Characterization and Antimicrobial Resistance of Environmental and Clinical Species Isolated from Fresh Water Ornamental Fish and Associated Farming Environment in Sri Lanka.

The aims of this study were to characterize and investigate antimicrobial susceptibility and presence of integrons in 161 spp. isolated from ornamental freshwater fish farming environment, apparently healthy and diseased fish. Phylogenetic analyses of the gene sequences identified as the most abundant species (75.

Manipulation of the tumor microenvironment by cytokine gene transfection enhances dendritic cell-based immunotherapy.

The tumor microenvironment strongly influences clinical outcomes of immunotherapy. By transfecting genes of relevant cytokines into tumor cells, we sought to manipulate the microenvironment so as to elicit activation of T helper type 1 (Th1) responses and the maturation of dendritic cells (DCs). Using a synthetic vehicle, the efficiency of in vivo transfection of GFP-cDNA into tumor cells was about 7.

Responsiveness of the Short Warwick Edinburgh Mental Well-Being Scale (SWEMWBS): evaluation a clinical sample.

Background: SWEMWBS is a popular measure of mental wellbeing, shown to be valid in clinical populations. Responsiveness to change has not yet been formally assessed.

Methods: Analysis of data from a clinical sample of 172 clients undergoing up to 4 sessions of cognitive hypnotherapy.

NMR diffusion and relaxation studies of 2-nitroimidazole and albumin interactions.

Nitroimidazole derivatives are of current interest in the development of hypoxia targeting agents and show potential in the establishment of quantitative measures of tumor hypoxia. In this study, the binding of 2-nitroimidazole to albumin was probed using NMR diffusion and relaxation measurements. Binding studies were conducted at three different protein concentrations (0.

Development of effective tumor immunotherapy using a novel dendritic cell-targeting Toll-like receptor ligand.

Although dendritic cell (DC)-based immunotherapy shows little toxicity, improvements should be necessary to obtain satisfactory clinical outcome. Using interferon-gamma injection along with DCs, we previously obtained significant clinical responses against small or early stage malignant tumors in dogs. However, improvement was necessary to be effective to largely developed or metastatic tumors.