Superantigen types inStaphylococcus aureus isolated from patients with cystic fibrosis

The screening of 17 SAg genes of S. aureus isolated from the sputum of cystic fibrosis (CF) patients revealed that among 47 genetically different strains, 39 (83 %) carried SAg genes. Superantigens forming enterotoxin gene cluster were detected in 20 strains. The 2nd most common superantigen type was selk detected in 13 strains. In 9 strains, selk occurred together with the sea gene. Out of 74 strains recovered from nasal carriers, 56 (75 %) were found to carry SAg genes, 38 carried egc genes, while selk was detected in 5 strains. The predominant SAg types in both investigated S. aureus populations were egc and selk/sea, but selk gene frequency was significantly higher in the CF-derived strains.     

Prevention of infection transmission during stem cell transplantation

Group of 152 patients (investigated before autologous transplantation) and 35 healthy donors for allogeneic transplantation was examined for the risk of infection transmission that can be associated with the infusion of cryopreserved peripheral blood progenitor cells to the patient and/or cross-contamination of stored grafts. No laboratory signs of active infection were found in 22 donors (63 %) and in 91 patients (60%). The most common was active infection by herpes viruses--50 cases in patients, 21 cases in donors; hepatitis B was found in only two cases. The rate of clinically unsuspected (but dangerous) infections in donors and patients thus remains relatively high in spite of the fact that the system of donor search and the whole transplantation procedure have improved in the last years. The system of safety assurance is extremely important and the whole palette of preventive tests according to EBMT (European Blood and Marrow Transplantation Group) and ISHAGE (International Society for Hemotherapy and Graft Engineering) is fully justified.     

Primary fluorescence (Autofluorescence) of fruiting bodies of the wood-rotting fungusFomes fomentarius

Autofluorescence of fruiting bodies of the wood-rotting fungus Fomes fomentarius has been observed and is described among native macrofungi for the first time. The strongest yellow autofluorescence with blue excitation was displayed by pith sets, a weaker yellow, yellow-green to yellow-red fluorescence was due to generative thin-walled hyphae while the weakest yellow-reddish fluorescence was emitted by thick-walled skeletal hyphae (though their parts may emit a more intensive yellow fluorescence). This yellow, yellow-green to yellow-red autofluorescence was assessed to be more intensive than the emission described so far in bacteria and fungi (except for lysed hyphae of the fungus Trametes versicolor). With green excitation all F. fomentarius cells emitted strong red autofluorescence.     

Effect of Darkness on Growth and Flowering of Chenopodium rubrum and C. murale Plants in vitro

Chenopodium rubrum, a short-day plant, and C. murale, a long-day plant, were grown in vitro in continuous darkness. Control C. rubrum plants exposed to continuous darkness for 15 d at cotyledonary phase, did not flower, while 80 % of plants flowered on the medium with 5 % glucose and 10 mg dm⁻³ GA₃. Control C. murale plants exposed to continuous darkness for 10 d at the age of 4^th pair of leaves, did not flower, while GA₃ (1 – 5 mg dm⁻³) stimulated flowering up to 65 %. This revised version was published online in July 2006 with corrections to the Cover Date.     

Species Specificity of Aldehyde and Fatty Acid Profiles of Four Family Group Representatives within the Insect Infraorder Pentatomomorpha (Hemiptera: Heteroptera)

Reactive α,β‐unsaturated aldehydes, including 4‐oxoalk‐2‐enals, are known to be present in volatile secretions of numerous heteropteran insect species. Because the aldehydes are likely to originate from metabolism of fatty acids (FAs), the present study aimed to examine and compare the aldehyde and FA profiles of four model heteropteran species. The model species consisted of adult family group representatives within the infraorder Pentatomomorpha (Hemiptera: Heteroptera): seed bug (Lygaeus equestris (Lygaeoidea)), dock leaf bug (Coreus marginatus (Coreoidea)), red firebug (Pyrrhocoris apterus (Pyrrhocoroidea)), and European stink bug (Graphosoma lineatum (Pentatomoidea)). Solid‐phase microextraction combined with two‐dimensional gas‐chromatography/time‐of‐flight mass spectrometry was used to establish the profiles of volatile secretions in stressed living insects. The FA profiles of acylglyceride and phospholipid fractions deposited in fat body and/or hemolymph were obtained by liquid chromatography/mass spectrometry and gas chromatography with flame ionization detection techniques. Our results based on multivariate statistical analyses of the data imply that volatile secretion blends as well as fat body and/or hemolymph lipid profiles are species specific but the differences in volatile blends between different species do not mirror the changes in corresponding fat body and/or hemolymph lipid profiles of stressed and non‐stressed individuals.     

