Anaerobic bacteria detected in inflammatory conditions of the respiratory tract

In this study a participation of anaerobic bacteria in respiratory tract diseases is presented. Bronchial washings collected by ++fibrobronchoscope constituted material for the study. Immediately after collection the material was plated onto two media for aerobic bacteria (hemomedium) and anaerobic bacteria (anaeromedium). Then, the samples were centrifuged and a sediment was plated on solid media suitable for aerobic and anaerobic bacteria. Bacterial anaerobic isolates were identified by using API 20E and their sensitivity to antibiotics was tested. From the material described above the most frequently isolated anaerobic bacteria were such as: Streptococcus intermedius, Bacteroides melaninogenicus, Veilonella sp. Among aerobic bacteria the most frequently isolated were Gram-negative rods, Streptococcus faecalis, Branhamella catarrhalis. It is worth to underline that in about 25% of cases anaerobic bacteria were the only isolates.     

Role of Staphylococcus saprophyticus in human infection.

Biological properties of Staphylococcus saprophyticus strains isolated from urinary tract infection and respiratory tract secretions were investigated. The majority of S. saprophyticus strains exhibit moderate surface hydrophobic properties, as measured by Hydrophobic Interaction Chromatography. There was no significant difference between two groups of isolates in respect to electrostatic charge. It was found that the ability to form a diffuse type of growth is characteristic for most of S. saprophyticus strains despite of source of isolation. Five carbohydrates on the surface of 25% of S. saprophyticus strains were shown by means of specific lectin agglutination. Some of the tested strains were capable to bind labelled fibrinogen.     

The effect of feedback-assisted reduction in heart rate reactivity on videogame performance

In 67 male volunteers, we examined the reduction of cardiovascular responsivity to a psychomotor challenge (videogame) achieved by use of heart rate (HR) feedback and effects of these procedures on concomitant behavioral performance. Each subject participated in a pretraining assessment of his cardiovascular responses to the videogame, a training condition, and a posttraining assessment identical to the initial evaluation. During training, subjects were assigned to one of four conditions: (a) a habituation control group receiving no instructions to alter HR (HC); (b) an instructions-only control group receiving instructions to maintain a low or unchanged HR during videogame presentations (IC); (c) a feedback group receiving instructions to reduce HR using ongoing HR feedback (FB–); or (d) a feedback group receiving instructions to lower HR and given HR feedback plus a score contingency in which total game score was jointly determined by subjects' game performance and success at HR control (FB+). Subjects receiving feedback (FB+, FB–) exhibited greater reductions in HR response to the videogame in the posttraining assessment than control (HC, IC) subjects; FB+ subjects showed greater HR reductions than subjects in any other group. FB+ and FB– subjects showed a lower SBP at posttraining relative to the two control groups, but no reduction in task-induced blood pressure reactivity. There were no group differences in videogame performance, either before or following training.The authors wish to thank Fred Claus, who served as a research assistant for this study.     

Selected anthropometric variables and aerobic fitness as predictors of cardiovascular disease risk in children

The aim of this study was to assess the suitability of body mass index, waist circumference, waist-to-height ratio and aerobic fitness as predictors of cardiovascular risk factor clustering in children. A cross-sectional study was conducted with 290 school boys and girls from 6 to 10 years old, randomly selected. Blood was collected after a 12-hour fasting period. Blood pressure, waist circumference (WC), height and weight were evaluated according to international standards. Aerobic fitness (AF) was assessed by the 20-metre shuttle-run test. Clustering was considered when three of these factors were present: high systolic or diastolic blood pressure, high low-density lipoprotein (LDL) cholesterol, high triglycerides, high plasma glucose, high insulin concentrations and low high-density lipoprotein (HDL) cholesterol. A ROC curve identified the cut-off points of body mass index (BMI), WC, waist-to-height ratio (WHtR) and AF as predictors of risk factor clustering. BMI, WC and WHR resulted in significant areas under the ROC curves, which was not observed for AF. The anthropometric variables were good predictors of cardiovascular risk factor clustering in both sexes, whereas aerobic fitness should not be used to identify cardiovascular risk factor clustering in these children.     

Sustained CD8+ T-cell responses induced after acute parvovirus B19 infection in humans

Murine models have suggested that CD8+ T-cell responses peak early in acute viral infections and are not sustained, but no evidence for humans has been available. To address this, we longitudinally analyzed the CD8+ T-cell response to human parvovirus B19 in acutely infected individuals. We observed striking CD8+ T-cell responses, which were sustained or even increased over many months after the resolution of acute disease, indicating that CD8+ T cells may play a prominent role in the control of parvovirus B19 and other acute viral infections of humans, including potentially those generated by live vaccines.     

