Primary isolation of Mycobacterium avium complex-serotype 6 on blood agar

Mycobacterium avium complex-serotype 6 was isolated in pure culture on blood agar plates from inocula taken from the heart blood, lungs, liver, kidneys, and spleen of a naturally infected captive female opossum (Didelphis marsupialis virginiana). Repeat cultures from stored tissues and transfer of colonies from original blood agar plates revealed that the mycobacterium grew on tryptose, brilliant green, eosin-methylene blue. Sabouraud glucose, and mycobiotic agar plates and in Fletcher leptospira medium. The cultural, biochemical, and serological characteristics of the test isolate were compared with other mycobacteria. This is the first report to describe the primary isolation of a serotype from the M. avium complex from an animal species on blood agar or in Fletcher broth. In addition, this is the second documented report describing the isolation and identification of a mycobacterial species from the American opossum.     

GC/MS profiling of gamma-hydroxybutyrate and precursors in various animal tissues using automatic solid-phase extraction. Preliminary investigations of its potential interest in postmortem interval determination

To quantify gamma-hydroxybutyrate (GHB) and its physiological metabolites, gamma-aminobutyric acid (GABA), 1,4-butanediol (1,4-BD), and gamma-butyrolactone (GBL) in various animal tissues (kidney, muscle, heart, liver, blood, brain cortex, thalamus, hypothalamus, hippocampus, or pons), an original gas chromatographic/mass spectrometric method with a automated solid-phase extraction by Oasis MCX cartridges on a Gilson Aspec Xli was developed. Using such apparatus allowed the limit of detection (LOD) of target compounds to be significantly lowered (LOD: 0.027, 0.025, and 5.7 microg/mL for GHB, 1,4-BD, and GABA, respectively, in 200 microL or microg of sample). After validation of each analytical step, the satisfactory performances of the apparatus in conjunction with the rapidity and ease of the extraction step make it suitable for simultaneous assay of GHB, 1,4-BD, GBL, and GABA. The method was used to test the correlation between GHB levels in tissues obtained at different times after death of male Sprague-Dawley rats and the postmortem interval. Preliminary results show a linear increase of GHB levels in relation to time of death in thoracic blood and central nervous system of animals kept at 15 and 20 degrees C.     

The sequence of a 9.3 kb segment located on the left arm of the yeast chromosome XI reveals five open reading frames including the CCE1 gene and putative products related to MYO2 and to the ribosomal protein L10.

We report here the sequence of a 9.3 kb DNA segment of chromosome XI of Saccharomyces cerevisiae, located between the MAK11 locus and the centromere. This sequence contains four long open reading frames (ORFs), YKL160, YKL162, YKL164, YKL165 and part of another ORF, YKL166, covering altogether 90% of the entire sequence. One of these ORFs, YKL164, corresponds to CCE1. Translation products of two other ORFs, YKL160 and YKL165, exhibit homology with previously known S. cerevisiae proteins: the ribosomal protein L10, and the MYO2 gene product, respectively.     

Real Time Fitting of Hand-Sketched Pressure Brushstrokes

A method is described for fitting the outline of hand-sketched pressure brushstrokes with Bézier curves. It combines the brush-trajectory model, in which a stroke is generated by dragging a brush along a given trajectory, with a fast curve fitting algorithm. The method has been implemented for a vector-based drawing program in which the user draws with a cordless pressure-sensitive stylus on a digitizing tablet. From the trajectory followed by the stylus, its associated pressure data, and a specified brush, a stroke of variable width is computed and displayed in real time. First, the digitized trajectory is fitted, thus removing noise. Then, from polygonal approximations of the fitted trajectory and the brush outline, a polygonal approximation of the stroke outline is computed. Working with polygonal approximations reduces computations to simple geometric operations and greatly simplifies the treatment of dynamic, pressure-controlled brushes. Last, the polygonal approximation of the stroke outline is fitted. The result is a closed piecewise Bézier curve approximating the brushstroke outline to within an arbitrary error tolerance. Several examples of hand-sketched drawings realized with this method are presented.     

