Exogrip: assisted hand strength glove - biomed 2011.

A large number of American troops fighting in Afghanistan and Iraq have received wounds in their upper extremities leading to significant nerve damage and loss of strength. These injuries impair their ability to perform day-to-day tasks such as lifting a cup of coffee or opening a door. Although the cause of some injuries in service-people is often unique to their employment, civilian employees in other industries are also plagued with similar physical damage due to other kinds of injuries.

Ultrastructure of the Penetration and Infection of Pansy Roots by Thielaviopsis basicola.

ABSTRACT Transmission electron microscopy was used to study the penetration and infection of pansy roots by Thielaviopsis basicola. Events observed in 7- to 10-day-old roots produced on moist filter paper differed slightly from those in roots from 4-week-old plants washed free of potting media prior to inoculation. By 3 h postinoculation (PI), epidermal cells of roots produced on filter paper exhibited aggregated cytoplasm and papilla formation in response to germ tube tips.

Ultrastructural Characterization of Infection and Colonization of Maize Leaves by Colletotrichum graminicola, and by a C. graminicola Pathogenicity Mutant.

ABSTRACT Observations were made of the ultrastructure of infection and colonization of leaves of a susceptible maize inbred by Colletotrichum graminicola and by a C. graminicola pathogenicity mutant. The mutant causes no symptoms on either maize leaves or stalks.

The use of high pressure freezing and freeze substitution to study host-pathogen interactions in fungal diseases of plants.

This article reports on the use of high pressure freezing followed by freeze substitution (HPF/FS) to study ultrastructural details of host-pathogen interactions in fungal diseases of plants. The specific host-pathogen systems discussed here include a powdery mildew infection of poinsettia and rust infections of daylily and Indian strawberry. The three pathogens considered here all attack the leaves of their hosts and produce specialized hyphal branches known as haustoria that invade individual host cells without killing them.

Pathogenicity of a Novel Biotype of Limonomyces roseipellis in Tall Fescue.

An unusual and undescribed foliar blight of tall fescue was observed in a home lawn and in turf grass research plots near Griffin, GA in May and June, 2000 and 2001. Isolation from lesions yielded mycelium of a basidiomycete with hyphal characteristics (binucleate cells, absence of clamp connections) associated with Laetisaria and Limonomyces spp. Isolates from blighted tall fescue and an isolate of Limonomyces roseipellis formed a clade distinct from isolates of Laetisaria fuciformis based on ribosomal DNA sequences.

Ultrastructure of the zoosporangia of Albugo ipomoeae-panduratae as revealed by conventional chemical fixation and high pressure freezing followed by freeze substitution.

Both conventional chemical fixation and high pressure freezing followed by freeze substitution (HPF/FS) were used to prepare zoosporangia of the oomycete Albugo ipomoeae-panduratae inside infected host leaves for study with transmission electron microscopy. Both fixations gave good preservation of ultrastructural details and data from the two sample types were highly complementary. However, HPF/FS gave better overall specimen contrast and superior preservation of microtubules, basal bodies and curved vacuoles closely associated with basal bodies.

Ultrastructure of the host-pathogen interface in daylily leaves infected by the rust fungus Puccinia hemerocallidis.

Transmission electron microscopy was used to examine details of the host-pathogen interface in daylily leaf cells infected by the rust fungus Puccinia hemerocallidis. Samples were prepared for study by high-pressure freezing followed by freeze substitution. The outstanding preservation of ultrastructural details afforded by this fixation protocol greatly facilitated the study of this host-pathogen interface.

Ultrastructure of the Host-Pathogen Relationship in Entomosporium Leaf Spot Disease of Photinia.

Entomosporium mespili appears to be a hemibiotroph on infected Photinia leaves. This fungal pathogen produced distinctive haustoria in living host cells in young lesions. Each haustorium possessed a long slender neck with a single septum and an enlarged distal body that contained a single nucleus.

abaA controls phialide differentiation in Aspergillus nidulans.

Aspergillus nidulans is an ascomycetous fungus that reproduces asexually by forming multicellular conidiophores and uninucleate spores called conidia. Loss of function mutations in the abacus A (abaA) regulatory locus result in formation of aberrant conidiophores that fail to produce conidia. Wild-type conidiophores form two tiers of sterigmata.

Conidium differentiation in Aspergillus nidulans wild-type and wet-white (wetA) mutant strains.

Conidium (asexual spore) differentiation in wild-type and the wet-white (wetA) mutant of Aspergillus nidulans was compared in intact chains of successively older conidia. Carbohydrate cytochemistry helped define three stages (Stages I, II, and III) of wild-type conidium maturation on the basis of changes in the ultrastructure and composition of the conidium wall. Conidia of the wetA6 mutant strain formed normally but failed to mature during Stages II and III.