Cannabinoids enhance gastric X/A-like cells activity.

It has been reported that cannabinoids may cause overeating in humans and in laboratory animals. Although, endogenous cannabinoids and their receptors (CB1) have been found in the hypothalamus, and recently also in gastrointestinal tract, the precise mechanism of appetite control by cannabinoids remains unknown. Recently, ghrelin--a hormone secreted mainly from the stomach X/A-like cells was proposed to be an appetite stimulating agent. The aim of this study was the evaluation of the influence of a single ip injection of a stable analogue of endogenous cannabinoid--anandamide, R-(+)-methanandamide (2.5 mg/kg) and CP 55,940 (0.25 mg/kg), an exogenous agonist of CB1 receptors, on ghrelin plasma concentration and on ghrelin immunoreactivity in the gastric mucosa of male Wistar rats. Four hours after a single injection of both cannabinoids or vehicle, the animals were anaesthetized and blood was taken from the abdominal aorta to determinate plasma ghrelin concentration by RIA. Subsequently, the animals underwent resection of distal part of stomach. Immunohistochemical study of gastric mucosa, using the EnVision method and specific monoclonal antibodies against ghrelin was performed. The intensity of ghrelin immunoreactivity in X/A-like cells was analyzed using Olympus Cell D image analysis system. The attenuation of ghrelin-immunoreactivity of gastric mucosa, after a single injection of R-(+)-methanandamide and CP 55,940 was accompanied by a significant increase of ghrelin plasma concentration. These results indicate that stimulation of appetite exerted by cannabinoids may be connected with an increase of ghrelin secretion from gastric X/A-like cells

An immunohistochemical study of the thyroid parafollicular (C) cells in rats treated with cannabinoids - preliminary investigations

The purpose of the present study was to evaluate the effect of a single intraperitoneal injection of a stable analogue of endogenous cannabinoid anandamide - R-(+)-methanandamide (2.5 mg/kg) and CP 55,940 (0.25 mg/kg), an egzogenous CB1 receptor-agonist, on the calcitonin (CT) immunoreactivity of the thyroid parafollicular (C) cells. Four hours after injection with both cannabinoids CT immunoreactivity, evaluated with an avidin-biotin peroxidase complex method by means of rabbit antibodies against CT, was seen to be enhanced in the parafollicular cells in comparison to those of the control group. In thyroids taken from cannabinoid-treated rats the majority of follicles, particularly those located peripherally were large in size, and had low epithelium. Moreover, dilatation of the blood vessels was observed. These changes were accompanied by a significant decrease in CT plasma level, without changes in calcium concentrations. This is the first evidence that a single injection of the cannabinoids R-(+)-methanandamide and CP 55,940 significantly decreases the activity of thyroid C cells

Social e-atmospherics in practice (or not): a French and Turkish web designers’ perspectives

Little is known about the development of social e- atmospherics. And yet, e-atmospherics havemotivated an emerging body of research which reports that both better layouts and‘recognized’ atmospherics encourage consumers to modify their shopping habits. While the literature has analyzed mainly the functional (design) aspect of e-atmospherics, little has been done in terms of linking its characteristics’ to social (co-) creation. This paper attempts to redress the imbalance by exploring the anatomy from a website designer perspective of the social dimension of design in relation to e-atmospherics, which includes factors such as the aesthetic design of space and the influence of visual cues as a socially constructed meaning. We identify the challenges that web designers as social agents, who interact within intangible social reference sets, restricted by social standards, value, beliefs, status and duties, face daily within their work. We aim to review the current understanding of the importance and voluntary integration of social cues displayed by web designers from a mature market and an emerging market, and provides an analysis based recommendation towards the development of an integrated e-social atmospheric framework. Results report exploratory findings from questionnaires with 10 French and 16 Turkish web designers. These allow us to re-interpret the web designers’ reality regarding social e-atmospherics. We contend that by comprehending (before any consumer/client input) social capital, daily micro practices, habits and routine of designers, a deeper understanding of social e-atmospherics possible functions in the future will be unpacked

Relationships among streptococci from the mitis group, misidentified as Streptococcus pneumoniae.

The aim of our study was to investigate phenotypic and genotypic features of streptococci misidentified (misID) as Streptococcus pneumoniae, obtained over 20 years from hospital patients in Poland. Sixty-three isolates demonstrating microbiological features typical for pneumococci (optochin susceptibility and/or bile solubility) were investigated by phenotypic tests, lytA and 16S rRNA gene polymorphism and whole-genome sequencing (WGS). All isolates had a 6-bp deletion in the lytA 3' terminus, characteristic for Mitis streptococc and all but two isolates lacked the pneumococcal signature cytosine at nucleotide position 203 in the 16S rRNA genes. The counterparts of psaA and ply were present in 100% and 81.0% of isolates, respectively; the spn9802 and spn9828 loci were characteristic for 49.2% and 38.1% of isolates, respectively. Phylogenetic trees and networks, based on the multilocus sequence analysis (MLSA) scheme, ribosomal multilocus sequence typing (rMLST) scheme and core-genome analysis, clearly separated investigated isolates from S. pneumoniae and demonstrated the polyclonal character of misID streptococci, associated with the Streptococcus pseudopneumoniae and Streptococcus mitis groups. While the S. pseudopneumoniae clade was relatively well defined in all three analyses, only the core-genome analysis revealed the presence of another cluster comprising a fraction of misID streptococci and a strain proposed elsewhere as a representative of a novel species in the Mitis group. Our findings point to complex phylogenetic and taxonomic relationships among S. mitis-like bacteria and support the notion that this group may in fact consist of several distinct species

