Common and specific characteristics of the high-pathogenicity island of Yersinia enterocolitica.

Yersinia pestis, Y. pseudotuberculosis O:1, and Y. enterocolitica biogroup 1B strains carry a high-pathogenicity island (HPI), which mediates biosynthesis and uptake of the siderophore yersiniabactin and a mouse-lethal phenotype.

Antioxidant and eicosanoid enzyme inhibition properties of pomegranate seed oil and fermented juice flavonoids.

The antioxidant and eicosanoid enzyme inhibition properties of pomegranate (Punica granatum) fermented juice and seed oil flavonoids were studied. The pomegranate fermented juice (pfj) and cold pressed seed oil (pcpso) showed strong antioxidant activity close to that of butylated hydroxyanisole (BHA) and green tea (Thea sinensis), and significantly greater than that of red wine (Vitis vitifera). Flavonoids extracted from pcpso showed 31-44% inhibition of sheep cyclooxygenase and 69-81% inhibition of soybean lipoxygenase.

Comparative in-vitro activity of levofloxacin, other fluoroquinolones, doxycycline and erythromycin against Ureaplasma urealyticum and Mycoplasma hominis.

The susceptibility of 56 Ureaplasma urealyticum and 57 Mycoplasma hominis strains to levofloxacin, ofloxacin, ciprofloxacin, fleroxacin, doxycycline and erythromycin was determined by an agar dilution method. The reference strain used was M. hominis PG 21.

An automatic classification technique for attenuation correction in positron emission tomography.

In this paper a clustering technique is proposed for attenuation correction (AC) in positron emission tomography (PET). The method is unsupervised and adaptive with respect to counting statistics in the transmission (TR) images. The technique allows the classification of pre- or post-injection TR images into main tissue components in terms of attenuation coefficients.

Manuscript reviewing: what reviewers have to say.

This paper reports a study that examined the experience of manuscript reviewing. Fifteen reviewers participated, responding to questions about their experience of the process, its perceived strengths and weaknesses, and areas considered worthy of further investigation. Qualitative methodology and analysis were employed.

Organization and expression of rat Tspy.

We have isolated both a full-length rat Tspy cDNA from testicular mRNA by rapid amplification of cDNA ends (RACE) and RT-PCR and a full-length rat Tspy gene from genomic DNA by PCR. In contrast to the mouse, where Tspy is present in a single copy and is apparently functionless, and to man and cattle, where TSPY is organized in a moderately repetitive cluster, the rat Tspy locus apparently consists of one complete functional and one truncated, probably nonfunctional, copy, coherently localized on Yp, as revealed by FISH analysis.

Adaptation of active proton pumping and plasmalemma ATPase activity of corn roots to low root medium pH.

Corn (Zea mays L.) root adaptation to pH 3.5 in comparison with pH 6.

Molecular characterization of a carbon transporter in plastids from heterotrophic tissues: the glucose 6-phosphate/phosphate antiporter.

Plastids of nongreen tissues import carbon as a source of biosynthetic pathways and energy. Within plastids, carbon can be used in the biosynthesis of starch or as a substrate for the oxidative pentose phosphate pathway, for example. We have used maize endosperm to purify a plastidic glucose 6-phosphate/phosphate translocator (GPT).

The yersiniabactin biosynthetic gene cluster of Yersinia enterocolitica: organization and siderophore-dependent regulation.

The ability to synthesize and uptake the Yersinia siderophore yersiniabactin is a hallmark of the highly pathogenic, mouse-lethal species Yersinia pestis, Y. pseudotuberculosis, and Y. enterocolitica 1B.

Prevalence of the "high-pathogenicity island" of Yersinia species among Escherichia coli strains that are pathogenic to humans.

The fyuA-irp gene cluster contributes to the virulence of highly pathogenic Yersinia (Yersinia pestis, Yersinia pseudotuberculosis, and Yersinia enterocolitica 1B). The cluster encodes an iron uptake system mediated by the siderophore yersiniabactin and reveals features of a pathogenicity island. Two evolutionary lineages of this "high pathogenicity island" (HPI) can be distinguished on the basis of DNA sequence comparison: a Y.

Yersinia enterocolitica promotes deactivation of macrophage mitogen-activated protein kinases extracellular signal-regulated kinase-1/2, p38, and c-Jun NH2-terminal kinase. Correlation with its inhibitory effect on tumor necrosis factor-alpha production.

The enteropathogenic bacterium Yersinia enterocolitica counteracts host defense mechanisms by interfering with eukaryotic signal transduction pathways. In this study, we investigated the mechanism by which Y. enterocolitica prevents macrophage tumor necrosis factor-alpha (TNFalpha) production.

Cavitary cryptococcoma of the lungs and meningitis by Cryptococcus neoformans in a patient with AIDS.

We report on a 39-year-old AIDS patient who presented a generalized cryptococcal disease with involvement of the lungs and central nervous system. Although the initial symptoms were mild and uncharacteristic, the radiological finding of cavernous destructions of the lungs (cryptococcoma) was detectable. The patient recovered after an initial 3 week therapy with amphotericin B and fluconazole followed by secondary prevention with fluconacole.

From university student to registered nurse: the perennial enigma.