Phenotypic and molecular assessment of antimicrobial resistance profile of airborne <Emphasis Type="Italic">Staphylococcus</Emphasis> spp. isolated from flats in Kraków

Bacteria of the genus Staphylococcus were isolated from air sampled from living spaces in Kraków (Poland). In total, 55 strains belonging to the genus Staphylococcus were isolated from 45 sites, and 13 species of coagulase-negative staphylococci were identified. The species composition of studied airborne microbiota contains Staphylococcus species that are rarely infectious to humans. Most commonly isolated species comprised S. hominis and S. warneri. The disk-diffusion tests showed that the collected isolates were most frequently resistant to erythromycin. The PCR technique was employed to search for genes conferring the resistance in staphylococci to antibiotics from the group of macrolides, lincosamides and streptogramins. The analyzed Staphylococcus isolates possessed simultaneously 4 different resistance genes. The molecular analysis with the use of specific primers allowed to determine the most prevalent gene which is mphC, responsible for the resistance to macrolides and for the enzymatic inactivation of the drug by phosphotransferase. The second most often detected gene was msrA1, which confers the resistance of staphylococci to macrolides and is responsible for active pumping of antimicrobial particles out of bacterial cells.     

Population trends of European common birds are predicted by characteristics of their climatic niche

Temperate species are projected to experience the greatest temperature increases across a range of modelled climate change scenarios, and climate warming has been linked to geographical range and population changes of individual species at such latitudes. However, beyond the multiple modelling approaches, we lack empirical evidence of contemporary climate change impacts on populations in broad taxonomic groups and at continental scales. Identifying reliable predictors of species resilience or susceptibility to climate warming is of critical importance in assessing potential risks to species, ecosystems and ecosystem services. Here we analysed long‐term trends of 110 common breeding birds across Europe (20 countries), to identify climate niche characteristics, adjusted to other environmental and life history traits, that predict large‐scale population changes accounting for phylogenetic relatedness among species. Beyond the now well‐documented decline of farmland specialists, we found that species with the lowest thermal maxima (as the mean spring and summer temperature of the hottest part of the breeding distribution in Europe) showed the sharpest declines between 1980 and 2005. Thermal maximum predicted the recent trends independently of other potential predictors. This study emphasizes the need to account for both land‐use and climate changes to assess the fate of species. Moreover, we highlight that thermal maximum appears as a reliable and simple predictor of the long‐term trends of such endothermic species facing climate change.     

Tracking of peptide-specific CD4+ T-cell responses after an acute resolving viral infection: a study of parvovirus B19

The evolution of peptide-specific CD4(+) T-cell responses to acute viral infections of humans is poorly understood. We analyzed the response to parvovirus B19 (B19), a ubiquitous and clinically significant pathogen with a compact and conserved genome. The magnitude and breadth of the CD4(+) T-cell response to the two B19 capsid proteins were investigated using a set of overlapping peptides and gamma interferon-specific enzyme-linked immunospot assays of peripheral blood mononuclear cells (PBMCs) from a cohort of acutely infected individuals who presented with acute arthropathy. These were compared to those for a cohort of B19-specific immunoglobulin M-negative (IgM(-)), IgG(+) remotely infected individuals. Both cohorts of individuals were found to make broad CD4(+) responses. However, while the responses following acute infection were detectable ex vivo, responses in remotely infected individuals were only detected after culture. One epitope (LASEESAFYVLEHSSFQLLG) was consistently targeted by both acutely (10/12) and remotely (6/7) infected individuals. This epitope was DRB1*1501 restricted, and a major histocompatibility complex peptide tetramer stained PBMCs from acutely infected individuals in the range of 0.003 to 0.042% of CD4(+) T cells. Tetramer-positive populations were initially CD62L(lo); unlike the case for B19-specific CD8(+) T-cell responses, however, CD62L was reexpressed at later times, as responses remained stable or declined slowly. This first identification of B19 CD4(+) T-cell epitopes, including a key immunodominant peptide, provides the tools to investigate the breadth, frequency, and functions of cellular responses to this virus in a range of specific clinical settings and gives an important reference point for analysis of peptide-specific CD4(+) T cells during acute and persistent virus infections of humans.