Bone marrow-specific loss of ABI1 induces myeloproliferative neoplasm with features resembling, human myelofibrosis

Although the pathogenesis of primary myelofibrosis (PMF) and other myeloproliferative neoplasms (MPNs) is linked to constitutive activation of the JAK-STAT pathway, JAK inhibitors have neither curative nor MPN-stem cell-eradicating potential, indicating that other targetable mechanisms are contributing to the pathophysiology of MPNs. We previously demonstrated that Abelson interactor 1 (Abi-1), a negative regulator of Abelson kinase 1, functions as a tumor suppressor. Here we present data showing that bone marrow-specific deletion of Abi1 in a novel mouse model leads to development of an MPNlike phenotype resembling human PMF. Abi1 loss resulted in a significant increase in the activity of the Src family kinases (SFKs), STAT3, and NF-κB signaling. We also observed impairment of hematopoietic stem cell self-renewal and fitness, as evidenced in noncompetitive and competitive bone marrow transplant experiments. CD34 + hematopoietic progenitors and granulocytes from patients with PMF showed decreased levels of ABI1 transcript as well as increased activity of SFKs, STAT3, and NF-κB. In aggregate, our data link the loss of Abi-1 function to hyperactive SFKs/STAT3/NF-κB signaling and suggest that this signaling axis may represent a regulatory module involved in the molecular pathophysiology of PMF

The use of spa and phage typing for characterization of clinical isolates of methicillin-resistant Staphylococcus aureus in the University Clinical Center in Gdańsk, Poland

The emergence of spa types and spa–clonal complexes (CC) among clinical methicillin-resistant Staphylococcus aureus isolates collected from the University Clinical Center in Gdańsk between 2008 and 2009 were investigated. Phage typing was used as the initial screening in the study. The basic set of phages and the additional set of phages were used. Most of the isolates (56 %) belonged to the phage group III. With the additional set of phages, eight types were found, with predominant one MR8 (50 %). Sixteen distinct spa types were observed. The most frequent were t003 (22 %), t151 (16 %), and t008 (12 %). The spa types were clustered into two spa-CC and eight singletons. The predominant CC010 (50 %) consisted of six types, with the most common t003 (36.7 %) and t151(26.7 %), and in 80 % was identified as staphylococcal chromosomal casette mec (SCCmec) type II. The second cluster has no founder (12 %) with only two spa types: t037 belonging to SCCmec type III and t029. In the most frequent singleton, spa type t008 alone was clustered in 12 % of the isolates. All singletons correspond to SCCmec type IV. The CC010 was distributed in most of the hospital wards, corresponded to Multilocus sequence typing type ST5/ST225 and was constantly present throughout the observed period. The isolates of CC010 generally belonged to the phage group III, and most of them (53.3 %) were resistant to erythromycin, clindamycin, and ciprofloxacin. The concordance between spa-clone and phage type was very high, but the same phage type MR8 was observed within different spa types of the predominant clone

High Genetic Diversity among Community-Associated Staphylococcus aureus in Europe: Results from a Multicenter Study

Background: Several studies have addressed the epidemiology of community-associated Staphylococcus aureus (CA-SA) in Europe; nonetheless, a comprehensive perspective remains unclear. In this study, we aimed to describe the population structure of CA-SA and to shed light on the origin of methicillin-resistant S. aureus (MRSA) in this continent. Methods and Findings: A total of 568 colonization and infection isolates, comprising both MRSA and methicillin-susceptible S. aureus (MSSA), were recovered in 16 European countries, from community and community-onset infections. The genetic background of isolates was characterized by molecular typing techniques (spa typing, pulsed-field gel electrophoresis and multilocus sequence typing) and the presence of PVL and ACME was tested by PCR. MRSA were further characterized by SCCmec typing. We found that 59 % of all isolates were associated with community-associated clones. Most MRSA were related with USA300 (ST8-IVa and variants) (40%), followed by the European clone (ST80-IVc and derivatives) (28%) and the Taiwan clone (ST59-IVa and related clonal types) (15%). A total of 83 % of MRSA carried Panton-Valentine leukocidin (PVL) and 14 % carried the arginine catabolic mobile element (ACME). Surprisingly, we found a high genetic diversity among MRSA clonal types (ST-SCCmec), Simpson’s index of diversity = 0.852 (0.788–0.916). Specifically, about half of the isolates carried novel associations between genetic background and SCCmec. Analysis by BURP showed that some CA-MSSA and CA-MRS

Risk factors for death from invasive pneumococcal disease, europe, 2010

We studied the possible association between patient age and sex, clinical presentation, Streptococcus pneumoniae serotype, antimicrobial resistance, and death in invasive pneumococcal disease cases reported by 17 European countries during 2010. The study sample comprised 2,921 patients, of whom 56.8% were men and 38.2% were >65 years of age. Meningitis occurred in 18.5% of cases. Death was reported in 264 (9.0%) cases. Older age, meningitis, and nonsusceptibility to penicillin were signifcantly asso ciated with death. Non-pneumococcal conjugate vaccine (PCV) serotypes among children 65 years of age, risk did not differ by serotype. These fndings highlight differences in case-fatality rates between sero types and age; thus, continued epidemiologic surveillance across all ages is crucial to monitor the long-term effects of PCVs