Crucial issues related to the transition from university student to registered nurse are addressed, through a review of the literature. The considerable literature in this area indicates three distinct approaches in examining this question: there are personal and professional deficits which the new graduate must make up, the formal content of the university curriculum is deficient and must be replaced, the socio-political and professional contexts of practice constrains beginning practice. Each of these approaches is examined here in the expectation that uncovering these issues will encourage employers and educators to work together to resolve some of the current conflicts and difficulties inherent in the transition from university student to registered nurse.

The immunomodulatory effects of antibiotics: in vitro and ex vivo investigations of 21 substances by means of the lymphocyte transformation test.

Besides their antimicrobial activity antibiotics can modulate immune response. The paper provides original data about in vitro and in vivo influence of antibiotics on lymphocyte transformation test (LTT) and gives a comprehensive overview of literature data. In the study presented here the influence of several antimicrobial substances on unstimulated and PHA-stimulated lymphocyte transformation was investigated.

Differential contribution of Yersinia enterocolitica virulence factors to evasion of microbicidal action of neutrophils.

The differential contribution of the virulence factors invasin, protein tyrosine phosphatase (YopH), cytotoxin (YopE), and adhesin (YadA) of Yersinia enterocolitica to evasion of the antibacterial activities of polymorphonuclear leukocytes (PMNs) (oxidative burst, phagocytosis, killing) was analyzed. We constructed virulence gene knockout mutants and a novel two-plasmid system allowing production and secretion of individual virulence factors. Wild-type Y.

Cell-cycle arrest, micronucleus formation, and cell death in growth inhibition of MCF-7 breast cancer cells by tamoxifen and cisplatin.

The induction of cell death along with cell-cycle arrest is one of the foremost mechanisms regulating cell growth. In the human breast carcinoma cell line MCF-7 we investigated two chemotherapeutic agents, the antiestrogen tamoxifen and the DNA-damaging drug cisplatin, for the relative contribution of these mechanisms to growth inhibition in culture. Growth kinetics and flow cytometry confirmed that tamoxifen at 1 microM acts mainly by arresting cells in the G0/G1 phase of the cell cycle.

'You're more your own boss': nurses' experiences of agency work.

Agency nurses and their work has received little attention in research in Australia. The study seeks to expand on the current literature from the United Kingdom and the United States that is predominantly personal accounts of individual nurses' experiences of agency work. The descriptive study explores four registered nurses' experiences of working through a nursing agency.

Dissection of the Yersinia enterocolitica virulence plasmid pYVO8 into an operating unit and virulence gene modules.

The structural genes encoding the Yop proteins of Yersinia enterocolitica are scattered around on the virulence plasmid (pYV). The genes which are required for transactivation, secretion and translocation of the Yopos are encoded in one cluster known as the lcr-region of pYV. After the introduction of an additional SalI restriction site into pYV of Y.

[Infections in diabetes mellitus].

Diabetes mellitus is one of the most frequent metabolic distortions predisposing for infectious diseases. Characteristic features of patients with diabetes mellitus are dysfunctions of professional phagocytes, in particular of polymorphonuclear leucocytes. Infections of skin and soft tissue in particular of the lower extremities, rhinocerebral mucormycosis, invasive external otitis and urinary tract infections are typically associated with diabetes mellitus.

[Determination of parasite-specific antibodies during human schistosomiasis--diagnostic relevance].

Sera from patients with schistosomiasis (Schistosoma mansoni or S. haematobium) were examined for the presence of parasite specific antibodies (total antibodies), specific IgE and IgG4 antibodies by means fo ELISA technique using antigens prepared from adult worms of S. mansoni.

[L-tryptophan-associated chronic eosinophilia-myalgia syndrome treated with cyclosporin].

After 2 weeks of ingestion of 130 g L-Tryptophan a 52 year old female develops an Eosinophilia Myalgia Syndrome with acute onset of deep venous thrombosis of forearm and possible initial cardiac manifestation featuring intermittent sinustachykardia. This is followed by a severe chronic disease (follow-up 15 months) with diffuse scleroderma and sensomotoric polyneuropathia. The deep muscle biopsy-specimen shows mononuclear infiltration of fascia and interstitial myositis with rare eosinophils.

Effect of Low Root Medium pH on Net Proton Release, Root Respiration, and Root Growth of Corn (Zea mays L.) and Broad Bean (Vicia faba L.).

The effect of low pH on net H(+) release and root growth of corn (Zea mays L.) and broad bean (Vicia faba L.) seedlings was investigated in short-term experiments at constant pH.

Inhibition of DNA primase and polymerase alpha by arabinofuranosylnucleoside triphosphates and related compounds.

Inhibition of DNA primase and polymerase alpha from calf thymus was examined. DNA primase requires a 3'-hydroxyl on the incoming NTP in order to polymerize it, while the 2'-hydroxyl is advantageous, but not essential. Amazingly, primase prefers to polymerize araATP rather than ATP by 4-fold (kcat/KM).

[The fine structure of the nucleus of the hypoglossal nerve of sheep and goats].

In the small domesticated ruminants the nucleus of the hypoglossal nerve is situated in close relationship to the median line in the middle of the elongated medulla. The nucleus is divided by the obex into a rostral and a caudal portion. In the sheep, four distinct subnuclei can be recognized, whereas in the dwarf goat great variations in the arrangement of cell groups exists.