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Objective-To investigate oxidative stress biomarkers in a cross-sectional pilot study of 50 participants with sporadic ALS (sALS) compared to 46 control subjects.Methods-We measured urinary 8-oxodeoxyguanosine (8-oxodG), urinary 15-F 2t -isoprostane (IsoP), and plasma protein carbonyl by ELISA methods. We also determined if ELISA measurement of 8-oxodG could be validated against measures from high pressure liquid chromatography coupled with electrochemical detection, the current standard method.Results-8-oxodG and IsoP levels adjusted for creatinine were significantly elevated in sALS participants. These differences persisted after age and gender were controlled in regression analyses. These markers are highly and positively correlated with each other. 8-oxodG measured by the two techniques from the same urine sample were positively correlated (P < .0001). Protein carbonyl was not different between sALS participants and controls.Conclusion-Using ELISA we confirmed that certain oxidative stress biomarkers were elevated in sALS participants. ELISA may be reliable and thus useful in epidemiology studies requiring

Expressed sequence tag -polymerase chain reaction (EST-PCR) molecular markers were used to infer spatial genetic structure of four lowbush blueberry (Vaccinium angustifolium Ait.) fields in Maine. Genetic structure was quantified at three spatial scales: (1) within apparent clones (intrapatch), (2) among clones within a field, and (3) among fields separated by as much as 65 km. Of five ''clones'' or putative individuals examined in the intrapatch study, two showed complete genetic homogeneity within the patch, while three showed some band differences at their edges compared with their interiors. These differences at the edges, however, matched adjacent clones (so-called ''intruders''), from which it was concluded that lowbush blueberry exhibits a fairly tight, phalanx clonal architecture with no evidence of invasive seedling establishment within clones. No significant correlation between genetic and physical distance was found among clones within fields via several statistical approaches. Significant among-field genetic differentiation was found via AMOVA (FPT = 8.4%; p 0.01) based upon transect samples across four fields ranging from 12.5 to 65 km apart. Principal component analysis and spatial autocorrelation (SA) corroborated these findings. Significant positive SA was found at the within-field distance class of <350 m, but SA decreased to an insignificant value by the first interfield distance of 12.5 km. A special form of SA analysis was employed to detect ''hotspots'' of genetic similarity between pairs of adjacent clones in two fields. Results indicated that 5 of 23 pairs of clones (21.7%) were genetically similar to each other, while the majority of pairs (18 of 23; 78.3%) showed random, decreasing patterns of genetic similarity. Results are discussed in terms of clonal dynamics including architecture, seedling recruitment, and inferred pollen or seed dispersal distances.Résumé : Les auteurs ont utilisé des marqueurs moléculaires EST-PCR (étiquette de séquence exprimeé -réaction en chaîne de la polymérase) pour déduire la structure génétique spatiale de quatre champs de bleuets (Vaccinium angustifolium Ait.), du Maine, aux É tats-Unis. Ils ont quantifié la structure génétique à trois échelles spatiales: (1) dans les clones apparents (dans les talles), (2) entre les clones d'un même champ et (3) entre des champs séparés jusqu'à 65 km. Dans l'étude, sur cinq « clones » apparents ou présumés individus examinés, deux montrent une complète homogénéité géné-tique dans la talle, alors que trois montrent quelques différences de bandes à leur pourtour comparativement à leurs centres. Cependant, ces différences aux pourtours correspondent à des clones adjacents nommés « intrus », ce qui permet de conclure que le bleuet nain montre une architecture clonale de type phalanx assez serrée, sans trace d'établissement de plantules invasives dans les clones. On ne trouve aucune corrélation significative pour les distances génétiques et géogra-phiques entre les clones d'un même champ, selon plusieurs approches statistiques....