Dynamic Production of Soluble Extracellular Polysaccharides by Streptococcus mutans

Caries development in the presence of Streptococcus mutans is associated not only with the production of extracellular water-insoluble polymers but also is based on water-soluble polysaccharides. The aim of this study was the evaluation of a novel glucan-specific Lectin assay for monitoring water-soluble EPS produced by S. mutans during several growth periods in different media. S. mutans cultures were grown for 24 h, 48 h, and 144 h in medium deficient of sucrose (A) and medium supplemented with 5% sucrose (B). Microtiter well plates were coated with cell-free supernatants followed by the addition of labeled Concanavalin-A and enzyme substrate. The substrate reactions were kinetically detected at 405 nm. The validation of the assay was performed using carbohydrates dextran, xanthan, and sucrose as reference. This new Concanavalin-A-based assay showed the highest sensitivity for dextran and revealed that the glucan production of S. mutans reached its maximum at 144 h in medium B according to bacterial maturation

The Health Profile of Basic Care Network Users According to the e-Sus Individual Registry / Perfil de Saúde dos Usuários da Rede de Atenção Básica Baseado no Cadastro Individual e-Sus

Objetivo: Verificar o perfil de saúde, baseado no cadastro individual e-SUS, de usuários dos serviços de atenção básica da cidade de Ijuí/RS. Métodos: Estudo transversal, com amostra de 400 usuários cadastrados em 15 Estratégias de Saúde da Família, na faixa etária de 20 a 59 anos, baseado no cadastro individual e-SUS.  Resultados: Verificou-se predomínio de assalariado com carteira de trabalho, baixa escolaridade. Os usuários com escolaridade baixa tiveram cinco vezes mais chance de desenvolver diabetes mellitus (DM) (p=0,01), com escolaridade alta internaram com maior frequência (p=0,03). Observou associação entre participar de grupo comunitário e o sexo feminino (p=0,013) e apresentar alta escolaridade e possuir plano de saúde privado (p=0,001). Conclusão: O perfil dos usuários mostra relação direta da baixa escolaridade com doenças crônicas não transmissíveis e inversa as internações. Descritores: Características da População, Estratégia Saúde da Família, Atenção Primária à Saúde, Sistema Único de Saúde

The Health Profile of Basic Care Network Users According to the e-Sus Individual Registry / Perfil de Saúde dos Usuários da Rede de Atenção Básica Baseado no Cadastro Individual e-Sus

Objetivo: Verificar o perfil de saúde, baseado no cadastro individual e-SUS, de usuários dos serviços de atenção básica da cidade de Ijuí/RS. Métodos: Estudo transversal, com amostra de 400 usuários cadastrados em 15 Estratégias de Saúde da Família, na faixa etária de 20 a 59 anos, baseado no cadastro individual e-SUS.  Resultados: Verificou-se predomínio de assalariado com carteira de trabalho, baixa escolaridade. Os usuários com escolaridade baixa tiveram cinco vezes mais chance de desenvolver diabetes mellitus (DM) (p=0,01), com escolaridade alta internaram com maior frequência (p=0,03). Observou associação entre participar de grupo comunitário e o sexo feminino (p=0,013) e apresentar alta escolaridade e possuir plano de saúde privado (p=0,001). Conclusão: O perfil dos usuários mostra relação direta da baixa escolaridade com doenças crônicas não transmissíveis e inversa as internações.Descritores: Características da População, Estratégia Saúde da Família, Atenção Primária à Saúde, Sistema Único de Saúde

Expression of the B7/BB1 Activation Antigen and its Ligand CD28 in T-Cell-Mediated Skin Diseases

Interactions of CD28 (on T cells) with its recently identified ligand B7/BB1 (on antigen-presenting cells) have been shown to activate T cells via a major histocompatibility complex/Ag-independent “alternative” pathway, leading to an amplification of T- cell – mediated immune responses. The in vivo relevance of these molecules for cutaneous immunity is presently unknown. These findings prompted us to study the expression of B7/BB1 and CD28 in normal human skin and in selected T-cell – mediated inflammatory skin diseases. Biopsies were obtained from lesional skin of patients with allergic contact dermatitis, lichen planus, and, as control, from basal cell carcinoma and from healthy controls. Serial cryostat sections were stained with a panel of MoAbs directed against CD28, B7/BB1, CD3, CD1a, and KiM8 using immunohistochemistry (ABC technique). CD28 expression was observed in the majority of dermal and epidermal CD3+ T cells in contact dermatitis and lichen planus. In normal skin and basal cell carcinoma, CD28 was expressed only occasionally by perivascular T cells. In allergic contact dermatitis and lichen planus, B7/BB1-expression was found on dermal dendritic cells, on dermal macrophages, on Langerhans cells, focally on keratinocytes, and occasionally on dermal T cells. No B7/BB1 immunoreactivity was detected in normal skin and basal cell carcinoma. These findings indicate that T-cell – mediated skin diseases are accompanied by an influx of CD28+ T cells and an upregulation of B7/BB1 on cutaneous antigen- presenting cells, keratinocytes, and on some T cells. We speculate that “alternative” T cell-activation via the B7/CD28 pathway may contribute to the pathogenesis of these skin diseases

Cyclosporiasis Outbreak in Germany Associated with the Consumption of Salad

This outbreak is the first foodborne cyclosporiasis outbreak reported from central Europe. The illness was reported in 34 persons who attended luncheons at a German restaurant. The overall attack rate was 85% (34/40). The only foods associated with significant disease risk were two salad side dishes prepared from lettuce imported from southern Europe and spiced with fresh green leafy herbs (p=0.0025)

