Biofilms composed of multiple microorganisms colonize the surfaces of indwelling urethral catheters that are used serially by neurogenic bladder patients and cause chronic infections. Well-adapted pathogens in this niche are , and spp., species that cycle through adhesion and multilayered cell growth, trigger host immune responses, are starved off nutrients, and then disperse.
View Article and Find Full Text PDFDifferential diagnosis of tuberculosis (TB) and latent TB infection (LTBI) remains a public health priority in high TB burden countries. Pulmonary TB is diagnosed by sputum smear microscopy, chest X-rays, and PCR tests for distinct () genes. Clinical tests to diagnose LTBI rely on immune cell stimulation in blood plasma with TB-specific antigens followed by measurements of interferon-γ concentrations.
View Article and Find Full Text PDFKey processes characterizing human aging are immunosenescence and inflammaging. The capacity of the immune system to adequately respond to external perturbations (e.g.
View Article and Find Full Text PDF, a Gram-positive anaerobic coccoid rod colonizing the human urinary tract, belongs to the taxonomic class of Actinobacteria. We identified as a cohabitant of urethral catheter biofilms (CB). The CBs also harbored more common uropathogens, such as and , supporting the notion that is adapted to a life style in polymicrobial biofilms.
View Article and Find Full Text PDFNeutrophils have an important role in the antimicrobial defense and resolution of urinary tract infections (UTIs). Our research suggests that a mechanism known as neutrophil extracellular trap (NET) formation is a defense strategy to combat pathogens that have invaded the urinary tract. A set of human urine specimens with very high neutrophil counts had microscopic evidence of cellular aggregation and lysis.
View Article and Find Full Text PDFRice (Oryza sativa L.) chromosome 3 is evolutionarily conserved across the cultivated cereals and shares large blocks of synteny with maize and sorghum, which diverged from rice more than 50 million years ago. To begin to completely understand this chromosome, we sequenced, finished, and annotated 36.
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