Bacterial translocation and wasting in stressed mice

The structures of YM-51084 and YM-51085, new protease inhibitors produced by Streptomyces sp. Q21705, were determined by 1H- and 13C-NMR and mass spectrometry. Both were characterized by the basic structures of an acyl-tripeptide. YM-51084 was elucidated to be isovaleryl-tyrosyl-valyl-phenylalaninal and YM-51085 was the reduced phenylalaninol form of YM-51084. These compounds proved to strongly inhibit human kidney cathepsin L; the IC50 values being 9.6 x 10(-9) M and 3.5 x 10(-7) M, respectively.     

The behaviour of LAS in the environment

During the last few years a considerable amount of information about the biodegradation of linear alkylbenzene sulfonates (LASs) in real environmental situations has been made available. This paper reviews the existing LAS concentrations found today in the environment, using specific analytical techniques for this surfactant, as well as its mineralization and fate in compartments such as sludge amended soils. LAS is totally decomposed into carbon dioxide, water and inorganic sulfate without formation of stable metabolites, and no accumulation has been detected in the compartments studied. The highest degree of biodegradation (>95%) takes place in the processes (sewers and sewage treatment plants) showing the shortest half lives (1–10 h).     

Relationship between some Staphylococcus aureus pathogenic factors and growth rates and somatic cell counts

Staphylococcus aureus isolates produce several pathogenic factors. The combination of these products influences the pathogenic role of different isolates, but their specific effects are well known in the pathogenesis of udder infections. This study focused on the association of polymorphism of the coagulase gene, protein A gene, collagen-binding protein gene, and of fibrinogen-binding protein gene on somatic cell count (SCC) and on Staph. aureus growth rate. Fifty Staph. aureus isolates from 13 dairy cow herds, located in seven different provinces, were considered. The results showed a low frequency of cna gene, similar to the one observed in human isolates. Meanwhile, the high frequency of efb gene indirectly confirmed the role of this factor in bacterial pathogenesis, being associated with adhesion to epithelia. The association of these two single genes with SCC and growth rate showed to be not significant. The polymorphism of spa gene was confirmed to be significantly associated with inflammatory response and growth rate, albeit with a pattern different from the one suggested for human isolates. Sorting of isolates based on the clusters obtained by combining polymorphisms of spa and coa genes and the presence of cna and efb genes, showed that a single cluster (cluster V) was prevalent in the different herds and provinces, while the other six clusters identified were widely spread among the remaining 60% of the isolates. Results showed that clusters VI and VII had significantly higher growth rates at 3, 4, and 6 h in comparison with the other clusters. Meanwhile, quarters infected with these strains showed significantly lower SCC levels. The frequency of isolates from cluster V, suggested that they should possess pathogenic factors increasing their invasiveness, even if in the presence of a stronger inflammatory response. These results indirectly confirm previous findings on the different interactions between isolates and the udder immune system. They also suggest that isolates with higher growth rates and inducing a lower inflammatory response have better chances to spread among the herd. The relatively simple genomic method proposed in this study could be applied by an increasing number of diagnostic laboratories and could be useful in studying the epidemiology of Staph. aureus intra-mammary infections in dairy herds when collecting data from the field.     

Flow Focusing: a versatile technology to produce size-controlled and specific-morphology microparticles

The Flow Focusing platform is especially advantageous for micro- and nanoparticle production. This versatile technique is amenable to designing the size, surface treatment and internal topology of the particles; mechanical stresses are minimal-an optimal feature for the manipulation of delicate substances. Multiplexing and high-rate production are readily implemented. Adaptive operational design can lead, in one single step, to finely tuned microcapsules encasing different products within a targeted morphology. This achievement is of great significance for most microcapsule applications in the biosciences (for example, drug delivery, cell encapsulation, and the production of bead arrays).     

Venous thromboembolism in oncology

Thromboembolic events represent well-recognised complications of neoplastic disease contributing, in a significant manner, to the morbidity and mortality from cancer. The close relationship between the activation of blood coagulation and tumor growth is known since 1865, when Armand Trousseau first described the clinical association between primary or idiopathic venous thromboembolism and an underlying occult malignancy. However, only in the last decades significant advances in this field have been achieved, both on the comprehension of the complex interactions between the tumor and the hemostatic system, and on the prophylaxis and therapy of the thromboembolic manifestations in cancer patients.     

