Nucleotide and amino acid sequences of the metallo-beta-lactamase, ImiS, from Aeromonas veronii bv. sobria

The Aeromonas veronii bv. sobria metallo-beta-lactamase gene, imiS, was cloned. The imiS open reading frame extends for 762 bp and encodes a protein of 254 amino acids with a secreted modified protein of 227 amino acids and a predicted pI of 8.1. To confirm the predicted sequence, purified ImiS was digested and the resulting peptides were identified, yielding an identical sequence for ImiS, with 98% identity to CphA. Both possessed the putative active-site sequence Asn-Tyr-His-Thr-Asp at positions 88 to 92, which is unique to the Aeromonas metallo-beta-lactamases.     

Antimicrobial susceptibility patterns of some recently established coryneform bacteria

The susceptibility patterns of 480 isolates representing six recently defined species of coryneform bacteria (Corynebacterium amycolatum [n = 101], Corynebacterium auris [n = 48], Corynebacterium glucuronolyticum [n = 86], Brevibacterium casei [n = 50], Dermabacter hominis [n = 49], and Turicella otitidis [n = 146]) to 17 antimicrobial agents were determined by an agar dilution method. Most significantly, for C. amycolatum strains the MICs at which 90% of isolates are inhibited were > or = 32 micrograms/ml for nearly all agents. However, all 480 strains examined were susceptible to glycopeptide antibiotics.     

L-allo-threonine aldolase from Aeromonas jandaei DK-39: gene cloning, nucleotide sequencing, and identification of the pyridoxal 5'-phosphate-binding lysine residue by site-directed mutagenesis

We have isolated the gene encoding L-allo-threonine aldolase (L-allo-TA) from Aeromonas jandaei DK-39, a pyridoxal 5'-phosphate (PLP)-dependent enzyme that stereospecifically catalyzes the interconversion of L-allo-threonine and glycine. The gene contains an open reading frame consisting of 1,014 nucleotides corresponding to 338 amino acid residues. The protein molecular weight was estimated to be 36,294, which is in good agreement with the subunit molecular weight of the enzyme determined by polyacrylamide gel electrophoresis. The enzyme was overexpressed in recombinant Escherichia coli cells and purified to homogeneity by one hydrophobic column chromatography step. The predicted amino acid sequence showed no significant similarity to those of the currently known PLP-dependent enzymes but displayed 40 and 41% identity with those of the hypothetical GLY1 protein of Saccharomyces cerevisiae and the GLY1-like protein of Caenorhabditis elegans, respectively. Accordingly, L-allo-TA might represent a new type of PLP-dependent enzyme. To determine the PLP-binding site of the enzyme, all of the three conserved lysine residues of L-allo-TA were replaced by alanine by site-directed mutagenesis. The purified mutant enzymes, K51A and K224A, showed properties similar to those of the wild type, while the mutant enzyme K199A was catalytically inactive, with corresponding disappearance of the absorption maximum at 420 nm. Thus, Lys199 of L-allo-TA probably functions as an essential catalytic residue forming an internal Schiff base with PLP of the enzyme to catalyze the reversible aldol reaction.     

Antimicrobial susceptibility testing of 59 strains of Campylobacter fetus subsp. fetus

The susceptibilities of 59 Campylobacter fetus subsp. fetus isolates to eight antibiotics were studied by the agar dilution, E-test, and disk diffusion methods. None of the isolates were beta-lactamase producers. All were susceptible to ampicillin, gentamicin, imipenem, and meropenem as determined by the three methods, with MICs at which 90% of the isolates are inhibited (MIC90s) (determined by agar dilution) of 2, 1, < or = 0.06, and 0.12 microgram/ml, respectively. Twenty-seven percent of the isolates were resistant to tetracycline, with complete agreement between the agar dilution and disk diffusion results. The MIC90s determined by agar dilution were 2 micrograms/ml for erythromycin, 1 microgram/ml for ciprofloxacin, and 8 micrograms/ml for cefotaxime.     

