Trough Concentrations of Specific Antibodies in Primary Immunodeficiency Patients Receiving Intravenous Immunoglobulin Replacement Therapy.

Immunoglobulin replacement therapy is a mainstay therapy for patients with primary immunodeficiency (PID). The content of these preparations was studied extensively. Nevertheless, data regarding the effective specific antibodies content (especially in the nadir period), and, in different groups of PID patients is limited.

Selection for increased quorum-sensing cooperation in Pseudomonas aeruginosa through the shut-down of a drug resistance pump.

The opportunistic pathogen Pseudomonas aeruginosa employs a hierarchical quorum-sensing network to regulate virulence factor production that cooperatively benefit the population at a cost to the individual. It has been argued that the evolution of a cooperative mutant in a quorum sensing-suppressed population would be hampered through its exploitation by neighboring non-mutant cells. It remains unclear whether mechanisms which overcome this exploitation exist.