GFS, a preparation of Tasmanian Undaria pinnatifida is associated with healing and inhibition of reactivation of Herpes

BACKGROUND: We sought to assess whether GFS, a proprietary preparation of Tasmanian Undaria pinnatifida, has effects on healing or re-emergence of Herpetic infections, and additionally, to assess effects of GFS in vitro. Undaria is the most commonly eaten seaweed in Japan, and contains sulphated polyanions and other components with potential anti-viral activity. Herpes simplex virus type 1 (HSV-1) infections have lower reactivation rates and Herpes type 2 (HSV-2) infections have lower incidence in Japan than in the west. METHODS: Patients with active (15 subjects) or latent (6 subjects) Herpetic infections (HSV-1, 2, EBV, Zoster) were monitored for response to ingestion of GFS. GFS extract was tested in vitro for human T cell mitogenicity and anti-Herpes activity. RESULTS: Ingestion of GFS was associated with increased healing rates in patients with active infections. In addition, patients with latent infection remained asymptomatic whilst ingesting GFS. GFS extract inhibited Herpes viruses in vitro and was mitogenic to human T cells in vitro. CONCLUSIONS: Ingestion of GFS has inhibitory effects on reactivation and is associated with increased rate of healing after Herpetic outbreaks. GFS extract potently inhibited Herpes virus in vitro, and had mitogenic effects on human T cells

Short and long term effects of a lifestyle intervention for construction workers at risk for cardiovascular disease: a randomized controlled trial

<p>Abstract</p> <p>Background</p> <p>The prevalence of overweight and elevated cardiovascular disease (CVD) risk among workers in the construction industry is relatively high. Improving lifestyle lowers CVD risk and may have work-related benefits. The purpose of the study was to evaluate the effects on physical activity (PA), diet, and smoking of a lifestyle intervention consisting of individual counseling among male workers in the construction industry with an elevated risk of cardiovascular disease (CVD).</p> <p>Methods</p> <p>In a randomized controlled trial including 816 male blue- and white-collar workers in the construction industry with an elevated risk of CVD, usual care was compared to a 6-month lifestyle intervention. The intervention consisted of individual counseling using motivational interviewing techniques, and was delivered by an occupational physician or occupational nurse. In three face to face and four telephone contacts, the participant's risk profile, personal determinants, and barriers for behavior change were discussed, and personal goals were set. Participants chose to aim at either diet and PA, or smoking. Data were collected at baseline and after six and 12 months, by means of a questionnaire. To analyse the data, linear and logistic regression analyses were performed.</p> <p>Results</p> <p>The intervention had a statistically significant beneficial effect on snack intake (β-1.9, 95%CI -3.7; -0.02) and fruit intake (β 1.7, 95%CI 0.6; 2.9) at 6 months. The effect on snack intake was sustained until 12 months; 6 months after the intervention had ended (β -1.9, 95%CI -3.6; -0.2). The intervention effects on leisure time PA and metabolic equivalent-minutes were not statistically significant. The beneficial effect on smoking was statistically significant at 6 (OR smoking 0.3, 95%CI 0.1;0.7), but not at 12 months (OR 0.8, 95%CI 0.4; 1.6).</p> <p>Conclusions</p> <p>Beneficial effects on smoking, fruit, and snack intake can be achieved by an individual-based lifestyle intervention among male construction workers with an elevated risk of CVD. Future research should be done on strategies to improve leisure time PA and on determinants of maintenance of changed behavior. Considering the rising prevalence of unhealthy lifestyle and CVD, especially in the aging population, implementation of this intervention in the occupational health care setting is recommended.</p> <p>Trial registration</p> <p>Current Controlled Trials <a href="http://www.controlled-trials.com/ISRCTN60545588">ISRCTN60545588</a></p

Potential links between surging ice sheets, circulation changes and the Dansgaard Oeschger cycles in the Irminger Sea, 60-18 kyr.

Surface and deepwater paleoclimate records in Irminger Sea core SO82-5 (59°N, 31°W) and Icelandic Sea core PS2644 (68°N, 22°W) exhibit large fluctuations in thermohaline circulation (THC) from 60 to 18 calendar kyr B.P., with a dominant periodicity of 1460 years from 46 to 22 calendar kyr B.P., matching the Dansgaard-Oeschger (D-O) cycles in the Greenland Ice Sheet Project 2 (GISP2) temperature record [Grootes and Stuiver, 1997]. During interstadials, summer sea surface temperatures (SST<inf>su</inf>) in the Irminger Sea averaged to 8°C, and sea surface salinities (SSS) averaged to ∼36.5, recording a strong Irminger Current and Atlantic THC. During stadials, SST<inf>su</inf> dropped to 2°-4°C, in phase with SSS drops by ∼1-2. They reveal major meltwater injections along with the East Greenland Current, which turned off the North Atlantic deepwater convection and hence the heat advection to the north, in harmony with various ocean circulation and ice models. On the basis of the IRD composition, icebergs came from Iceland, east Greenland, and perhaps Svalbard and other northern ice sheets. However, the southward drifting icebergs were initially jammed in the Denmark Strait, reaching the Irminger Sea only with a lag of 155-195 years. We also conclude that the abrupt stadial terminations, the D-O warming events, were tied to iceberg melt via abundant seasonal sea ice and brine water formation in the meltwater-covered northwestern North Atlantic. In the 1/1460-year frequency band, benthic δ18O brine water spikes led the temperature maxima above Greenland and in the Irminger Sea by as little as 95 years. Thus abundant brine formation, which was induced by seasonal freezing of large parts of the northwestern Atlantic, may have finally entrained a current of warm surface water from the subtropics and thereby triggered the sudden reactivation of the THC. In summary, the internal dynamics of the east Greenland ice sheet may have formed the ultimate pacemaker of D-O cycles

