International Journal of Medical Laboratory
Volume:4 Issue: 4, Nov 2017

Platelet components (PCs) have widespread applications in clinical cases. Since PCs store in room temperature (between 20-24°C), they are susceptible to bacterial contamination. There are varied approaches for identifying bacterial contamination in PCs. These methods categorized into two groups: Firstly, culture based methods and secondly, non-culture based methods. Both of them have a couple of merits and demerits. BacT/ALERT is a culture-based technique, which has been approved by the food and drug administration. Although sensitivity and specificity of this method could be debatable and is not universal. This method is considered as gold standard contemporary method and it is far more dependable and superb in comparison with the contamination detection methods. It is assumed that, application of rapid methods play an important role in detection of bacterial contamination in the future. Accordingly, this study aimed to represent a summary of each method, which was used for bacterial contamination detection in PCs with detailed assessment of culture-based methods, specifically BacT/ALERT.

The issue of the quality in healthcare cannot be ignored anymore. Laboratories play vital roles in control and prevention of diseases by providing timely and accurate result for patient management including disease surveillance. The aim of the study is to assess the quality of laboratory services in a Tertiary Health Institution in Sokoto.
A descriptive cross sectional study was used and a two-stage sampling technique applied to select the 96 laboratory respondents and 60 clinicians from a tertiary hospital in Sokoto Nigeria. Close-ended, self-administered questionnaires and a checklist were used to collect data, which were analyzed using SPSS.
More than two-thirds of laboratory respondents have not received in-service trainings and among the few that received trainings, only three had training on laboratory quality management. Nearly all the laboratories have the basic infrastructure to ensure quality services. More than two-thirds of laboratory respondents had committed errors on the bench while 83% reported observing other laboratory staff commit errors. Three-quarters of the errors committed were at the pre-analytical and analytical phases, the most prevalent being mislabeling or failing to label the sample and complete loss of results, respectively. Length of time to obtain results and opportunity to discuss the findings with the laboratory personnel were laboratory services rated poor by clinicians.
Few laboratory respondents received in-service training on laboratory quality assurance and most prevalent errors committed were at pre-analytical and analytical phases. Staff trainings and enforcement of quality standards in medical laboratories is recommended.

Enzybiotics are probably the future line of weapons against drug resistant bacteria. They lyse bacteria with the new mechanisms with few likelihood of generating resistance. LasA, which is secreted from Pseudomonas strains degrades Staphylococcus aureus (S. aureus) cell wall and has the potential to use against drug resistant S. aureus infections.
Codon-optimized gene of the mature form of the LasA protein was ordered. The gene was double digested with NcoI and XhoI restriction enzymes and sub-cloned into pET28a() digested with the same enzymes. Recombinant construct was introduced into BL21 DE3 cell. Expression of the gene was induced by 0.2 mM isopropyl β-D-1-thiogalactopyranoside and recombinant protein was affinity purified by Ni-NTA mini-column. The staphylolytic activity of the recombinant LasA protein was evaluated on Methicillin-resistant S. aureus (MRSA) by disk diffusion.
Fragment of the LasA gene encoding mature form of the LasA protein was introduced into pET28a() expression vector. C-terminal
his-tagged recombinant LasA protein was produced in BL21 DE3 E. coli cells. Over 50% purity has been achieved by affinity purification of the LasA protein from the total cell lysate. The yield of purified protein was 5.4 mg.l-1. Growth of MRSA was completely inhibited by dilutions of recombinant his-tagged LasA.
The present study shows that the mature form of the LasA can be expressed in E. coli BL21 DE3 cells. C-terminal his-tagged form of the mature LasA protein has staphylolytic activity against MRSA and so it can be a promising therapeutic agent.

The human leukocyte antigen-E (HLA-E) is a member of non-classical HLA class-I genes which is highly conserved through evolution. In general, so far 25 alleles of HLA-E have been described. However, the existence of only two allelic group; HLA-E*01:01 and HLA-E*01:03 have been demonstrated in all the populations. HLA-E*01:01 and HLA-E*01:03 differ only at codon 107 of exon 3. The aim of this study was to survey on the frequency of HLA-E alleles; HLA-E*01:01 and HLA-E*01:03 in healthy and high blood sugar subjects.
Genomic DNA was extracted from the whole blood of 137 randomly selected healthy individuals and 86 patients with high blood sugar by using salting-out method. HLA-E*01:01 and HLA-E*01:03 alleles were determined by polymerase chain reaction sequence-specific primers. To overcome the ambiguity of some results, polymerase chain reaction-restriction fragment length polymorphism method saw used. Finally, the nucleotide sequence of a limited number of polymerase chain reaction products was determined.
In healthy subjects, the allelic frequency of HLA-E*01:01 and HLA-E*01:03 were 48.9% and 51.1%, respectively. In high blood sugar subjects, the allelic frequency of HLA-E*01:01 and HLA-E*01:03 were 50.6% and 49.4%, respectively. The dominant allele in the healthy subjects was HLA-E*01:03 and in high blood sugar group was HLA-E*01:01 without significant differences for HLA-E*01:01 and HLA-E*01:03 frequencies in high blood sugar group.
Our results about the frequencies of HLA-E*01:01 and HLA-E*01:03 alleles in Iranian population showed similarities with French and Korean populations.

