Computational modeling of TC0583 as a putative component of the Chlamydia muridarum V-type ATP synthase complex and assessment of its protective capabilities as a vaccine antigen.

Numerous Chlamydia trachomatis proteins have been identified as potential subunit vaccines, of which the major outer-membrane protein (MOMP) has, so far, proven the most efficacious. Recently, subunit A of the V-type ATP synthase (ATPase; TC0582) complex was shown to elicit partial protection against infection. Computational modeling of a neighboring gene revealed a novel subunit of the V-type ATPase (TC0583). To determine if this newly identified subunit could induce protection and/or enhance the partial protection provided by subunit A alone, challenge studies were performed using a combination of these recombinant proteins. The TC0583 subunit alone and concurrently with TC0582, was used to vaccinate BALB/c mice utilizing CpG-1826 and Montanide ISA 720 VG as adjuvants. Vaccinated animals were challenged intranasally with Chlamydia muridarum and the course of the infection was followed. Mice immunized with individual antigens showed minimal alleviation of body weight reduction; however, mice immunized with TC0583 and TC0582 in combination, displayed weight loss levels close to those observed with MOMP. Importantly, immunization with a combination of recombinant subunit proteins reduced chlamydial inclusion forming units by approximately a log-fold. These protection levels support that, these highly conserved Chlamydia proteins, in combination with other antigens, may serve as potential vaccine candidates

Physical and Biophysical Pretreatment of Water Hyacinth Biomass for Cellulase Enzyme Production

One practical way to control water hyacinth overgrowth due to eutrophication is by utilizing it as a substrate to produce cellulase. Water hyacinth was subjected to pretreatment to degrade lignin and improve microbes’ accessibility to cellulose. Physical and biophysical pretreatment methods were investigated. Biomass size reduction was performed in the physical pretreatment whereas white rot fungus (Ganoderma boninense) was used in the biophysical pretreatment. Cellulase-producing fungi, Aspergillus niger and Trichoderma reesei, were exploited in this study. Although lignin content was reduced by two-fold after the biophysical pretreatment, the maximum production of cellulase occurred when only the physical pretreatment was employed on the substrate. It may be because the higher apparent crystallinity of cellulose in physical pretreatment triggers more cellulase production compared to that in biophysical pretreatment. The maximum cellulase activity was found to be 1.035 IU mL–1 when water hyacinth was only physically pretreated

Can Treadmill Training with Musical Cueing in Individuals with Progressive Parkinson’s Disease Improve Ambulation?

The purpose of this study was to measure the effectiveness of a specialized musical composition in combination with treadmill training to impact gait parameters and balance in people with progressive Parkinson’s disease (PD). Incorporation of auditory stimulation, typically via metronome, to improve movement has been successfully used in rehabilitation for decades. Treadmill training, also frequently used in treatment of PD, has shown short- and long-term improvements in stride length, cadence, stance and swing phase. Music assisted therapy utilizing expertly designed musical composition, known as informed composition, has recently become available for use in rehabilitation in collaboration with music therapists. Combination of an informed musical composition with treadmill training was tested to determine if positive improvements were seen in people with PD. The authors hypothesized that the participants would show significant improvements in gait, balance, and confidence with functional mobility. Number of Subjects: Four subjects with a diagnosis of PD were recruited. Three of the four subjects completed the study. Subject 1 was rated to be Hoehn and Yahr stage III and Subjects 2 and 3 were rated stage IV. Materials and Methods: Single subject series research of A0-B-A1 design, where the B phase consisted of combination treadmill training with musical cueing three times per week for six weeks. During each phase, participants were tested three times using the following measures: MiniBESTest, Dynamic Parkinson Gait Scale (DYPAGS), Activities Balance Confidence Scale, 6-minute walk test (MWT), velocity, cadence, and step length. The data was analyzed using a two standard deviation band method to demonstrate statistical significance. Results: Subject 1 demonstrated significant improvements in the MiniBESTest, DYPAGS, 6-MWT, velocity, cadence, step length. Subjects 2 and 3 exhibited less consistent results with all measures and overall larger standard deviations indicating the variety of the outcome measures during testing. Conclusions: Subject 1, the highest functioning participant at baseline, showed significant improvements in gait and balance throughout the intervention. Subjects 2 & 3 demonstrated less improvement as a result of the intervention, however where characterized by greater fluctuation in functional mobility at baseline. These participants required an assistive device for ambulation and had a history of frequent falls. Clinical Relevance: The use of a specialized musical composition in combination with treadmill training could be an effective intervention for improving gait and balance in people with PD earlier in the disease process

