Salmonella enterica Serovar Typhimurium Lacking hfq Gene Confers Protective Immunity against Murine Typhoid

Salmonella enterica is an important enteric pathogen and its various serovars are involved in causing both systemic and intestinal diseases in humans and domestic animals. The emergence of multidrug-resistant strains of Salmonella leading to increased morbidity and mortality has further complicated its management. Live attenuated vaccines have been proven superior over killed or subunit vaccines due to their ability to induce protective immunity. Of the various strategies used for the generation of live attenuated vaccine strains, focus has gradually shifted towards manipulation of virulence regulator genes. Hfq is a RNA chaperon which mediates the binding of small RNAs to the mRNA and assists in post-transcriptional gene regulation in bacteria. In this study, we evaluated the efficacy of the Salmonella Typhimurium Δhfq strain as a candidate for live oral vaccine in murine model of typhoid fever. Salmonella hfq deletion mutant is highly attenuated in cell culture and animal model implying a significant role of Hfq in bacterial virulence. Oral immunization with the Salmonella hfq deletion mutant efficiently protects mice against subsequent oral challenge with virulent strain of Salmonella Typhimurium. Moreover, protection was induced upon both multiple as well as single dose of immunizations. The vaccine strain appears to be safe for use in pregnant mice and the protection is mediated by the increase in the number of CD4+ T lymphocytes upon vaccination. The levels of serum IgG and secretory-IgA in intestinal washes specific to lipopolysaccharide and outer membrane protein were significantly increased upon vaccination. Furthermore, hfq deletion mutant showed enhanced antigen presentation by dendritic cells compared to the wild type strain. Taken together, the studies in murine immunization model suggest that the Salmonella hfq deletion mutant can be a novel live oral vaccine candidate

Ovarian cancer molecular pathology.

Peer reviewe

In situ synchrotron radiation grazing incidence X-ray diffraction—A powerful technique for the characterization of solid-state ion-selective electrode surfaces

An in situ surface study of the iron chalcogenide glass membrane ion-selective electrode (ISE) in aqueous media has been undertaken using a tandem technique of mixed potential/synchrotron radiation grazing incidence X-ray diffraction (SR-GIXRD) and atomic force microscopy (AFM). This work has simultaneously monitored the mixed potential and in situ surface diffraction patterns of this crystalline glassy material, showing that the observed gradual shift of the electrode potential in the anodic direction is linked to the preferential dissolution of the GeSe (1 1 1), GeSe (1 0 1) and GeSe (1 4 1) and/or Sb2Se3 (0 1 3), Sb2Se3 (2 2 1) and Sb2Se3 (0 2 0) surfaces. Expectedly, these observations are internally consistent with preferential oxidative attack of the crystalline regions of the membrane comprising GeSe and/or Sb2Se3, as evidenced by AFM imaging of the electrode surface. Clearly, this work corroborates the results of previous ex situ surface studies on the iron chalcogenide glass ISE, whereby it was shown that alkaline saline solutions have a tendency to alter the surface chemistry and concomitant response characteristics of the ISE

Pore size dynamics in interpenetrated metal organic frameworks for selective sensing of aromatic compounds

The two-fold interpenetrated metal-organic framework, [Zn2(bdc)2(dpNDI)]n (bdc = 1,4-benzenedicarboxylate, dpNDI = N'N'-di(4-pyridyl)-1,4,5,8-naphthalenediimide) can undergo structural re-arrangement upon adsorption of chemical species changing its pore structure. For a competitive binding process with multiple analytes of different sizes and geometries, the interpenetrated framework will adopt a conformation to maximize the overall binding interactions. In this study, we show for binary mixtures that there is a high selectivity for the larger methylated aromatic compounds, toluene and p-xylene, over the small non-methylated benzene. The dpNDI moiety within [Zn2(bdc)2(dpNDI)]n forms an exciplex with these aromatic compounds. The emission wavelength is dependent on the strength of the host-guest CT interaction allowing these compounds to be distinguished. We show that the sorption selectivity characteristics can have a significant impact on the fluorescence sensor response of [Zn2(bdc)2(dpNDI)]n towards environmentally important hydrocarbons based contaminants (i.e., BTEX, PAH)

