Differential cell surface properties of vegetative Bacillus

Aims:  The genus Bacillus encompasses a wide range of species which display varying pathogenic abilities. The hydrophobicity of a range of Bacillus species was determined to evaluate the correlation between bacterial hydrophobicity and pathogenicity.
Methods and Results:  Bacterial adhesion to hydrocarbon assays were used to determine the hydrophobicity of various Bacillus species. Significant differences in the hydrophobicity of vegetative Bacilli were found. Specifically, vegetative Bacillus anthracis or Bacillus thuringiensis cells were highly hydrophobic whereas Bacillus cereus or Bacillus subtilis were only slightly hydrophobic using this test. Cell adhesion assays using A549 or J774 cells were used to demonstrate a correlation between the bacterial hydrophobicity profiles with the ability to adhere to the mammalian cell lines.
Conclusions:  The ability of Bacillus species to adhere to mammalian cell lines correlates with the hydrophobicity of the bacteria and also correlates with the relative pathogenicity of some of the Bacillus species tested.
Significance and Impact of the Study:  This work suggests that study of the physical-chemical properties of vegetative cells could inform future approaches for the rapid identification and discrimination of potentially pathogenic Bacilli .     

Early conception factor lateral flow assays for pregnancy in the mare

The ECF™ lateral flow assay test is marketed to detect non-pregnancy in mares. The objectives of the present study were to determine the accuracy of the ECF test, the accuracy of the electronic reader accompanying the ECF test, and agreement between two human readers and the electronic reader. Serum samples were collected from anestrus, cycling but not inseminated, and inseminated mares, and were evaluated with the ECF™ test (EDP Biotech Company, Knoxville, TN, USA) at The Ohio State University and at the EDP Biotech Laboratory. Specificity ranged from 0.07 to 0.16, the negative predictive value ranged from 0.15 to 0.33, and accuracy ranged from 0.43 to 0.52. The electronic reader did not add improve the accuracy or predictive values of the test. Based on the electronic reader, 80.0% of the serum samples collected from the anestrus mares were false positives; Readers 1 and 2 had 60.0 and 33.3% false positives, respectively. For samples collected during the estrous cycle, 83.9% were false positives by the electronic reader, whereas Readers 1 and 2 had 43.7 and 26.4% false positives. We concluded that, regardless of whether the test strips were evaluated by a human or electronic reader, this assay was not accurate for determination of the non-pregnant mare.     

Sex determination of fetal and neonate skeletons by means of discriminant analysis

Facing the requirements of refined paleodemographical analyses, the access to the early ontogenetic sex ratio of skeletal populations is an important feature. Using raw data provided byFazekas & Kosa (1978) for a sample of known sex, discriminant functions are derived from hip and thigh bone dimensions that allow an almost unbiased classification of more than 70% of fetal and neonate individuals.     

前列腺特异性抗原在前列腺癌诊断中的应用进展

已经证明,前列腺特异性抗原（PSA）是一种有价值的前列腺癌（PCa)肿瘤标记物,血清PSA的广泛使用提高了前列腺癌的检出率,使晚期癌患得明显减少。然而,PSA对PCa的检测缺乏特异性,由于其高的假阳性率,引起许多不必要的活检。为了提高PSA对PCa诊断的特异性,降低不必要的活检,众多学正在探讨与PSA相关的几项参数的临床应用价值,本就此作一综述。     

糖尿病性视网膜病变早期mfERG的研究

目的:探讨糖尿病患者糖尿病性视网膜病变早期多焦视网膜电图(multifocal electroretinogram,mfERG)的特点。方法:应用德国ROLAND公司RETIscan系统对24例40眼糖尿病患者,同时对27例40眼正常对照眼记录mfERG。按机器的默认值一阶反应进行记录。整个记录过程中可以分为12个时段,每个时段记录为时间47秒。结果:mERG测得的糖尿病患者组1～5环所在位置的P1波的振幅密度随离心度的增加而降低,P1波和N1波幅值降低和潜伏时延迟。各象限的P1、N1波振幅密度、波幅值降低,潜伏时延迟。结论:糖尿病性视网膜病变受累的区域多发生在黄斑部,功能上的改变早于形态学的变化;病变的早期功能改变最先出现于视网膜的后极偏颞上方;糖尿病患者在未出现眼底改变时各个象限视网膜的外层已经严重受累。     

