http://www.hindawi.com The latest articles from Hindawi Publishing Corporation © 2013 , Hindawi Publishing Corporation . All rights reserved. Sat, 18 May 2013 09:47:06 +0000 http://www.hindawi.com/journals/ijb/2013/512481/ Activation of the complement component C3 is an important step in the complement cascade, contributing to inflammatory mechanisms. Considerable research on gene-disrupted mycobacterial strains using animal models of tuberculosis infection has reported the roles of some of the mycobacterial genes during tuberculosis infection. The aim of the present study was to assess the pattern of complement activation by the devR gene-disrupted Mycobacterium tuberculosis H37Rv strain and compare with that by its wild-type strain. In vitro complement activation at the level of C3 by the gene-disrupted strain, its complemented strain, and wild-type strain was performed using solid-phase ELISA. It was observed that the ability of devR gene-disrupted M. tuberculosis H37Rv to activate C3 was significantly reduced in comparison to its wild-type strain (). In addition, C3 activation by the complemented devR mutant strain was almost similar to that of the wild strain, which indicated that the reduced ability to activate C3 could potentially be due to the deletion of devR gene. These findings indicate that the gene devR probably aids in complement activation and contributes to the inflammatory processes during tuberculosis infection. V. Narayan Rao, S. Manivannan, J. S. Tyagi, and V. D. Ramanathan Copyright © 2013 V. Narayan Rao et al. All rights reserved. Tue, 07 May 2013 09:03:26 +0000 http://www.hindawi.com/journals/ijb/2013/324136/ Pertussis or whooping cough is a highly infectious respiratory disease caused by Bordetella pertussis. In vaccinating countries, infants, adolescents, and adults are relevant patients groups. A total of 707 clinical specimens were received from major hospitals in Malaysia in year 2011. These specimens were cultured on Regan-Lowe charcoal agar and subjected to end-point PCR, which amplified the repetitive insertion sequence IS481 and pertussis toxin promoter gene. Out of these specimens, 275 were positive: 4 by culture only, 6 by both end-point PCR and culture, and 265 by end-point PCR only. The majority of the positive cases were from ≤3 months old patients (77.1%) (). There was no significant association between type of samples collected and end-point PCR results (). Our study showed that the end-point PCR technique was able to pick up more positive cases compared to culture method. Tan Xue Ting, Rohaidah Hashim, Norazah Ahmad, and Khairul Hafizi Abdullah Copyright © 2013 Tan Xue Ting et al. All rights reserved. Mon, 11 Mar 2013 09:14:04 +0000 http://www.hindawi.com/journals/ijb/2013/168742/ Objective. We compared laboratory developed real-time PCR assays for detection of Mycoplasma hominis and for detection and differentiation of Ureaplasma urealyticum and parvum to culture using genitourinary specimens submitted for M. hominis and Ureaplasma culture. Methods. 283 genitourinary specimens received in the clinical bacteriology laboratory for M. hominis and Ureaplasma species culture were evaluated. Nucleic acids were extracted using the Total Nucleic Acid Kit on the MagNA Pure 2.0. 5 μL of the extracts were combined with 15 μL of each of the two master mixes. Assays were performed on the LightCycler 480 II system. Culture was performed using routine methods. Results.  M. hominis PCR detected 38/42 M. hominis culture-positive specimens, as well as 2 that were culture negative (sensitivity, 90.5%; specificity, 99.2%). Ureaplasma PCR detected 139/144 Ureaplasma culture-positive specimens, as well as 9 that were culture negative (sensitivity, 96.5%; specificity, 93.6%). Of the specimens that tested positive for Ureaplasma species, U. urealyticum alone was detected in 33, U. parvum alone in 109, and both in 6. Conclusion. The described PCR assays are rapid alternatives to culture for detection of M. hominis and Ureaplasma species, and, unlike culture, the Ureaplasma assay easily distinguishes U. urealyticum from parvum. Scott A. Cunningham, Jayawant N. Mandrekar, Jon E. Rosenblatt, and Robin Patel Copyright © 2013 Scott A. Cunningham et al. All rights reserved.