Expression of endothelia and lymphocyte adhesion molecules in bronchus-associated lymphoid tissue (BALT) in adult human lung

BACKGROUND: Bronchus-associated lymphoid tissue (BALT) is the secondary lymphoid tissue in bronchial mucosa and is involved in the development of bronchopulmonary immune responses. Although migration of lymphocytes from blood vessels into secondary lymphoid tissues is critical for the development of appropriate adaptive immunity, the endothelia and lymphocyte adhesion molecules that recruit specific subsets of lymphocytes into human BALT are not known. The aim of this study was to determine which adhesion molecules are expressed on lymphocytes and high endothelial venules (HEVs) in human BALT. METHODS: We immunostained frozen sections of BALT from lobectomy specimens from 17 patients with lung carcinoma with a panel of monoclonal antibodies to endothelia and lymphocyte adhesion molecules. RESULTS: Sections of BALT showed B cell follicles surrounded by T cells. Most BALT CD4+ T cells had a CD45RO+ memory phenotype. Almost all BALT B cells expressed alpha4 integrin and L-selectin. In contrast, 43% of BALT T cells expressed alpha4 integrin and 20% of BALT T cells expressed L-selectin. Almost all BALT lymphocytes expressed LFA-1. HEVs, which support the migration of lymphocytes from the bloodstream into secondary lymphoid tissues, were prominent in BALT. All HEVs expressed peripheral node addressin, most HEVs expressed vascular cell adhesion molecule-1, and no HEVs expressed mucosal addressin cell adhesion molecule-1. CONCLUSION: Human BALT expresses endothelia and lymphocyte adhesion molecules that may be important in recruiting naive and memory/effector lymphocytes to BALT during protective and pathologic bronchopulmonary immune responses

The Role of Anorexia in Resistance and Tolerance to Infections in Drosophila

Infections initiate a signaling loop in which sick animals become anorexic, and the resulting change in diet alters the body's ability to fight infections in good and bad ways

RON5 is critical for organization and function of the Toxoplasma moving junction complex

Apicomplexans facilitate host cell invasion through formation of a tight-junction interface between parasite and host plasma membranes called the moving junction (MJ). A complex of the rhoptry neck proteins RONs 2/4/5/8 localize to the MJ during invasion where they are believed to provide a stable anchoring point for host penetration. During the initiation of invasion, the preformed MJ RON complex is injected into the host cell where RON2 spans the host plasma membrane while RONs 4/5/8 localize to its cytosolic face. While much attention has been directed toward an AMA1-RON2 interaction supposed to occur outside the cell, little is known about the functions of the MJ RONs positioned inside the host cell. Here we provide a detailed analysis of RON5 to resolve outstanding questions about MJ complex organization, assembly and function during invasion. Using a conditional knockdown approach, we show loss of RON5 results in complete degradation of RON2 and mistargeting of RON4 within the parasite secretory pathway, demonstrating that RON5 plays a key role in organization of the MJ RON complex. While RON8 is unaffected by knockdown of RON5, these parasites are unable to invade new host cells, providing the first genetic demonstration that RON5 plays a critical role in host cell penetration. Although invasion is not required for injection of rhoptry effectors into the host cytosol, parasites lacking RON5 also fail to form evacuoles suggesting an intact MJ complex is a prerequisite for secretion of rhoptry bulb contents. Additionally, while the MJ has been suggested to function in egress, disruption of the MJ complex by RON5 depletion does not impact this process. Finally, functional complementation of our conditional RON5 mutant reveals that while proteolytic separation of RON5 N- and C-terminal fragments is dispensable, a portion of the C-terminal domain is critical for RON2 stability and function in invasion

Genome-wide inference of regulatory networks in Streptomyces coelicolor

Background: The onset of antibiotics production in Streptomyces species is co-ordinated with differentiation events. An understanding of the genetic circuits that regulate these coupled biological phenomena is essential to discover and engineer the pharmacologically important natural products made by these species. The availability of genomic tools and access to a large warehouse of transcriptome data for the model organism, Streptomyces coelicolor, provides incentive to decipher the intricacies of the regulatory cascades and develop biologically meaningful hypotheses. Results: In this study, more than 500 samples of genome-wide temporal transcriptome data, comprising wild-type and more than 25 regulatory gene mutants of Streptomyces coelicolor probed across multiple stress and medium conditions, were investigated. Information based on transcript and functional similarity was used to update a previously-predicted whole-genome operon map and further applied to predict transcriptional networks constituting modules enriched in diverse functions such as secondary metabolism, and sigma factor. The predicted network displays a scale-free architecture with a small-world property observed in many biological networks. The networks were further investigated to identify functionally-relevant modules that exhibit functional coherence and a consensus motif in the promoter elements indicative of DNA-binding elements. Conclusions: Despite the enormous experimental as well as computational challenges, a systems approach for integrating diverse genome-scale datasets to elucidate complex regulatory networks is beginning to emerge. We present an integrated analysis of transcriptome data and genomic features to refine a whole-genome operon map and to construct regulatory networks at the cistron level in Streptomyces coelicolor. The functionally-relevant modules identified in this study pose as potential targets for further studies and verification.