Developmental trajectory of the healthy human gut microbiota during the first 5 years of life

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Emerging concepts in the pathogenesis of the Streptococcus pneumoniae: From nasopharyngeal colonizer to intracellular pathogen

Streptococcus pneumoniae (the pneumococcus) is a human respiratory tract pathogen and a major cause of morbidity and mortality globally. Although the pneumococcus is a commensal bacterium that colonizes the nasopharynx, it also causes lethal diseases such as meningitis, sepsis, and pneumonia, especially in immunocompromised patients, in the elderly, and in young children. Due to the acquisition of antibiotic resistance and the emergence of nonvaccine serotypes, the pneumococcus has been classified as one of the priority pathogens for which new antibacterials are urgently required by the World Health Organization, 2017. Understanding molecular mechanisms behind the pathogenesis of pneumococcal infections and bacterial interactions within the host is crucial to developing novel therapeutics. Previously considered to be an extracellular pathogen, it is becoming evident that pneumococci may also occasionally establish intracellular niches within the body to escape immune surveillance and spread within the host. Intracellular survival within host cells also enables pneumococci to resist many antibiotics. Within the host cell, the bacteria exist in unique vacuoles, thereby avoiding degradation by the acidic lysosomes, and modulate the expression of its virulence genes to adapt to the intracellular environment. To invade and survive intracellularly, the pneumococcus utilizes a combination of virulence factors such as pneumolysin (PLY), pneumococcal surface protein A (PspA), pneumococcal adhesion and virulence protein B (PavB), the pilus‐1 adhesin RrgA, pyruvate oxidase (SpxB), and metalloprotease (ZmpB). In this review, we discuss recent findings showing the intracellular persistence of Streptococcus pneumoniae and its underlying mechanisms.     

Micropurification and amino acid sequence of β-casomorphin-8 in milk from a woman with postpartum psychosis

Milk was obtained from a woman with acute postpartum psychosis and with ongoing lactation. Defatted samples were subjected to micropurification and collected fractions were analyzed by means of their β-casomorphin-8 immunoreactivity. Immunoreactive material with the same chromatographic properties as synthetic human β-casomorphin-8 was determined by amino acid sequence analysis to be Tyr-Pro-Phe-Val-Glu-Pro-Ile-Pro. Its molecular mass was determined by fast atom bombardment-mass spectrometry to be 962.3 Da. These determinations, which ultimately identify the immunoreactive material as human β-casomorphin-8, represent the first structural identification of a β-casomorphin peptide from a body fluid.     

Pulmonary vascular response to prostacyclin in fetal lambs.

Eighteen prostacyclin injections (19.4 +/- 1.5 micrograms/kg) were performed in five chronically instrumented, intact fetal lambs in order to study the effects on pulmonary blood flow. These resulted in a brief period of bradycardia followed by a more prolonged period of increased pulmonary blood flow. In this latter phase, pulmonary blood flow increased from a baseline value of 49 +/- 4 ml/(kg min) to 122 +/- 10 ml/(kg min). Systolic/diastolic pulmonary arterial pressure simultaneously fell from 73 +/- 2/48 +/- 1 to 68 +/- 2/42 +/- 1 mm Hg. Flow through the ductus arteriosus was unchanged and right ventricular output increased to account for the increased pulmonary blood flow. Thus, prostacyclin causes pulmonary vasodilation in intact fetal lambs and may participate in the control of fetal pulmonary blood flow and the circulatory adjustments to extra-uterine life.     

Genetic diversity is retained in a bottlenecked Cinereous Vulture population in Turkey

Vulture populations worldwide have suffered precipitous declines in recent decades. The Cinereous Vulture Aegypius monachus, a highly philopatric scavenger distributed across southern Europe and the central Asian plateau, is threatened in many parts of its range. Turkey holds the second largest population of this species in the Western Palaearctic, but there has been no research on its genetic structure and the possible implications of this structure for the future of the species. Here we report nuclear diversity and relatedness determined by short tandem repeat genotyping of 81 individuals from the four largest colonies. Our results demonstrated no significant genetic structuring, suggesting a single panmictic metapopulation connected by frequent dispersal. Furthermore, we show that the study population has retained moderate levels of genetic diversity, despite passing through a recent demographic bottleneck. We estimated the effective population size to be 112 individuals (95% confidence interval 74–201). Our results imply that the observed lack of increase in population size since the 1990s has not been caused by lowered fitness due to genetic inbreeding but rather by increased mortality via demographic processes. In the short term, we suggest that conservation efforts should treat the Turkish subpopulations as a single management unit and aim to increase population size through effective protection, especially during the breeding season.     

Pulmonary vascular response to prostacyclin in fetal lambs

Eighteen prostacyclin injections (19.4±1.5 μg/kg) were performed in five chronically instrumented, intact fetal lambs in order to study the effects on pulmonary blood flow. These resulted in a brief period of bradycardia followed by a more prolonged period of increased pulmonary blood flow. In this latter phase, pulmonary blood flow increased from a baseline value of 49±4 ml/(kg min) to 122±10 ml/(kg min). Systolic/diastolic pulmonary arterial pressure simultaneously fell from to mm Hg. Flow through the ductus arteriosus was unchanged and right ventricular output increased to account for the increased pulmonary blood flow. Thus, prostacyclin causes pulmonary vasodilation in intact fetal lambs and may participate in the control of fetal pulmonary blood flow and the circulatory adjustments to extra-uterine life.     

Photoinhibition of Photosystem I damages both reaction centre proteins PSI-A and PSI-B and acceptor-side located small Photosystem I polypeptides

Photoinhibition of Photosystem I at chilling temperatures was investigated. Illumination of barley and cucumber leaves at 4°C induced a lowered Photosystem I activity. In barley, the reaction centre proteins PSI-A and PSI-B were both partially degraded as was the nuclear-encoded PSI-D polypeptide. Barley leaves infiltrated with KCN to increase oxidative stress, showed increased photoinhibition of Photosystem I, including reduced photochemical activity and marked degradation of several Photosystem I polypeptides. The most rapid and pronounced degradation was found in the PSI-D and PSI-E polypeptides exposed at the Photosystem I acceptor side. The PSI-A, -B, -C, -G, -H, -K and -L polypeptides were less extensively damaged. No damage of the lumenally oriented PSI-F and -N polypeptides was detected. The elevated photoinhibition of Photosystem I seen in KCN treated barley is most likely induced by a combination of increased active oxygen due to inhibited scavenging and increased accumulation of reducing power due to inhibition of the Calvin cycle. In barley, photo-inactivation of Photosystem I closely followed the degradation of PSI-A and PSI-B. Illumination of cucumber resulted in a pronounced loss of activity and appearance of specific PSI-A and PSI-B degradation products whereas the total PSI-A/B degradation was small. The PSI-A/B degradation identified in barley is interpreted to reflect a physiologically relevant process being part of a repair cycle, whereas the much smaller PSI-A/B degradation observed in cucumber is interpreted to represent an irreversible damage induced far below the temperature tolerance for cucumber.