Химические элементы в воде объектов водопользования бывшего Семипалатинского испытательного полигона как фактор экологического воздействия

Изучен элементный состав вод объектов водопользования расположенных на территории бывшего Семипалатинского испытательного полигона. Содержание U, Mo и Sr в изученных водах имеют превышения над средним составом подземных вод зон гипергенеза и континентального засоления. Выделены химические показатели и элементы превышающие ПДК это минерализация, общая жесткость, сульфаты, натрий и уран.The elemental composition of the water of odjects of water use in the territory of the former Semey test site was studied. The content of U, Mo and Sr in the studied waters has an excess over the average composition of groundwater in the areas of hypergenesis and continental salinization. Chemical indices and elements above MPC are identified as mineralization, total hardness, sulfates, sodium and uranium

Clinical and Epidemiologic Characterization of WU Polyomavirus Infection, St. Louis, Missouri

WU polyomavirus is a recently described polyomavirus found in patients with respiratory infections. Of 2,637 respiratory samples tested in St. Louis, Missouri, 2.7% were positive for WU polyomavirus by PCR, and 71% were coinfected with other respiratory viruses. Persistent human infection with WU polyomavirus is described

Early response evaluation using F-18-FDG-PET/CT does not influence management of patients with metastatic gastrointestinal stromal tumors (GIST) treated with palliative intent

Aim The aim of this study was to investigate the impact of F-18-FDG-PET/CT on treatment decision making in metastatic gastrointestinal stromal tumor (GIST) patients.Methods This study retrospectively evaluated F-18-FDG-PET/CT scans to monitor response of metastatic GIST patients treated with palliative intent. Data from the Dutch GIST Registry was used. Early scans ( 10 weeks after start of treatment) were scored on the impact in change of treatment.Results Sixty-one PET/CTscans were performed for treatment evaluation in 39 patients with metastatic GIST of which 36 were early scans and 25 were late scans. Early PET/CT scans led to a change in management in 5.6 % of patients and late PET/CT scans led to a change in management in 56 % of patients. Change in management was more often seen after scans with lack of metabolic response (48 % vs. 11 % in scans with metabolic response, p = 0.002). Neither metabolic response nor change in treatment were more often seen in patients with KIT mutations compared to patients with non-KIT mutations (metabolic response 65 % KIT vs. 46 % non-KIT, p = 0.33, and change in management 28 % KIT vs. 21 % nonKIT, p = 0.74).Conclusion(18)F-FDG-PET/CT is not recommended for early response evaluation in an unselected patient population with metastatic GIST, since it does not influence treatment decisions. F-18-FDG- PET/ CT, however, can be useful for late response assessment, especially in case of indeterminate CT results.Imaging- and therapeutic targets in neoplastic and musculoskeletal inflammatory diseas

Synergistic epistasis enhances cooperativity of mutualistic interspecies interactions

Frequent fluctuations in sulfate availability rendered syntrophic interactions between the sulfate reducing bacterium Desulfovibrio vulgaris (Dv) and the methanogenic archaeon Methanococcus maripaludis (Mm) unsustainable. By contrast, prolonged laboratory evolution in obligate syntrophy conditions improved the productivity of this community but at the expense of erosion of sulfate respiration (SR). Hence, we sought to understand the evolutionary trajectories that could both increase the productivity of syntrophic interactions and sustain SR. We combined a temporal and combinatorial survey of mutations accumulated over 1000 generations of 9 independently-evolved communities with analysis of the genotypic structure for one community down to the single-cell level. We discovered a high level of parallelism across communities despite considerable variance in their evolutionary trajectories and the perseverance of a rare SR+ Dv lineage within many evolution lines. An in-depth investigation revealed that synergistic epistasis across Dv and Mm genotypes had enhanced cooperativity within SR- and SR+ assemblages, allowing their co-existence as r- and K-strategists, respectively

Synergistic epistasis enhances the co-operativity of mutualistic interspecies interactions

Early evolution of mutualism is characterized by big and predictable adaptive changes, including the specialization of interacting partners, such as through deleterious mutations in genes not required for metabolic cross-feeding. We sought to investigate whether these early mutations improve cooperativity by manifesting in synergistic epistasis between genomes of the mutually interacting species. Specifically, we have characterized evolutionary trajectories of syntrophic interactions of Desulfovibrio vulgaris (Dv) with Methanococcus maripaludis (Mm) by longitudinally monitoring mutations accumulated over 1000 generations of nine independently evolved communities with analysis of the genotypic structure of one community down to the single-cell level. We discovered extensive parallelism across communities despite considerable variance in their evolutionary trajectories and the perseverance within many evolution lines of a rare lineage of Dv that retained sulfate-respiration (SR+) capability, which is not required for metabolic cross-feeding. An in-depth investigation revealed that synergistic epistasis across pairings of Dv and Mm genotypes had enhanced cooperativity within SR− and SR+ assemblages, enabling their coexistence within the same community. Thus, our findings demonstrate that cooperativity of a mutualism can improve through synergistic epistasis between genomes of the interacting species, enabling the coexistence of mutualistic assemblages of generalists and their specialized variants

Mechanism for microbial population collapse in a fluctuating resource environment.

