36 research outputs found
Clinical Significance of Varying Degrees of Vancomycin Susceptilibity in Methicillin-Resistant Staphylococcus aureus Bacteremia1
We conducted a retrospective study of the clinical aspects of bacteremia caused by methicillin-resistant Staphylococcus aureus (MRSA) with heterogeneously reduced susceptibility to vancomycin. Bloodstream MRSA isolates were screened for reduced susceptibility by using brain-heart infusion agar, including 4 mg/L vancomycin with and without 4% NaCl. Patients whose isolates exhibited growth (case-patients) were compared with those whose isolates did not (controls) for demographics, coexisting chronic conditions, hospital events, antibiotic exposures, and outcomes. Sixty-one (41%) of 149 isolates exhibited growth. Subclones from 46 (75%) of these had a higher MIC of vancomycin than did their parent isolates. No isolates met criteria for vancomycin heteroresistance. No differences in potential predictors or in outcomes were found between case-patients and controls. These data show that patients with vancomycin-susceptible MRSA bacteremia have similar baseline clinical features and outcomes whether or not their bacterial isolates exhibit growth on screening media containing vancomycin
Identification of an HLA-A*0201-restricted T-cell epitope derived from the prostate cancer-associated protein prostein
The reference frame for encoding and retention of motion depends on stimulus set size
YesThe goal of this study was to investigate the reference
frames used in perceptual encoding and storage of visual
motion information. In our experiments, observers viewed
multiple moving objects and reported the direction of motion
of a randomly selected item. Using a vector-decomposition
technique, we computed performance during smooth pursuit
with respect to a spatiotopic (nonretinotopic) and to a
retinotopic component and compared them with performance
during fixation, which served as the baseline. For the stimulus
encoding stage, which precedes memory, we found that the
reference frame depends on the stimulus set size. For a single
moving target, the spatiotopic reference frame had the most
significant contribution with some additional contribution
from the retinotopic reference frame. When the number of
items increased (Set Sizes 3 to 7), the spatiotopic reference
frame was able to account for the performance. Finally, when
the number of items became larger than 7, the distinction
between reference frames vanished. We interpret this finding
as a switch to a more abstract nonmetric encoding of motion
direction. We found that the retinotopic reference frame was
not used in memory. Taken together with other studies, our
results suggest that, whereas a retinotopic reference frame
may be employed for controlling eye movements, perception
and memory use primarily nonretinotopic reference frames.
Furthermore, the use of nonretinotopic reference frames appears
to be capacity limited. In the case of complex stimuli, the
visual system may use perceptual grouping in order to simplify
the complexity of stimuli or resort to a nonmetric abstract
coding of motion information
Ste20-Related Proline/Alanine-Rich Kinase (SPAK) Regulated Transcriptionally by Hyperosmolarity Is Involved in Intestinal Barrier Function
The Ste20-related protein proline/alanine-rich kinase (SPAK) plays important roles in cellular functions such as cell differentiation and regulation of chloride transport, but its roles in pathogenesis of intestinal inflammation remain largely unknown. Here we report significantly increased SPAK expression levels in hyperosmotic environments, such as mucosal biopsy samples from patients with Crohn's disease, as well as colon tissues of C57BL/6 mice and Caco2-BBE cells treated with hyperosmotic medium. NF-κB and Sp1-binding sites in the SPAK TATA-less promoter are essential for SPAK mRNA transcription. Hyperosmolarity increases the ability of NF-κB and Sp1 to bind to their binding sites. Knock-down of either NF-κB or Sp1 by siRNA reduces the hyperosmolarity-induced SPAK expression levels. Furthermore, expression of NF-κB, but not Sp1, was upregulated by hyperosmolarity in vivo and in vitro. Nuclear run-on assays showed that hyperosmolarity increases SPAK expression levels at the transcriptional level, without affecting SPAK mRNA stability. Knockdown of SPAK expression by siRNA or overexpression of SPAK in cells and transgenic mice shows that SPAK is involved in intestinal permeability in vitro and in vivo. Together, our data suggest that SPAK, the transcription of which is regulated by hyperosmolarity, plays an important role in epithelial barrier function
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Recording of Hubert Howe's Kaléidoscope, for electronic tape