Prolidase function in proline metabolism and its medical and biotechnological applications

Prolidase is a multifunctional enzyme that possesses the unique ability to degrade imidodipeptides in which a proline or hydroxyproline residue is located at the C-terminal end. Prolidases have been isolated from archaea and bacteria, where they are thought to participate in proline recycling. In mammalian species, prolidases are found in the cytoplasm and function primarily to liberate proline in the final stage of protein catabolism, particularly during the biosynthesis and degradation of collagen. Collagen comprises nearly one-third of the total protein in the body, and it is essential in maintaining tissue structure and integrity. Prolidase deficiency (PD), a rare autosomal recessive disorder in which mutations in the PEPD gene affect prolidase functionality, tends to have serious and sometimes life-threatening clinical symptoms. Recombinant prolidases have many applications and have been investigated not only as a possible treatment for PD, but also as a part of anti-cancer strategies, a component of biodecontamination cocktails and in the dairy industry. This review will serve to discuss the many in vivo functions of procaryotic and eucaryotic prolidases, as well as the most recent advances in therapeutic and biotechnological application of prolidases.     

Comprehensive analysis of the N and C terminus of endogenous serum peptides reveals a highly conserved cleavage site pattern derived from proteolytic enzymes

The human serum proteome is closely associated with the state of the body.Endogenous peptides derived from proteolytic enzymes cleaving on serum proteins are widely studied due to their potential application in disease-specific marker discovery.However,the reproducibility of peptidome analysis of endogenous peptides is significantly influenced by the proteolytic enzymes within body fluids,thereby limiting the clinical use of the endogenous peptides.We comprehensively investigated the N and C terminus of endogenous peptides using peptidomics.The cleavage site patterns of the N and C terminus and adjacent sites from all the identified endogenous peptides were highly conserved under different sample preparation conditions,including long-term incubation at 37℃ and pretreatment with repeated freeze-thaw cycles.Furthermore,a distinguishable cleavage site pattern was obtained when a different disease serum was analyzed.The conserved cleavage site pattern derived from proteolytic enzymes holds potential in highly specific disease diagnosis.     

Perfectly registered multiphoton and reflectance confocal video rate imaging of in vivo human skin

We present a multimodal in vivo skin imaging instrument that is capable of simultaneously acquiring multiphoton and reflectance confocal images at up to 27 frames per second with 256 × 256 pixel resolution without the use of exogenous contrast agents. A single femtosecond laser excitation source is used for all channels ensuring perfect image registration between the two‐photon fluorescence (TPF), second harmonic generation (SHG), and reflectance confocal microscopy (RCM) images. Images and videos acquired with the system show that the three imaging channels provide complementary information in in vivo human skin measurements. In the epidermis, cell boundaries are clearly seen in the RCM channel, while cytoplasm is better seen in the TPF imaging channel, whereas in the dermis, SHG and TPF channels show collagen bundles and elastin fibers, respectively. The demonstrated fast imaging speed and multimodal imaging capabilities of this MPM/RCM instrument are essential features for future clinical application of this technique. (© 2013 WILEY‐VCH Verlag GmbH & Co. KGaA, Weinheim)     

MicroRNA与肺癌发生、诊断及治疗

微小RNA(miRNAs)是一大类小的非编码RNA,它通过与靶mRNA 3′非翻译区部分互补配对来调节特定基因的表达。近来研究表明,miRNA可作为癌基因或抑癌基因在肺癌发生发展过程中起重要作用。比较癌组织和非癌组织中miRNA表达谱的差异可筛选出部分miRNA分子作为肺癌诊断和预后判断的潜在生物标记。调节具有致癌或抑癌功能的miRNA表达可能成为肺癌治疗新方法,而结合传统放化疗及其敏感性miRNA标志也为肺癌治疗研究提供了新的策略。该文对miRNA在肺癌发生与发展、基因诊断和治疗中的作用做一综述。