Haemolymph-ecdysteroid peaks occur in headless larvae of Calpodes ethlius

During the last-larval stadium of Calpodes ethlius, there is a critical period after which neck ligation no longer prevents pupation. Radioimmunoassay of haemolymph from larvae ligatured after this critical period shows that the ecdysteroid titre remains lower than normal for 3 days then rises to a prepupal peak, falls to a low level, and rises rapidly again close to the time of pupation. Hormone peaks resembling those found in normal larvae are, therefore, produced in the absence of the head. The slowly rising hormone titre seen in normal larvae prior to the prepupal peak is abolished by neck ligation, indicating that this phase of the titre retains dependence on the head after the critical period. This difference may account for the lack of intermoult wax and endocuticle secretion in neck-ligated larvae. It is concluded that peaks of haemolymph ecdysteroids can be generated at appropriate developmental stages in the absence of the head, whereas the slowly rising phase of haemolymph ecdysteroids cannot.     

携带反义凝血酶受体和p21双基因共表达腺病毒伴随病毒载体的构建与包装

为探讨双基因共表达对再狭窄的防治作用,分别构建了含反义凝血酶受体(ATR)或/和p21单、双基因及报告基因绿色荧光蛋白(GFP)的腺病毒伴随病毒(AAV)载体.上述载体经脂质体介导转染BHK-21细胞, G418筛选获得整合有外源基因的细胞株.克隆形成过程中显示单、双基因转染后细胞增殖受到了不同程度的抑制,克隆形成速度减慢,细胞形态改变,且双基因的作用明显大于单基因.以绿色荧光出现说明报告基因得到表达后,又以DNA印迹证实ATR和p21单、双基因已整合于细胞基因组中,并维持了凝血酶受体(TR)基因的反义位置.半定量RT-PCR证实TR基因表达降低,p21基因表达升高,ATR和p21(AP)双基因得到了共表达.以具有可提供复制和包装功能的重组单纯疱疹病毒rHSV-rc/ΔU12分别感染载有不同基因的BHK细胞株,包装产生重组AAV(rAAV)病毒, 并经点杂交法测定其滴度(每毫升病毒液中所含病毒颗粒数).rAAV/AP中ATR与p21的病毒颗粒数分别为1.02×10¹³/ml和1.08×10¹³/ml, 单基因rAAV/ATR的滴度为6.54×10¹²/ml,rAAV/P21为1.06×10¹³/ml,为进一步的体内外实验奠定了物质基础.     

Interfacial instability and the agglutination of erythrocytes by polylysine

Human erythrocytes have been exposed to poylysine of molecular weight range 4 to 220 kDa and concentration range 0.5 to 2,000 /ml at 37°C. Threshold concentrations for cell agglutination by the polycation have been determined for the samples of different molecular weight. Light and electron micrographs show that, in the erythrocyte agglutinates, cell-cell contact is generally made only at discrete, spatially periodic, regions which are distributed over a significant part of the cell surface. The average spacing between contact regions is 0.83 m. The cell membrane has a wavy profile between contact regions. Agglutination occurs only in cell samples whose electrophoretic mobility is significantly altered by polylysine and, in agreement with a previous report, occurs even when the electrophoretic mobility reaches high positive values. The electrophoretic mobility data implies that agglutination requires some protrusion of polylysine from the cell glycocalyx. We discuss how a resulting net attractive intercellular force could act to destabilize the aqueous layer between two cells, allowing surface wave growth which results in spatially periodic contact regions. Examples of situations where cell and membrane contact might be explained by the general concept of interfacial instability are discussed.     

Serological analysis of human leptospirosis in the Philippines

Leptospirosis in the Philippines is an underrepresented disease. To achieve an accurate means of serodiagnosis, we demonstrated antibodies to the prevalent Leptospira serovars in sera of 71 patients from three major hospitals in Manila by the microscopic agglutination test and Western blot analysis. Sera of 53 patients contained antibody against 8 serovars poi, tarassovi, manilae, pyrogenes, australis, grippotyphosa, javanica, and autumnalis.     

炭凝集试验快速检测呼吸道合胞病毒的研究

用炭凝集试验（ＣＡＴ）检测呼吸道合胞病毒（ＲＳＶ）,结果表明该法是一种简便、快速、特异的诊断方法。用ＣＡＴ对１６株ＲＳＶ和８株其它病毒做试验,结果仅ＲＳＶ凝集,而其它病毒均阴性。用该法与细胞培养法检测８３份临床呼吸道感染幼儿鼻咽吸出物,结果ＣＡＴ法阳性率为６９．８８％（５３／８３）,细胞培养法为３９．７５％（３３／８３）,两者阳性检出率相差极显著。阻断试验证明ＣＡＴ是高度特异的。结果证明ＣＡＴ具有较高的敏感性与特异性,可用于临床ＲＳＶ标本的快速检测。     

伪狂犬病病毒gE基因主要抗原表位区在大肠杆菌中的表达与gE乳胶凝集鉴别诊断方法的建立

将伪狂犬病病毒(PRV)Ea株gE基因主要抗原表位区段融合到原核表达载体pET28b的T7启动子下游,构建成原核表达质粒,经IPTG诱导,SDS-PAGE和Western blot印迹分析,证实gE基因主要抗原表位区在大肠杆菌中获得了表达,表达产物具有抗原性,分子量为38kD,位于包涵体中.包涵体经变性、复性处理,复性产物致敏乳胶,并对抗原致敏浓度、致敏时间、致敏温度进行优化,建立了gE乳胶凝集试验(gE-LAT).该方法不仅能显著区分gE基因缺失疫苗免疫猪血清和野毒感染猪血清,而且具有简便、快速等优点.检测临床360份猪血清,阳性率为57.78%(208/360),比国外阻断gE-ELISA的58.06%(209/360)略低,阳性符合率为94.86%(203/214),总符合率为96.94%(349/360),两种检测方法结果差异不显著(P＞0.05).     