Managing trade-offs through gene regulation is believed to confer resilience to a microbial community in a fluctuating resource environment. To investigate this hypothesis, we imposed a fluctuating environment that required the sulfate-reduce

Hepatocyte-Targeted Expression by Integrase-Defective Lentiviral Vectors Induces Antigen-Specific Tolerance in Mice with Low Genotoxic Risk

Lentiviral vectors are attractive tools for liver-directed gene therapy because of their capacity for stable gene expression and the lack of preexisting immunity in most human subjects. However, the use of integrating vectors may raise some concerns about the potential risk of insertional mutagenesis. Here we investigated liver gene transfer by integrase-defective lentiviral vectors (IDLVs) containing an inactivating mutation in the integrase (D64V). Hepatocyte-targeted expression using IDLVs resulted in the sustained and robust induction of immune tolerance to both intracellular and secreted proteins, despite the reduced transgene expression levels in comparison with their integrase-competent vector counterparts. IDLV-mediated and hepatocyte-targeted coagulation factor IX (FIX) expression prevented the induction of neutralizing antibodies to FIX even after antigen rechallenge in hemophilia B mice and accounted for relatively prolonged therapeutic FIX expression levels. Upon the delivery of intracellular model antigens, hepatocyte-targeted IDLVs induced transgene-specific regulatory T cells that contributed to the observed immune tolerance. Deep sequencing of IDLV-transduced livers showed only rare genomic integrations that had no preference for gene coding regions and occurred mostly by a mechanism inconsistent with residual integrase activity. Conclusion: IDLVs provide an attractive platform for the tolerogenic expression of intracellular or secreted proteins in the liver with a substantially reduced risk of insertional mutagenesis. (hepatology 2011;

Protocol for Nearly Full-Length Sequencing of HIV-1 RNA from Plasma

Nearly full-length genome sequencing of HIV-1 using peripheral blood mononuclear cells (PBMC) DNA as a template for PCR is now a relatively routine laboratory procedure. However, this has not been the case when using virion RNA as the template and this has made full genome analysis of circulating viruses difficult. Therefore, a well-developed procedure for sequencing of full-length HIV-1 RNA directly from plasma was needed. Plasma from U.S. donors representing a range of viral loads (VL) was used to develop the assay. RNA was extracted from plasma and reverse-transcribed. Two or three overlapping regions were PCR amplified to cover the entire viral genome and sequenced for verification. The success of the procedure was sensitive to VL but was routinely successful for VL greater than 105 and the rate declined in proportion to the VL. While the two-amplicon strategy had an advantage of increasing the possibility of amplifying a single species of HIV-1, the three-amplicon strategy was more successful in amplifying samples with low viral loads. This protocol provides a useful tool for molecular analysis to understand the HIV epidemic and pathogenesis, as well as diagnosis, therapy and future vaccine strategies

Wirkungen des SGB II auf Personen mit Migrationshintergrund: Projekt IIa1 - 04/06 ; Jahresbericht zum 31.12.2008 - Hauptband

Auf Grundlage von Geschäftsdaten, von repräsentativen telefonischen Befragungen und von qualitativen Interviews mit Betroffenen und Fallmanagern wurden die Wirkungen der "Grundsicherung für Arbeitsuchende" auf Migrant/innen untersucht. Ihr Anteil an allen ALG-II Beziehenden beträgt im bundesweiten Durchschnitt 28 Prozent. Im Vergleich zu denjenigen ohne Migrationshintergrund sind sie im Durchschnitt jünger und haben häufiger keinen, aber auch häufiger höhere (Aus-)Bildungsabschlüsse. Die häufig fehlende Anerkennung ausländischer Abschlüsse wirkt sich auf die Arbeitsmarktchancen ebenso negativ aus wie das Fehlen jeglicher Ausbildung. Migrant/innen erhalten bei den Grundsicherungsstellen im Vergleich zu Deutschen ohne Migrationshintergrund mehr Beratungsgespräche, schließen jedoch seltener Eingliederungsvereinbarungen ab und nehmen seltener an Maßnahmen teil. Einige Herkunftsgruppen werden deutlich häufiger mit Sanktionen belegt, andere Herkunftsgruppen deutlich seltener