Antimicrobial susceptibility of bacteria isolated from pinnipeds stranded in central and northern California

The mRNA and protein for NADH-dependent glutamate synthase (NADH-GOGAT; EC 1.4.1.14) in root tips of rice (Oryza sativa L. cv. Sasanishiki) plants increases dramatically within 12 h of supplying a low concentration (> 0.05 mM) of ammonium ions (T. Yamaya et al., 1995, Plant Cell Physiol 36: 1197-1204). To identify the specific cells which are responsible for this rapid increase, the cellular localization of NADH-GOGAT protein was investigated immunocytologically with an affinity-purified anti-NADH-GOGAT immunoglobulin G. When root tips (> 1 mm) of rice seedlings which had been grown for 26 d in water were immuno-stained, signals for the NADH-GOGAT protein were detected in the central cylinder, in the apical meristem, and in the primordia of the secondary roots, Signals for ferredoxin-dependent GOGAT (Fd-GOGAT; EC 1.4.7.1) protein were also seen in the same three areas. When the roots were supplied with 1 mM ammonium ions for 24 h, there were strong signals for the NADH-GOGAT protein in two cell layers of the root surface, i.e. epidermis and exodermis, in addition to the cells giving signals in the absence of ammonium ions. The supply of ammonium ions was less effective on the profile of signals for Fd-GOGAT. Although the supply of ammonium ions had less effect on the expression of cytosolic glutamine synthetase (GS; EC 6.3.1.2), this enzyme was also found to be located in the epidermis and exodermis, as well as in the central cylinder and cortex. The results indicate that NADH-GOGAT, coupled to the cytosolic GS reaction, is probably important for the assimilation of ammonium ions in the two cell layers of the root surface.     

Goal-directed fantasy, hypnotic susceptibility, and expectancies.

We conducted an initial screening session in which hypnosis was presented as a "test of imagination" and administered with other imagination measures. In a 2nd session, we instructed high- and low-hypnotizable Ss to imagine along with suggestions but to resist responding to motoric suggestions. Ss received either instructions to use goal-directed fantasies (GDFs) or no facilitative instructions. Sizable individual difference effects were secured. Hypnotizable Ss exhibited more suggestion-related movements and reported greater involuntariness than did low-hypnotizable Ss. With GDF instructions, low- and high-hypnotizable Ss reported equivalent GDF absorption and frequencies. However, hypnotizable Ss exhibited greater responsiveness and reported greater involuntariness than did those low in hypnotizability, even when their GDFs were equivalent. Thus, no support was generated for the hypotheses that sustained, elaborated suggestion-related imagery mediates response to suggestion or that absorption in suggestions is of particular importance for low-hypnotizable Ss. Findings support the hypothesis that expectancies mediate the relation between imagination, involuntariness, and responding. Hypnotizable imagining Ss exhibited greater responsiveness than a comparable sample of Ss did in a previous countersuggestion study (Lynn, Nash, Rhue, Frauman, & Stanley, 1983). (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2010 APA, all rights reserved)     

Acquiescence, hypontic susceptibility, and the MMPI.

The rather discouraging results of using standard personality inventories in attempts to predict hypnosis have been the subject of recent reviews. This is a report on one Minnesota Multiphasic Personality Inventory (MMPI) measure (the Sum-True score) that has yielded a small but significant correlation with hypnosis for both male and female subjects. (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2010 APA, all rights reserved)     

Hypnosis: Expectation, susceptibility, and performance.

78 male undergraduates performed on a hand dynamometer, a weight endurance task, and a tremor task, prior to knowing that the experiment dealt with hypnosis. They were subsequently asked to volunteer for a hypnosis experiment. Of the 68 volunteers 16 were classified as susceptible to hypnosis and 16 relatively unsusceptible on the basis of their performance on the Group Hypnotic Susceptibility Scale. During the next session, all were administered the physical performance tests in the unhypnotized and hypnotized states. The results for the dynamometer and endurance tasks suggested that, if anything, differences between susceptible Ss were more marked before they knew that the experiment dealt with hypnosis, becoming less evident during the postknowledge conditions. For the tremor test, only slight differences emerged between the susceptible and unsusceptible groups on the preknowledge condition, but these grew increasingly larger during the postknowledge conditions, favoring the susceptible group. Indeed, hypnosis seemed to markedly improve the performance of susceptible Ss, while having little effect on unsusceptible ones. (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2010 APA, all rights reserved)     

A taxometric analysis of hypnotic susceptibility.

