Supernatants of precipitated samples were used for the analysis of histamine and 1-methylhistamne as described below. The supernatant (100 μL) from non-precipitated samples was transferred to Amicon ultra

10K analytical filters (Millipore, Carrightwohill, Ireland), and centrifuged for 30 min at 14 000 g. Then, 200 μL of the homogenization solution was added to the concentrated samples and centrifuged selleckchem twice (14 000 g, 30 min) to remove residual histamine and 1-methylhistamine before enzyme activity assays were performed. Concentrated samples were adjusted to 200 μL by addition of homogenization solution, and gently mixed. These samples were divided into 100-μL aliquots for either HDC or HNMT assays. The 100-μL sample prepared for the HDC or HNMT assay (see above) was further divided into two halves: one part served as a negative control (without substrate), and the other part was mixed with 50 μL of the HDC reaction mixture, consisting of (final concentrations) 5 μm aminoguanidine, 10 μm pyridoxal phosphate, 1% polyethylene

glycol 300, and 1 mm histidine, diluted in the homogenization solution to initiate the reaction. The reaction mixture was incubated at 37 °C for 60 min, and the reaction was then terminated by the addition of 10 μL of 2 m HClO4; the reaction mixture was centrifuged for 5 min at 15 000 g, and the supernatant was analysed for histamine with high-performance liquid chromatography (HPLC). The pellet was used for the protein Ponatinib in vivo measurement assay. The procedure for HNMT activity measurement was analogous to the HDC activity assay, with a few exceptions. The HNMT reaction mixture consisted of (final concentrations) 100 μm pargyline, 25 μm S-adenosyl-methionine, and 20 μm histamine, diluted

in the homogenization solution to initiate the reaction, and incubated for 30 min at Sclareol 37 °C. After the reaction had been terminated by the addition of 10 μL of 2 m HClO4, the supernatant was analysed for 1-methylhistamine. The pellet was used for the protein measurement assay. Protein pellets were resuspended in 0.1 m phosphate buffer (pH 7.0) by sonication. The total protein concentration was then measured with the bicinchoninic acid protein assay, according to the manufacturer’s instructions (ThermoFisher, Waltham, MS, USA). On the basis of this data, the activity was expressed as mole of product per hour per milligram of protein. The analytical HPLC system consisted of four Shimadzu LC20AD pumps, a Shimadzu SIL-20AC autosampler, a Shimadzu RF-10Axl fluorescence detector, a Shimazdu CBM-20A controller, and lcsolution 1.21 software (Shimadzu, Kyoto, Japan). The dialysis samples were analysed without prior purification. The histamine analysis method was based on online post-column derivatization with o-phthalaldehyde, as described originally in Yamatodani et al. (1985). Briefly, samples were separated on a 4.

Now is the right time to be undertaking further robust research into the development and testing of processes that would allow for the safe, effective and ethical re-introduction of previously dispensed medicines back into the supply chain. 1. NHS Sustainable Development Unit – Sustainability in the NHS Health Check 2012. Available at http://www.sdu.nhs.uk/documents/publications/Sustainability_in_the_NHS_Health_Check_2012_On-Screen_Version.pdf Last accessed 26/2/2013 2. Mackridge A, Marriott JF. Returned medicines: waste or a wasted opportunity? Journal of Public Health. IWR-1 chemical structure 2007; 29: 258–262 Faris El-Dahiyat, Reem Kayyali Kingston University, Kingston upon Thames, UK

Generic substitution is one way of achieving cost saving for both the public and governments worldwide. However, pharmacists in Jordan are not permitted to substitute any prescriptions. This study assessed patients, pharmacists and physicians perceptions towards generic medicines and generic substitution. All surveyed stakeholders have positive attitudes towards generic medicines and welcomed the introduction of a policy that encourages generic utilisation such as generic prescribing and generic substitution. The findings would provide baseline data to policy makers in Jordan to establish a sound generic policy to enable

cost effective use of medicines. Generic substitution is the practice of switching from a prescribed originator brand medicine to an interchangeable generic medicine containing the same active ingredient, dosage form, strength at the time of dispensing [1]. Dabrafenib In general, generic medicines are 20% to 90% cheaper than the innovator medicine, and their utilisation represents a well-established strategy for controlling healthcare expenditures [2]. In order to implement a sound Tryptophan synthase generic policy in Jordan, all stakeholders should be involved. Therefore, this study aimed to explore Jordanian patients’ and

