Cultural characteristics and fatty acid composition of propionibacteria

The cultural characteristics and cellular fatty acid composition of 40 strains representing 7 species of Propionibacterium and of 9 cultures of anaerobic corynebacteria were studied. The cultures were characterized by means of 23 separate cultural and biochemical tests. Cultures of the two genera differed consistently in only two reactions; the propionibacteria did not produce indole or liquefy gelatin, whereas the anaerobic corynebacteria were consistently positive with these tests. The fatty acids were extracted from whole cells and examined as methyl esters by gas-liquid chromatography. The most abundant acid in the seven Propionibacterium species was a C(15)-saturated branched-chain acid which was present in both the iso-and anteiso-form. Based on a comparison of the relative abundance of these isomers (i-C(15) and a-C(15)), the species were separated into two groups. P. freudenreichii and P. shermanii (group one) were similar and contained the a-C(15) isomer as the predominant acid. The i-C(15) isomer was the most abundant acid in the second group (P. arabinosum, P. jensenii, P. pentosaceum, P. thoenii, and P. zeae). The fatty acid profiles of the anaerobic corynebacteria were somewhat similar to those of the second group of propionibacteria, but were distinct from the profiles of P. freudenreichii and P. shermanii. The addition of branched-chain amino acids (l-leucine and l-isoleucine) to the growth medium increased the synthesis of the specific fatty acid(s) structurally related to the added amino acid.     

Dipstick haematuria and bladder cancer in men over 60: results of a community study.

OBJECTIVE--To investigate the prevalence and relevance of dipstick haematuria in a group of men in the community. DESIGN--Prospective study of elderly men invited to attend a health centre for urine screening as part of a health check. SETTING--An inner city health centre in Leeds. SUBJECTS--578 Of 855 men aged 60-85 responding to an invitation to participate. INTERVENTIONS--The subjects had their urine tested with a dipstick (Multistix) for the presence of blood and then tested their urine once a week for the next 10 weeks. Those with one or more positive test results were offered full urological investigation. MAIN OUTCOME MEASURE--The prevalence of urological disease in those subjects with dipstick haematuria. RESULTS--78 Men (13%) had dipstick haematuria on a single test and a further 54 (9%) had evidence of dipstick haematuria when testing their urine once a week during a subsequent 10 week period. Investigation of 87 men disclosed urological disease in 45, including four with a bladder tumour and seven with epithelial dysplasia. CONCLUSION--Dipstick haematuria is a common incidental finding in men over 60 and is associated with appreciable urological disease. The introduction of less invasive methods of investigation, particularly flexible cystoscopy and ultrasonography, has made investigation of these patients simple and safe and makes screening for bladder cancer in the community more feasible.     

Tracing paternal ancestry in mice, using the Y-linked, sex-determining locus, Sry

The molecular evolution of mammalian Y-linked DNA sequences is of special interest because of their unique mode of inheritance: most Y- linked sequences are clonally inherited from father to son. Here we investigate the use of Y-linked sequences for phylogenetic inference. We describe a comparative analysis of a 515-bp region from the male sex- determining locus, Sry, in 22 murine rodents (subfamily Murinae, family Muridae), including representatives from nine species of Mus, and from two additional murine genera--Mastomys and Hylomyscus. Percent sequence divergence was < 0.01% for comparisons between populations within a species and was 0.19%-8.16% for comparisons between species. Our phylogenetic analysis of 12 murine taxa resulted in a single most- parsimonius tree that is highly concordant with phylogenies based on mitochondrial DNA and allozymes. A total evidence tree based on the combined data from Sry, mitochondrial DNA, and allozymes supports (1) the monophyly of the subgenus Mus, (2) its division into a Palearctic group (M. musculus, M. domesticus, M. spicilegus, M. Macedonicus, and M. spretus) and an Oriental group (M. cookii++, M. cervicolor, and M. caroli), and (3) sister-group relationships between M. spicilegus and M. macedonicus and between M. cookii and M. cervicolor. We argue that Y- chromosome DNA sequences represent a valuable new source of characters for phylogenetic inference.      

Effect of doctors' ethnicity and country of qualification on prescribing patterns in single handed general practices: linkage of information collected by questionnaire and from routine data.

