Effects of mannooligosaccharides from coffee mannan on blood pressure in Dahl salt-sensitive rats.

Dahl salt-sensitive (Dahl-S) rats, serving as a model of hereditary hypertension, were used to examine the effect of mannooligosaccharides (MOS) on blood pressure. Dahl-S rats were induced to develop hypertension by administering them with a 1.25% salt solution ad libitum.

Identification of a type III secretion system in uropathogenic Escherichia coli.

To determine virulence-related genes in uropathogenic Escherichia coli (UPEC) showing invasiveness to T-24 bladder cancer cells, genomic subtractive hybridization was performed between a highly invasive and a less invasive strain. Forty-nine DNA fragments were isolated from the invasive strain. One of them showed homology with Salmonella invA gene.

Molecular subtyping methods for detection of Salmonella enterica serovar Oranienburg outbreaks.

This study involved 82 Salmonella enterica serovar Oranienburg isolates from patients with gastroenteritis and/or focal infections, healthy carriers, and cuttlefish chips which were epidemiologically linked to a major outbreak that had affected 1,505 people in Japan between 1998 and 1999. We concurrently investigated four different molecular subtyping methods using human salmonellosis-associated Salmonella serovars and their applicability in detection of serovar Oranienburg in an outbreak. Pulsed-field gel electrophoresis (PFGE), enterobacterial repetitive intergenic sequence PCR (ERIC2-PCR), or 16S/23S rRNA ribotyping provided a high degree of interserovar discrimination for most of the serovars, with PFGE being the most discriminatory.

Type 1, P and S fimbriae, and afimbrial adhesin I are not essential for uropathogenic Escherichia coli to adhere to and invade bladder epithelial cells.

Fimbrial (type 1, P, and S) and afimbrial adhesins, the unique virulence traits of uropathogenic Escherichia coli (UPEC), are well recognized for their role in the initial step of uropathogenesis. In this study, we investigated whether these adhesins are dispensable for UPEC in adherence and invasion of uroepithelial cells by using E. coli isolates (n=40) from cystitis patients and T-24 cells, the bladder carcinoma cell line.