Pseudomonas aeruginosa biofilm disruption using microbial surfactants.

AIMS: To establish the ability of the rhamnolipids biosurfactants from Pseudomonas aeruginosa, in the presence and absence of caprylic acid and ascorbic acid, to disrupt bacterial biofilms, compared with the anionic alkyl sulphate surfactant Sodium dodecyl sulphate (SDS). METHODS AND RESULTS: Pseudomonas aeruginosa ATCC 15442 biofilms were disrupted by rhamnolipids at concentrations between 0·5 and 0·4 g l(-1) and with SDS at 0·8 g l(-1) . The combination of rhamnolipids 0·4 g l(-1) and caprylic acid at 0·1 g l(-1) showed a remarkable effect on biofilm disruption and cell killing. After 30 min of treatment most of the biofilm was disrupted and cell viability was significantly reduced. Neither caprylic acid nor ascorbic acid has any effect on biofilm disruption at 0·1 g l(-1) . SDS is an effective antimicrobial agent; however, in the presence of caprylic acid its effect was neutralized. CONCLUSIONS: The results show that rhamnolipids at low concentration in the presence of caprylic acid are promising molecules for inhibition/disruption of biofilms formed by Ps. aeruginosa ATCC 15442. SIGNIFICANCE AND IMPACT OF THE STUDY: The disruption of biofilms has major significance in many industrial and domestic cleaning applications and in medical situations

The Barca Way

Magazine article

Position Specific & Positional Play Training in Elite Football

Those who have watched elite football across the last decade, realise that the game is more demanding than ever. This places more emphasis on training methods to prepare players for the rigors of the game. If we use the mantra of ‘train like you play’ it might be wise to complement existing practices with conditioning drills related to a players’ tactical role (position specific) and even elements of the club’s playing style/energetic profile (positional play). Thus, this piece will explore how such a stimulus can be incorporated into two areas of football conditioning: (1) team training and (2) individual end stage rehabilitation. Examples are presented from two European clubs

Positional Training in Elite Football: Context Matters

Those who have watched elite football across the last decade, realise that the game is more demanding than ever. This places more emphasis on training methods to prepare players for the rigors of the game. If we use the mantra of ‘train like you play’ it might be wise to complement existing practices with conditioning drills related to a players’ tactical role (e.g. position specific) and even elements of the club’s playing style/ energetic profile (e.g. positional play). Thus, this piece will explore how such a stimulus can be incorporated into two areas of football conditioning: (1) team training and (2) individual end stage rehabilitation. Examples are presented from two European clubs

Dog Ownership Enhances Symptomatic Responses to Air Pollution in Children with Asthma

BACKGROUND: Experimental data suggest that asthma exacerbation by ambient air pollutants is enhanced by exposure to endotoxin and allergens; however, there is little supporting epidemiologic evidence. METHODS: We evaluated whether the association of exposure to air pollution with annual prevalence of chronic cough, phlegm production, or bronchitis was modified by dog and cat ownership (indicators of allergen and endotoxin exposure). The study population consisted of 475 Southern California children with asthma from a longitudinal cohort of participants in the Children’s Health Study. We estimated average annual ambient exposure to nitrogen dioxide, ozone, particulate matter < 10, 2.5, and 10–2.5 μm in aerodynamic diameter (PM(10), PM(2.5), and PM(10–2.5), respectively), elemental and organic carbon, and acid vapor from monitoring stations in each of the 12 study communities. Multivariate models were used to examine the effect of yearly variation of each pollutant. Effects were scaled to the variability that is common for each pollutant in representative communities in Southern California. RESULTS: Among children owning a dog, there were strong associations between bronchitic symptoms and all pollutants examined. Odds ratios ranged from 1.30 per 4.2 μg/m(3) for PM(10–2.5) [95% confidence interval (CI), 0.91–1.87) to 1.91 per 1.2 μg/m(3) for organic carbon (95% CI, 1.34–2.71). Effects were somewhat larger among children who owned both a cat and dog. There were no effects or small effects with wide CIs among children without a dog and among children who owned only a cat. CONCLUSION: Our results suggest that dog ownership, a source of residential exposure to endotoxin, may worsen the relationship between air pollution and respiratory symptoms in asthmatic children

Organism-sediment interactions govern post-hypoxia recovery of ecosystem functioning