Chemical Profiling and Assessment of Antineurodegenerative and Antioxidant Properties of Veronica teucrium L. and Veronica jacquinii Baumg.

Neuroprotective potential of V. teucrium and V. jacquinii methanol extracts was analyzed. Chemical analysis of investigated extracts showed the presence of phenolic acid derivatives, flavonoids and one secoiridoid. The detected flavonoids derived from flavones (luteolin and isoscutellarein in V. jacquinii ; apigenin, isoscutellarein and luteolin in V. teucrium ) and flavonol (quercetin in V. jacquinii ). Acteoside was the dominant compound in V. jacquinii , while plantamajoside and isoscutellarein 7‐O ‐(6?‐O ‐acetyl)‐β ‐allosyl (1?→2?)‐β ‐glucoside were the major phenolics in V. teucrium . Additionally, the antineurodegenerative activity was tested at concentrations of 25, 50, and 100 μg/ml using acetylcholinesterase (AC hE) and tyrosinase (TYR ) assays. The inhibition of both enzymes was achieved with the investigated extracts, ranging from 22.78 to 35.40% for AC hE and from 9.57 to 16.38% for TYR . There was no statistical difference between the activities of the analyzed extracts. Our data indicate that V. teucrium and V. jacquinii may have beneficial effects against Alzheimer 's and Parkinson 's disease.     

The P25 component of Galleria silk

The water-insoluble core of lepidopteran silk is composed of four major proteins, but only three genes have been identified. This study demonstrates that the 29- and 30-kDa components of Galleria mellonella silk are derived from a single gene designated P25. The gene is expressed exclusively in the posterior section of the silk glands as a 2-kb mRNA, which accumulates in the feeding larvae and declines at molting. The mRNA encodes a peptide of 24 864 Da that exhibits 51% identity with the putative product of the P25 gene of Bombyx. The conservation of several amino acid stretches, including the relative positions of all 8 cysteines in the mature polypeptide, implies that the P25 proteins play similar, and apparently significant roles in silk formation in the two species. A Galleria P25 cDNA yields a peptide of about 25?kDa when translated in vitro; the 29- and 30-kDa forms present in the silk are derived from this primary translation product by differential glycosylation.     

Application of Chaos Theory in Analyzing the Cardiac Rhythm in Healthy Subjects at Different Sleep Stages

The changes in the chaotic element of the cardiac rhythm (CR) were quantitated at different sleep stages by calculating the correlation dimension (D2) in 26 healthy subjects of both sexes (mean age 29.2 years), including 7 trained and 19 untrained subjects. Three untrained subjects took part in tests with autonomic nervous system blockers (atropine and propranolol). The study demonstrated a correlation between the changes in D2 at different sleep stages and the level of the autonomic regulation of CR. As the influence of the parasympathetic system on CR increased from one stage of slow wave sleep to another, D2 increased; during rapid eye movement (REM) sleep, this influence weakened and D2 decreased. The character of changes differed in the trained and untrained subjects and depended on the initial level of the autonomic regulation of CR. In the trained subjects, characterized by predominance of the parasympathetic regulation of CR, the initial and subsequent D2 values were higher than in the untrained subjects. Both during wakefulness and at all stages of sleep, D2 increased when the sympathetic regulation of CR was blocked, decreased when the parasympathetic regulation was blocked, and reached the lowest level when both of them were blocked. This showed that the chaotic element of CR, expressed numerically by D2, depends on the regulating effects of the autonomic nervous system.