pharmacists’ perceptions toward generic medicines, as well as evaluating their opinions regarding generic substitution. Moreover, this study investigated physicians’ perception and attitudes toward generic medicines and generic substitution, and it examined factors that affect their pattern of prescribing. Three cross sectional self-administrated questionnaire studies involving patients with chronic diseases, pharmacists, and physicians working in both the public and private sectors in Jordan were undertaken. The study was ethically approved by Kingston University ethics committee. The response rate were 80% (n = 400/500), 58.8%, (n = 294/500) and 75.2%, (n = 376/500) for patients, pharmacists and physicians respectively. Cost of medicines in Jordan was considered high according to 83% of the responding patients. Most patients (92%) preferred to be prescribed the cheapest medicine. Majority of patients (79%) believed that cost should be considered before a drug is prescribed.

International travel is now common worldwide for professional, social, recreational, and humanitarian purposes and has an increasingly

important impact on health care. Travelers are exposed to a variety of health risks in unfamiliar PI3 kinase pathway environments and fever is a common problem in patients returning from travel abroad.1 Fever is an important marker of potentially serious illness in returned travelers and a high percentage of the febrile returned travelers are categorized as having an unspecified febrile illness, meaning they did not have a confirmed or probable diagnosis.2,3 Malaria remained the most common diagnosis in febrile travelers who presented at GeoSentinel clinics from March 1997 through March 2006.2 Other causes of fever in returned travelers

include typhoidal and nontyphoidal salmonellosis, dengue fever, viral hepatitis, and rickettsial infections.2,3 Rickettsial infections in travelers are now of emerging importance as contact with the vectors, mainly ticks, but also fleas, is very common in several countries.2,3 Spotted fever group (SFG) rickettsiae are the second most common diagnosis for systemic febrile illness in travelers to sub-Saharan Africa.4 In the last 15 years African tick bite fever caused by Rickettsia africae has been described as the most frequent rickettsioses acquired by travelers in sub-Saharan Africa.5 Other SFG rickettsioses 5-Fluoracil ic50 such as Mediterranean spotted fever due to Rickettsia conorii have been reported as well as the flea-borne murine typhus caused by Rickettsia typhi, and scrub typhus caused by Orienta tsutsugamushi are transmitted by trombiculid mites. Recently, epidemiological aspects of rickettsial diseases were analyzed in 280 international travelers reported to the GeoSentinel

site from June 1996 through December 2008.6 82.5% of these cases were tick-borne rickettsioses, 5.7% were cases of scrub typhus, and 2.5% were cases of typhus group rickettsioses.6 Most cases were associated with travel to sub-Saharan Africa (75.1%). A European study by Bottieau and colleagues7 in 1,743 patients with fever identified that 4% of the febrile patients returning from Africa presented a rickettsial infection. Rickettsia conorii and R africae were identified in 53 patients, R typhi in four, and O tsutsugamushi Adenosine in three.7 Here we report three cases of murine typhus infection after travel in Tunisia and we review the available data about this disease in the Mediterranean area. The sera of patients returned from Tunisia were received at the WHO Collaborative Center for Rickettsioses and Other Arthropod-Borne Bacterial Diseases in Marseille. For each patient, an acute-phase serum sample was obtained within 2 weeks after the onset of symptoms and, when possible, a convalescent-phase serum sample (ie, one collected more than 2 wk after onset of symptoms) was also obtained.

We identified three segments of the carotid arteries on which to conduct the measurements, the common carotid artery (1 cm proximal to the bifurcation), the carotid bulb (in the bifurcation) and the internal carotid artery (1 cm distal to the bifurcation). Far wall CIMT images were obtained and digitalized for each patient [31]. The median value of the measurements obtained in the three segments BAY 80-6946 nmr was used in the

statistical analyses. The presence of subclinical atherosclerosis was defined as a median CIMT >0.8 mm or the presence of a plaque. A plaque was defined as a thickness >1.5 mm or a focal structure that encroaches into the arterial lumen by at least 0.5 mm, or 50% of the surrounding CIMT value [32]. We used the χ2 test or Fisher’s exact Protease Inhibitor Library mouse test to evaluate the associations between categorical variables. The κ coefficient was used as

