Unexpected agency on the threshold: Asylum seekers narrating from an asylum seeker centre.

Several studies have described the condition of asylum seekers as being or . Victor Turner's concept of and Agamben's have been used extensively to analyse this condition, mostly to show the negative implications of the ambiguous legal (non-) status. This article argues that the condition of liminality provides an intensified doubleness of impossibility and possibility for action, which casts a different light on conceptualizing agency.

Long-term storage and safe retrieval of DNA from microorganisms for molecular analysis using FTA matrix cards.

We assessed the potential use of Whatman FTA paper as a device for archiving and long-term storage of bacterial cell suspensions of over 400 bacterial strains representing 61 genera, the molecular applications of immobilised DNA on FTA paper, and tested its microbial inactivation properties. The FTA paper extracted bacterial DNA is of sufficiently high quality to successfully carryout the molecular detection of several key genes including 16S rRNA, esp (Enterococcus surface protein), Bft (Bacteroides fragilis enterotoxin) and por (porin protein) by PCR and for DNA fingerprinting by random amplified polymorphic DNA-PCR (RAPD-PCR). To test the long-term stability of the FTA immobilised DNA, 100 of the 400 archived bacterial samples were randomly selected following 3 years of storage at ambient temperature and PCR amplification was used to monitor its success.

Microbiological studies of an anaerobic baffled reactor: microbial community characterisation and deactivation of health-related indicator bacteria.

This WRC funded project has studied the appropriateness of the ABR (anaerobic baffled reactor) for on-site primary sanitation in low-income communities. A 3,000 L pilot reactor was located at the Kingsburgh wastewater treatment plant south of Durban, South Africa. Feed to the reactor was raw domestic wastewater containing a significant proportion of particulate organic matter.

Isolation of genomic DNA from blood using a novel filter-based DNA purification technology.

A novel DNA purification technology is described that enables the purification of pure dsDNA from blood. When compared to existing DNA purification methods, the Whatman BioScience Purification System (WBPS) offers a fast and convenient way to recover high yields of DNA. WBPS is based on a unique filter system that entraps DNA within a matrix.

Postembryonic hematopoiesis in Drosophila.

We have investigated the blood cell types present in Drosophila at postembryonic stages and have analysed their modifications during development and under immune conditions. The anterior lobes of the larval hematopoietic organ or lymph gland contain numerous active secretory cells, plasmatocytes, few crystal cells, and a number of undifferentiated prohemocytes. The posterior lobes contain essentially prohemocytes.

Novel inducible antibacterial peptides from a hemipteran insect, the sap-sucking bug Pyrrhocoris apterus.

Insects belonging to the recent orders of the endopterygote clade (Lepidoptera, Diptera, Hymenoptera and Coleoptera) respond to bacterial challenge by the rapid and transient synthesis of a battery of potent antibacterial peptides which are secreted into their haemolymph. Here we present the first report on inducible antibacterial molecules in the sap-sucking bug Pyrrhocoris apterus, a representative species of the Hemiptera, which predated the Endoptergotes by at least 50 million years in evolution. We have isolated and characterized from immune blood of this species three novel peptides or polypeptides: (i) a 43-residue cysteine-rich anti-(Gram-positive bacteria) peptide which is a new member of the family of insect defensins; (ii) a 20-residue proline-rich peptide carrying an O-glycosylated substitution (N-acetylgalactosamine), active against Gram-negative bacteria; (iii) a 133-residue glycine-rich polypeptide also active against Gram-negative bacteria.

Immunocytochemical localization of Bombyx-PTTH-like molecules in neurosecretory cells of the brain of the migratory locust, Locusta migratoria. A comparison with neuroparsin and insulin-related peptide.

Using a monoclonal antibody directed against a synthetic pentadecapeptide corresponding to the N-terminus of the prothoracicotropic hormone (PTTH) of Bombyx mori, we report the presence of immunoreactive molecules in a large number of median neurosecretory cells of the pars intercerebralis of the migratory locust, Locusta migratoria. These cells correspond to the A1 cell type which we show to contain also neuroparsins, a family of predominant neurohormones of the migratory locust. In contrast, PTTH-like molecules are absent from A2 cells of the pars intercerebralis which contain Locusta insulin-related peptide (LIRP).

[Vascular perfusion of an intestinal segment in the catfish (Ictalurus melas, R): demonstration of the vasoactive effects of mammalian VIP and of gastrointestinal extracts from teleost fish].

Through the middle mesenteric artery and the hepatic portal vein it is possible to perfuse specifically a small part of the catfish midgut. Using a tested VIP extraction procedure it is shown that trout and catfish extracts of oesophagus, stomach, midgut and hindgut induce a vasodilation similar to that of porcine VIP. The importance of the vasodilatory response depends on the level of perfused VIP and extracted tissue.

The vasotocin-like biological activity present in the bovine pineal is due to a compound different from vasotocin.

The vasotocin-like biological activity detected in an extract (E5 fraction) of bovine pineal gland was found not to be due to the presence of vasotocin, vasopressin or oxytocin. The data obtained by means of bio- and radioimmunoassays suggest that the peptide responsible for this biological activity, however, possess the same Pro-Arg-Gly(NH2) tripeptidic carboxy-terminal end as vasotocin.

[Radio-immunologic determination of hypophyseal vasotocin by Phoxinus laevis during experimental modification of osmotic equilibrium].

Hypophysial vasotocin of Phoxinus laevis is determined by radio-immunoassay. With different sea water dilutions it is shown that hypophysial vasotocin concentration varies with ambient salinity. This fact agrees with histological pictures.

[An extremely sensitive preparation for vasotocin action: the fresh-water eel aortic bulb].

Transversal and longitudinal aortic bulb strips show isometric contractions in response to the vasotocin action. The extreme sensitivity of the preparations correspond to a final hormone concentration of 8.25 X 10(-16) M.

[In vitro effect of vasotocin on the ventral aorta of freshwater eels].

Isometric contractions of the Eel ventral aorta are recorded under the vasotocin action. The vascular smooth muscle in vitro is sensitive to the hormonal action between 1.65 X 10(-6) M and 1.