Detection of Aeromonas hydrophila in food with an enzyme-linked immunosorbent assay

A microtitration plate, antibody capture, enzyme-linked immunosorbent assay was developed for the detection of Aeromonas hydrophila serotype O : 11 (highly virulent strains). The assay utilizes a detector antibody which shows no cross-reactions with Aeromonas strains other than serotype O : 11 or non- Aeromonas competing organisms. The detector antibody is mixed with the sample and incubated for 1 h, microcentrifuged and the supernatant fluid (unadsorbed antibody) titred in a microtitre plate coated with A. hydrophila cells from serotype O : 11. All the A. hydrophila strains from serotype O : 11 tested reacted strongly with the detector antibody. Also by culturing and performing the immunoassay with the detector antibody we established and quantified the presence of A. hydrophila O : 11 in different foods.     

Effect of Poor Access to Water and Sanitation As Risk Factors for Soil-Transmitted Helminth Infection: Selectiveness by the Infective Route

BackgroundSoil-transmitted helminth (STH) infections are a public health problem in resource-limited settings worldwide. Chronic STH infection impairs optimum learning and productivity, contributing to the perpetuation of the poverty-disease cycle. Regular massive drug administration (MDA) is the cardinal recommendation for its control; along with water, sanitation and hygiene (WASH) interventions. The impact of joint WASH interventions on STH infections has been reported; studies on the independent effect of WASH components are needed to contribute with the improvement of current recommendations for the control of STH. The aim of this study is to assess the association of lacking access to water and sanitation with STH infections, taking into account the differences in route of infection among species and the availability of adequate water and sanitation at home.ConclusionsLack of safe water and proper sanitation pose a risk of STH infections that is distinct according to the route of entry to the human host used by each of the STH species. Interventions aimed to improve water and sanitation access should be highlighted in the recommendations for the control of STH.     

Novel series of substituted biphenylmethyl urea derivatives as MCH-R1 antagonists for the treatment of obesity

We have designed and synthesized two novel series of MCH-R1 antagonists based on a substituted biphenylmethyl urea core. SAR was explored, suggesting that optimal binding with the receptor was achieved when the biphenylmethyl group and the linker were substituted on the same nitrogen of the urea moiety. Compound 1-(3'-cyano-4-biphenylmethyl)-3-(2-hydroxy-1,1-dimethylethyl)-1-{2-[1-(4-methylbenzyl)-4-piperidinyl]ethyl}urea 2t showed the best antagonist binding activity to the MCH-R1 with a 43 nM K(i).     

Temperature Dependence of Steady-State and Presteady-State Kinetics of a Type IIb Na+/Pi Cotransporter

The temperature dependence of the transport kinetics of flounder Na(+)-coupled inorganic phosphate (P(i)) cotransporters (NaPi-IIb) expressed in Xenopus oocytes was investigated using radiotracer and electrophysiological assays. (32)P(i) uptake was strongly temperature-dependent and decreased by approximately 80% at a temperature change from 25 degrees C to 5 degrees C. The corresponding activation energy (E (a)) was approximately 14 kcal mol(-1) for the cotransport mode. The temperature dependence of the cotransport and leak modes was determined from electrogenic responses to 1 mM P(i) and phosphonoformic acid (PFA), respectively, under voltage clamp. The magnitude of the P(i)- and PFA-induced changes in holding current decreased with temperature. E (a) at -100 mV for the cotransport and leak modes was approximately 16 kcal mol(-1) and approximately 11 kcal mol(-1), respectively, which suggested that the leak is mediated by a carrier, rather than a channel, mechanism. Moreover, E (a) for cotransport was voltage-independent, suggesting that a major conformational change in the transport cycle is electroneutral. To identify partial reactions that confer temperature dependence, we acquired presteady-state currents at different temperatures with 0 mM P(i) over a range of external Na(+). The relaxation time constants increased, and the peak time constant shifted toward more positive potentials with decreasing temperature. Likewise, there was a depolarizing shift of the charge distribution, whereas the total available charge and apparent valency predicted from single Boltzmann fits were temperature-independent. These effects were explained by an increased temperature sensitivity of the Na(+)-debinding rate compared with the other voltage-dependent rate constants.     

Priming xylem for stress recovery depends on coordinated activity of sugar metabolic pathways and changes in xylem sap pH

Some plant species are capable of significant reduction of xylem embolism during recovery from drought despite stem water potential remains negative. However, the functional biology underlying this process is elusive. We subjected poplar trees to drought stress followed by a period of recovery. Water potential, hydraulic conductivity, gas exchange, xylem sap pH, and carbohydrate content in sap and woody stems were monitored in combination with an analysis of carbohydrate metabolism, enzyme activity, and expression of genes involved in sugar metabolic and transport pathways. Drought resulted in an alteration of differential partitioning between starch and soluble sugars. Upon stress, an increase in the starch degradation rate and the overexpression of sugar symporter genes promoted the efflux of disaccharides (mostly maltose and sucrose) to the apoplast. In turn, the efflux activity of the sugar‐proton cotransporters caused a drop in xylem pH. The newly acidic environment induced the activity of apoplastic invertases leading to the accumulation of monosaccharides in the apoplast, thus providing the main osmoticum necessary for recovery. During drought and recovery, a complex network of coordinated molecular and biochemical signals was activated at the interface between xylem and parenchyma cells that appeared to prime the xylem for hydraulic recovery.     