a measure of the agreement between the presence of subclinical atherosclerosis and the CVD risk calculated by the FRS. Means for variables with a normal distribution were compared using analysis of variance (anova) and the Kruskall–Wallis test was used for variables with nonnormal (skewed) distributions. When significant differences among CVD risk groups were found, pair-wise comparisons were performed between the groups representing the three levels of CVD risk. Post hoc analyses included the Bonferroni test. Logistic regression analysis was used to study the variables associated with the presence of subclinical atherosclerosis (as a binary variable) in the group of patients with low CVD risk as stratified by FRS (i.e. risk <10%). Variables included in the multivariate

analyses were age, gender, smoking status, systolic blood pressure (SBP), diastolic blood pressure (DBP), glucose, LDL cholesterol, HDL cholesterol, triglycerides, GNA12 BMI, HIV-1 basal viral load, basal CD4 cell count, lipodystrophy, exposure time to nucleoside reverse transcriptase inhibitor (NRTI), nonnucleoside reverse transcriptase inhibitor (NNRTI) and protease inhibitor (PI) treatments, inflammatory markers, and oxidative markers. Statistical analyses were performed with the spss 17.0 statistical package (SPSS, Chicago, IL, USA). A significant difference was defined as two-tailed P<0.05. We observed a low level of agreement between the stratification of CVD risk measured using the FRS and the presence of subclinical atherosclerosis measured using CIMT (Table 1). Of note is the finding that a high number of patients who did have subclinical atherosclerosis were classified as having a low CVD risk using the FRS score (n=66; 56.4%). Table 2 summarizes the data on the patients stratified into three groups according to the presence of atherosclerosis, but with a low or high CVD risk according to the FRS. The group of patients with a high CVD risk according to the FRS and with atherosclerosis were older (P<0.

Lopinavir/ritonavir was discontinued when the plasma viral load dropped below 50 HIV-1 RNA copies/ml. After January 2008, zidovudine/lamuvidine

was replaced with tenofovir/emtricitabine (245/200 mg qd), and lopinavir/ritonavir tablets (600/150 mg bid) http://www.selleckchem.com/products/17-AAG(Geldanamycin).html replaced the capsules. Patients needed to have sufficient fluency in Dutch or English to complete a self-administered HRQL questionnaire. Recruitment of participants and the study design have been described previously [1, 11]. The study was approved by the Medical Ethics Committee of each participating site and written informed consent was obtained from all participants. Patients received a self-report questionnaire measuring HRQL when attending the out-patient clinic for the study visits at weeks

0, 8, 24, 36, 48, 60, 72, 84 and 96. The questionnaire consisted of two parts: the Medical Outcomes Study Health Survey for HIV (MOS-HIV) and a symptom checklist. The MOS-HIV is a widely used questionnaire comprising 10 subscales [12]. Physical health (PHS) and mental health summary (MHS) scores can be calculated on the basis of these subscale scores [13]. Higher scores indicate a better HRQL. The symptom checklist consisted of 14 items referring to symptoms related to PHI or to side effects of cART, i.e. difficulty with sleeping, lack of appetite, nausea, vomiting, diarrhoea, abdominal or stomach pain, fever, NU7441 manufacturer flu-like symptoms such as myalgia or chills, tingling of hands or feet, numb feeling in fingers or toes, dizziness,

itchiness and skin changes. These items were derived from the European Organization for Research and Treatment of Cancer Quality of Life Questionnaire – Core 30 and an HIV/AIDS-specific questionnaire [9]. The questions related to the experience of symptoms during the past week. Symptoms were scored on a four-point scale with the response categories ‘not at all’, ‘a little’, ‘quite a bit’, and ‘very much’. The four-point scale scores were linearly transformed to a scale of 0 to 100, with higher scores indicating more symptoms. We included patients who completed an HRQL questionnaire at baseline and at least one questionnaire during follow-up. Baseline characteristics mafosfamide were compared using χ2 tests for categorical variables and general linear models or Kruskal–Wallis tests for continuous variables. Linear mixed effect models for repeated measurements were used to test for differences in MOS-HIV and symptoms scores during follow-up among the three groups, with baseline values included as a covariate. Model results were summarized by the estimated mean values during follow-up for the three groups, adjusted for baseline measurements. To investigate potential short-term toxicity of cART, we also compared the symptom scores among the three groups at week 8 using general linear models, with the baseline measurement included as a covariate.

