Contact with young children is a major risk factor for pneumococcal colonization in older adults.

Important questions remain about the sources of transmission of pneumococcus to older adults in the community. This is critical for understanding the potential effects of using pneumococcal conjugate vaccines (PCVs) in children and older adults. For non-institutionalized individuals, we hypothesized that the most likely source of adult-to-adult transmission is within the household.

Modification of the degree of branching of a beta-(1,3)-glucan affects aggregation behavior and activity in an oxidative burst assay.

Scleroglucan is a β-(1,3)-glucan which is highly branched at the 6-position with a single glucose residue. Acid hydrolysis of a high molecular weight scleroglucan gave a medium molecular weight, freely soluble material. Linkage analysis by the partially methylated alditol acetate method showed that the solubilized material had 30% branching.

Differential regulation of oxidative burst by distinct β-glucan-binding receptors and signaling pathways in human peripheral blood mononuclear cells.

β-Glucans possess broad immunomodulatory properties, including activation of innate immune functions such as oxidative burst activity. The differential roles of complement receptor type 3 (CR3) and Dectin-1, the known β-glucan receptors, and their associated signaling pathways in the generation of oxidative burst induced by different physical forms of Saccharomyces cerevisiae-derived β-glucan were examined in human peripheral blood mononuclear cells (PBMC). In this study whole glucan particle (WGP) or immobilized soluble β-glucan (ISG) was used to represent the phagocytizable or the nonphagocytizable form of a fungus, respectively.

Binding of Soluble Yeast β-Glucan to Human Neutrophils and Monocytes is Complement-Dependent.

The immunomodulatory properties of yeast β-1,3/1,6 glucans are mediated through their ability to be recognized by human innate immune cells. While several studies have investigated binding of opsonized and unopsonized particulate β-glucans to human immune cells mainly via complement receptor 3 (CR3) or Dectin-1, few have focused on understanding the binding characteristics of soluble β-glucans. Using a well-characterized, pharmaceutical-grade, soluble yeast β-glucan, this study evaluated and characterized the binding of soluble β-glucan to human neutrophils and monocytes.

Future aspects of the presurgical evaluation in epilepsy.

Epilepsy surgery is a successful therapeutic approach in patients with medically intractable epilepsy. The presurgical evaluation aims to detect the epileptogenic brain area by use of different diagnostic techniques. In this review article the current diagnostic procedures applied for this purpose are described.