Low-Temperature Growth of the CdS Cubic Phase by Atomic-Layer Deposition on SiC/Si Hybrid Substrates

Technical Physics Letters - A new method for epitaxial growth of cadmium sulfide (CdS) films in the metastable cubic phase by atomic-layer deposition on silicon substrates with a buffer layer of...     

Preparation and characterization of chitosan‐based dispersions

Complexation of chitosan in aqueous solutions by low molecular weight electrolytes is one of the simplest methods for the preparation of aqueous chitosan dispersions. In this work, the influence of storage time, sulfate concentration, method of preparation and surfactant content on some properties of the resultant chitosan dispersions (turbidity, viscosity and zeta potential) was analyzed. Turbidimetry was adequate to monitor the formation of particles, while viscometry was suitable to monitor changes in the dispersing phase. An analysis of the properties of these systems, mainly in terms of particle–particle and macromolecule–macromolecule interactions was carried out. Copyright © 2004 Society of Chemical Industry     

Artefactual cleavage of E coli H-NS by OmpT

In the bacterium Escherichia coli, H-NS-(H1, H1a) is a heat-stable protein with a molecular mass of 15.5 kDa involved in nucleoid organisation and gene regulation linked to certain signal transduction pathways. We have shown that, following addition of preparations of everted inner membrane vesicles, heat-stable cleavage products of approximately 10 kDa of H-NS are formed in vitro from newly synthesised, radio-labelled H-NS and from purified H-NS. The 15.5 kDa protein and its cleavage products were also recovered from a minicell system. These results raised the possibility that cleavage of H-NS is physiologically significant. However, the cleavage of H-NS observed appears to occur during cell breakage and to depend on the method of protein extraction and the presence of the outer membrane protease, OmpT. Nevertheless, the results indicate that H-NS may contain at least two separate domains with cleavage occurring between these domains at a preferred OmpT site. Failure to take account of H-NS cleavage in sample preparation and analysis can lead to serious underestimation of H-NS levels.     

Fungal carriage in lizards

The occurrence of fungi was investigated in the gut of 200 common garden lizards (Agama agama). The most important pathogenic fungus isolated was Basidiobolus haptosporus, an aetiological agent of subcutaneous zygomycosis. It was recovered from the intestinal contents of 112 (56%) lizards. Other important fungi isolated included Aspergillus spp. in 24 (12%) lizards, Candida spp. in 12 (6%), Penicillium spp. in 12 (6%) and Fusarium spp. in 12 (6%). Mucor spp. were isolated from eight (4%) male lizards only. Agamid lizards are plentiful in rural and urban areas of Nigeria. As they live in close vicinity to man, they are likely to play an important role in the spread of disease that may be caused by these fungi and its transmission to man. None of the animals investigated that yielded fungal cultures revealed any external fungal infection.     

Isolation of bacterial endotoxins from Pseudomonas putida 36 and Escherichia coli (vulgaris)

A prospective analysis of 69 patients who had been treated for nasopharyngeal carcinoma (NPC) by external radiotherapy was carried out. Biopsies from the posterior nasopharynx were performed and analyzed by in situ hybridization using an antisense Epstein-Barr Early RNA (EBER) radio-labelled riboprobe. None of the patients had evidence of disease in the nasopharynx. One patient was found to have nasopharyngeal carcinoma detected only by in situ hybridization. In the subsequent 18-month follow-up of these clinically- and biopsy-negative patients, only one patient developed relapse in the nasopharynx. In situ hybridization is a valuable tool for the detection of NPC and should be routinely available in histopathology laboratories where NPC is regularly diagnosed.     

Measurement of the Hardness of Thin Films

A method for evaluating the hardness of coatings with nanosize thickness is suggested. The method includes the determination of the hardness of the “coating-substrate” composition by indenting the coating and subsequent computation of the hardness with the use of the additivity rule. This requires determination of the thickness of the coating, of the hardness of the substrate, and of the indentation depth.     

Localization of G-proteins in macrophages and E. coli during phagocytosis

Heterotrimeric GTP-binding proteins (G-proteins) have been shown to play an important role in cellular signalling. However, G-protein involvement in the intracellular spreading of bacterial pathogens is still poorly understood. In this study, antibodies, that recognize G-protein alpha-subunits (anti-G alpha), were used to investigate the localization of G-proteins in the macrophage-like cell line P388D1 and E. coli, also in their L-forms, during phagocytosis. In E. coli, anti-G alpha-binding sites were detected preferably in the cell wall and septa of the whole bacterial forms as well as in the cytoplasm of L-forms. Western blotting of bacterial lysates demonstrated protein bands with positive immunoreaction to antibodies against Gs alpha, Gi alpha, and Gcommon alpha with a higher affinity to the antibody against Gs alpha. Immunoreaction with the anti-Gs alpha-antibody was markedly higher in pathogenic strains of E. coli. Because of the conserved structure in all GTP-binding proteins which seem to derive from a single primordial protein involved in signal transduction mechanisms, it is reasonable to assume that some anti-Ga-positive proteins in E. coli might be related to G-proteins of higher organisms. A putative candidate for bacterial G-proteins seems to be a 36 kDa protein. Enhancement in G-protein immunostaining in the cytoplasm of macrophages around the internalized bacteria testifies to the involvement of G-proteins in mediation of endocytosis responses of phagocytes.