Prevalence of the vanB2 gene cluster in VanB glycopeptide-resistant enterococci in the United Kingdom and the Republic of Ireland and its association with a Tn5382-like element

A total of 204 vanB enterococcal isolates, isolated between 1989 and 1999 from patients in 59 different hospitals in England, Wales, and Scotland and from a single hospital in the Republic of Ireland, were examined. Nucleotide sequencing and HhaI digestion of a fragment of the vanB gene was used to distinguish between the vanB1, vanB2, andvanB3 gene clusters (7). Based on theirvanB-HhaI restriction fragment length polymorphism (RFLP) profiles, 202 (99%) isolates contained vanB2. The presence of vanB1 in two isolates was confirmed by sequence analysis

TRAF2 Is Essential for JNK but Not NF-κB Activation and Regulates Lymphocyte Proliferation and Survival

AbstractTRAF2 is believed to mediate the activation of NF-κB and JNK induced by the tumor necrosis factor receptor (TNFR) superfamily, which elicits pleiotropic responses in lymphocytes. We have investigated the physiological roles of TRAF2 in these processes by expressing a lymphocyte-specific dominant negative form of TRAF2, thereby blocking this protein's effector function. We find that the TNFR superfamily signals require TRAF2 for activation of JNK but not NF-κB. In addition, we show that TRAF2 induces NF-κB–independent antiapoptotic pathways during TNF-induced apoptosis. Inhibition of TRAF2 leads to splenomegaly, lymphadenopathy, and an increased number of B cells. These findings indicate that TRAF2 is involved in the regulation of lymphocyte function and growth in vivo

A comprehensive satellite-based assessment across the Pacific Arctic Distributed Biological Observatory shows widespread late-season sea surface warming and sea ice declines with significant influences on primary productivity

Massive declines in sea ice cover and widespread warming seawaters across the Pacific Arctic region over the past several decades have resulted in profound shifts in marine ecosystems that have cascaded throughout all trophic levels. The Distributed Biological Observatory (DBO) provides sampling infrastructure for a latitudinal gradient of biological hotspot regions across the Pacific Arctic region, with eight sites spanning the northern Bering, Chukchi, and Beaufort Seas. The purpose of this study is two-fold: (a) to provide an assessment of satellite-based environmental variables for the eight DBO sites (including sea surface temperature (SST), sea ice concentration, annual sea ice persistence and the timing of sea ice breakup/formation, chlorophyll-a concentrations, primary productivity, and photosynthetically available radiation (PAR)) as well as their trends across the 2003-2020 time period; and (b) to assess the importance of sea ice presence/open water for influencing primary productivity across the region and for the eight DBO sites in particular. While we observe significant trends in SST, sea ice, and chlorophyll-a/primary productivity throughout the year, the most significant and synoptic trends for the DBO sites have been those during late summer and autumn (warming SST during October/November, later shifts in the timing of sea ice formation, and increases in chlorophyll-a/primary productivity during August/September). Those DBO sites where significant increases in annual primary productivity over the 2003-2020 time period have been observed include DBO1 in the Bering Sea (37.7 g C/m2/year/decade), DBO3 in the Chukchi Sea (48.0 g C/m2/year/decade), and DBO8 in the Beaufort Sea (38.8 g C/m2/year/decade). The length of the open water season explains the variance of annual primary productivity most strongly for sites DBO3 (74%), DBO4 in the Chukchi Sea (79%), and DBO6 in the Beaufort Sea (78%), with DBO3 influenced most strongly with each day of additional increased open water (3.8 g C/m2/year per day). These synoptic satellite-based observations across the suite of DBO sites will provide the legacy groundwork necessary to track additional and inevitable future physical and biological change across the region in response to ongoing climate warming. Copyright: This is an open access article, free of all copyright, and may be freely reproduced, distributed, transmitted, modified, built upon, or otherwise used by anyone for any lawful purpose. The work is made available under the Creative Commons CC0 public domain dedication

Stress-induced changes in the expression of monocytic β2-integrins: The impact of arousal of negative affect and adrenergic responses to the Anger Recall Interview

