Exposure to Lead in Drinking Water Causes Cognitive Impairment via an Alzheimer's Disease Gene-Dependent Mechanism in Adult Mice.

Background: Exposure to lead (Pb) is a major public health problem that could occur through contaminated soil, air, food, or water, either during the course of everyday life, or while working in hazardous occupations. Although Pb has long been known as a neurodevelopmental toxicant in children, a recent and growing body of epidemiological research indicates that cumulative, low-level Pb exposure likely drives age-related neurologic dysfunction in adults. Environmental Pb exposure in adulthood has been linked to risk of late-onset Alzheimer's disease (AD) and dementia.

Borrelia burgdorferi Engages Mammalian Type I IFN Responses via the cGAS-STING Pathway.

Borrelia burgdorferi, the etiologic agent of Lyme disease, is a spirochete that modulates numerous host pathways to cause a chronic, multisystem inflammatory disease in humans. B. burgdorferi infection can lead to Lyme carditis, neurologic complications, and arthritis because of the ability of specific borrelial strains to disseminate, invade, and drive inflammation.

Methyl Salicylate, an Odor-Active Compound in Bordeaux Red Wines Produced without Sulfites Addition.

Red wines produced without the addition of any SO are currently the source of a new consumer trend. The first characterization approaches regarding these specific wines were devoted to sensory studies that highlighted differences according to the use of SO during winemaking. The goal of this paper is to extend our knowledge of such aromatic specificities.

Yeast and Filamentous Fungi Microbial Communities in Organic Red Grape Juice: Effect of Vintage, Maturity Stage, SO, and Bioprotection.

Changes are currently being made to winemaking processes to reduce chemical inputs [particularly sulfur dioxide (SO)] and adapt to consumer demand. In this study, yeast growth and fungal diversity were investigated in merlot during the prefermentary stages of a winemaking process without addition of SO. Different factors were considered, in a two-year study: vintage, maturity level and bioprotection by the adding yeast as an alternative to SO.

The Adenylate Cyclase, CyaB, Is Important for Virulence Factor Production and Mammalian Infection.

, the causative agent of Lyme disease, traverses through vastly distinct environments between the tick vector and the multiple phases of the mammalian infection that requires genetic adaptation for the progression of pathogenesis. Borrelial gene expression is highly responsive to changes in specific environmental signals that initiate the RpoS regulon for mammalian adaptation, but the mechanism(s) for direct detection of environmental cues has yet to be identified. Secondary messenger cyclic adenosine monophosphate (cAMP) produced by adenylate cyclase is responsive to environmental signals, such as carbon source and pH, in many bacterial pathogens to promote virulence by altering gene regulation.

Maternal near-miss among women with a migrant background in Germany.

Objective: To examine the association between region of origin and severe illness bringing a mother close to death (near-miss).

Design: Retrospective cohort study.

Setting: Maternity units in Lower Saxony, Germany.

Computational analysis of non-covalent polymer-protein interactions governing antibody orientation.

The ALYGNSA is an affinity-based antibody orientation system produced through the interaction of the polymer poly(methyl methacrylate) (PMMA) and recombinant protein G (rProG), a streptococcal protein. This improved orientation suggests a specific non-covalent attachment of the rProG to PMMA that leaves the IgG binding region of the rProG more readily available. In this study, a full tertiary structure model of the rProG molecule of 198 amino acid residues containing a signal region, two IgG binding domains, and an anchor region, was computationally generated using the iterative threading assembly refinement (I-Tasser) server.

AFM imaging of ALYGNSA polymer-protein surfaces: evidence of antibody orientation.

Previous investigations found the combination of recombinant bacterial protein G (rProG) and poly(methyl methacrylate) (PMMA) to produce a greater proportion of oriented antibodies. PMMA-rProG yielded a sixfold greater availability of antibody Fab regions compared with other bacterial affinity linker protein and polymer pairings, including commercially available polystyrene (PS) high-binding 96-well microplates. Given the name ALYGNSA, the PMMA-rProG combination was developed into a fluorescence assay and evaluated in conjunction with commercially available cancer biomarker enzyme-linked immunosorbent assays (ELISAs).

A response to Rome: lessons from pre- and post-publication data-sharing in the C. elegans research community.

Background: In recent years numerous studies have undertaken to measure the impact of patents, material transfer agreements, data-withholding and commercialization pressures on biomedical researchers. Of particular concern is the theory that such pressures may have negative effects on academic and other upstream researchers. In response to these concerns, commentators in some research communities have called for an increased level of access to, and sharing of, data and research materials.

Immuno-interferometric sensor for the detection of influenza A nucleoprotein.

Influenza A virus, both seasonal and pandemic, has the potential to cause rampant devastating disease around the world. The most relied upon methods of viral detection require days, skilled workers, and laboratory settings to complete properly. Here, we report two methods for the detection of the nucleoprotein from inactivated influenza A (IFA-NP), a patented polymer-protein antibody orientation immuno-method, termed ALYNGSA, and a newly fabricated optical label-free Fabry-Perot interferometric immunosensor.

Polymer-protein-enhanced fluoroimmunoassay for prostate-specific antigen.

Prostate-specific antigen (PSA) is a serum glycoprotein overproduced in prostate cancer, the total of which is comprised of two major forms, free and complexed. The common method for measuring of PSA is an Enzyme-linked immunosorbent assay (ELISA). Limits of detection using commercial PSA ELISA kits for free and total PSA were determined in our laboratory to be 1 and 10 ng/mL, respectively.

Sequence analysis of Escherichia coli O157:H7 bacteriophage PhiV10 and identification of a phage-encoded immunity protein that modifies the O157 antigen.

Bacteriophage PhiV10 is a temperate phage, which specifically infects Escherichia coli O157:H7. The nucleotide sequence of the PhiV10 genome is 39 104 bp long and contains 55 predicted genes. PhiV10 is closely related to two previously sequenced phages, the Salmonella enterica serovar Anatum (Group E1) phage epsilon15 and a prophage from E.

Novel fluoroimmunoassay for ovarian cancer biomarker CA-125.

Cancer antigen 125 (CA-125) is a glycoprotein biomarker that denotes the presence of ovarian and reproductive cancers in women, with serum concentrations of CA-125 greater than 35 U/ml considered indicative of potential malignancies. A fluorescent immunoassay recently developed in our laboratory employing the ALYGNSA antibody-orientation system has been used to measure CA-125 levels. This system displayed significantly increased sensitivity with a detection limit of 1.

Predicting discharge destination for patients with severe motor stroke: important functional tasks.

Many patients with severe stroke are capable of returning to the community after receiving rehabilitation services. The purpose of this study was to describe outcomes of patients with stroke in FIM-FRG STR1, a classification based on the Functional Independence Measure, and identify important functional tasks associated with discharge to home. FIM-FRG STR1 is one of nine subpopulations of stroke that have been identified based on motor/cognitive FIM subscale score and age.