Clostridium botulinum type C in healthy swine in Japan.

Healthy cattle and swine bred in a district of Japan were examined for the presence of Clostridium botulinum in their liver. Liver specimens were cultivated in chopped meat-glucose medium and the cultures were examined for botulinum toxin. In cattle, none of the cultures of 100 liver specimens yielded the toxin. In swine, however, C1 or C2 toxin was demonstrated in 8 of 100 liver specimens from 36 farms. One of the five farms where the carrier-state swine were present was surveyed for about 2 years to determine whether the carrier-state was transient or resident. C. botulinum type C was found in swine livers and feces, and environmental specimens at extremely high rates during the surveillances, with 76% of specimens yielding botulinum toxin following the culture. These data suggest that it is not uncommon for healthy swine to carry C. botulinum type C in the liver and that there is a close relationship between C. botulinum carrier-state in swine and the presence of this organism in their raising environments. In 20 cattle and 20 swine suffering from parturient paresis of unknown etiology no evidence for involvement of C. botulinum type C was obtained.     

Two new soldierfishes (Beryciformes: Holocentridae:Myripristis) from Japan

Two species of the holocentrid fish genusMyripristis are described as new from Japan, both with a single pair of tooth patches outside the gape at tip of lower jaw, the third anal spine longer than the fourth, and 28–29 lateral-line scales:M. kochiensis from Kashiwa-jima, Kochi Prefecture, previously misidentified asM. murdjan, is distinct in having small scales in axil of pectoral fins, 32–36 gill rakers, interorbital space 4.45–5.1 in head, and lower jaw not strongly projecting when mouth closed;M. greenfieldi, from the Ryukyu Islands and Ogasawara Islands to Kochi Prefecture, previously misidentified asM. woodsi andM. randalli, is distinct in lacking scales in the pectoral axil, having 35–52 cteni on largest body scales, 43–47 gill rakers, and longest dorsal spine 2.0–2.25 in head.     

Cytotoxin Production by Clostridium sordellii Strains

A total of 55 strains of Clostridium sordellii, 21 lethal toxin-positive and 34 lethal toxin-negative, were tested for cytotoxin production in brain heart infusion medium supplemented with 0.2% Na₂HPO₄ (m-BHI) and cooked-meat-glucose (CMG) medium using baby hamster kidney (BHK-21/WI-2) cells as indicator cells. The m-BHI medium was preferred to CMG medium and 24 hr of incubation was sufficient for cytotoxin production. Nineteen of the 21 toxigenic strains were also cytotoxigenic, and the strength of the cytotoxigenicity was approximately parallel with that of the lethal toxigenicity. Clostridium difficile antitoxin neutralized C. sordellii cytotoxin and also C. sordellii antitoxin neutralized C. difficile cytotoxin.     

Isolation of Clostridium difficile from the Feces and the Antibody in Sera of Young and Elderly Adults

Attempts were made to isolate Clostridium difficile from a total of 431 fecal specimens from 149 young and 213 elderly healthy adults, and 69 elderly adults with cerebrovascular disease but no gastrointestinal disease. C. difficile was isolated from 49 specimens, and the frequency of isolation was 15.4% in healthy young adults, 7.0% in healthy elderly adults, and 15.9% in elderly adults with cerebrovascular disease. Thirty-four (about 70%) of the 49 C. difficile strains isolated produced cytotoxin which was neutralized by Clostridium sordellii antitoxin in vitro; in both young and elderly adults approximately 30% of the C. difficile isolates were nontoxigenic. The mean concentration of C. difficile in feces was 10^4.1/g in young adults and 10^4.6/g in elderly adults, with a range of 10^2.0 to 10^6.9/g. Antibody against C. difficile toxin was found in most of the sera obtained from young adults carrying toxigenic C. difficile, but not in sera of elderly adults, no matter how abundant was toxigenic C. difficile in the feces.     

Blood group A activities of glycoprotein and glycolipid from human erythrocyte membranes.

It is known that ABO blood group substances in human erythrocyte membranes are sphingoglycolipids, but recently several authors have reported that the glycoproteins of the erythrocyte membranes also have ABO blood group activities in addition to MN blood group activities and virus hemagglutination inhibitor activity. We solubilized blood group A erythrocyte membranes with lithium diiodosalicylate and separated the glycoprotein fraction by phenol extraction and ethanol precipitation. This fraction was apparently not contaminated with glycolipid, but it showed weak blood group A activity. The activity of the glycoprotein of the erythrocyte membranes was one-sixth of that of the lgycolipid fraction from the same amount of membranes. The glycoprotein components were purified by Sephadex G-200 gel filtration in SDS. The main component isolated, PAS 1, still showed blood A activity.     

Effect of various sodium taurocholate preparations on the recovery of Clostridium difficile spores

The effect of four sodium taurocholate preparations, which are easily available in Japan, on recovery of Clostridium difficile spores was examined. All preparations, except for one, enabled the recovery of nearly all spores counted microscopically. Moreover, by using 69 toxigenic and 34 nontoxigenic C. difficile strains, the relationship between the recovery of spores in the medium with sodium taurocholate and toxigenicity of C. difficile was analyzed. It was noted that the number of strains with recovery rate of more than 70% was greater in toxigenic strains than in nontoxigenic strains, suggesting a more abundant recovery of toxigenic C. difficile strains in the presence of sodium taurocholate.     

Anti-Influenza Virus Activities of Nicked and Circular Dumbbell RNA/DNA Chimeric Oligonucleotides

Abstract

We have designed a new type of antisense oligonucleotide, containing two hairpin loop structures with RNA/DNA base pairs (sense (RNA) and antisense (DNA)) in the double helical stem (nicked and circular dumbbell DNA/RNA chimeric oligonucleotides). The reaction of the nicked and circular dumbbell DNA/RNA chimeric oligonucleotides with RNase H gave the corresponding anti-DNA together with the sense RNA cleavage products. These oligonucleotides were more resistant to exonuclease attack. We also describe the anti-Fluv activities of nicked and circular dumbbell DNMA chimeric oligonucleotides.     

Germinability and heat resistance of spores of Clostridium difficile strains

Out of 111 Clostridium difficile strains, 108 produced spores in numbers of more than 10(5)/ml and the remaining three did not produce any spores in brain heart infusion medium. The germination frequency in the medium without lysozyme varied widely from strain to strain, ranging from less than 10(-8) to 10(0), and in 77 of the 108 strains the germination frequency was 10(-5) or less. The spores, when treated with sodium thioglycollate and then inoculated into the medium containing lysozyme, germinated in all of the 108 strains at a frequency of 10(-0.5) or more. The spores of two strains germinated at a frequency of more than 10(-0.5) in all methods. Spores of C. difficile strains were fairly highly heat-resistant; D100C values ranged from 2.5 to 33.5 min.     

Sedimentation coefficients of DNA topoisomers: the helical wormlike chain

The sedimentation coefficient s_N of the DNA topoisomer with the linking number N is evaluated as a function of N and chain length on the basis of a (circular) twisted wormlike chain, i.e., a special case of the helical wormlike chain. Evaluation is carried out by an application of the Oseen–Burgers procedure of hydrodynamics to the cylinder model with the preaveraged Oseen tensor. The necessary mean reciprocal distance between two contour points is obtained by a Monte Carlo method. It is shown that s_N increases as |ΔN| is increased from 0 in the range of small |ΔN|, where ΔN = N ? N , with N the number of helix turns in the linear DNA chain in the undeformed state. It is found that there is semiquantitative agreement between the Monte Carlo values and the experimental data obtained by Wang for s_N.