Determination of Total Aflatoxins in Polished Rice by Liquid Chromatography-Fluorescence Detection with Multifunctional Column Cleanup and Precolumn Derivatization: Single-Laboratory and Inter-Laboratory Validation Studies.

Background: Aflatoxins (AFs) are toxic metabolites produced by Aspergillus spp. Because AFs are potent carcinogens in humans and animals, many countries have set regulatory limits for AFs in foods to prevent dietary exposure. From a global food safety perspective, in 2023, the Codex Alimentarius Commission established the maximum level (ML) of total AFs in certain cereals and cereal-based products, including polished rice.

An allosteric antibody to the leptin receptor reduces body weight and reverses the diabetic phenotype in the Lep(ob) /Lep(ob) mouse.

Objective: Leptin (LEP) deficiency results in major metabolic perturbations, including obesity, dyslipidemia, and diabetes. Although LEP deficiency can be treated with daily injections of a recombinant LEP, generation of an antibody activating the LEP receptor (LEPR) that has both an intrinsically long half-life and low immunogenicity could be useful in the treatment of this condition.

Methods: Phage display technology coupled with flow cytometry and cell-based in vitro assays were employed to identify an allosteric agonist of the mouse LEPR.

Development and characterization of human monoclonal antibodies that neutralize multiple TGFβ isoforms.

Transforming growth factor (TGF)β levels are elevated in, and drive the progression of, numerous disease states such as advanced metastatic cancer and systemic and ocular fibrosis. There are 3 main isoforms, TGFβ1, 2, and 3. As multiple TGFβ isoforms are involved in disease processes, maximal therapeutic efficacy may require neutralization of 2 or more of the TGFβ isoforms.

Enhancement of antibody fragment secretion into the Escherichia coli periplasm by co-expression with the peptidyl prolyl isomerase, FkpA, in the cytoplasm.

Improper protein folding or aggregation can frequently be responsible for low expression and poor functional activity of antibody fragments secreted into the Escherichia coli periplasm. Expression issues also can affect selection of antibody candidates from phage libraries, since antibody fragments displayed on phage also are secreted into the E. coli periplasm.

A clinical case of severe anemia in a sheep coinfected with Mycoplasma ovis and 'Candidatus Mycoplasma haemovis' in Hokkaido, Japan.

A 2-year-old East Friesian sheep imported from Australia exhibited severe anemia after contagious pustular dermatitis in Hokkaido, Japan. Hemoplasma infection was confirmed in blood smears. Both Mycoplasma ovis and 'Candidatus Mycoplasma haemovis' were detected by PCR and sequence analyses.

Detection of the new Ehrlichia species closely related to Ehrlichia ewingii from Haemaphysalis longicornis in Yonaguni Island, Okinawa, Japan.

We collected a total of 206 Haemaphysalis longicornis ticks by flagging in pastures in Yonaguni Island, Okinawa, Japan, in April 2008. Four of the 206 tick DNA samples tested were positive in a polymerase chain reaction (PCR) screening for the 16SrRNA gene of Anaplasmataceae. Partial sequences of 4 PCR products were identical to each other.

A case of phlegmonous gastritis with multiple liver and splenic abscesses.

A 63-year-old woman was admitted with high fever. Laboratory tests showed leukocytosis and elevated C-reactive protein (CRP) levels. Abdominal ultrasonography and computed tomography revealed multiple liver and splenic tumors.

Engineering ecotin for identifying proteins with a trypsin fold.

Ecotin is a bidentate, fold-specific inhibitor of mammalian serine-proteases produced by Escherichia coli. This molecule may be engineered to increase and/or change its affinity and specificity providing significant biotechnological potential. Since ecotin binds tightly to serine proteases of the trypsin fold, it may help to identify the role of these enzymes in different biological processes.

A general method for greatly improving the affinity of antibodies by using combinatorial libraries.

Look-through mutagenesis (LTM) is a multidimensional mutagenesis method that simultaneously assesses and optimizes combinatorial mutations of selected amino acids. The process focuses on a precise distribution within one or more complementarity determining region (CDR) domains and explores the synergistic contribution of amino acid side-chain chemistry. LTM was applied to an anti-TNF-alpha antibody, D2E7, which is a challenging test case, because D2E7 was highly optimized (K(d) = 1 nM) by others.

Tonsillar tuberculosis associated with pulmonary and laryngeal foci.

Tonsillar tuberculosis is one of the uncommon forms of extrapulmonary tuberculosis. We report a case of tonsillar tuberculosis associated with pulmonary and laryngeal foci. A 23-year-old female was admitted for evaluation of hoarseness and difficulty in swallowing.