There were no significant changes in these enzymes in the cells exposed to H2O2 (Fig. 3). Hence, these data point to the channeling of substrates towards the formation of KG and NADPH with the subsequent decrease in the synthesis of NADH. This strategy ensures that during oxidative stress, sufficient NADPH, a potent reductive fuel, and KG, a powerful scavenger of ROS, are available.

The decrease in the KU-60019 purchase generation of NADH will further help decrease the oxidative burden as this moiety drives the production of ROS via the electron transport chain (ETC). Furthermore, it is critical that during oxidative stress, the effectors mediating ROS production be attenuated. Oxidative phosphorylation is a major generator of ROS (Ludwig et al., 2001; Murphy, 2009). Hence, it is quite conceivable that the complexes mediating this process are downgraded. These Fe-containing complexes are susceptible to H2O2 (Touati, 2000; Middaugh et al., 2005). Indeed, sharp reduction was observed in the activities of Complexes I, II, and IV (Fig. 4). The nature of Complexes I and IV was further confirmed by

the inclusion of rotenone mTOR inhibitor and KCN in the assay mixture. The former is a specific inhibitor for Complex I, while Complex IV is inhibited by KCN. The activity band was not detected in the control CFE in the presence of these inhibitors, respectively (data not included). This strategy of limiting the formation of NADH, coupled with decreased activities of the enzymes involved in its oxidation, provides an effective tool to mitigate H2O2 insult. Pseudomonas fluorescens appears to adopt this tactic in an effort to survive in the oxidative environment induced by H2O2. Numerous SDHB organisms do indeed resort to decreased oxidative phosphorylation and anaerobiosis with the goal of coping with a ROS challenge (Chen et al., 2003; Chenier et al., 2008). In eukaryotic systems, the promotion of the hypoxia-inducible factor (HIF-1α), an activator of anaerobic respiration, is favored (Mailloux et al., 2009a, b). As the catabolism of histidine was

providing glutamate, a moiety involved in the generation of the antioxidant KG, it was important to ascertain whether the enzymes involved in the formation and utilization of KG were modulated by H2O2. When control cells were exposed to H2O2 stress, the decrease in KGDH activity was coupled with the increase in GDH activity. However, when H2O2-stressed cells were introduced into control media, the reverse trend was observed i.e. the activity of KGDH was recovered while the activity of GDH was decreased. Western blot analyses revealed that the latter enzyme was more abundant in the H2O2-treated cells and was affected by this oxidative modulator (Fig. 5). Hence, it is clear that H2O2 was indeed controlling the status of KGDH, GDH, and ICDH and subsequently the levels of KG and NADPH.

All isolates presented ADA activity, although we could not establish a relationship between isolate source and activity (Table S2). Herein, we described the biochemical properties of an ADA activity and two ADA-related sequences present on intact trophozoites of T. vaginalis. Cellular integrity was assessed, before and after the reactions, and the viability of the trophozoites was not affected by any of the conditions used in the assays. The influence of pH on the adenosine deamination in T. vaginalis was verified and the results demonstrated that the optimal pH for ADA activity reached at Apoptosis inhibitor 7.5. It is known that vaginal pH in noninfected women is approximately 4.3, but can vary from

below 4 to pH 7.5 during the menstrual cycle (Stevens-Simon et al., 1994). In agreement, previous studies demonstrated that the optimal pH values for ADA activities from the camel tick, H. dromedarii,

and from the trematode F. gigantica were also 7.5 (Mohamed, 2006; Ali, 2008). Cation exposures (2.5 mM) were able to decrease the adenosine deamination in T. vaginalis in approximately 50%. Higher concentration of calcium (5.0 mM) completely abolished the enzyme activity and the presence of EDTA, a chelating agent, restored ADA activity. BAY 80-6946 Previous data showed that zinc and other divalent cations are able to interact with other amino acid residues and induce an inhibition of the enzyme activity (Cooper et al., 1997; Mohamed, 2006; Rosemberg et al., 2008). Because zinc is toxic to tetracosactide T. vaginalis, we could not perform the experiments on the influence of this metal in ADA activity in intact trophozoites (Langley et al., 1987; Houang et al., 1997). Additional

