and managers is now even more important, given the current transition from classieal to nucleic acid-based testing methods. 

Nucleic acid-based testing for infectious diseases, as for other clinical conditions, usually involves three major steps specimen processing, nucleic acid amplification, and... 

Diagnostic Tests for Hepatitis B. Hepatitis B has the largest number of diagnostic tests of any of the hepatitis viruses, which makes for a more complicated interpretation of results. Testing currently involves primarily ELISA or related techniques to measure viral antigens or antibodies, but nucleic acid-based tests are becoming more widely used. 

Based on a history of experience with this technology for more than 20 years, it can be stated that this young technology is very reliable. It has been suggested that rigorous and extensive nucleic acid-based tests - most notably a complete sequence assessment of the integrated DNA (or transcribed RNA from recombinant cells)... 

Platinum—polyethyleneimine complexes prevent the division of bacteria, and are being tested as carriers in the treatment of cancer and vimses (445—447). Encapsulated PEIs containing nucleic acid bases activate the neutrophils in human blood (448). 

For the polyureas prepared by the polyaddition reaction of uracil and adenine with hexamethylene diisocyanate, and the polyurethanes containing pendant nucleic acid bases, base-base interactions were studied spectroscopically. The polymers were tested further for their anticlotting property84. ... 

Fig. 19.8d). The data indicate that the multiplexed assay is not only DNA sequence-specific, but also can quantitatively and simultaneously identify the different food-home pathogens. Obviously, the multiplex related labor and sample processing reduction, simpficity, and breadth of testing options on one device, and combinational power of multiple biomarkers, [41] will make the assay even more attractive for the nucleic acids-based diagnostics. 

There have been many studies that contrast the accuracy of various atomic charge and distributed multipole models. These studies include the extensive tests provided when various distributed multipole methods were first proposed. For example, there are published contour plots of the potential around a water molecule, the amino acid histidine, and variations in the electrostatic energies of nucleic acid bases,which confirm the significance of the atomic anisotropy shown in the color three-dimensional displays of the electrostatic field around uracil and pyrimidine. It is clear that the difference... 

Nucleic acid hybridization is based on the precise nucleotide base pairing and hydrogen bonding between one string of nucleotides and a complementary nucleotide sequence. Any diagnostic nucleic acid hybridization test has three essential elements the DNA probe, the target DNA and the signal detection system. Recent developments in detection systems and improvements in safety have enabled... 

Nucleic acid-based approaches are both sensitive and specific, and have been fielded as part of demonstrations and tests. Nucleic acid approaches cannot detect purified biological toxins but may be able to identify associated residues from the organism. The time required to perform a nucleic acid test is decreasing, and for some instruments it is now less than 10 minutes. Instrument packaging is also being dramatically reduced currently, suitcase-sized systems can be purchased. A nucleic acid approach to medical diagnostics is also showing promise... 

Parenteral administration is the primary route of testing delivery for nucleic acid therapeutics irrespective of whether systemic or local effects are desired. However, to some extent, pulmonary and oral routes are also investigated as potential routes for local targeting to treat cystic fibrosis or colonic tissue (171-173). For nonparenteral delivery, the use of pharmaceutical excipients in the formulation is critical. In addition, the production costs of nucleic acid therapeutic-containing drug delivery systems should be minimized. Even for intravenously or subcutaneously injected nucleic acid-based therapeutics, the use of protective carriers is most likely necessary, and advantageous as compared to injection of the naked RNA or DNA. Carriers can be divided into viral or... 

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