Effect of Air Velocity and Initial Conditioning on the Moisture Buffer Value of Four Different Building Materials.

Porous materials are able to exchange moisture with the surrounding air. The more hygroscopic they are, the more they contribute to regulate ambient humidity. This ability is characterized by the moisture buffer value (MBV) which is measured under dynamic solicitations according to different protocols.

Bacterial precursors and unsaturated long-chain fatty acids are biomarkers of North-Atlantic deep-sea demosponges.

Sponges produce distinct fatty acids (FAs) that (potentially) can be used as chemotaxonomic and ecological biomarkers to study endosymbiont-host interactions and the functional ecology of sponges. Here, we present FA profiles of five common habitat-building deep-sea sponges (class Demospongiae, order Tetractinellida), which are classified as high microbial abundance (HMA) species. Geodia hentscheli, G.

Differential processing of dissolved and particulate organic matter by deep-sea sponges and their microbial symbionts.

Deep-sea sponges create hotspots of biodiversity and biological activity in the otherwise barren deep-sea. However, it remains elusive how sponge hosts and their microbial symbionts acquire and process food in these food-limited environments. Therefore, we traced the processing (i.

Effect of FHA and Prn on Bordetella pertussis colonization of mice is dependent on vaccine type and anatomical site.

Bordetella pertussis vaccine escape mutants that lack expression of the pertussis antigen pertactin (Prn) have emerged in vaccinated populations in the last 10-20 years. Additionally, clinical isolates lacking another acellular pertussis (aP) vaccine component, filamentous hemagglutinin (FHA), have been found sporadically. Here, we show that both whole-cell pertussis (wP) and aP vaccines induced protection in the lungs of mice, but that the wP vaccine was more effective in nasal clearance.

Spiculous skeleton formation in the freshwater sponge under hypergravity conditions.

Successful dispersal of freshwater sponges depends on the formation of dormant sponge bodies (gemmules) under adverse conditions. Gemmule formation allows the sponge to overcome critical environmental conditions, for example, desiccation or freezing, and to re-establish as a fully developed sponge when conditions are more favorable. A key process in sponge development from hatched gemmules is the construction of the silica skeleton.

The paradox of a long grounding during West Antarctic Ice Sheet retreat in Ross Sea.

Marine geological data show that the West Antarctic Ice Sheet (WAIS) advanced to the eastern Ross Sea shelf edge during the Last Glacial Maximum (LGM) and eventually retreated ~1000 km to the current grounding-line position on the inner shelf. During the early deglacial, the WAIS deposited a voluminous stack of overlapping grounding zone wedges (GZWs) on the outer shelf of the Whales Deep Basin. The large sediment volume of the GZW cluster suggests that the grounding-line position of the paleo-Bindschadler Ice Stream was relatively stationary for a significant time interval.

Data Verification Tools for Minimizing Management Costs of Dense Air-Quality Monitoring Networks.

Aiming at minimizing the costs, both of capital expenditure and maintenance, of an extensive air-quality measurement network, we present simple statistical methods that do not require extensive training data sets for automated real-time verification of the reliability of data delivered by a spatially dense hybrid network of both low-cost and reference ozone measurement instruments. Ozone is a pollutant that has a relatively smooth spatial spread over a large scale although there can be significant small-scale variations. We take advantage of these characteristics and demonstrate detection of instrument calibration drift within a few days using a rolling 72 h comparison of hourly averaged data from the test instrument with that from suitably defined proxies.

Complete Genome Sequences of 11 Bordetella pertussis Strains Representing the Pandemic ptxP3 Lineage.

Pathogen adaptation has contributed to the resurgence of pertussis. To facilitate our understanding of this adaptation we report here 11 completely closed and annotated Bordetella pertussis genomes representing the pandemic ptxP3 lineage. Our analyses included six strains which do not produce the vaccine components pertactin and/or filamentous hemagglutinin.

Studying Bordetella pertussis populations by use of SNPeX, a simple high-throughput single nucleotide polymorphism typing method.

Large outbreaks of pertussis occur despite vaccination. A first step in the analyses of outbreaks is strain typing. However, the typing of Bordetella pertussis, the causative agent of pertussis, is problematic because the available assays are insufficiently discriminatory, not unequivocal, time-consuming, and/or costly.

Complete Genome Sequences of Bordetella pertussis Isolates B1917 and B1920, Representing Two Predominant Global Lineages.

Bordetella pertussis is the causative agent of pertussis, a disease which has resurged despite vaccination. We report the complete, annotated genomes of isolates B1917 and B1920, representing two lineages predominating globally in the last 50 years. The B1917 lineage has been associated with the resurgence of pertussis in the 1990s.

Investigations into the emergence of pertactin-deficient Bordetella pertussis isolates in six European countries, 1996 to 2012.

Pathogen adaptation has been proposed to contribute to the resurgence of pertussis. A striking recent example is the emergence of isolates deficient in the vaccine component pertactin (Prn). This study explores the emergence of such Prn-deficient isolates in six European countries.

