Bacterial Community Structures in Freshwater Polar Environments of Svalbard.

Two thirds of Svalbard archipelago islands in the High Arctic are permanently covered with glacial ice and snow. Polar bacterial communities in the southern part of Svalbard were characterized using an amplicon sequencing approach. A total of 52,928 pyrosequencing reads were analyzed in order to reveal bacterial community structures in stream and lake surface water samples from the Fuglebekken and Revvatnet basins of southern Svalbard.

Detection and characterization of Wolbachia infections in natural populations of aphids: is the hidden diversity fully unraveled?

Aphids are a serious threat to agriculture, despite being a rather small group of insects. The about 4,000 species worldwide engage in highly interesting and complex relationships with their microbial fauna. One of the key symbionts in arthropods is Wolbachia, an α-Proteobacterium implicated in many important biological processes and believed to be a potential tool for biological control.

Characterization of intracellular HLA-DR, DM and DO profile in K562 and HL-60 leukemic cells.

Surface class-II antigen expression fires-up the antigen presentation process and development of immune response. The absence of surface HLA-DR is used in various systems to avoid immune recognition. Most leukemic cells use such mechanism to escape immune surveillance.

Constitutive intracellular expression of human leukocyte antigen (HLA)-DO and HLA-DR but not HLA-DM in trophoblast cells.

The nonclassic human leukocyte antigen (HLA)-DM molecules have been proved to positively regulate antigen presentation in classic antigen-presenting cells, whereas in B lymphocytes HLA-DO have been identified as negative regulators of the process. The present report examines whether the negative expression of classic class II molecules in trophoblasts implies negative regulation by HLA-DO. It was revealed by immunofluorescence, confocal microscopy, and subcellular fractionation techniques that human trophoblasts, although not expressing any surface HLA-DR antigens, constitutively express intracellular HLA-DR, HLA-DO, and CD74, but not HLA-DM.

Carnitine deficiency in children and adolescents with type 1 diabetes.

Carnitine is essential for the lipid and carbohydrate metabolism, and proper metabolic control in type 1 diabetes has potential impact on long-term complications. The plasma total, free, and acylcarnitine levels in 47 children and adolescents with type 1 diabetes were determined by a radioisotopic assay and compared to the values of a series of anthropometric measurements and metabolic parameters, including blood glycosylated hemoglobin Alc, serum cholesterol and triglycerides, and urine microalbumin levels. Plasma values for total, free, and acylcarnitine were 30.

Early events of the exogenously provided L-Carnitine in murine macrophages, T- and B-lymphocytes: modulation of prostaglandin E1 and E2 production in response to arachidonic acid.

L-carnitine is an essential energy-providing compound to the cell since it transports long chain fatty acids through the mitochondrial membrane and delivers them to the beta-oxidation pathway for catabolism and/or entrance to biosynthetic pathways. Some of the early events taking place in immune cells after L-carnitine inoculation in vitro are defined in this report. Using arachidonic acid as a fatty acid source, we determined the utilization rate of L-carnitine by murine T-, B-lymphocytes and macrophages within two hours of cell culture, its effect on prostaglandin E1 and E2 production and the levels of beta-hydroxy-butyrate.

Expression of serum human leukocyte antigen and growth factor levels in a Greek family with familial endometriosis.

Objective: An increased incidence of endometriosis in the first-degree relatives of patients with endometriosis has been reported, suggesting a familial predisposition and possible genetic influence. In this study, we present a family with four members who have histologically proven endometriosis (mother and three daughters) in two generations and one member with suspected endometriosis in the third generation. The aim of this study was to investigate the presence of serum-soluble class I and class II human leukocyte antigen (sHLA) levels, because they have been shown to be reduced in women with endometriosis.