The possibility that hypnotic ability is typological rather than dimensional was evaluated in a series of 4 studies. Study 1 used two samples of mass-testing measures of hypnotic ability, which were analyzed using the MAXCOV-HITMAX method (R.E. Meehl, 1973). Results of these analyses were in keeping with the existence of a latent typology in hypnotic ability scores. Study 2 investigated the possibility that these results could be a false-positive artifact of factor structure. Results of the simulation analyses indicated that the possibility of a false-positive was unacceptably high. Studies 3 and 4 used larger samples, combined with data-simulation control analyses. Results of Studies 3 and 4 were in keeping with the existence of a latent typology in hypnotic ability scores, whereas datasimulation control analyses demonstrated that the risk of false-positive results was acceptably low. (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2010 APA, all rights reserved)     

Empathy, guilt-aversion, and patterns of reciprocity.

This paper reports the results of an experiment aimed at investigating the link between empathy, anticipated guilt, and pro-social behavior. In particular, we test the hypothesis that empathy modulates the anticipatory effect of guilt in bargaining situations and, more specifically, that it correlates with subjects' willingness to give and to repay trust in an investment game. We also control for the effect of individual risk attitude. Our main results show that empathy significantly influences players' pattern of restitution in the investment game and that risk-propensity weakly affects the decision to trust; we also find a significant gender difference in the distribution of empathy. These results seem to indicate that empathy affects pro-social behavior in a more complex way than previously hypothesized by existing models of social preferences. (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2011 APA, all rights reserved)     

Anxiety, birth order, and susceptibility to social influence.

The effect of order-of-birth and susceptibility to social influence (suggestibility) was studied. The reactivity of first-born and non-first-born Ss was observed in the autokinetic situation. First born Ss showed themselves to be more suggestible than non-first-born Ss under conditions which entailed the arousal of anxiety or not. Results are related to previous research. From Psyc Abstracts 36:04:4HK16S. (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2010 APA, all rights reserved)     

Hemisphericity, cognitive set, and susceptibility to subliminal perception.

Although many studies have apparently demonstrated that subliminal stimuli influence perception and cognition, the effects have been weak and unreliable. A review of the factors related to the magnitude of these phenomena suggests that both individual differences in hemisphericity and situational manipulations of cognitive sets are associated with the strength of subliminal effects. This hypothesis was tested in a group of 24 right movers and 25 left movers (male undergraduates), who responded to subliminal stimuli under both organized and unorganized cognitive set conditions. Results indicate that left movers showed a subliminal effect in the unorganized condition, while they showed no effect in the organized condition. Right movers showed a reverse pattern. (35 ref) (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2010 APA, all rights reserved)     

Trance logic, susceptibility screening, and the transparency response.

Two groups of hypnotizable ("real") Ss were screened on the Harvard Group Scale of Hypnotic Susceptibility and the individually administered Revised Stanford Profile Scales of Hypnotic Susceptibility or on the Group Scale alone. These 26 Ss were compared with 15 simulating Ss (who were group and individually screened) on 5 measures of trance logic (TL). As predicted, the stringently screened Ss passed more of the criterion hallucinations used in the tests of TL than group-screened-alone Ss, whereas simulators passed all the criterion hallucinations. However, the 2 groups of reals were indistinguishable on measures of TL, and only the transparency response differentiated reals and simulators. In their guesses of group assignment, hypnotists were better able to differentiate less stringently screened than stringently screened reals from simulators. Although experimenter blindness may be compromised by the use of less stringently screened Ss in TL research, bias was not associated with differential responding on TL tasks. The finding that reals who reported transparency also reported weakened or imperfect hallucinations supports the hypothesis that less than compelling hypnotic experience, not contralogical responding, is at the heart of transparency reports. (33 ref) (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2010 APA, all rights reserved)     

