Geographic review on the specimens of the Caatinga Biome in the Jardim Botânico do Rio de Janeiro (RB) herbarium.

Evaluation of ELISA kits for the screening of four nitrofuran metabolites in aquaculture products according to the European guideline for the validation of screening methods

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The administration of nitrofurans to livestock to treat or prevent animal diseases has been banned in the EU for the production of food of animal origin. The corresponding marker residues are tissue-related metabolites AMOZ, AHD, SEM, and AOZ. The MRPL (minimum required performance limit)/RPA (Reference point for action) was set at 1 µg kg-1 in … Read more

Evaluation of a genus-specific rGroEL 1-524 IgM-ELISA and commercial ELISA kits during the course of leptospirosis in Thailand

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In the present study, we developed a genus-specific rGroEL1-524 IgM-ELISA assay for use in screening diagnosis of suspected leptospirosis among acute undifferentiated febrile illness patients during acute fever. The diagnostic accuracies of the rGroEL1-524 IgM-ELISA, commercial Panbio IgM-ELISA, and Virion-Serion Classic IgG-ELISA were evaluated using 133 Thai leptospirosis sera and 210 controls. Sensitivities were 91.7%, 59.6%, and … Read more

Different protective efficacies of a novel antigen-specific DNA vaccine encoding chicken type Ⅱ collagen via intramuscular, subcutaneous, and intravenous vaccination against experimental rheumatoid arthritis

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Tolerizing DNA vaccines encoding key autoantigens are one of emerging strategies for the treatment of rheumatoid arthritis (RA). Among these vaccines, the most representative is pcDNA-CCOL2A1, an antigen-specific DNA vaccine encoding chicken type Ⅱ collagen (CCⅡ) with significant therapeutic and prophylactic efficacy in collagen-induced arthritis (CIA) rat models. We compared the in situ expression levels … Read more

Immunization of mice with the self-peptide ACBP coupled to keyhole limpet hemocyanin

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Keyhole limpet hemocyanin (KLH) is a glycosylated multi-subunit metalloprotein that elicits a strong nonspecific immune activation, thus inducing both cellular and humoral immune responses. The exceptional immunogenicity of this protein can be leveraged to vaccinate mice against self-antigens that otherwise would not induce an autoimmune response. This protocol describes the covalent conjugation of KLH with … Read more

Novel disintegrin-like peptides derived from an amphibian skin cDNA sequence of Hypsiboas punctatus

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Disintegrins comprise a family of small proteins that bind to and alter the physiological function of integrins, especially integrins that mediate platelet aggregation in blood. Here, we report a lysine-glycine-aspartic acid (KGD) disintegrin-like motif present in a 15-amino acid residue peptide identified in a cDNA library of the amphibian Hypsiboas punctatus skin. The original peptide … Read more

cDNA synthesis for BCR-ABL1 detection at the MMR level: the importance of using the appropriate kit

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BACKGROUND The synthesis of complementary DNA (cDNA) for use in the detection of BCR-ABL1 at the Major Molecular Response (MMR) level is a well-established method used by clinical laboratories world-wide. However, the quality of cDNA provides sensitivity challenges and consequently affects the detection of Minimal Residual Disease (MRD). RESULTS Herein, we evaluated six commercially available … Read more

Novel polygenic risk score approach with transcriptome-based weighting for genetic risk prediction of late-onset Alzheimer’s disease

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Background: Recent genetic studies showed that polygenic risk score (PRS) could be used to identify individuals at high risk of Alzheimer’s disease (AD). Despite this success, early detection and intervention of AD still remain challenging. In this study, we suggest a novel PRS approach that is weighted by predicted tissue-specific gene expression levels. Method: We used … Read more

Geographic review on the specimens of the Caatinga Biome in the Jardim Botânico do Rio de Janeiro (RB) herbarium.

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Geographic review on the specimens of the Caatinga Biome in the Jardim Botânico do Rio de Janeiro (RB) herbarium.

This article provides a quantitative description of flora specimens saved in the Jardim Botânico of Rio de Janeiro Herbarium that belongs to the Federal Conservation Units of Caatinga’s phytogeography space. The Caatinga represents 11% of Brazilian territory and is, in South America, the largest and most biodiverse semi-arid tropical ecoregion, however solely 5% of its … Read more