Diagnosis of species of the genus Dermacentor Koch in Siberia and the Far East by the sexually immature phases (Ixodoidea, Ixodidae)

Keys to four known species of the genus Dermacentor from Siberia and Far East of the USSR are based on their nymphs and larvae. Analysis of laboratory cultures served as a basis for distinguishing differential characters of preimaginal phases. Stability of characters in the distribution area of each species was verified on natural material from many geographical localities. A wide range of structures was used for species identification as follows: peculiarities of scutum, peritreme, anal valve, organs of gnathosoma, chaetotaxy and morphometrical characteristics and ratios. Keys can be used for identifying species from the European part of the USSR and north-eastern Kazakhstan.     

Expression of Toll-Like Receptors in the Early Prenatal Development of the Human Retina

Russian Journal of Developmental Biology - The expression of Toll-like receptors TLR2 and TLR4 in the human retina during early prenatal development is shown for the first time. It was found that...     

Degradation of unpretreated and thermally pretreated polypropylene by soil consortia

Unpretreated (PP-UT) and thermally pretreated (at 80 °C for 10 days) polypropylene (PP-TT) films of 0.05 mm thickness were subjected to in vitro biodegradation in minimal medium with mixed soil culture for 12 months. In this period 10.7 and 0.4% weight loss was observed with PP-TT and PP-UT, respectively. The tensile strength decreased by 51.8 and 28.3%, the crystallinity increased by 28 and 33% and isotacticity increased by 3 and 9%, respectively, over the same time period. The ester carbonyl index in PP-TT increased up to 9 months and later decreased indicating abiotic followed by biotic process. No such changes were observed with PP-UT. Methyl group index decreased in both the cases indicating oxidation at the primary carbon. Increase in surface energy indicated that the polymer became hydrophilic. Surface changes were observed by SEM and AFM. A single culture was isolated at the end of 12 months and it was identified as Bacillus flexus. The morphology of the organism was rods in a chain and it was present in the form of an endospore.     

Evaluation of the apron as a taxonomic trait in ixodid ticks of the genus Dermacentor Koch (Ixodoidea, Ixodidae)

Study of the apron in 9 species of the genus Dermacentor from the fauna of the USSR has revealed differencies in its structure. The subgenus Dermacentor (s. str.) differs from two other subgenera both in the shape of the apron itself and in the shape of the postgenital sclerite and setae of perigenital area. Close species within each of two other subgenera differ in apron proportion, shape and size of denticles along its hind edge, and sometimes in their number. Inspite of the statistically reliable interspecific differences in apron structure a wide range of individual variability of some details and geographical specificity of samples from various places of the area were observed in species with a vast area.     

Three cases of hemoglobin O Arab.

Three new cases of Hb 0 Arab in two families are reported from districts of Bulgaria, where a carrier state of this abnormal hemoglobin has not been established so far. One of the propositi is a double heterozygote for Hb 0 Ar/beta(0)-thalassemia. His father is a simple heterozygote for Hb 0 Ar with clear-cut cytomorphological stigmata, indicating hemoglobinosis. The second propositus, according to clinical and laboratory data is also a double heterozygote for Hb 0 Ar and beta(0)-thalassemia. The carriers investigated are of Bulgarian nationality. Their territorial origin supportsthe thesis that the gene mutation for Hb 0 Arab most probably has taken place out of the present boundaries of Bulgaria.     

Glutamine synthetase and glucose-6-phosphate isomerase are adhesive moonlighting proteins of Lactobacillus crispatus released by epithelial cathelicidin LL-37

Glutamine synthetase (GS) and glucose-6-phosphate isomerase (GPI) were identified as novel adhesive moonlighting proteins of Lactobacillus crispatus ST1. Both proteins were bound onto the bacterial surface at acidic pHs, whereas a suspension of the cells to pH 8 caused their release into the buffer, a pattern previously observed with surface-bound enolase and glyceraldehyde-3-phosphate dehydrogenase (GAPDH) of L. crispatus. The pH shift was associated with a rapid and transient increase in cell wall permeability, as measured by cell staining with propidium iodide. A gradual increase in the release of the four moonlighting proteins was also observed after the treatment of L. crispatus ST1 cells with increasing concentrations of the antimicrobial cationic peptide LL-37, which kills bacteria by disturbing membrane integrity and was here observed to increase the cell wall permeability of L. crispatus ST1. At pH 4, the fusion proteins His(6)-GS, His(6)-GPI, His(6)-enolase, and His(6)-GAPDH showed localized binding to cell division septa and poles of L. crispatus ST1 cells, whereas no binding to Lactobacillus rhamnosus GG was detected. Strain ST1 showed a pH-dependent adherence to the basement membrane preparation Matrigel. Purified His(6)-GS and His(6)-GPI proteins bound to type I collagen, and His(6)-GS also bound to laminin, and their level of binding was higher at pH 5.5 than at pH 6.5. His(6)-GS also expressed a plasminogen receptor function. The results show the strain-dependent surface association of moonlighting proteins in lactobacilli and that these proteins are released from the L. crispatus surface after cell trauma, under conditions of alkaline stress, or in the presence of the antimicrobial peptide LL-37 produced by human cells.     

Pythium aphanidermatum May Reduce Cucumber Growth without Affecting Leaf Photosynthesis

Plants respond to many stress factors, including infections caused by root pathogens, with reductions in photosynthesis and growth. We studied the response of mature cucumber plants after a weak inoculation of the roots with Pythium aphanidermatum. The epidemiology of the disease was recorded using an indirect ELISA. Although mycelium was detected in the roots, photosynthesis was not affected over a period of five weeks. Nevertheless, plant growth was significantly reduced by the pathogen. Possible modes of action are discussed.