Evaluation of the auxacolor system for biochemical identification of medically important yeasts

We compared the Auxacolor yeast identification system (Sanofi Diagnostics Pasteur) with the API 20C Aux (bioMerieux-Vitek) using 105 isolates of medically important yeasts. The Auxacolor system provided more rapid, accurate results and displayed less interobserver variability than the API 20C Aux.     

Adhesive intercellular interactions

The process of intercellular interactions during morphogenesis, inflammation and malignant growth are considered from the point of view of possible intercellular contacts provided by cell adhesion molecules. The system analysis of different cell adhesion molecules classes? their structure and influence on functional cell activity is performed. Clinical importance of expression disturbances of cell adhesion molecules at various pathological processes is considered.     

Is polarization important in cation-pi interactions?

The importance of cation->aromatic polarization effects on cation-pi interactions has been explored. Theoretical calculations demonstrate that polarization is a large contribution to cation-aromatic interactions, and particularly to cation-pi interactions. For a series of compounds with a similar aromatic core, polarization is constant and makes small influence in the relative cation-binding energies. However, when the aromatic core changes polarization contributions might be very different. We found that the generalized molecular interaction potential with polarization is a very fast and powerful tool for the prediction of cation binding of aromatic compounds.     

Metabolic engineering for the production of carotenoids in non-carotenogenic bacteria and yeasts

This article deals with a topic being controversially discussed in public for several years now: violence in school. Following the outlining of the current state of research and the naming of causes is a representation of the research-project "Violence in School' sponsored by the German Research Community (Deutsche Forschungsgemeinschaft, DFG). This four-stage program which was designed to analyze and prevent violence in school has set itself the aim to get a comprehensive idea of extent and appearance of violent behavior as well as to find condition-constellations in the school environment and also externally. Finally, some ideas for prevention and intervention of violence in school are given. Those recommendations represent a set of proposals that can be found in the bibliography.     

Identification of various medically important Candida species in clinical specimens by PCR-restriction enzyme analysis

It is still unclear whether the sporadic form of dysplastic nevi (SDN) represents a premalignant lesion of malignant melanoma and whether genetic alterations are involved in the development of SDN. To determine whether p16INK4a and p53 genetic abnormalities could be associated with development of SDN, nevus cell nests were procured selectively from H & E-stained slide sections by using a modified microdissection technique and were screened for the presence of mutations and loss of heterozygosity (LOH) of p16INK4a and p53 genes using a polymerase chain reaction-based LOH, single-strand conformation polymorphism, and direct DNA sequencing analyses. Hemizygous deletion was detected in 9 of 12 informative cases (75%) for 9p21-22 (p16INK4a) at one or more loci and 60% (6/10) for 17p13 (p53). As for mutation, we found 3 missense mutations and 1 mutation in the first intron in p16INK4a and 2 missense mutations in p53. Among these mutations in p16INK4a and p53, 5 of 6 mutations were of the C:G to T:A transitional type; this is known to be related to ultraviolet radiation as previously confirmed in other skin cancers. This indicates that p16INK4a and p53 genetic alterations may play an important role in the evolution of SDN and may represent an early event in the development of malignant melanoma. Furthermore, ultraviolet radiation might be the predominant etiologic agent in the development of SDN.     

Clinically important drug interactions with disease-modifying antirheumatic drugs

The effects of the universal opioid antagonist naltrexone were compared to the delta-selective opioid antagonist naltrindole and the mu-selective opioid antagonist beta-funaltrexamine on ethanol consumption in the absence of food or fluid deprivation using a limited access procedure in Wistar rats. Both naltrexone, at doses of 0.1, 0.25, 0.5, 1.0, 3.0, and 10 mg/kg, and beta-funaltrexamine, at doses of 5.0 and 20.0 mg/kg, significantly decreased consumption of a 6% ethanol solution compared to saline control groups. Naltrindole, at doses of 5.0 and 15.0 mg/kg, failed to significantly reduce ethanol consumption. In addition, the highest doses of naltrexone, which antagonize delta as well as mu-opioid receptors, did not differ significantly from the lowest doses in their ability to reduce ethanol consumption. These data suggest that ethanol consumption using the limited access paradigm in the outbred rat is modulated by mu rather than delta-opioid receptors. Although this is not consistent with other data showing that delta antagonists decrease ethanol consumption, it is suggested that these difference may be related to the alcohol-preferring rats used in those experiments.     

Adhesive interaction between lymphocytes and sinusoidal liver cells

Despite an effective vaccine for rubella and reliable serological methods for detecting syphilis, these pathogens remain important potential causes of congenital infections. This article describes the epidemiological factors that have contributed to the reemergence of these disorders and summarizes the clinical features, microbiological diagnosis, and strategies for treatment or prevention of congenital rubella and congenital syphilis.     

Test of synergistic interactions among deleterious mutations in bacteria

Identifying the forces responsible for the origin and maintenance of sexuality remains one of the greatest unsolved problems in biology. The mutational deterministic hypothesis postulates that sex is an adaptation that allows deleterious mutations to be purged from the genome; it requires synergistic interactions, which means that two mutations would be more harmful together than expected from their separate effects. We generated 225 genotypes of Escherichia coli carrying one, two or three successive mutations and measured their fitness relative to an unmutated competitor. The relationship between mutation number and average fitness is nearly log-linear. We also constructed 27 recombinant genotypes having pairs of mutations whose separate and combined effects on fitness were determined. Several pairs exhibit significant interactions for fitness, but they are antagonistic as often as they are synergistic. These results do not support the mutational deterministic hypothesis for the evolution of sex.     