Effects of selective and complete dry therapy on prevalence of intramammary infection and on milk yield in the subsequent lactation in dairy ewes

The study was carried out in a commercial flock on 286 Churra breed ewes (566 half-udders) assigned to three lots depending on the type of antibiotic dry therapy received in the lactation previous to the one studied. One-hundred-and-four ewes were given complete therapy in all udders, 103 received selective therapy of infected half-udders, and 79 received no therapy at all. Half-udders of all animals were sampled for bacteriological study at < or = 72 h (lambing), 60 d, 120 d, and 155 d (drying-off) post partum. Dry therapy, parity number, lactation stage and therapy x parity interaction contributed significantly to variation in intramammary infection prevalence. Antibiotic dry therapy had the most significant effect. Prevalence during the whole of the subsequent lactation was significantly lower in lots receiving complete (18.8%) and selective (15.6%) dry therapy than in the untreated control lot (48.3%). Coagulase-negative staphylococci and streptococci (in particular Streptococcus agalactiae) were the organisms most significantly affected by dry therapy. In untreated ewes, prevalence increased noticeably from the 2nd to the 6th and subsequent lactations, but no significant changes were observed in the treated lots. Milk yield in the dry treated lots was 6.9% higher that in the untreated one. It was concluded that complete and selective treatments of ewes at drying-off were efficient and comparable methods of reducing the intramammary infection prevalence, improving bacteriological quality of milk, and increasing milk yield.     

Vapor-liquid equilibrium of the binary mixtures CnH2n + 1(OH) (n = 2,3,4) + Propyl Ethanoate and + Ethyl Propanoate

The compositions of the vapor-liquid equilibria have been obtained in a small-capacity recirculating still for the binary systems comprised of ethanol, propan-l-ol and butan-l-ol with propyl ethanoate and ethyl propanoate at a constant pressure of 101.32 ± 0.07 kPa. The experimental data were correlated with suitable equations and the azeotropes and their minimum boiling temperatures found were: ethanol + propyl ethanoate (x = y = 0.923; T = 351.5 K), propan-l-ol + propyl ethanoate (x = y = 0.610; T = 361.7 K), ethanol + ethyl propanoate (x = y = 0.875; T = 350.9 K) and propan-l-ol + ethyl propanoate (x = y = 0.534; T = 366.2 K).     

Enantioselective hydrolysis of some 2-aryloxyalkanoic acid methyl esters and isosteric analogues using a penicillin G acylase-based HPLC monolithic silica column

A technique based on liquid chromatography has been developed to facilitate studies of enantioselectivity in penicillin G acylase (PGA)-catalyzed hydrolysis of some 2-aryloxyalkanoic acid methyl esters and isosteric analogues. PGA was covalently immobilized on an aminopropyl monolithic silica support to create an immobilized HPLC-enzyme reactor. Two sets of experimental data were drawn to calculate the enantioselectivity (E) of the kinetically controlled enantiomer-differentiating reaction, the degree of substrate conversion and the enantiomeric excess of the product. The developed enzymatic reactor was coupled through a switching valve to an achiral analytical column for separation and quantitation of the hydrolysis products. The enantiomeric excess was determined off-line on a PGA-chiral stationary phase. In this way, highly precise E values were determined. A computational study related to the hydrolysis of the considered racemic esters was also carried out in order to unambiguously clarify both the substrate specificity and the enantioselectivity displayed by PGA.     

Clinical presentations, differential diagnosis and management of obstetric brachial palsy

INTRODUCTION: The brachial plexus originates from C5 to T1 spinal segments. The brachial plexus includes the ventral ramus, trunks, divisions, cords and branches. DEVELOPMENT AND CONCLUSIONS: Brachial plexus injuries produce clinical syndromes. The Duchenne-Erb syndrome is the most frequent presentation of obstetric brachial plexus injury. The differential diagnosis of brachial plexus palsy include decreased arm movements due to pain, or weakness caused by a lesion of the nervous system outside in the brachial plexus, or by a lesion in the brachial plexus due to non-obstetrical causes. Management of these patients initially includes considering the possibility of clavicular and humeral fractures and posterior subluxation of the shoulder; and subsequently considering the possibilities of subscapularis muscle contraction or posterior shoulder subluxation in patients that develop internal rotation contracture of the shoulder; or flexion, pronation or supination contracture in patients with forearm deformation. Treatment consist of physical therapy, administration of botulinum toxin, electrical stimulation, neurolysis, nervatization, removal of neuromas and nerve grafting, treatment of fractures and subluxation, release of muscle contracture and tendon transplantation.