Antimicrobial resistance in staphylococci. Epidemiology, molecular mechanisms, and clinical relevance

Staphylococcal infections continue to pose important clinical problems in children and adults. Antibiotic resistance among the staphylococci has rendered therapy of these infections a therapeutic challenge. Despite early, uniform susceptibility to penicillin, staphylococci acquired a gene elaborating beta-lactamase that rendered penicillin inactive and that is borne by nearly all clinical isolates. "Penicillinase-resistant beta-lactams," such as methicillin, were introduced in the early 1960s, but resistance to them has become an increasing concern. The mechanism of the so-called "methicillin resistance" is complex. Moreover, once confined to the ecology of hospitals and other institutions, a recent increase in community-acquired methicillin-resistant S. aureus infections has been observed. Glycopeptides, until now the only uniformly reliable therapeutic modality, have been increasingly used for therapy of staphylococcal infections. The recent recognition of clinical isolates with reduced susceptibility to glycopeptides is of concern.     

Personality, motivation, and adolescent drug use patterns.

Examined interrelationships between patterns of drug abuse and personality and motivation for 285 college freshmen and 278 high school seniors. Ss completed the 16 Personality Factor Questionnaire, the Motivation Analysis Test, and a questionnaire regarding drug use. Drug users were significantly different from controls on 17 scales of the inventories. Significant sex differences were found with respect to drug behavior. Females used amphetamines more frequently than males and also showed greater multiple drug use. Child-rearing practices involving the neglect of discipline and absence of training in societal or ethical standards are suggested as significant in adolescent drug abuse. (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2010 APA, all rights reserved)     

Antimicrobial susceptibility of Mycoplasma hyorhinis in a liquid medium compared to a disc assay

Sulfates and glucuronides of 2,4-dinitrobenzyl alcohol 1a and 2,6-dinitrobenzyl alcohol 1b, which are major or putative metabolites of 2,4-dinitrotoluene (2,4-DNT) and 2,6-dinitrotoluene (2,6-DNT), were synthesized from 1a and 1b by reaction with pyridinium sulfonate and methyl (2,3,4-tri-O-acetyl-alpha-D-glucopyranosyl)uronate bromide 3, respectively, as their pyridinium salts (2a, 2b) and potassium salts (6a, 6b). These conjugates are important for the study of the carcinogenicity of 2,4-DNT and 2,6-DNT.     

Imagery vividness, hypnotic susceptibility, and the perception of fragmented stimuli.

Two experiments were conducted to determine the role of hypnotic susceptibility level (high or low) and imaging ability (vivid or poor) in the performance of gestalt closure tasks. In Experiment 1, subjects were required to identify fragmented stimuli in the Closure Speed Test and in the Street Test. In Experiment 2, subjects reported on fragmented stimuli that were projected to the right eye and subsequently produced an afterimage. Individuals were asked to identify the composite if possible and to report on the duration of the afterimage. In both experiments, hypnotic susceptibility level and imaging ability affected reports of gestalt closure. The greatest number of correct closures was reported by those who were both high in hypnotic susceptibility and vivid in imaging ability. In addition, in the second experiment, this group also reported the longest enduring afterimage. These results are discussed in terms of the processes required to perform in a gestalt closure task. (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2010 APA, all rights reserved)     

Day persons, night persons, and variability in hypnotic susceptibility.

Day persons (those most alert during daytime hours) and night persons participated in 2 experiments to examine within-S variability of scores over time on the Harvard Group Scale of Hypnotic Susceptibility—Form A, and the Stanford Hypnotic Susceptibility Scale—Form C. Regardless of scale used, day persons exhibited peak susceptibility at 10 AM and 2 PM; for night persons, peak susceptibility was found at 1 PM and between 6 PM and 9 PM. Furthermore, 2 peaks of temperature increase (1 PM and 6 PM) appeared to be associated with peaks in hypnotic susceptibility. However, such was shown to be associated with periods of food intake rather than with increases in hypnotic susceptibility. Results are examined with respect to methodological concerns and the potential existence of ultradian rhythms for hypnotic responsiveness. (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2010 APA, all rights reserved)