studies are necessary to explain the relevance of the inhibition of ADA activity by calcium and magnesium in T. vaginalis physiology, because magnesium is the most abundant divalent cation in living cells, with a total cellular concentration between 14 and 20 mM (Schmitz et al., 2007). The substrate curve demonstrated that the apparent KM for adenosine was around 1.13 ± 0.07 mM and the estimated Vmax for adenosine deamination was 2.61 ± 0.054 NH3 min−1 mg−1 protein in T. vaginalis. The kinetic data obtained in this study are in accordance with other studies related to ADA activity, although there are some variations of KM among different ADA members. The KM value of H. dromedarii ADA2 was estimated to 0.5 mM adenosine (Mohamed, 2006), which is relatively close to several ADAs from different sources, such as rat brain (0.45 mM) (Centelles et al., 1988), bovine brain (0.4 mM) (Lupidi et al., 1992), human (0.46 mM) and chicken liver (0.33 mM) (Iwaki-Egawa & Watanabe, 2002). However, lower KM values were reported for ADA activity from mice intestine (0.023 mM) (Singh & Sharma, 2000) and from the sand fly Lutzomyia longipalpis (0.01 mM) (Charlab et al., 2000). Additional data on biochemical characterization revealed the strong preference of the T.

, 2009). However, these applications are commonly used in eukaryotic systems for identification of exon domains, and have not been ported to microbial systems. There is currently no direct need for PET applications in microbial transcriptome sequencing. The Roche 454 sequencing technology is based on pyrosequencing in microreactors on a picotiter plate (Margulies et al., 2005), and its strongest features are the generation

of long sequence reads and the relative speed of the sequencing run (measured in hours). Its disadvantages lie in the smaller amount of data generated (approximately 0.25–1 Gbp Ruxolitinib chemical structure sequence information per plate using the 454 GS FLX and Titanium systems) and hence the relatively high cost, and its difficulty in handling homopolymeric DNA sequences. The Illumina GA technology is based on adapter ligation, followed by anchoring to a prepared substrate, followed by local in situ PCR amplification and sequencing using fluorophore-labelled chain terminators (Bennett et al., 2005). Sequences obtained by Illumina sequencing are usually 35–75-nt long, but advances in the technology

are expected to result in longer readlengths (up to 125 nt) soon. Advantages of the Illumina technique are the large amounts generated (5–10 Gbp total per run), its sequencing accuracy and the relatively low price per Gbp. However, runtimes are measured in days, and increasing the readlength will increase runtimes significantly, BYL719 cost and the images require very large storage space. Because shorter reads may be more difficult to accurately map on genomes (especially those with repeated sequences), operators will have to select the right balance between read length and running time/cost. Finally, the ABI SOLiD technology uses amplified DNA on beads, which are bound to glass slides. The amplified DNA is sequentially hybridized with short defined oligonucleotides, which contain known 3′ dinucleotides and a specific 5′ fluorophore. The oligonucleotide complementary to the template at

its 3′ dinucleotide is ligated to the 5′ end of the 5′-elongating complementary strand, and after fluorophore identification, the 5′ remainder of the oligonucleotide is cleaved to prepare for the next cycle of oligonucleotide annealing and ligation. Repeated cycles Interleukin-3 receptor of DNA synthesis and melting allow for colour-recognition of each base in the DNA sequence (Shendure et al., 2005). The SOLiD technology generates reads of 35–50 nucleotides. The advantages are the high fidelity of the sequences obtained, which makes the technology excellently suited for SNP analysis, and the generation of large datasets (6–15 Gbp total per run). The disadvantages are similar to those of Illumina sequencing. It needs to be noted that the RNA-seq technology needs the availability of a reference genome sequence, similar to microarray technology.

001) and between G2 and G3 (P = 0.007). No significant difference was found between G1 and G2 (P = 0.06). All methods reduced biofilm. Effectiveness was similar between manual brushing and with the electric toothbrush on, whereas both these methods achieved better results

in comparison with the electric toothbrush switched off. “
“International Journal of Paediatric Dentistry 2011; 21: 401–406 Background.  Early in life, vaginally delivered infants exhibit a different composition of the gut flora compared with infants delivered by caesarean section (C-section); however, it is unclear whether this also applies to the oral cavity. Aim.  To investigate and compare the oral microbial profile between infants delivered vaginally and by C-section. Design.  This is a cross-sectional case–control AZD8055 order study. Eighty-four infants delivered either vaginally (n = 42) or by C-section (n = 42) were randomly selected from the 2009 birth cohort at the County Hospital in Halmstad, Sweden. Medically compromised and premature children (<32 weeks) were