Studies on interactions between metmyoglobin and heparin

Butyric acid is released from milk by pre-intestinal lipases during suckling. It is also known to inhibit bacterial growth. To investigate whether butyric acid may be a significant factor in controlling bacterial growth in the stomach of pre-weaned animals, the ability of butyric acid to inhibit growth of selected bacteria was tested over physiological ranges of pH and butyric acid concentrations. Six enteric and environmental strains of bacteria were used: two strains of Escherichia coli, Klebsiella pneumoniae, Enterococcus faecium, Enterococcus faecalis, and Enterococcus casseliflavus. At pH 4.5 and 5.0, the growth of all organisms was significantly inhibited in the presence of butyrate, and in some cases growth was completely arrested. At pH 6.0, butyric acid did not affect bacterial growth until the concentration reached 40 mM. The maximum concentration of butyric acid available in cow's milk after incubation with pre-gastric lipase is approximately 16 mM, which would be sufficient to prevent growth of the organisms tested at pH values occurring in the stomach. Therefore, butyric acid inhibition of bacterial growth may explain in part, the role of pre-intestinal lipases in young animals' natural defenses against bacteria in ingested food prior to weaning.     

Zebedee: a novel copia-Ty1 family of transposable elements in the genome of the medically important mosquito Aedes aegypti

In epidemiologic studies, analysis of the relationship between exposure intensity and risk is complicated by the fact that exposures often take place over extended periods, during which intensities can vary substantially. To relate exposure to outcome, it is necessary to combine information about duration, intensity and timing into a summary measure of exposure. If the aim of the exposure-response analysis is to estimate the risk associated with differing exposure intensities, the results depend on the manner in which one incorporates intensity into the summary exposure metric. Most metrics used to summarize exposure, such as the cumulative exposure index, are time-weighted summations of intensity. They are thus based on the assumption that for any fixed time point, the effect of a unit of exposure is proportional to its intensity. This paper describes an approach for constructing and fitting summary measures of exposure that one can use to incorporate alternative assumptions about the effect of exposure intensity, as well as effects relating to the timing of exposure. Data from a study of lung cancer mortality in asbestos miners and millers serve to illustrate the method. Exposure metrics based on various functions of intensity and time of exposure are constructed and fitted to the data using conditional logistic regression. The results demonstrate how the choice of a function for quantification of exposure can affect the exposure-response analysis and the risk estimates it yields.     

Curvature-mediated interactions between membrane proteins

Membrane proteins can deform the lipid bilayer in which they are embedded. If the bilayer is treated as an elastic medium, then these deformations will generate elastic interactions between the proteins. The interaction between a single pair is repulsive. However, for three or more proteins, we show that there are nonpairwise forces whose magnitude is similar to the pairwise forces. When there are five or more proteins, we show that the nonpairwise forces permit the existence of stable protein aggregates, despite their pairwise repulsions.     

Composite Action and Adhesive Bond between Fiber-Reinforced Polymer Bridge Decks and Main Girders

This paper describes the behavior of hybrid girders consisting of fiber-reinforced polymer (FRP) bridge decks adhesively connected to steel main girders. Two large-scale girders were experimentally investigated at the serviceability and ultimate limit state as well as at failure. One of the girders was additionally fatigue loaded to 10 million cycles. Compared to the behavior of a reference steel girder, deflections of the two girders at the SLS were decreased by 30% and failure loads increased by 56% due to full composite action in the adhesive layer. A ductile failure mode occurred: Deck compression failure during yielding of the steel girder. The adhesive connections were able to prevent buckling of the yielding top steel flanges. Thus, compared to the reference steel girder, the maximum deflections at failure could be increased up to 130%. No deterioration due to fatigue loading was observed. Based on the experimental results, a conceptual design method for bonded FRP/steel girders was developed. The proposed method is based on the well-established design method for hybrid girders with concrete decks and shear stud connections. The necessary modifications are proposed.     

Perceptual interactions between musical pitch and timbre.

Three experiments examined perceptual interactions between musical pitch and timbre. Exp 1, through the use of the Garner classification tasks, found that pitch and timbre of isolated tones interact. Classification times showed interference from uncorrelated variation in the irrelevant attribute and facilitation from correlated variation; the effects were symmetrical. Exps 2 and 3 examined how musical pitch and timbre function in longer sequences. In recognition memory tasks, a target tone always appeared in a fixed position in the sequences, and listeners were instructed to attend to either its pitch or its timbre. For successive tones, no interactions between timbre and pitch were found. That is, changing the pitches of context tones did not affect timbre recognition, and vice versa. The tendency to perceive pitch in relation to other context pitches was strong and unaffected by whether timbre was constant or varying. In contrast, the relative perception of timbre was weak and was found only when pitch was constant. These results suggest that timbre is perceived more in absolute than in relative terms. Perceptual implications for creating patterns in music with timbre variations are discussed. (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2010 APA, all rights reserved)     

Inhibitory interactions between appetitive and aversive stimuli.

Reviews the behavioral evidence that a stimulus of a given affective value will exert a central inhibitory influence on responding maintained by stimuli of the opposite affective value. The effects of aversive stimuli on appetitively motivated behavior and of appetitive stimuli on aversively motivated behavior are considered separately. The evidence for a true inhibitory action is evaluated in terms of 3 behavioral criteria: the summation, retardation, and counterconditioning tests. Special attention is paid to the role of peripheral response interactions in determining the outcome of these tests. Although aversive stimuli meet all 3 criteria as inhibitors of appetitive behavior, the evidence that appetitive stimuli inhibit aversively motivated behavior is far less consistent. The strongest evidence for the inhibitory effect of appetitive stimuli comes from studies attempting to countercondition the reinforcing properties of aversive stimuli. It is concluded that this line of research supports general motivational theories that argue for the functional equivalence of excitors and inhibitors of opposite affective value. (4? p ref) (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2010 APA, all rights reserved)