Relationships among pheromone titre,calling and age in the omnivorous leafroller moth (Platynota stultana)

Temperature modified the expression of female calling in Platynota stultana. Absolute temperature levels and not necessarily a decrease in temperature appear to modulate the timing of calling by delimiting a specific time interval for calling at each temperature. Calling began earlier in the photoperiod at lower temperatures than at higher temperatures. As females aged they initiated calling at an earlier time. Pheromone production (at 24°C) was rhythmical with maximal titre being reached near to the onset of the calling period at 14°C and about 5 hr prior to the onset of calling at 24°C. Females thus appear to be capable of emitting pheromone at an appropriate rate any time during calling intervals delimited by temperatures between 14 and 24°C. Pheromone titre appears to reflect a time-dependent readiness to respond to a decrease in temperature.     

A theoretical model for adhesion between cells mediated by multivalent ligands

A theoretical model is developed for cell-to-cell binding by bivalent ligands that can bind to mobile receptors on the cell surfaces. Monovalent inhibitors that can bind either to receptors or ligands are also included. For symmetrical ligands, that is, ligands in which both binding sites are the same, it is shown that crosslinking of receptors on each cell will interfere with intercellular bridge formation. At equilibrium, such interference is not drastic, but if the crosslinks can form before the cells are brought into contact, crosslinking may greatly impede the rate of intercellular binding. Comparison is made with experiments, and the importance of receptor mobility is discussed. It is noted that ligands can also bind a cell to itself or to a surface.     

Isolation and characterization of an acetyl group-recognizing agglutinin from the serum of the Indian white shrimp Fenneropenaeus indicus

A natural agglutinin from the serum of the Indian white shrimp Fenneropenaeus (Penaeus) indicus was purified to electrophoretic homogeneity by a single-step affinity chromatography on N-acetylglucosamine-Sepharose 6B. The expression of hemagglutinating (HA) activity of F. indicus agglutinin (FIA) was independent of the presence of divalent cations and insensitive to their chelators. FIA gave a single symmetrical peak in its native form with a molecular mass estimate of 200 kDa on gel filtration in HPLC, and SDS-PAGE under reducing conditions revealed that it is a homo-oligomer of a 27-kDa subunit protein. The pattern of reactivity of FIA against anti-FIA rabbit serum in immunodiffusion and immunoelectrophoretic analysis provided additional evidence for its purity and homogeneity. HA-inhibition studies documented exclusive specificity of FIA for acetyl groups in carbohydrates independently of the presence of these groups at the C-2 or C-5 position and its stereochemical arrangement in the axial or equatorial orientation. The unique ability of FIA to recognize acetyl groups was also explicitly demonstrated with sialo- and asialo-glycoproteins. Strikingly, FIA also interacted equally with amino acids and chemicals containing acetyl groups, thereby unambiguously demonstrating the exquisite specificity of FIA for an acetyl group, irrespective of the presence of this group in carbohydrate or noncarbohydrate ligands. The susceptibility of HA activity of FIA to inhibition by lipopolysaccharides from diverse gram-negative bacteria as well as its ability to selectively agglutinate several bacterial species isolated from infected shrimps implicate a potential role of this humoral agglutinin of F. indicus in the host immunodefense reactions against microbial invaders.     

Evaluation of six commercial identification kits for the identification of Staphylococcus aureus isolated from bovine mastitis

AIMS: Comparison of six commercially available in human medicine well-established slide agglutination systems for the identification of Staphylococcus aureus. METHODS AND RESULTS: Slide agglutination tests were compared with the conventional tube coagulase test, biochemical identification and with the molecular identification by polymerase chain reaction (PCR) amplification of species-specific parts of the gene encoding the 23S RNA. Systems evaluated included Masta-Staph (Mast Diagnostics), Staphylase-Test (Oxoid), Staphytect-Plus (Oxoid), Staphyloslide Latex (Becton Dickinson), Slidex Staph Plus (bioMerieux) and Dry Spot Staphytect Plus (Oxoid). A total of 141 staphylococcal strains isolated from cases of bovine mastitis including 90 S. aureus, 14 Staphylococcus epidermidis, 10 Staphylococcus warneri, 13 Staphylococcus xylosus, 11 Staphylococcus haemolyticus and three other coagulase-negative staphylococci were tested with each method. Staphylococcus aureus strains were selected by macrorestriction analysis with pulsed field gel electrophoresis (PFGE). Only genetically unrelated strains were included in the study. The sensitivities and specificities of the test were as follows: Masta-Staph 86.7 and 90.1%, Staphylase-Test 78.4 and 85.1%, Staphytect-Plus 81.1 and 86.5%, Staphyloslide Latex 77.8 and 84.4%, Slidex Staph Plus 77.8 and 84.4%, Dry Spot Staphytect Plus 75.6 and 83.0%. CONCLUSIONS: The results of this evaluation suggest that the six slide agglutination methods tested can provide rapid identification of S. aureus also from bovine mastitis. The sensitivity and specificity seems to be less than those reported from human S. aureus isolates. SIGNIFICANCE AND IMPACT OF THE STUDY: This is one of the first comparative reported investigations about the applicability of different commercially available slide agglutination tests for the detection of S. aureus from bovine mastitis using PFGE selected clinical isolates.