excluded. The mean age was 8.25 months (range 6–10 months), and parents were asked to complete a questionnaire on socioeconomic factors, lifestyle, and hygiene habits. Saliva was collected and analysed using checkerboard DNA–DNA hybridization. Results.  A higher prevalence of salivary Streptococcus salivarius, Lactobacillus curvata, Lactobacillus salivarius, and Lactobacuillus casei was detected in infants delivered vaginally (P < 0.05). The caries-associated bacteria Streptococcus mutans and Streptococcus sobrinus were Navitoclax price detected in 63% and 59% of all children, respectively. Conclusion.  A significantly higher prevalence of certain strains of health-related streptococci and lactobacilli was found Atazanavir in vaginally delivered infants compared with infants delivered by C-section. The possible long-term effects on oral health need to be further investigated. “
“To determine the impact of oral mucosal conditions on OHRQoL in preschool children. A cross-sectional study was carried out with a selected representative sample of 724 children aged 2–5 years and their parents/caregivers. Data were collected

through interviews with parents/caregivers, who also answered the B-ECOHIS. A clinical oral examination was performed to determine oral mucosal conditions, dental caries, dental trauma, and malocclusion. Data analysis involved descriptive statistics, the Kolmogorov–Smirnov normality test, the Mann–Whitney U-test and hierarchically adjusted Poisson regression models (P < 0.05, 95% CI). The prevalence of oral mucosal conditions was 50.7%, the most prevalent of which were melanotic macules (17.8%), oral ulcers (11.0%), Fordyce’s spots (9.4%), geographic tongue (5.2%), fissured tongue (1.9%), median rhomboid glossitis (1.8%), and fistula (1.4%). In the final multivariate model, child with 5 years of age (RR = 1.60; 95% CI: 1.08–2.38; P = 0.020), with presence of fistula (RR = 1.94; 95% CI: 1.

It has been postulated that pathogenic organisms decrease expression of their virulence genes, to aide in establishment of persistent infection (Hennig et al., 1999). Previous qRT-PCR results, using samples recovered 6–12 h

following infection, showed that nmaA declined during the sampling period (S. Sathiamoorthy SB203580 research buy et al., unpublished). The levels reported here were even lower. Again, at 6 days postinfection, slowed growth rate may obviate the need to express genes involved in capsule biosynthesis. Another potential virulence factor of M. hemolytica A1, the serotype-specific antigen (Ssa1) was down-regulated 27-fold in vivo. Ssa1 has been implicated in colonization of the nasopharynx and may contain protease activity (Highlander, 2001). It is an outer membrane protein that is recognized by sera from healthy animals resistant to pneumonic pasteurellosis (Lo et al., 1991). This is the first study to show the expression of ssa in vivo. As Ssa1

may be required for colonization of the Selleckchem Decitabine nasopharynx, reduced expression in lung washings is not unexpected. Microarray analysis of the M. hemolytica A1 transcriptome, from bacteria isolated from infected calves at 6 days postinfection, has provided some clues about gene expression in the later stages of infection and disease. Expression of several known virulence factor genes was reduced at this point of infection, while their expression has been shown to be higher during earlier stages. At 6 days after challenge, the results suggest that the bacterial metabolism was changing and perhaps decreasing. Genes involved in energy metabolism, capsule biosynthesis, and amino acid synthesis, all showed lower expression in vivo relative to in vitro while a number of uncharacterized hypothetical protein genes had higher expression. Nevertheless, Thiamet G caution must be exercised when

comparing gene expression data from different studies, due not only to inter-animal variation but also to the different stages of infection studied. In this study, by making the threshold for differential expression more stringent, fewer, and possibly more biologically relevant hypothetical proteins were identified. This research was funded by the Natural Sciences and Research Council of Canada through the scholarships and research grants. Funding for calves and animal housing was provided by Ontario Ministry of Agriculture, Food and Rural Affairs. Funds for microarray design and the implementation were provided to S.K.H. from USDA grant 2004-01320. “
“In this study, a total of 25 endophytic fungi were successfully isolated from the inner bark of Taxus baccata grown in Iran by the aseptic technique. Genomic DNA was extracted from isolated endophytic fungi and subjected to polymerase chain reaction (PCR) analysis for the presence of the Taxus taxadiene synthase (ts) gene, which encodes the enzyme catalyzing the first committed step of taxol biosynthesis.