Screening for infectious diseases among newly arrived asylum seekers, Bavaria, Germany, 2015.

Background and aimAs a consequence of socioeconomic and political crises in many parts of the world, many European Union/European Economic Area (EU/EEA) countries have faced an increasing number of migrants. In the German federal state of Bavaria, a mandatory health screening approach is implemented, where individuals applying for asylum have to undergo a medical examination that includes serological testing for HIV and hepatitis B, screening for tuberculosis, and until September 2015, stool examination for spp. and spp.

Helicobacter pylori strains from a Nigerian cohort show divergent antibiotic resistance rates and a uniform pathogenicity profile.

Antibiotic resistance in Helicobacter pylori is a factor preventing its successful eradication. Particularly in developing countries, resistance against commonly used antibiotics is widespread. Here, we present an epidemiological study from Nigeria with 111 isolates.

A C-Terminal Coiled-Coil Region of CagL is Responsible for -Induced Il-8 Expression.

Interleukin-8 (IL-8) is a potent neutrophil-activating chemokine which triggers the infiltration and migration of neutrophils into areas of bacterial infection. -infected patient studies as well as animal models have revealed that type I strains carrying an intact cytotoxin-associated gene pathogenicity island (-PAI) with a functional type IV secretion system (T4SS) induce IL-8 expression and secretion in gastric mucosa. This gastric mucosal IL-8 expression correlates with severe histological changes due to infection.

Stool screening of Syrian refugees and asylum seekers in Germany, 2013/2014: Identification of Sabin like polioviruses.

Germany is a partner of the Global Polio Eradication Initiative. Assurance of polio free status is based on enterovirus surveillance, which focuses on patients with signs of acute flaccid paralysis or aseptic meningitis/encephalitis, representing the key symptoms of poliovirus infection. In response to the wild poliovirus outbreak in Syria 2013 and high number of refugees coming from Syria to Germany, stool samples from 629 Syrian refugees/asylum seekers aged <3 years were screened for wild poliovirus between November 2013 and April 2014.

Helicobacter pylori induced gastric immunopathology is associated with distinct microbiota changes in the large intestines of long-term infected Mongolian gerbils.

Background: Gastrointestinal (GI) inflammation in mice and men are frequently accompanied by distinct changes of the GI microbiota composition at sites of inflammation. Helicobacter (H.) pylori infection results in gastric immunopathology accompanied by colonization of stomachs with bacterial species, which are usually restricted to the lower intestine.

Carnobacterium divergens - a dominating bacterium of pork meat juice.

Nonspoiled food that nevertheless contains bacterial pathogens constitutes a much more serious health problem than spoiled food, as the consumer is not warned beforehand. However, data on the diversity of bacterial species in meat juice are rare. To study the bacterial load of fresh pork from ten different distributors, we applied a combination of the conventional culture-based and molecular methods for detecting and quantifying the microbial spectrum of fresh pork meat juice samples.

Helicobacter pylori CagL dependent induction of gastrin expression via a novel αvβ5-integrin-integrin linked kinase signalling complex.

Objective: One of the most important hormones in the human stomach is the peptide gastrin. It is mainly required for the regulation of gastric pH but is also involved in growth and differentiation of gastric epithelial cells. In Helicobacter pylori infected patients, gastrin secretion can be upregulated by the pathogen, resulting in hypergastrinaemia.

Regulation of the actin cytoskeleton in Helicobacter pylori-induced migration and invasive growth of gastric epithelial cells.

Dynamic rearrangement of the actin cytoskeleton is a significant hallmark of Helicobacter pylori (H. pylori) infected gastric epithelial cells leading to cell migration and invasive growth. Considering the cellular mechanisms, the type IV secretion system (T4SS) and the effector protein cytotoxin-associated gene A (CagA) of H.

Profiling trait anxiety: transcriptome analysis reveals cathepsin B (Ctsb) as a novel candidate gene for emotionality in mice.

Behavioral endophenotypes are determined by a multitude of counteracting but precisely balanced molecular and physiological mechanisms. In this study, we aim to identify potential novel molecular targets that contribute to the multigenic trait "anxiety". We used microarrays to investigate the gene expression profiles of different brain regions within the limbic system of mice which were selectively bred for either high (HAB) or low (LAB) anxiety-related behavior, and also show signs of comorbid depression-like behavior.

Complex cellular responses of Helicobacter pylori-colonized gastric adenocarcinoma cells.

Helicobacter pylori is an important class I carcinogen that persistently infects the human gastric mucosa to induce gastritis, gastric ulceration, and gastric cancer. H. pylori pathogenesis strongly depends on pathogenic factors, such as VacA (vacuolating cytotoxin A) or a specialized type IV secretion system (T4SS), which injects the oncoprotein CagA (cytotoxin-associated gene A product) into the host cell.

Sequencing, annotation, and comparative genome analysis of the gerbil-adapted Helicobacter pylori strain B8.

Background: The Mongolian gerbils are a good model to mimic the Helicobacter pylori-associated pathogenesis of the human stomach. In the current study the gerbil-adapted strain B8 was completely sequenced, annotated and compared to previous genomes, including the 73 supercontigs of the parental strain B128.