The possibility of intercalating alkali metals in a glass of the system V2O5 - P2O5

A semi-conducting phosphovanadate glass was tested as a possible material for positive electrode in solid state batteries.O.c. voltage with alkali metal (3.6 V/Li and 3.4 V/Na) is higher than for crystallized vanadium oxides and chemical intercalation of sodium or lithium is obtained using halogenated salts dissolved in organic solvents.     

Microstructural changes in m. rectus abdominis bovine muscle after heating

A histological and ultrastructural study was conducted to characterize changes in beef muscle structure after heating. Pieces of rectus abdominis muscle were heated at 100 °C over varying time frames from 15 min to 60 min and at 270 °C for 1 min; samples were then prepared for optical and transmission electron microscopy. After 15 min of heating, at 100 °C, a lateral shrinkage in fibre of 48% and an increase in gaps between the myofibrillar masses of 27% was noted. No more significant evolution was observed as heating duration escalated. The ultrastructure showed strong myofibril to sarcolemma detachments in which granular aggregates, coming in part from myofibrillar proteins, are stored. Neighbouring muscle fibres showed strong heterogeneity in morphological behaviour after thermal treatment, suggesting that differences in composition and structure of the cytoskeleton proteins in the different fibres can cause denaturation/shrinkage of the proteins at different times along the timescale of microstructural changes during heating. Short heating at high temperatures expanded the gaps between myofibrillar mass, but the overall changes in the ultrastructure were similar to those obtained when heating at 100 °C.     

Influence of environmental factors,wet processing and their interactions on the biochemical composition of green Arabica coffee beans

Although cultivation of Arabica coffee trees at high elevation is known to favourably affect the final quality of the beverage, quantitative data describing the influence of climatic conditions on the chemical composition of the seed are still lacking. Similarly, post-harvest treatments of the beans are known to affect the generation of flavour, but the chemical transformations that occur during wet processing are poorly understood. To better characterise the effects of the environment, wet processing and their possible interactions, we quantified the changes in the main chemical components of the coffee seed (lipids, chlorogenic acids, sugars and caffeine) caused by wet processing, and analysed how these changes were affected by the variations induced by the environment before harvest. Using 16 experimental plots in Reunion Island displaying broad climatic variations, we showed that chlorogenic acids and fatty acids in the seed were controlled by the mean air temperature during seed development. By contrast, total lipid, total soluble sugar, total polysaccharide and total chlorogenic acid contents were not influenced by climate. Glucose content was positively affected by altitude, while sorbitol content after wet processing depended directly on the glucose content in fresh seeds.     

A Highly Potent and Cellularly Active β‐Peptidic Inhibitor of the p53/hDM2 Interaction

New and improved : The incorporation of a 6‐chlorotryptophan (6‐Cl‐Trp) into a β‐peptide (M)‐3₁₄ helix leads to a high‐affinity hDM2 inhibitor, as demonstrated by fluorescence fluctuation analysis at single molecule resolution. When conjugated to penetratin, the newly derived hDM2 binder specifically inhibits tumour cell growth in vitro.

     

Colloidal gel from amphiphilic heteroarm polyelectrolyte stars in aqueous media

We report on the gelation capability of polystyrene/poly(2-vinyl pyridine) amphiphilic heteroarm polyelectrolyte stars in acidic salt-free aqueous media. The star polymers associate through hydrophobic interactions, by retraction of the stretched arms under no interdigitation conditions, in the dilute regime forming colloidal soft nanoparticles comprising about 6 stars, At concentrations significantly higher than the hydrodynamic overlap concentration (c > 40c^∗), the crowding of the colloidal nanoparticles drives a jamming transition, leading to a colloidal gel. The intermediate overlap regime (c^∗ < c < 40c^∗) is characterized by a significant compaction of the polyelectrolyte entities prior interdigitation and jamming.