Transcriptional profiling avian beta-defensins in chicken oviduct epithelial cells before and after infection with Salmonella enterica serovar Enteritidis

<p>Abstract</p> <p>Background</p> <p><it>Salmonella enterica </it>serovar Enteritidis (SE) colonizes the ovary and oviduct of chickens without causing overt clinical signs which can lead to SE-contamination of the content and membrane of shell-eggs as well as hatchery eggs. The organism utilizes the <it>Salmonella </it>Pathogenicity Island-2 encoded type III secretion system (T3SS-2) to promote persistence in the oviduct of laying hens. In this study, reverse transcriptase-polymerase chain reaction (RT-PCR) was carried out to determine the expression profiles of 14 known avian beta defensins (AvBDs) in primary chicken oviduct epithelial cells (COEC) before and after infections with a wild type SE strain and T3SS mutant SE strains carrying an inactivated <it>sipA </it>or <it>pipB </it>gene.</p> <p>Results</p> <p>Based on the expression levels in uninfected COEC, AvBDs can be loosely grouped into three categories with AvBD4-5 and AvBD9-12 being constitutively expressed at high levels; AvBD1, AvBD3, and AvBD13-14 at moderate levels; and AvBD2 and AvBD6-8 at minimal levels. Infection with the wild type SE strain temporarily repressed certain highly expressed AvBDs and induced the expression of minimally expressed AvBDs. The <it>pipB </it>mutant, compared to the wild type strain, had reduced suppressive effect on the expression of highly expressed AvBDs. Moreover, the <it>pipB </it>mutant elicited significantly higher levels of the minimally expressed AvBDs than the wild type SE or the <it>sipA </it>mutant did.</p> <p>Conclusion</p> <p>Chicken oviduct epithelial cells express most of the known AvBD genes in response to SE infection. PipB, a T3SS-2 effector protein, plays a role in dampening the β-defensin arm of innate immunity during SE invasion of chicken oviduct epithelium.</p

Droplet Generation by Disintegration of Oil Films at the Rim of a Rotating Disk

ABSTRACT A fundamental study has been performed to examine oil film disintegration mechanisms at the rim of a rotating disk. The configuration investigated is an abstraction of one of the droplet generation sources in an aero-engine bearing compartment. The paper aims to contribute to both the determination of directly applicable droplet characteristics and the establishment of a data-base that can be used for the development of droplet generation models. The near-term objectives of the study are (i) to identify disintegration modes relevant with respect to aeroengine bearing compartment operating conditions, (ii) to determine droplet sizes under those operating conditions, and (iii) to measure individual droplet diameter/velocity relationships. The long-term objective is to incorporate this information into advanced CFD-based design tools. The disintegration modes identified here were similar to previously reported flow regimes generated by rotary atomizer

BOOK REVIEW

Some years ago, those members of a Friends of IANDS support group who were not near-death experiencers (NDErs) found themselves deeply frustrated. Month after month the group had met, but although the nonexperiencers had enthusiastically discussed the NDE and its implications and meanings, the near-death experiencers themselves had said almost nothing: there was little reporting of experiences, no sharing of what they had learned-just silence. Then one night an out-of-town NDEr came to speak. She not only described her own experience, but admitted to having some difficulties in adjustment after her medical recovery, and asked the others what life was like for them now. She might as well have opened the valves of Hoover Dam; the previously silent NDErs couldn&apos;t talk fast enough. Out it all tumbled: anger at having had the light &quot;taken back,&quot; frustration with families and friends who did not understand, and confusion about the lives to which they had been so abruptly returned. The outpouring continued for perhaps ten minutes, until another member of the group, not herself an experiencer, cried in dismay, &quot;But you Ms. Bush is currentl

Examining the Complex Relationship between Greek Life and Alcohol: A literature review

Peer Reviewedhttp://deepblue.lib.umich.edu/bitstream/2027.42/87974/1/Taylor2004ExaminingTheComplexRelationshipBetweenGreekLifeAndAlcohol.pd

Are there gender differences in the geography of alcohol-related mortality in Scotland? An ecological study

&lt;b&gt;Background&lt;/b&gt; There is growing concern about alcohol-related harm, particularly within Scotland which has some of the highest rates of alcohol-related death in western Europe. There are large gender differences in alcohol-related mortality rates in Scotland and in other countries, but the reasons for these differences are not clearly understood. In this paper, we aimed to address calls in the literature for further research on gender differences in the causes, contexts and consequences of alcohol-related harm. Our primary research question was whether the kind of social environment which tends to produce higher or lower rates of alcohol-related mortality is the same for both men and women across Scotland. &lt;b&gt;Methods&lt;/b&gt; Cross-sectional, ecological design. A comparison was made between spatial variation in men's and women's age-standardised alcohol-related mortality rates in Scotland using maps, Moran's Index, linear regression and spatial analyses of residuals. Directly standardised mortality rates were derived from individual level records of death registration, 2000–2005 (n = 8685). &lt;b&gt;Results&lt;/b&gt; As expected, men's alcohol-related mortality rate substantially exceeded women's and there was substantial spatial variation in these rates for both men and women within Scotland. However, there was little spatial variation in the relationship between men's and women's alcohol-mortality rates (r2 = 0.73); areas with relatively high rates of alcohol-related mortality for men tended also to have relatively high rates for women. In a small number of areas (8 out of 144) the relationship between men's and women's alcohol-related mortality rates was significantly different. &lt;b&gt;Conclusion&lt;/b&gt; In as far as geographic location captures exposure to social and economic environment, our results suggest that the relationship between social and economic environment and alcohol-related harm is very similar for men and women. The existence of a small number of areas in which men's and women's alcohol-related mortality had an different relationship suggests that some places may have unusual drinking cultures. These might prove useful for further investigations into the factors which influence drinking behaviour in men and women

Short-Range Ising Spin Glass: Multifractal Properties

The multifractal properties of the Edwards-Anderson order parameter of the short-range Ising spin glass model on d=3 diamond hierarchical lattices is studied via an exact recursion procedure. The profiles of the local order parameter are calculated and analysed within a range of temperatures close to the critical point with four symmetric distributions of the coupling constants (Gaussian, Bimodal, Uniform and Exponential). Unlike the pure case, the multifractal analysis of these profiles reveals that a large spectrum of the $\alpha$-H\"older exponent is required to describe the singularities of the measure defined by the normalized local order parameter, at and below the critical point. Minor changes in these spectra are observed for distinct initial distributions of coupling constants, suggesting an universal spectra behavior. For temperatures slightly above T_{c}, a dramatic change in the $F(\alpha)$ function is found, signalizing the transition.Comment: 8 pages, LaTex, PostScript-figures included but also available upon request. To be published in Physical Review E (01/March 97