/STRU^NI RAD UDK 616.65-006.04-097:577.112 The significance of TPSA, free to total PSA ratio and PSA density in prostate carcinoma diagnostics

Prostate-specific antigen (PSA) is the one of the most valuable tumor markers for the early detection and management of prostate carcinoma, but not an ideal one because of poor specificity in the case of prostatic hypertrophy and other benign conditions. In order to overcome this drawback some other parameters as is free to total ratio (F/T) PSA and PSA density (PSAD) are introduced. It has been investigated in 60 patients, 18 of them are proved to be found prostate cancer and other 42 were identified as benign prostatic hyperplasia. Patients with CaP had TPSA median of 11.4 ng/ml and the others with benign prostatic hyperplasia (BPH) had 6.9 ng/ml. In these two groups there was statistical significant difference (p 0.01). By receiver operating characteristics curve (ROC) estimated cutoff for TPSA was 4.0 ng/ml with 95 % sensitivity, 30 % specificity and area covered by ROC was in amount of 0.76. Median F/T ratio for patients with prostate cancer was 0.10, and for benign prostatic hyperplasia patients it was 0.25.For these values there is also statistical difference (p). Using ROC cutoff for F/T PSA was determined at the value of 0.18 with sensitivity 95%, specificity 80 % and area under the curve (AUC) 0.93. Median for PSAD in the group with CaP was 0.38 and in the BPH group was 0.16. There was statistical significance within those two groups. In conclusion F/T PSA, PSAD and TPSA are valuable tumor markers in distinguishing patients with CaP ant those without with modestly raised TPSA. Also F/T PSA showed up as better marker than TPSA and PSAD in investigated group of patients. Key words: prostate carcinoma, benign prostatic hyperplasia, prostate specific antigen, PSA density, free to total PSA ratio rezim

Integrated sedimentary and high-resolution mineralogical characterisation of Ordovician shale from Canning Basin, Western Australia: Implications for facies heterogeneity evaluation

An understanding of the nature of the facies heterogeneity is crucial for successful exploration and development of shale reservoirs. However, shale is a very fine-grained sedimentary rock and it is challenging to understand its heterogeneity through conventional techniques. This paper addresses this challenge for Ordovician Goldwyer Formation (Goldwyer-III shale) through a unique approach by integrating core data with high-resolution image logs (SCMI); petrographic information; Fourier transform infrared (FTIR); and hyperspectral drill core reflectance spectra acquired using a HyLogger3. The petrographic and FTIR data validates the usage of HyLogger3 as a tool to examine high-resolution vertical variations in the shale mineralogy. The results indicate that the Goldwyer-III shale is highly heterogeneous in terms of sedimentary features, organic richness and mineral composition. The studied shale is divided into four facies based on colour, sedimentary features, mineral composition and lithology. The facies include thinly laminated siliceous shale (TLSh), concretionary-banded calcareous shale (CSh), massive black shale (MBSh) and heterolithic shale (HSh). The total organic carbon varies from 0.35 to 4.5 wt% due to variation in facies as a result of fluctuation in oxic-anoxic conditions. The TLSh, MBSh and HSh facies have a higher TOC value (up to 4.5 wt %), Tmax (up to 450 °C), hydrogen index (up to 250 mgHC/g) and brittleness index (>0.4) comparatively. Whereas, the CSh facies has least TOC, Tmax, hydrogen index and brittleness index. Continuous high-resolution hyperspectral core log data, combined with petrography and conventional core logging, provides a much better understanding of heterogeneity in Goldwyer-III shale. This study offers a new workflow for rapid, continuous and accurate recognition of optimum facies for hydraulic fracturing. This approach can improve economic decisions when developing shale gas reservoirs. Based on TOC and mineralogical derived brittleness index cut-offs values, the high-quality brittle zones are recognised in TLSh and HSh facies deposited in medial (proximal to distal) depositional setting