Results: The complete genome of H.

Dopaminergic midbrain neurons are the prime target for mitochondrial DNA deletions.

Mitochondrial dysfunction is a consistent finding in neurodegenerative disorders like Alzheimer's (AD) or Parkinson's disease (PD) but also in normal human brain aging. In addition to respiratory chain defects, damage to mitochondrial DNA (mtDNA) has been repeatedly reported in brains from AD and PD patients. Most studies though failed to detect biologically significant point mutation or deletion levels in brain homogenate.

Helicobacter pylori dampens gut epithelial self-renewal by inhibiting apoptosis, a bacterial strategy to enhance colonization of the stomach.

Colonization of the gastric pits in the stomach by Helicobacter pylori (Hp) is a major risk factor for gastritis, gastric ulcers, and cancer. Normally, rapid self-renewal of gut epithelia, which occurs by a balance of progenitor proliferation and pit cell apoptosis, serves as a host defense mechanism to limit bacterial colonization. To investigate how Hp overcomes this host defense, we use the Mongolian gerbil model of Hp infection.

Helicobacter pylori vaccine development: optimisation of strategies and importance of challenging strain and animal model.

Gastric infection with the gram-negative bacterial pathogen Helicobacter pylori is widespread (approximately 50% of the human population is affected) and is associated with the induction of specific gastroduodenal disease. Although extensive studies in the H. pylori mouse model have demonstrated the feasibility of both therapeutic and prophylactic immunisations, the mechanism of vaccine-induced protection is still poorly understood.

H pylori infection causes chronic pancreatitis in Mongolian gerbils.

Aim: To investigate whether chronic H pylori infection has the potential to induce pancreatitis in the Mongolian gerbil model, and whether it is dependent on an intact type IV secretion system.

Methods: Mongolian gerbils were infected with wild type (WT) H pylori type I strain B128 or its isogenic mutant B128 deltacagY (defective type IV secretion). After seven months of infection, H pylori was reisolated from antrum and corpus and H pylori DNA was analyzed by semi-nested polymerase chain reaction (PCR).

Interleukin-6 induction by Helicobacter pylori in human macrophages is dependent on phagocytosis.

Background: The colonization of the gastric mucosa with Helicobacter pylori is accompanied by elevated levels of proinflammatory cytokines, such as interleukin-1 (IL-1), IL-6, and IL-8. The aim of our study was to determine the mechanisms of IL-6 stimulation in phagocytes upon H. pylori infection.

Helicobacter pylori cag-type IV secretion system facilitates corpus colonization to induce precancerous conditions in Mongolian gerbils.

Background & Aims: Epidemiological studies suggest that atrophic corpus-dominant gastritis is an increased risk factor for gastric carcinogenesis. The role of the Helicobacter pylori type IV secretion system (T4SS) for pathogenesis in the Mongolian gerbil model was explored.

Methods: Mongolian gerbils were infected for 32 weeks either with H.

Interaction of Helicobacter pylori with host cells: function of secreted and translocated molecules.

Secreted proteins are of general interest from the perspective of bacteria-host interaction. The gastric bacterial pathogen Helicobacter pylori uses a set of secreted and translocated proteins--including outer membrane adhesins, secreted extracellular enzymes and translocated effector proteins--to adapt to its extraordinary habitat, the gastric mucosa. Two major virulence factors of H.

Helicobacter-induced intestinal metaplasia in the stomach correlates with Elk-1 and serum response factor induction of villin.

Chronic Helicobacter pylori infection results in serious sequelae, including atrophy, intestinal metaplasia, and gastric cancer. Intestinal metaplasia in the stomach is defined by the presence of intestine-like cells expressing enterocyte-specific markers, such as villin. In this study, we demonstrate that villin is expressed in intestine-like cells that develop after chronic infection with H.

Up-regulation of inducible nitric oxide synthase in Helicobacter pylori-associated gastritis may represent an increased risk factor to develop gastric carcinoma of the intestinal type.

The enzyme inducible nitric oxide synthase (iNOS) is part of the host innate defense system against bacterial infection. During chronic inflammation, like that seen with a Helicobacter pylori infection, constant nitric oxide production may lead to tissue and DNA damage, thus increasing the patient's risk for developing cancer. Several investigations on iNOS expression in H.

Salt stress sensitivity of nitrogen fixation in Enterobacter agglomerans strains.

Two strains 333 to 339 of Enterobacter agglomerans were selected in the present study to evaluate the response of increasing concentrations of NaCl on growth, N(2)-fixation, and nitrogenase activity/synthesis. E. agglomerans strains 333 and 339 showed optimum growth and acetylene-reducing activity with 0.

Genetic or chemical hypochlorhydria is associated with inflammation that modulates parietal and G-cell populations in mice.

Background & Aims: Reduced gastric acid predisposes the stomach to colonization by bacteria and inflammation. Therefore, we investigated how the chronic gastritis in mice made hypochlorhydric by either gastrin deficiency or omeprazole treatment modulates epithelial cell function.

Methods: The gastric pathology of 16-week-old wild-type gastrin-expressing (G+/+) and gastrin-deficient (G-/-) mice maintained in conventional housing was compared.