OBJECTIVES: To test whether Asian general practitioners who qualified in the Indian subcontinent prescribe items more often, more expensive items, and fewer generic drugs than their British trained Asian and non-Asian counterparts. DESIGN: Linkage study using data collected by questionnaire and from routine sources. SETTING: General practices in England. SUBJECTS: 155 single handed general practitioners: 42 Asian doctors qualified in United Kingdom (group 1), 58 white doctors qualified in United Kingdom (group 2), and 55 Asian doctors qualified in Indian subcontinent (group 3). MAIN OUTCOME MEASURES: Prescribing cost (cost per ASTRO-PU), prescribing frequency (number of items per ASTRO-PU), and generic prescribing (percentage of drugs prescribed that are generic). RESULTS: Doctors in group 1 were significantly younger than those in the other groups and had a higher proportion of patients who were from deprived wards. There was no difference between the groups in the proportion of female doctors and total list size. After adjustment for confounding factors, there were no significant differences between the three groups for prescribing cost (16.58 (95% confidence interval 6.39 to 26.77) for group 1, 17.31 (6.92 to 27.69) for group 2, 17.80 (7.22 to 28.38) for group 3, P = 0.55); prescribing frequency (6.58 (4.60 to 8.40), 6.45 (4.70 to 8.30), 7.89 (6.16 to 9.64), P = 0.34); and generic prescribing (44.44 (38.95 to 49.93), 47.41 (42.12 to 52.70), 44.04 (38.75 to 49.33), P = 0.37). CONCLUSIONS: Asian doctors qualified from the Indian subcontinent did not differ from British trained doctors in their prescribing practice. This study refutes the common belief that Asian doctors are high volume and high cost prescribers.     

Cultural and physiological characteristics of Clostridium botulinum type G and the susceptibility of certain animals to its toxin.

Strain 89 of Clostridium botulinum type G, isolated by Gimenez and Ciccarelli in 1969, was characterized culturally, biochemically, and toxigenically. It was motile, hemolytic asaccharolytic, weakly proteolytic, lipase and lecithinase negative, and it produced acetic, isobutyric, butyric, and isovaleric acids in peptone-yeast extract-glucose broth. No spores were seen in smears from solid or liquid media. Very low levels of toxin were produced in regular broth cultures, but dialysis cultures yielded 30,000 mouse 50% mean lethal doses (LD50 per kg, orally and subcutaneously, respectively; and for guinea pigs, 10,000 to 20,000 and 100 mouse LD50 per kig, intragastrically and intraperitoneally, respectively.     

Cyclic AMP-induced Mg2+ release from rat liver hepatocytes, permeabilized hepatocytes, and isolated mitochondria.

The addition of norepinephrine, epinephrine, or forskolin to collagenase-dispersed rat liver hepatocytes increase cAMP and result in a 15% loss in total cell Mg2+ within 5 min. Conversely, carbachol and vasopressin induce a 10-15% increase of total cell Mg2+. Permeabilized hepatocytes also mobilize a large pool of Mg2+ when stimulated by ADP or cAMP. This stimulation is completely inhibited by atractyloside and bongkrekic acid, two different specific inhibitors of the mitochondrial adenine nucleotide translocase. cAMP directly mobilizes Mg2+ efflux from isolated rat liver mitochondria. 50 nM cAMP or 250 microM ADP induces in 5 min a mitochondrial loss of about 6 nmol of Mg2+/mg of protein and a stimulation of ATP efflux. The effect of cAMP is specific, is not reproduced by other cyclic or noncyclic nucleotides, and is inhibited by inhibitors of the adenine nucleotide translocase. These data indicate that cAMP is a messenger for a major mobilization of Mg2+ in hepatocytes. A major target for the effect of cAMP are mitochondria, which lose up to 20-25% of their total Mg2+ in 5 min, both within the cell and after isolation. Evidence is presented suggesting that the adenine nucleotide translocase is the target of the cAMP-dependent Mg2+ efflux and that cAMP may change the operation of the translocase. This, in turn, could change within the matrix the substrate of choice of the translocase from ATP to ATP.Mg.     

Le ionophore A23187

The acrosomic status of spermatozoa prepared for IVF has been evaluated by means of immunofluorescence test from Fenichel and Hsi using calcium A 23187 ionophore as inductor of acrosome reaction (AR). The spontaneous AR remains slight, even after 6 hour-incubation in Menezo B2 (6,8+2,7%). The response to ionophore, moderate before (11,2+9%), frankly increases after a 6h-capacitation (28,9+8,3%) in a group of 25 IVF couples (tubal indication, normal semen, positive fertilization). Nevertheless, it remains slight or null in 4 cases of unexplained repeated failure of fertilization. The response to ionophore A 23187 allows to explore the kinetics of capacitation of spermatozoa and their ability to perform AR. Its significance in terms of fecondance remains to be precised.