Hypoxia represents one of the major causes of biodiversity and ecosystem functioning loss for coastal waters. Since eutrophication-induced hypoxic events are becoming increasingly frequent and intense, understanding the response of ecosystems to hypoxia is of primary importance to understand and predict the stability of ecosystem functioning. Such ecological stability may greatly depend on the recovery patterns of communities and the return time of the system properties associated to these patterns. Here, we have examined how the reassembly of a benthic community contributed to the recovery of ecosystem functioning following experimentally-induced hypoxia in a tidal flat. We demonstrate that organism-sediment interactions that depend on organism size and relate to mobility traits and sediment reworking capacities are generally more important than recovering species richness to set the return time of the measured sediment processes and properties. Specifically, increasing macrofauna bioturbation potential during community reassembly significantly contributed to the recovery of sediment processes and properties such as denitrification, bedload sediment transport, primary production and deep pore water ammonium concentration. Such bioturbation potential was due to the replacement of the small-sized organisms that recolonised at early stages by large-sized bioturbating organisms, which had a disproportionately stronger influence on sediment. This study suggests that the complete recovery of organism-sediment interactions is a necessary condition for ecosystem functioning recovery, and that such process requires long periods after disturbance due to the slow growth of juveniles into adult stages involved in these interactions. Consequently, repeated episodes of disturbance at intervals smaller than the time needed for the system to fully recover organism-sediment interactions may greatly impair the resilience of ecosystem functioning.

Immune-Complex Mimics as a Molecular Platform for Adjuvant-Free Vaccine Delivery

Protein-based vaccine development faces the difficult challenge of finding robust yet non-toxic adjuvants suitable for humans. Here, using a molecular engineering approach, we have developed a molecular platform for generating self-adjuvanting immunogens that do not depend on exogenous adjuvants for induction of immune responses. These are based on the concept of Immune Complex Mimics (ICM), structures that are formed between an oligomeric antigen and a monoclonal antibody (mAb) to that antigen. In this way, the roles of antigens and antibodies within the structure of immune complexes are reversed, so that a single monoclonal antibody, rather than polyclonal sera or expensive mAb cocktails can be used. We tested this approach in the context of Mycobacterium tuberculosis (MTB) infection by linking the highly immunogenic and potentially protective Ag85B with the oligomeric Acr (alpha crystallin, HspX) antigen. When combined with an anti-Acr monoclonal antibody, the fusion protein formed ICM which bound to C1q component of the complement system and were readily taken up by antigen-presenting cells in vitro. ICM induced a strong Th1/Th2 mixed type antibody response, which was comparable to cholera toxin adjuvanted antigen, but only moderate levels of T cell proliferation and IFN-γ secretion. Unfortunately, the systemic administration of ICM did not confer statistically significant protection against intranasal MTB challenge, although a small BCG-boosting effect was observed. We conclude that ICM are capable of inducing strong humoral responses to incorporated antigens and may be a suitable vaccination approach for pathogens other than MTB, where antibody-based immunity may play a more protective role

Computational Cancer Biology: An Evolutionary Perspective

ISSN:1553-734XISSN:1553-735

First Report of 13 Species of Culicoides (Diptera: Ceratopogonidae) in Mainland Portugal and Azores by Morphological and Molecular Characterization

The genus Culicoides (Diptera: Ceratopogonidae) contains important vectors of animal and human diseases, including bluetongue, African horse sickness and filariosis. A major outbreak of bluetongue occurred in mainland Portugal in 2004, forty eight years after the last recorded case. A national Entomological Surveillance Plan was initiated in mainland Portugal, Azores and the Madeira archipelagos in 2005 in order to better understand the disease and facilitate policy decisions. During the survey, the most prevalent Culicoides species in mainland Portugal was C. imicola (75.3%) and species belonging to the Obsoletus group (6.5%). The latter were the most prevalent in Azores archipelago, accounting for 96.7% of the total species identified. The Obsoletus group was further characterized by multiplex Polymerase Chain Reaction to species level showing that only two species of this group were present: C. obsoletus sensu strictu (69.6%) and C. scoticus (30.4%). Nine species of Culicoides were detected for the first time in mainland Portugal: C. alazanicus, C. bahrainensis, C. deltus, C. lupicaris, C. picturatus, C. santonicus, C. semimaculatus, C. simulator and C. subfagineus. In the Azores, C. newsteadi and C. circumscriptus were identified for the first time from some islands, and bluetongue vectors belonging to the Obsoletus group (C. obsoletus and C. scoticus) were found to be widespread