Involvement of matrix metalloproteinases 3 (MMP3) in breast cancer tumor progression and metastasis has been revealed. MMP3 -1171 5A/6A and 5A/5A polymorphisms in the gene promoter increase expression of the enzyme. The possible relationship of these polymorphisms and serum levels of major histocompatibility complex class I chain-related protein A and B (MICA/B) in breast cancer patients was goal of the study.
In this case-control study, 105 breast cancer patients and 100 age-matched healthy women were selected. The MMP3-1171 5A/6A polymorphism was determined by nested and restriction fragment length polymorphism polymerase chain reaction. Concentration of MICB and MICA in serum of breast cancer patients has measured using enzyme-linked immunosorbent assay method.
Our results showed that 5A/5A 6A/5A genotypes in the breast cancer group (77.18%) were more frequent compared to healthy participants (64%). However, the frequency of MMP3 -1171 5A/6A genotypes in the breast cancer patients and healthy donors was similar. Additionally, in the patients with 5A/6A genotypes, the mean of MICB concentration was 51.3±16 pg/ml whereas; in the homozygote 6A/6A genotype, it was 4.7±2.6 pg/ml. Statistical analysis confirmed a significant difference between MMP3 -1171 5A/6A and serum MICB levels in the patients (p=0.02). Based on our results MMP3-1171 5A/6A polymorphism did not alter MICA concentration in the patients (p=0.15)
The MMP3 -1171 5A/6A genotype might be associated with shedding of MICB in breast cancer patients.

Legionnaires’ disease is seen in sporadic and epidemic form. The most prevalent cause is Legionella pnuemophilia (L.pneumophila), which produces a severe disease in vulnerable individuals with a high fatality rate. This study was conducted due to the wide and universal distribution of the Legionnaires’ disease, lack of conventional and accessible diagnostic method, unresponsiveness to conventional antibiotic therapy in some pneumonia patients and the lack of any report about it in Kashan city, Iran.
This descriptive study was performed on 117 pneumonia patients hospitalized in Kashan Shahid Beheshti hospital. After obtaining the consent form, urine specimens of the patients for isolating and detecting of L.pneumophila were examined using the enzyme-linked immunosorbent assay method. A questionnaire containing information about demographic, clinical and para-clinical findings was filled out by the researcher.
From a total of 117 cases, 11 (9.4%) urinary antigens of L.pnuemophilia were detected. 48 cases (41%) were males and 69 (59%) were females. The most cases were in ≥60 age group. There was no significant association between sex, age, job with number of L.pneumophila cases, but there was a significant correlation between smoking, disturbance of consciousness, increase of aspartate aminotransferase and the prevalence of Legionella.
The prevalence of L.pnuemophilia among the pneumonia patients was 9.4%. Considering that there is a significant association between smoking and disturbance of consciousness, education about avoiding of smoking and considering L.pnuemophilia as a cause of pneumonia in patients with disturbance of consciousness is recommended.

Atherosclerosis is currently a chronic disease in which cholesterols accumulate in large arteries. Many genes such as liver X receptor α (LXRα) are involved in the cholesterol homeostasis. Curcumin, the main active polyphenol component derived from Curcuma longa, contribute to anti-inflammation and antioxidant in the treatment of atherosclerosis. Thus, this study intended to determine the role of curcumin in the cholesterol biosynthesis and LXRα gene expression in mice.
This study examined the effects of curcumin on the gene expression via LXRα in monocytes of hypercholesterolemia mice, which were treated with the curcumin oral gavage at the dose of 15 mg/kg for 4 weeks, measured using real time polymerase chain reaction. To further investigate the effects of curcumin in hypercholesterolemia as well as non- hypercholesterolemia mice, the total cholesterol, triglyceride, low density lipoprotein and high density lipoprotein in plasma have been also measured.
The average has been calculated by SigmaPlot software, showing that LXRα gene expression causes no significant difference between the control group and the experimental groups (p

Benzopyrones are a group of compounds including coumarins and chromenes. Chromenes have a heterocyclic structure with gamma benzopyran which has anticancer activities. In this investigation we studied the effect of 4 new derivatives of chromene compounds on the human acute lymphoblastic leukemia cell line MOLT4.
The structure of the new compound was established using spectroscopic method (1H NMR, 13C NMR). MOLT4 cells were cultured in Roswell Park Memorial Institute 1640 medium with 10% fetal bovine serum. The cytotoxic effect of different concentrations (0, 50, 250, 500 and 1000 nM) of novel synthetic compounds were evaluated by MTT assay and cell counting after different incubation times (24, 48, 72 h). Expression levels of 3 genes related to apoptosis (p53, Bax, Fas) were measured using real-time quantitative polymerase chain reaction.
These compounds all decreased viability of the MOLT4 cells in a time- and dose-dependent manner. Also meaningful difference was found between all concentrations and control groups (p