Adhesion of circulating monocytes to the vascular endothelium is one of the earliest steps in the development of atherosclerosis. This leukocyte-to-endothelium interaction is mediated in part by β2-integrins, a group of cell adhesion molecules that bind to endothelial ligands. Given the significance of this interaction to atherogenesis, we examined the effects of stress, operationalized as the arousal of negative affect (NA) and cardiovascular and catecholamine responses to the Anger Recall Interview (ARI), on the expression of LFA-1 (CD11a), Mac-1 (CD11b) and p150/95 (CD11c) on circulating monocytes (CD14+). Subjects were 173 healthy, nonsmoking men and women (60% men, 40% minorities, aged 18–49 year). Arousal of NA, cardiovascular responses (heart rate [HR], systolic blood pressure [SBP], diastolic blood pressure [DBP]), circulating catecholamines (epinephrine [Epi], norepinephrine [Ne]) and β2-integrin (CD11/CD18) expression were determined prior to and following the ARI. The principal findings were that the ARI, on average, induced a decrease in monocyte expression of β2-integrins. However, after adjusting for age, sex, body mass index, exercise status, and baseline level of β2-integrin expression, those individuals who showed the largest increases in NA, Ne and DBP during the ARI showed an increase in monocyte β2-integrin expression. Thus, heightened psychological and physiological stress responses induced phenotypic changes in monocytic expression of β2-integrins that are consistent with the role of monocytes/macrophages in vascular inflammation and increased risk of atherosclerotic cardiovascular disease

Stellar Hydrodynamics in Radiative Regions

We present an analysis of the response of a radiative region to waves generated by a convective region of the star; this wave treatment of the classical problem of ``overshooting'' gives extra mixing relative to the treatment traditionally used in stellar evolutionary codes. The interface between convectively stable and unstable regions is dynamic and nonspherical, so that the nonturbulent material is driven into motion, even in the absence of ``penetrative overshoot.'' These motions may be described by the theory of nonspherical stellar pulsations, and are related to motion measured by helioseismology. Multi-dimensional numerical simulations of convective flow show puzzling features which we explain by this simplified physical model. Gravity waves generated at the interface are dissipated, resulting in slow circulation and mixing seen outside the formal convection zone. The approach may be extended to deal with rotation and composition gradients. Tests of this description in the stellar evolution code TYCHO produce carbon stars on the asymptotic giant branch (AGB), an isochrone age for the Hyades and three young clusters with lithium depletion ages from brown dwarfs, and lithium and beryllium depletion consistent with observations of the Hyades and Pleiades, all without tuning parameters. The insight into the different contributions of rotational and hydrodynamic mixing processes could have important implications for realistic simulation of supernovae and other questions in stellar evolution.Comment: 27 pages, 5 figures, accepted to the Astrophysical Journa

Functional genomics of mountain pine beetle (Dendroctonus ponderosae) midguts and fat bodies

<p>Abstract</p> <p>Background</p> <p>The mountain pine beetle (<it>Dendroctonus ponderosae</it>) is a significant coniferous forest pest in western North America. It relies on aggregation pheromones to colonize hosts. Its three major pheromone components, <it>trans</it>-verbenol, <it>exo</it>-brevicomin, and frontalin, are thought to arise via different metabolic pathways, but the enzymes involved have not been identified or characterized. We produced ESTs from male and female midguts and associated fat bodies and used custom oligonucleotide microarrays to study gene expression patterns and thereby made preliminary identification of pheromone-biosynthetic genes.</p> <p>Results</p> <p>Clones from two un-normalized cDNA libraries were directionally sequenced from the 5' end to yield 11,775 ESTs following sequence cleansing. The average read length was 550 nt. The ESTs clustered into 1,201 contigs and 2,833 singlets (4,034 tentative unique genes). The ESTs are broadly distributed among GO functional groups, suggesting they reflect a broad spectrum of the transcriptome. Among the most represented genes are representatives of sugar-digesting enzymes and members of an apparently Scolytid-specific gene family of unknown function. Custom NimbleGen 4-plex arrays representing the 4,034 tentative unique genes were queried with RNA from eleven different biological states representing larvae, pupae, and midguts and associated fat bodies of unfed or fed adults. Quantitative (Real-Time) RT-PCR (qRT-PCR) experiments confirmed that the microarray data accurately reflect expression levels in the different samples. Candidate genes encoding enzymes involved in terminal steps of biosynthetic pathways for <it>exo</it>-brevicomin and frontalin were tentatively identified.</p> <p>Conclusions</p> <p>These EST and microarray data are the first publicly-available functional genomics resources for this devastating forestry pest.</p