Pole-to-Pole Connections : Similarities between Arctic and Antarctic Microbiomes and Their Vulnerability to Environmental Change

Acknowledgments JK acknowledges the Carl Zeiss foundation for PhD funding, the Marie-Curie COFUND-BEIPD PostDoc fellowship for PostDoc funding, FNRS travel funding and the logistical and financial support by UNIS. JK and FK acknowledge the Natural Environment Research Council (NERC) Antarctic Funding Initiative AFI-CGS-70 (collaborative gearing scheme) and logistic support from the British Antarctic Survey (BAS) for field work in Antarctica. JK and CZ acknowledge the Excellence Initiative at the University of Tübingen funded by the German Federal Ministry of Education and Research and the German Research Foundation (DFG). FH, AV, and PB received funding from MetaHIT (HEALTH-F4-2007-201052), Microbios (ERC-AdG-502 669830) and the European Molecular Biology Laboratory (EMBL). We thank members of the Bork group at EMBL for helpful discussions. We acknowledge the EMBL Genomics Core Facility for sequencing support and Y. P. Yuan and the EMBL Information Technology Core Facility for support with high-performance computing and EMBL for financial support. PC is supported by NERC core funding to the BAS “Biodiversity, Evolution and Adaptation” Team. MB was funded by Helge Ax:son Johnsons Stiftelse and PUT1317. DRD acknowledges the DFG funded project DI698/18-1 Dietrich and the Marie Curie International Research Staff Exchange Scheme Fellowship (PIRSES-GA-2011-295223). Operations in the Canadian High Arctic were supported by the Natural Sciences and Engineering Research Council of Canada (NSERC), ArcticNet and the Polar Continental Shelf Program (PCSP). We are also grateful to the TOTAL Foundation (Paris) and the UK NERC (WP 4.3 of Oceans 2025 core funding to FCK at the Scottish Association for Marine Science) for funding the expedition to Baffin Island and within this context Olivier Dargent and Dr. Pieter van West for sample collection, and the Spanish Ministry of Science and Technology through project LIMNOPOLAR (POL200606635 and CGL2005-06549-C02-01/ANT to AQ as well as CGL2005-06549-C02-02/ANT to AC, the last of these co-financed by European FEDER funds). We are grateful for funding from the MASTS pooling initiative (The Marine Alliance for Science and Technology for Scotland), funded by the Scottish Funding Council (HR09011) and contributing institutions. Supplementary Material The Supplementary Material for this article can be found online at: https://www.frontiersin.org/articles/10.3389/fevo.2017.00137/full#supplementary-materialPeer reviewedPublisher PD

Perception of Vowel Length by Japanese-and English-Learning Infants

This study investigated vowel length discrimination in infants from 2 language backgrounds, Japanese and English, in which vowel length is either phonemic or nonphonemic. Experiment 1 revealed that English 18-month-olds discriminate short and long vowels although vowel length is not phonemically contrastive in English. Experiments 2 and 3 revealed that Japanese 18-month-olds also discriminate the pairs but in an asymmetric manner: They detected only the change from long to short vowel, but not the change in the opposite direction, although English infants in Experiment 1 detected the change in both directions. Experiment 4 tested Japanese 10-month-olds and revealed a symmetric pattern of discrimination similar to that of English 18-month-olds. Experiment 5 revealed that native adult Japanese speakers, unlike Japanese 18-month-old infants who are presumably still developing phonological perception, ultimately acquire a symmetrical discrimination pattern for the vowel contrasts. Taken together, our findings suggest that English 18-month-olds and Japanese 10-month-olds perceive vowel length using simple acoustic-phonetic cues, whereas Japanese 18-month-olds perceive it under the influence of the emerging native phonology, which leads to a transient asymmetric pattern in perception

Functional network topology of the right insula affects emotion dysregulation in hyperactive-impulsive attention-deficit/hyperactivity disorder

Contains fulltext : 236832.pdf (Publisher’s version ) (Open Access

Emotion dysregulation and integration of emotion-related brain networks affect intraindividual change in ADHD severity throughout late adolescence

Contains fulltext : 244227.pdf (Publisher’s version ) (Open Access

Role of the unique, non-essential phosphatidylglycerol::prolipoprotein diacylglyceryl transferase (Lgt) in; Corynebacterium glutamicum;

Bacterial lipoproteins are secreted proteins that are post-translationally lipidated. Following synthesis, preprolipoproteins are transported through the cytoplasmic membrane via the Sec or Tat translocon. As they exit the transport machinery, they are recognized by a phosphatidylglycerol::prolipoprotein diacylglyceryl transferase (Lgt), which converts them to prolipoproteins by adding a diacylglyceryl group to the sulfhydryl side chain of the invariant Cys; +1; residue. Lipoprotein signal peptidase (LspA or signal peptidase II) subsequently cleaves the signal peptide, liberating the α-amino group of Cys; +1; , which can eventually be further modified. Here, we identified the; lgt; and; lspA; genes from; Corynebacterium glutamicum; and found that they are unique but not essential. We found that Lgt is necessary for the acylation and membrane anchoring of two model lipoproteins expressed in this species: MusE, a; C. glutamicum; maltose-binding lipoprotein, and LppX, a; Mycobacterium tuberculosis; lipoprotein. However, Lgt is not required for these proteins' signal peptide cleavage, or for LppX glycosylation. Taken together, these data show that in; C. glutamicum; the association of some lipoproteins with membranes through the covalent attachment of a lipid moiety is not essential for further post-translational modification