Characterization of Vibrio cholerae O1 isolates responsible for cholera outbreaks in Kenya between 1975 and 2017

Kenya is endemic for cholera with different waves of outbreaks having been documented since 1971. In recent years, new variants of Vibrio cholerae O1 have emerged and have replaced most of the traditional El Tor biotype globally. These strains also appear to have increased virulence, and it is important to describe and document their phenotypic and genotypic traits. This study characterized 146 V. cholerae O1 isolates from cholera outbreaks that occurred in Kenya between 1975 and 2017. Our study reports that the 1975–1984 strains had typical classical or El Tor biotype characters. New variants of V. cholerae O1 having traits of both classical and El Tor biotypes were observed from 2007 with all strains isolated between 2015 and 2017 being sensitive to polymyxin B and carrying both classical and El Tor type ctxB. All strains were resistant to Phage IV and harbored rstR, rtxC, hlyA, rtxA and tcpA genes specific for El Tor biotype indicating that the strains had an El Tor backbone. Pulsed field gel electrophoresis (PFGE) genotyping differentiated the isolates into 14 pulsotypes. The clustering also corresponded with the year of isolation signifying that the cholera outbreaks occurred as separate waves of different genetic fingerprints exhibiting different genotypic and phenotypic characteristics. The emergence and prevalence of V. cholerae O1 strains carrying El Tor type and classical type ctxB in Kenya are reported. These strains have replaced the typical El Tor biotype in Kenya and are potentially more virulent and easily transmitted within the population.     

INCLUSIONS OF THE PROPLASTIDS AND VACUOLES IN THE SHOOT APICES OF BRYOPHYLLUM AND KALANCHOË

Spherical, membrane-bound inclusions occur in the proplastids and vacuoles of cells of Bryophyllum and Kalanchoë shoot apices. Evidence is presented indicating that the inclusions arise by the accumulation of material within the cisternae of certain tubular proplastid membranes and are then transferred to vacuoles. The results obtained from electron microscopy and from histochemical studies indicate that the contents of the inclusions are predominantly lipid.     

Children and marital satisfaction in a non-Western sample: having more children increases marital satisfaction among the Igbo people of Nigeria

Previous research has demonstrated that having more children decreases marital satisfaction among parents. However, the universality of these findings is limited since the vast majority of the studies have been conducted in Western countries. In the present study, 374 people from the Igbo ethnic group (Nigeria) were assessed for levels of marital satisfaction and the number of children. In contrast to almost all previous findings, we found a positive relationship between the number of children and marital satisfaction among parents. Number of children was the strongest predictor of marital satisfaction even when compared to other variables like wealth and education. Our results suggest that the negative relationship between the number of children and marital satisfaction is not culturally universal and probably only characterizes developed, individualistic Western countries. We discuss our findings from a sociocultural and evolutionary perspective.     

Isolation and sequence of a tropomyosin-binding fragment of turkey gizzard calponin

Limited chymotryptic cleavage of turkey gizzard calponin yields a 13 kDa fragment which could be purified by its ability to bind to Sepharose-immobilized tropomyosin. This 13 kD polypeptide is shown to be derived from a 22 kDa fragment. Complete amino acid sequence analysis of the 13 kD and 22 kD fragments reveals high homology with the formerly characterized smooth muscle-specific protein SM22 alpha (Pearlstone, J.R., Weber, M., Lees-Miller, J.P., Carpenter, M.R. and Smillie L.B., 1987, J. Biol. Chem. 262, 5985-5991) and the product of gene mp20 of Drosophila (Ayme-Southqate, A., Lasko, P., French, C, and Pardue, M.L. [(1989) J. Cell Biol. 108, 521-531]. Futhermore we recognize sequence elements of a putative actin-binding domain of alpha-actinin, the calpactin I or p 36 sequence, and a consensus motif present in the repeats of the gene product of the candidate unc-87 gene of C. elegans (S.D. Goetinck and R.H. Waterston, personal communication).