Effects of contemporary agricultural land cover on Colorado potato beetle genetic differentiation in the Columbia Basin and Central Sands

Landscape structure, which can be manipulated in agricultural landscapes through crop rotation and modification of field edge habitats, can have important effects on connectivity among local populations of insects. Though crop rotation is known to influence the abundance of Colorado potato beetle (CPB; Leptinotarsa decemlineata Say) in potato (Solanum tuberosum L.) fields each year, whether crop rotation and intervening edge habitat also affect genetic variation among populations is unknown. We investigated the role of landscape configuration and composition in shaping patterns of genetic variation in CPB populations in the Columbia Basin of Oregon and Washington, and the Central Sands of Wisconsin, USA. We compared landscape structure and its potential suitability for dispersal, tested for effects of specific land cover types on genetic differentiation among CPB populations, and examined the relationship between crop rotation distances and genetic diversity. We found higher genetic differentiation between populations separated by low potato land cover, and lower genetic diversity in populations occupying areas with greater crop rotation distances. Importantly, these relationships were only observed in the Columbia Basin, and no other land cover types influenced CPB genetic variation. The lack of signal in Wisconsin may arise as a consequence of greater effective population size and less pronounced genetic drift. Our results suggest that the degree to which host plant land cover connectivity affects CPB genetic variation depends on population size and that power to detect landscape effects on genetic differentiation might be reduced in agricultural insect pest systems.     

Synaptic dendritic activity modulates the single synaptic event

Synaptic transmission is the key system for the information transfer and elaboration among neurons. Nevertheless, a synapse is not a standing alone structure but it is a part of a population of synapses inputting the information from several neurons on a specific area of the dendritic tree of a single neuron. This population consists of excitatory and inhibitory synapses the inputs of which drive the postsynaptic membrane potential in the depolarizing (excitatory synapses) or depolarizing (inhibitory synapses) direction modulating in such a way the postsynaptic membrane potential. The postsynaptic response of a single synapse depends on several biophysical factors the most important of which is the value of the membrane potential at which the response occurs. The concurrence in a specific time window of inputs by several synapses located in a specific area of the dendritic tree can, consequently, modulate the membrane potential such to severely influence the single postsynaptic response. The degree of modulation operated by the synaptic population depends on the number of synapses active, on the relative proportion between excitatory and inbibitory synapses belonging to the population and on their specific mean firing frequencies. In the present paper we show results obtained by the simulation of the activity of a single Glutamatergic excitatory synapse under the influence of two different populations composed of the same proportion of excitatory and inhibitory synapses but having two different sizes (total number of synapses). The most relevant conclusion of the present simulations is that the information transferred by the single synapse is not and independent simple transition between a pre- and a postsynaptic neuron but is the result of the cooperation of all the synapses which concurrently try to transfer the information to the postsynaptic neuron in a given time window. This cooperativeness is mainly operated by a simple mechanism of modulation of the postsynaptic membrane potential which influences the amplitude of the different components forming the postsynaptic excitatory response.     

Floristic studies on freshwater algae of Lake Gondwana,Northern Victoria Land (Antarctica)

Benthic algal mats and phytoplankton of Lake Gondwana (Northern Victoria Land, Antarctica) were investigated. Biomass, chlorophyll content and floristic analyses were carried out on algal mats. The mats are composed of two layers different in colour, floristic composition and chlorophyll content. The algal flora of the mats amount to 34 taxa (19 Cyanophyta, 7 Bacillariophyta, 8 Chlorophyta). The phytoplankton community is species-poor (only 5 taxa). Crytophyta account for about 98% of total algal density.     

Selective colocalization of lipid peroxidation and protein thiol loss in chemically induced hepatic preneoplastic lesions: the role of γ-glutamyltranspeptidase activity

A number of studies indicate that cell proliferation can be modulated by changes in the redox balance of (soluble and protein) cellular thiols. Free radical processes, including lipid peroxidation (LPO), can affect such a balance, and a role for LPO in multistage carcinogenesis has been envisaged. The present study was aimed to assess the relationships between the protein thiol redox status and the LPO process in chemically induced preneoplastic tissue. The Solt-Farber's initiation-promotion model of chemical carcinogenesis in the rat liver was used. In fresh cryostat sections, preneoplastic lesions were identified by the reexpression of γ-glutamyltranspeptidase (GGT) activity. In serial sections, different classes of protein thiols were stained; in additional sections, LPO was elicited by various prooxidant mixtures and determined thereafter by the hydroxynaphthoic hydrazide-Fast Blue B procedure. The incubation of sections in the presence of chelated iron plus substrates for GGT activity leads to the development of LPO in selected section areas closely corresponding to GGT-positive lesions, indicating the ability of GGT activity to initiate LPO. Protein-reactive thiols, as well as total protein sulfur, were decreased by 20–25% in cells belonging to GGT-positive preneoplastic nodules, suggesting the occurrence of oxidative conditions in vivo. The incubation of additional adjacent sections with the prooxidant mixture H₂O₂ plus iron(II), in order to induce the complete oxidation of lipid present in the section, showed a decreased basal concentration of oxidizable lipid substrate in GGT-rich areas. The decreased levels of both protein thiols and lipid-oxidizable substrate in GGT-positive nodules suggest that the observed GGT-dependent path-way of LPO initiation can be chronically operative in vivo during early stages of chemical carcinogenesis, in cells expressing GGT as part of their transformed phenotype.