Extracellular vesicles: pathogenic messengers and potential therapy for neonatal lung diseases

Extracellular vesicles (EVs) are a heterogeneous group of nano-sized membranous structures increasingly recognized as mediators of intercellular and inter-organ communication. EVs contain a cargo of proteins, lipids and nucleic acids, and their cargo composition is highly dependent on the biological function of the parental cells. Their cargo is protected from the extracellular environment by the phospholipid membrane, thus allowing for safe transport and delivery of their intact cargo to nearby or distant target cells, resulting in modification of the target cell's gene expression, signaling pathways and overall function. The highly selective, sophisticated network through which EVs facilitate cell signaling and modulate cellular processes make studying EVs a major focus of interest in understanding various biological functions and mechanisms of disease. Tracheal aspirate EV-miRNA profiling has been suggested as a potential biomarker for respiratory outcome in preterm infants and there is strong preclinical evidence showing that EVs released from stem cells protect the developing lung from the deleterious effects of hyperoxia and infection. This article will review the role of EVs as pathogenic messengers, biomarkers, and potential therapies for neonatal lung diseases

HST WFPC2 Imaging of Three Low Surface Brightness Dwarf Elliptical Galaxies in the Virgo Cluster

[annotated] HST WFPC2 images were taken of three LSB dwarf elliptical galaxies in the Virgo cluster. The intent of the observations was to determine the small scale structure in these enigmatic galaxies, and to attempt to learn something about the nature of their giant branch through the detection of luminosity fluctuations. In two of the three studied galaxies, V7L3 and V1L4, the luminosity fluctuations were unambiguously detected, yielding a density of 2 - 10 red giants/pixel. Using the observed B-V and V-I colors as a constraint, we could find no model that would reproduce the observed fluctuation signal and blue colors if there was a significant population of M-giants in these systems. The third system, V2L8, did not have a detectable fluctuation signal which possibly implies it is not in the Virgo cluster. Interestingly, this system is highly nucleated. Our observations have resolved this nucleus and if V2L8 is in Virgo, then we have discovered what is likely the smallest bulge measured to date, having an effective radius of only 50 pc. This bulge is quite red (as red as giant ellipticals) and its entirely possible that this nucleated dE galaxy, in fact, is a very large galaxy located in the background. As such, it is highly reminiscent of the manner in which Malin-1 was discovered. Finally, we find no evidence for small scale clumping of stars in any of the studied systems at this much improved spatial resolution. This implies these systems are dynamically well-relaxed and that the physical cause of their observed low surface brightnesses is their low density. When imaged at the high spatial resolution of the WFPC2 (~6 pc per pixel), the galaxies are easy to look right through without evening knowing they are present in the very middle of the WFPC2 frame. They appear only as elevated ``sky noise''.Comment: 39 pages, 3 figures, 3 tables. Accepted for publication in AJ The paper, full-sized figures, etc. can also be obtained via http://guernsey.uoregon.edu/~kare

Becoming Inclusive Teacher Educators: Self-Study as a Professional Learning Tool

This article describes a self-study inquiry project designed and conducted by a self-study group at a Faculty of Education in an Atlantic Canadian University. The seven-member group engaged in a collaborative self-study inquiry while adopting Universal Design for Learning (UDL) principles in their teacher education practices and documented their professional learning. This yearlong self-study inquiry project encompassed several data collection methods to examine inclusive practices of self-study group members, including personal reflections, minutes of weekly meetings, artifacts, and field notes. This article focuses on how UDL provided a means for three group members to critically examine their inclusive practices at the beginning, during, and following the collaborative self-study inquiry. Using a case study methodology, self-study cases of these three faculty members—Angela, Ryan, and Sarah (Pseudonyms)—were developed. The cases reported on the journey of these faculty members in improving their inclusive practice through their engagement in self-study