Background: Different methods, with varying degrees of specificity and/or sensitivity, are used for diagnosis of sepsis. The present study was designed to determine and compare the sensitivity and specificity of blood culture with Acridine Orange (A.O.) stained smear of buffy coat in patients with sepsis.Material and methods: This research was conducted on 101 hospitalized patients with clinical signs and symptoms compatible with sepsis. Blood cultures were taken and A.O. staining was done on blood samples of all patients.Results: Blood cultures were positive in 20 (19.8%) patients. Sensitivity and specificity of blood cultures were 26% and 92% respectively. A.O. stained smears of buffy coats were positive in 54 (54.5%) patients. Sensitivity and specificity of A.O. Stained smears of buffy coats were 83% and 100% respectively.Conclusion: A.O. stained smear of buffy coat, as a diagnostic test of sepsis is more sensitive than blood culture. In addition, it takes less than one hour to be performed, as compared to blood cultures that give results in 2-3 days.

Brucellosis is one of the most common zoonotic diseases in Iran and human brucellosis is endemic in all parts of the country. Growth of Brucella is slow and blood culture of these bacteria by use of classical methods is time-consuming. Furthermore, in endemic area culture is required for definitive diagnosis. In the present study, direct urease test and acridine orange staining were tried on the BACTEC blood culture broths for early presumptive identification of Brucella growth. Blood cultures were attempted in 102 seropositive patients. In the forty one blood cultures positive for Brucella, coccobacilli were seen in broth smears stained with acridine orange stain, and also were urease test positive, thus providing presumptive identification of Brucella growth. Urease test was negative and bacteria were not seen in the broth smears of the remaining 61 broths negative for Brucella growth. Because of simplicity, reliability and reproducibility, these tests can be routinely incorporated in the laboratory for diagnosis of brucellosis.

Acridine orange supported on multi-walled carbon nanotube (MWCNT) is used for modification of carbon-paste electrode. The studies show that acridine orange efficaciously immobilized in the matrix of the electrode by applying nafion/MWCNT composite under the ultrasonic condition. The results of voltammetric experiments demonstrate that the prepared electrode has an effective response to DA and AA and a relatively big anodic peak separation (nearly 368 mV) is obtained for these compounds. Good sensitivity and selectivity and very low detection limit (0. 03 μ M) makes the modified electrode very effective in the manufacture of simple devices for the concurrent detection of dopamine in the presence of ascorbic acid in clinical and pharmaceutical preparations.

Background: In recent decades relation between ROS concentration and semen quality was noted. Saffron has traditionally been not only considered as a food additive but also as a medicinal herb, which has a good antioxidant properties. Vitamin E is considered as a endogenous and supplementary antioxidant which can protects the cell. The aim of this study was to evaluate the protection influence of saffron and vitamin E on sperm DNA against acid.Methods: Thirty adult male Wistar rats divided into saffron (n=10), vitamin E (n=10) and control (n=10) groups randomly. Rats received saffron (100 mg/kg/day), vitamin E (100 mg/kg/day) and distilled water (0.5 cc/day) in saffron, vitamin E and control groups respectively. After 60 days, cauda epididymis dissected and sperm were used for analysis of sperm chromatin susceptibility to acid denaturation by acridine orange (AO) staining. AO staining was carried out with or without acid detergent incubation.Findings: Our results purposed that saffron and vitamin E can decrease sperm DNA damage against acid.Conclusion: Saffron and vitamin E protect DNA against denaturation probably because of their powerful antioxidant properties.

Purpose: To image leukocyte adherence to the vascular endothelium and extravasation into surrounding tissues in neovascularized corneas using acridine orange, a selective DNA stain, in rats.Methods: Corneal neovascularization was induced by placing two sutures in the cornea of one eye of 12 Long-Evans rats. One week later, acridine orange (4 mg/kg) was injected via the tail vein and the eyes were evaluated using a scanning laser ophthalmoscope (SLO) 3-5 minutes, 20 minutes, and one hour after injection. Images were recorded on videotape for further analysis.Results: Acridine orange staining showed adherent leukocytes in corneal vessels at 3-5 minutes post-injection. After 20 minutes, leukocytes were seen in the corneal vessels and in the surrounding tissues. At 1 hour post-injection, decreased number of leukocytes was visible in the tissues, but none were seen in the corneal vessels.Conclusion: Acridine orange effectively demonstrate the leukocyte / endothelial interactions (leukocyte adherence) in the blood vessel, as well as leukocyte infiltration of surrounding tissues in neovascularized corneas. This technique may have prognostic value in corneal disease in which neovascularization is the pathologic component.

Introduction: Our aim was to compare the nuclear DNA integrity of the spermatozoa from infertile men with abnormal semen parameters with that from normospermic fertile men, and to evaluate the relationship between the sperm DNA integrity and semen parameters. Materials and Methods: Thirty ejaculate samples with abnormal semen analysis and 30 ejaculates with normal semen parameters were randomly collected from infertile and fertile men, respectively. The acridine orange test was used to assess the integrity of sperm DNA. Results: The number of ejaculates with a DNA Fragmentation Index (DFI) above 30% were 16 (53.3%) and 22 (73.3%) in fertile and infertile subjects, respectively (P = .10). The mean DFI was 37.7 ±19.6% and 46.1 ±16.7% in the fertile and infertile subjects, respectively (P = .24). The DFI of the fertile men with normal sperm morphology (12 patients) ranged from 1% to 80%. In the samples with oligoasthenospermia, mean DFI was 52.7 ± 17.9%. There were 2 samples with severe teratospermia (normal morphology less than 4%) and DFIs of 70% and 87%. There were no significant correlations between the DNA integrity and the 3 parameters of semen quality in our 60 subjects. Conclusion: Our results failed to show any significant difference in the DNA integrity of the spermatozoa between infertile and fertile men. Also, no correlation was noticed between the DNA abnormality and the semen parameters in the studied samples.  

Objective: Micronuclei are induced in cells by a variety of substances, like UV radiation, infrared rays, X-radiations, and chemicals. Among them tobacco- specific nitrosamines have been reported to be potent mutagenic agents which are thought to be responsible for the induction of chromosomal aberrations resulting in production of micronuclei. The main aim of our study is to compare MN frequency among subjects, chewing tobacco only, chewing and smoking tobacco only, and chewing, smoking with alcohol, and to co-relate with control subjects.Methods: Healthy subjects are included in the study and divided into four groups having 20 subjects in each group. Group-I is chewing only, group-II chewing and smoking, group-III chewing and smoking with alcohol, group-IV control. Smears were made from buccal exfoliated cells and stained with DNA specific stain Acridine orange. Frequency on MNC per 100 cells was assessed with, one way ANOVA & Tukey HSD Multiple Comparisons test withp<0.05.Results: The mean number of MN was 2.3, 2.4, 3.6 in the group of chewing only, chewing & smoking, chewing, smoking & alcohol respectively. While assessing MN in the controls, out of 20 cases, 19 showed no MN among the cells examined while 1 patient showed 1 MN each per 100 cells examined.Conclusion: The present study concludes that MN is a better surrogate biomarker to predict genotoxicity for tobacco related habits.