Risk Factors for Chlamydia trachomatis Infection and Preterm Birth in Pregnant Japanese Women: Does Chlamydial Infection Cause Preterm Birth?

The aim of this study was to clarify the risk factors for chlamydial infection and determine whether infection during pregnancy is associated with preterm birth in Japanese women. The subjects were women who underwent Chlamydia trachomatis polymerase chain reaction testing during a singleton pregnancy and delivered after the 22nd week of gestation at a tertiary care center between January 1, 2000 and December 31, 2016. We compared Chlamydia-positive (n = 259) and Chlamydianegative (n = 1,974) groups and evaluated the pregnancy outcomes.

Mild Heat Stress Affects on the Cell Wall Structure in Candida albicans Biofilm.

We previously reported that Candida albicans responded to mild heat stress in a range of temperature elevations simulating fever, and concluded that mild heat stress increases susceptibility to antifungal drugs. In this study, we show that mild heat stress causes a morphological change in hyphae during the process of biofilm formation. We found that mild heat stress extended the period of hyphal stage maintenance in C.

Th17 cells differentiated with mycelial membranes of Candida albicans prevent oral candidiasis.

Candida albicans is a human commensal that causes opportunistic infections. Th17 cells provide resistance against mucosal infection with C. albicans; however, the T cell antigens remain little known.

Identification of a Novel Alternatively Spliced Form of Inflammatory Regulator SWAP-70-Like Adapter of T Cells.

Activation of naive CD4 T cells results in the development of several distinct subsets of effector Th cells, including Th2 cells that play a pivotal role in allergic inflammation and helminthic infections. SWAP-70-like adapter of T cells (SLAT), also known as Def6 or IBP, is a guanine nucleotide exchange factor for small GTPases, which regulates CD4 T cell inflammatory responses by controlling Ca/NFAT signaling. In this study, we have identified a novel alternatively spliced isoform of SLAT, named SLAT2, which lacks the region encoded by exons 2-7 of the gene.

Evaluation of endocervical curettage with conization in diagnosis of endocervical lesions.

Aim: Endocervical curettage (ECC) at the time of conization has been reported to be effective for diagnosing cervical intraepithelial neoplasia and/or early stage cervical cancer. We aimed to verify the accuracy of ECC with conization.

Methods: We retrospectively analyzed the records of 540 patients with suspected neoplastic cervical lesions who underwent conization at the Yokohama City University Hospital from January 2008 to December 2015.

JNK is critical for the development of Candida albicans-induced vascular lesions in a mouse model of Kawasaki disease.

Background: Kawasaki disease (KD) is the most common systemic vasculitis of unknown etiology in children, and can cause the life-threatening complication of coronary artery aneurysm. Although a novel treatment strategy for patients with KD-caused vascular lesions is eagerly awaited, their molecular pathogenesis remains largely unknown. c-Jun N-terminal kinase (JNK) is a signaling molecule known to have roles in inflammation and tissue remodeling.

Importance of Diversity in the Oral Microbiota including Candida Species Revealed by High-Throughput Technologies.

Taking advantage of high-throughput technologies, deep sequencing of the human microbiome has revealed commensal bacteria independent of the ability to culture them. The composition of the commensal microbiome is dependent on bacterial diversity and the state of the host regulated by the immune system. Candida species are well known as components of the commensal oral microbiota.

Determination of Candida species nestled in denture fissures.

With the growing number of elderly individuals, Candida is occasionally recognised as a fungal cause of aspiration pneumonia. In addition, there are numerous investigational reports on oral candidiasis. However, there are currently no reports on Candida contamination of denture base materials.

Evaluation of pathogenicity of Candida albicans in germination-ready states using a silkworm infection model.

We previously developed an N-acetyl-D-glucosamine (GlcNAc) medium which induces Candida albicans to undergo a yeast-to-hyphal transition through a cAMP-PKA pathway. Microarray analysis demonstrated that 18 genes, including ALS3 that encodes a cell wall adhesion, were upregulated by 30-min incubation of yeast cells at 37°C in the GlcNAc medium. To investigate the differences between morphological transition and morphotype in C.