Global population structure and evolution of Bordetella pertussis and their relationship with vaccination.

Bordetella pertussis causes pertussis, a respiratory disease that is most severe for infants. Vaccination was introduced in the 1950s, and in recent years, a resurgence of disease was observed worldwide, with significant mortality in infants. Possible causes for this include the switch from whole-cell vaccines (WCVs) to less effective acellular vaccines (ACVs), waning immunity, and pathogen adaptation.

Small mutations in Bordetella pertussis are associated with selective sweeps.

Bordetella pertussis is the causative agent of pertussis, a highly contagious disease of the human respiratory tract. Despite high vaccination coverage, pertussis has resurged and has become one of the most prevalent vaccine-preventable diseases in developed countries. We have proposed that both waning immunity and pathogen adaptation have contributed to the persistence and resurgence of pertussis.

SNP-based typing: a useful tool to study Bordetella pertussis populations.

To monitor changes in Bordetella pertussis populations, mainly two typing methods are used; Pulsed-Field Gel Electrophoresis (PFGE) and Multiple-Locus Variable-Number Tandem Repeat Analysis (MLVA). In this study, a single nucleotide polymorphism (SNP) typing method, based on 87 SNPs, was developed and compared with PFGE and MLVA. The discriminatory indices of SNP typing, PFGE and MLVA were found to be 0.

Comparative genomics of prevaccination and modern Bordetella pertussis strains.

Background: Despite vaccination since the 1950s, pertussis has persisted and resurged. It remains a major cause of infant death worldwide and is the most prevalent vaccine-preventable disease in developed countries. The resurgence of pertussis has been associated with the expansion of Bordetella pertussis strains with a novel allele for the pertussis toxin (Ptx) promoter, ptxP3, which have replaced resident ptxP1 strains.

Bordetella pertussis strains with increased toxin production associated with pertussis resurgence.

Before childhood vaccination was introduced in the 1940s, pertussis was a major cause of infant death worldwide. Widespread vaccination of children succeeded in reducing illness and death. In the 1990s, a resurgence of pertussis was observed in a number of countries with highly vaccinated populations, and pertussis has become the most prevalent vaccine-preventable disease in industrialized countries.

The identification of response regulator-specific binding sites reveals new roles of two-component systems in Bacillus cereus and closely related low-GC Gram-positives.

In bacteria, environmental challenges are often translated into a transcriptional response via the cognate response regulators (RRs) of specialized two-component systems (TCSs). A phylogenetic footprinting/shadowing approach was designed and used to identify many novel RR-specific operators for species of the Bacillus cereus group and related Gram-positives. Analysis of the operator sequences revealed characteristic traits for each RR subfamily.

On the response of a label-free interferon-gamma immunosensor utilizing electrochemical impedance spectroscopy.

The research on our flow-injection, label-free, non-faradaic impedimetric immunosensor for interferon-gamma (IFN-gamma) has been extended. The sensor is prepared by immobilization of anti-IFN-gamma antibodies on a self-assembled monolayer (SAM) of acetylcysteine, deposited on polycrystalline gold. A multi-frequency impedance method is described, which allows time-resolved measurement of Nyquist plots.

Primary invasive ocular squamous cell carcinoma in a horse.

A 12-year-old Haflinger gelding was presented to the veterinary medical teaching hospital of the University of Zurich with a light-pink raised mass on the temporal limbus and conjunctiva of the left eye. Squamous cell carcinoma was confirmed histologically after keratectomy and cryotherapy. Seven months later, a smooth pink, progressively enlarging mass was observed within the cornea of the left eye.

Feline infectious pneumonia: a short literature review and a retrospective immunohistological study on the involvement of Chlamydia spp. and distemper virus.

A short literature review of feline infectious pneumonia, feline Chlamydia and Paramyxoviridae is presented. In a retrospective study (from 1987 to 1996) 245 cases of feline pneumonia or conjunctivitis/rhinitis were investigated: histological diagnoses and aetiologies were compared; all lungs were examined immunohistologically for the occurrence of chlamydia and of canine distemper virus (CDV), but neither pathogen could be demonstrated. The results confirm previous reports indicating that feline chlamydia is not a primarily pulmonary pathogen and that CDV is not a causative agent of pneumonia in cats as it is in large felids.

Interleukin 6 levels in synovial fluids of patients with different arthritides: correlation with local IgM rheumatoid factor and systemic acute phase protein production.

Interleukin 6 (IL-6), a multifunctional cytokine particularly active in regulation of the acute phase response, governs the terminal maturation of B lymphocytes and participates in early activation of T cells. IL-6 levels of synovial fluids of 153 patients with different arthritides were measured by a simple sandwich enzyme immunoassay. Highest IL-6 concentrations were detected in patients with rheumatoid arthritis (RA), particularly in those characterized by very active general symptoms and severe joint pain.