Feather growth rate and mass in nearctic passerines with variablemigratory behavior and molt pattern

Bird species vary greatly in the duration of their annual complete feather molt. However, such variation is not well documented in birds from many biogeographic areas, which restricts our understanding of the diversification of molt strategies. Recent research has revealed that molt duration can be estimated in passerines from ptilochronology-based measurements of the growth rate of their tail feathers. We used this approach to explore how molt duration varied in 98 Nearctic species that have different migratory strategies and molt patterns. As previously documented for Palearctic species, migration was associated with a shortening of molt duration among species that molted during summer on their breeding range. However, molts of winter-molting migratory species were as long as those of summer-molting sedentary species, which suggests that winter molt also allows Nearctic migrants to avoid the temporal constraints experienced during summer. Our results also suggest that migratory species that undergo a stopover molt within the Mexican monsoon region have the shortest molt duration among all Nearctic passerines. Interestingly, and contrary to expectations from a potential tradeoff between molt duration and feather quality, observed variation in feather growth rate was positively correlated with differences in tail feather mass, which may be caused by differences among groups in the availability of resources for molting. We encourage the use of similar approaches to study the variation in molt duration in other geographic areas where knowledge of the evolution of molt is limited.

Enhancement of lung tumorigenesis in a Gprc5a Knockout mouse by chronic extrinsic airway inflammation

<p>Abstract</p> <p>Background</p> <p>Although cigarette smoking is the principal cause of lung carcinogenesis, chronic obstructive pulmonary disease (COPD), an inflammatory disease of the lung, has been identified as an independent risk factor for lung cancer. Bacterial colonization, particularly with non-typeable <it>Haemophilus influenzae </it>(NTHi), has been implicated as a cause of airway inflammation in COPD besides cigarette smoke. Accordingly, we hypothesized that lung cancer promotion may occur in a chronic inflammatory environment in the absence of concurrent carcinogen exposure.</p> <p>Results</p> <p>Herein, we investigated the effects of bacterial-induced COPD-like inflammation and tobacco carcinogen-enhanced tumorigenesis/inflammation in the retinoic acid inducible G protein coupled receptor knock out mouse model (Gprc5a-/- mouse) characterized by late-onset, low multiplicity tumor formation. Three-month-old Gprc5a-/- mice received 4 intraperitoneal injections of the tobacco-specific carcinogen, NNK, followed by weekly exposure to aerosolized NTHi lysate for 6 months. The numbers of inflammatory cells in the lungs and levels of several inflammatory mediators were increased in Gprc5a-/- mice treated with NTHi alone, and even more so in mice pretreated with NNK followed by NTHi. The incidence of spontaneous lung lesions in the Gprc5a-/- mice was low, but NTHi exposure led to enhanced development of hyperplastic lesions. Gprc5a-/- mice exposed to NNK alone developed multiple lung tumors, while NTHi exposure increased the number of hyperplastic foci 6-fold and the tumor multiplicity 2-fold. This was associated with increased microvessel density and HIF-1α expression.</p> <p>Conclusion</p> <p>We conclude that chronic extrinsic lung inflammation induced by bacteria alone or in combination with NNK enhances lung tumorigenesis in Gprc5a-/- mice.</p

A differential method for bounding the ground state energy

For a wide class of Hamiltonians, a novel method to obtain lower and upper bounds for the lowest energy is presented. Unlike perturbative or variational techniques, this method does not involve the computation of any integral (a normalisation factor or a matrix element). It just requires the determination of the absolute minimum and maximum in the whole configuration space of the local energy associated with a normalisable trial function (the calculation of the norm is not needed). After a general introduction, the method is applied to three non-integrable systems: the asymmetric annular billiard, the many-body spinless Coulombian problem, the hydrogen atom in a constant and uniform magnetic field. Being more sensitive than the variational methods to any local perturbation of the trial function, this method can used to systematically improve the energy bounds with a local skilled analysis; an algorithm relying on this method can therefore be constructed and an explicit example for a one-dimensional problem is given.Comment: Accepted for publication in Journal of Physics