Quantification of bacteria in water using PLS analysis of emission spectra of fluorescence and excitation-emission matrices.

Bacterial contamination of drinking water is a considerable concern for public health. Tryptophan-like fluorescence (TLF) has been widely suggested to enable fast and inexpensive monitoring and quantification of bacterial contamination of water. Typically, TLF is determined at a certain excitation (ex)/emission (em) wavelengths pair.

Development of Novel Promiscuous Anti-Chemokine Peptibodies for Treating Autoimmunity and Inflammation.

Chemokines and their receptors play critical roles in the progression of autoimmunity and inflammation. Typically, multiple chemokines are involved in the development of these pathologies. Indeed, targeting single chemokines or chemokine receptors has failed to achieve significant clinical benefits in treating autoimmunity and inflammation.

Development of a molecular method for testing the effectiveness of UV systems on-site.

We established a molecular method for quantifying ultraviolet (UV) disinfection efficacy using total bacterial DNA in a water sample. To evaluate UV damage to the DNA, we developed the "DNA damage" factor, which is a novel cultivation-independent approach that reveals UV-exposure efficiency by applying a simple PCR amplification method. The study's goal was to prove the feasibility of this method for demonstrating the efficiency of UV systems in the field using flow-through UV reactors.

Prediction of Bacterial Contamination Outbursts in Water Wells through Sparse Coding.

Maintaining water quality is critical for any water distribution company. One of the major concerns in water quality assurance, is bacterial contamination in water sources. To date, bacteria growth models cannot predict with sufficient accuracy when a bacteria outburst will occur in a water well.

Cryptosporidium and Giardia removal by secondary and tertiary wastewater treatment.

Wastewater disposal may be a source of environmental contamination by Cryptosporidium and Giardia. This study was conducted to evaluate the prevalence of Cryptosporidium oocysts and Giardia cysts in raw and treated wastewater effluents. A prevalence of 100% was demonstrated for Giardia cysts in raw wastewater, at a concentration range of 10 to 12,225 cysts L(-1), whereas the concentration of Cryptosporidium oocysts in raw wastewater was 4 to 125 oocysts L(-1).

Microbial Source Tracking in Adjacent Karst Springs.

Modern man-made environments, including urban, agricultural, and industrial environments, have complex ecological interactions among themselves and with the natural surroundings. Microbial source tracking (MST) offers advanced tools to resolve the host source of fecal contamination beyond indicator monitoring. This study was intended to assess karst spring susceptibilities to different fecal sources using MST quantitative PCR (qPCR) assays targeting human, bovine, and swine markers.

Structure of bacterial communities in diverse freshwater habitats.

The structures and dynamics of bacterial communities from raw source water, groundwater, and drinking water before and after filtration were studied in four seasons of a year, with culture-independent methods. Genomic DNA from water samples was analyzed by the polymerase chain reaction - denaturing gradient gel electrophoresis system and by cloning of the 16S rRNA gene. Water samples exhibited complex denaturing gradient gel electrophoresis genetic profiles composed of many bands, corresponding to a great variety of bacterial taxa.

Conserved interactions with cytoskeletal but not signaling elements are an essential aspect of Drosophila WASp function.

Wiskott-Aldrich Syndrome proteins (WASp) serve as important regulators of cytoskeletal organization and function. These modular proteins, which are well-conserved among eukaryotic species, act to promote actin filament assembly in response to cues from various signal transduction pathways. Genetic analysis has revealed a requirement for the single Drosophila homolog, Wasp (Wsp), in cell-fate decisions governing specific neuronal lineages.