In vitro efficacy of continuous mild heat stress on the antifungal susceptibility of Candida albicans biofilm formation.

Elevation in the temperature induces heat stress to both host cells and the invading pathogen. This study aimed to determine whether continuous mild heat stress (increased temperature without causing significant damage to host cells) can increase susceptibility of biofilm formation of the opportunistic fungal pathogen Candida albicans to low concentrations of three typical antifungal agents. In this way the side effects associated with higher concentrations of the antifungal agents on host cells would be reduced.

Candida albicans Msi3p, a homolog of the Saccharomyces cerevisiae Sse1p of the Hsp70 family, is involved in cell growth and fluconazole tolerance.

We investigated the cellular function of Msi3p, belonging to the heat shock protein 70 family, in Candida albicans. The mutant strain tetMSI3 was generated, in which MSI3 was controlled by a tetracycline-repressive promoter, because there is evidence to suggest that MSI3 is an essential gene. We controlled the MSI3 expression level by doxycycline (DOX) and compared its phenotype with that of a control strain with the tetracycline-repressive promoter and a wild-type copy MSI3.

A poly(gamma-glutamic acid)-amphiphile complex as a novel nanovehicle for drug delivery system.

Recently, many studies have focused on biomedical and pharmaceutical applications of self-assembled nanoparticles. In addition, several biodegradable nanoparticles have been reported to possess poor dispersion stability and poor size-controllability. However, these nanoparticles require complicated fabrication procedures using synthesis techniques.

[Quorum sensing in fungal pathogenesis].

Quorum sensing is a function that allows microbes to monitor their own population densities by detecting their extracellular products collectively known as autoinducers. This function has been shown to be required for the expression of various virulence factors and drug resistance in a number of bacterial pathogens. In recent years, quorum sensing has been studied also in pathogenic fungi, particularly the dimorphic fungus Candida albicans.

[Farnesol as a quorum-sensing molecule in Candida albicans].

Farnesol is one of the quorum sensing molecules of Candida albicans. In this report, we discuss the effects of farnesol on: 1. growth of Candida albicans in vitro and in vivo; 2.

Transcriptional changes in Candida albicans Genes by both farnesol and high cell density at an early stage of morphogenesis in N-acetyl-D-glucosamine medium.

Quorum sensing through farnesol, a quorum sensing molecule, regulates virulence and morphogenesis in Candida albicans. Farnesol and high cell density of C. albicans repress hyphal formation in a minimal medium containing N-acetyl-D-glucosamine.

[Quorum-sensing system in Candida albicans].

The bacterial behavior system controlled by the cell density is described as quorum-sensing. The system is triggered via autoinducers. Various kinds of autoinducers have been identified from different bacteria.

Mutation in IRO1 tightly linked with URA3 gene reduces virulence of Candida albicans.

Gene deletion in the pathogenic fungus Candida albicans has relied heavily on a URA3 cassette and a recipient delta ura3 strain CAI4. The IRO1 gene adjacent to URA3 was inadvertently deleted during construction of CAI4. We report here that a mutation in IRO1 reduces virulence of C.

Transcriptional profiling of the early stages of germination in Candida albicans by real-time RT-PCR.

By using real-time RT-PCR, we profiled the expression of CGR1, CaMSI3, EFG1, NRG1, and TUP1 in Candida albicans strains JCM9061 and CAI4 under several conditions, including induction of morphological transition, heat shock, and treatment with calcium inhibitors. Expression of CaMSI3 changed under these growth conditions except during heat shock. CGR1 expression increased during the early stages of hyphal growth in JCM9061, while expression was strain-dependent during heat shock.

Isolation and sequencing of the Candida albicans MSI3, a putative novel member of the HSP70 family.

We have reported previously that the expression of CGR1 increased at an early stage of the yeast-mycelial transition (morphogenesis) in Candida albicans. We now show that Cgr1p interacts in a yeast two-hybrid system with the C. albicans Msi3p (CaMsi3p), a putative novel member of the heat shock protein 70 (HSP70) family.