Filter-Based Assay for Escherichia coli in Aqueous Samples Using Bacteriophage-Based Amplification

This paper describes a method to detect the presence of bacteria in aqueous samples, based on the capture of bacteria on a syringe filter, and the infection of targeted bacterial species with a bacteriophage (phage). The use of phage as a reagent provides two opportunities for signal amplification: i) the replication of phage inside a live bacterial host (1000-fold amplification for M13 phage in E. coli K12), and ii) the rapid conversion of a colorless substrate to a colored or fluorescent product by an enzyme that is co-expressed with the phage (in this demonstration β- galactosidase, which has a turnover rate of ~ 600 molecules/second). This method can detect a single colony-forming unit (CFU) of E. coli in one liter of water with an overnight culture-based assay, or 50 CFUs of E. coli in 1 liter of water (or 10 mL of orange juice, or 10 mL of skim milk) in less than four hours with a solution-based assay with visual readout. The solution-based assay does not require specialized equipment or access to a laboratory, and is more rapid than existing tests that are suitable for use at the point of access. This method could be applied to the detection of many different bacteria, in parallel, with bacteriophages that express enzymes not natively expressed in the target bacteria.Chemistry and Chemical Biolog

Metabolic and histopathological effects of sleeve gastrectomy and gastric plication: an experimental rodent model

Introduction: Obesity has recently become a major health problem, and researchers have been directed to work toward the development of surgical techniques, with new mediators playing an important role in nutrition. Gastric plication (GP) and sleeve gastrectomy (SG) have become popular recently. These are widely used techniques in bariatric surgery. Objectives: In this study, we aimed to compare the efficiency of SG and GP techniques on rats. Methods: Wistar-Hannover rats (n=18) were divided into three equal groups, namely SG, GP, and control. Blood samples were taken before the operation and on the 30th day after the operation. The weights of all rats were recorded both on first day and the 30th day after the operation. Serum gastrin, ghrelin, and leptin levels were also measured on the same days. For histopathological examination, gastrectomy was performed after the animals were sacrificed. Results: Average weight loss was 10% for the SG group and 6.5% for the GP group. One month after the operations, the decrease in the ghrelin and leptin levels of GP and SG groups was significant compared with the levels of the control group. Gastrin levels of the SG group increased significantly compared with those of the control group. Histopathological examination revealed that there was significant decrease in the ghrelin and leptin levels of the GP and SG groups compared with those of the control group. Foveolar hyperplasia (FH), cystic glandular dilatation, and fibrosis were significantly higher in the GP and SG groups compared with the control group. Conclusion: Although GP is not as effective as SG in terms of weight loss, it provides the same effectiveness in decreasing ghrelin and leptin levels. Histopathological findings revealed that FH, fibrosis, and the cystic glandular dilatation development rates were similar

Filter-Based Assay for Escherichia coli in Aqueous Samples Using Bacteriophage-Based Amplification

This paper describes a method to detect the presence of bacteria in aqueous samples, based on the capture of bacteria on a syringe filter, and the infection of targeted bacterial species with a bacteriophage (phage). The use of phage as a reagent provides two opportunities for signal amplification: (i) the replication of phage inside a live bacterial host and (ii) the delivery and expression of the complementing gene that turns on enzymatic activity and produces a colored or fluorescent product. Here we demonstrate a phage-based amplification scheme with an M13KE phage that delivers a small peptide motif to an F⁺, α-complementing strain of Escherichia coli K12, which expresses the ω-domain of β-galactosidase (β-gal). The result of this complementationan active form of β-galwas detected colorimetrically, and the high level of expression of the ω-domain of β-gal in the model K12 strains allowed us to detect, on average, five colony-forming units (CFUs) of this strain in 1 L of water with an overnight culture-based assay. We also detected 50 CFUs of the model K12 strain in 1 L of water (or 10 mL of orange juice, or 10 mL of skim milk) in less than 4 h with a solution-based assay with visual readout. The solution-based assay does not require specialized equipment or access to a laboratory, and is more rapid than existing tests that are suitable for use at the point of access. This method could potentially be extended to detect many different bacteria with bacteriophages that deliver genes encoding a full-length enzyme that is not natively expressed in the target bacteria

Prognostic factors in clinical stage T4N2 locally advanced non-small cell lung cancer

Purpose: Relatively few studies have focused on T4N2 (stage IIIB) locally advanced non-small cell lung cancer (NSCLC). In this study, we tried to identify prognostic factors for patients with clinical stage T4N2 NSCLC

Familial Mediterranean fever (FMF) in Turkey: results of a nationwide multicenter study

Familial Mediterranean fever (FMF) is an autosomal recessive disease that is prevalent among eastern Mediterranean populations, mainly non-Ashkenazi Jews, Armenians, Turks, and Arabs. Since a large proportion of all the FMF patients in the world live in Turkey, the Turkish FMF Study Group (FMF-TR) was founded to develop a patient registry database and analyze demographic, clinical, and genetic features. The cohort was composed of 2838 patients (mean age, 23.0 +/- 13.33 yr; range, 2-87 yr), with a male:female ratio of 1.2:1. There was a mean period of 6.9 +/- 7.65 years from disease onset to diagnosis; the period was about 2 years shorter for each decade since 1981. Ninety-four percent of patients were living in the central-western parts of the country; however, their familial origins (70% from the central-eastern and Black Sea regions) reflected not only the ongoing east to west migration, but also the historical roots of FMF in Turkey. Patients' clinical features included peritonitis (93.7%), fever (92.5%), arthritis (47.4%), pleuritis (31.2%), myalgia (39.6%), and erysipelas-like erythema (20.9%). Arthritis, arthralgia, myalgia, and erysipelas-like erythema were significantly more frequent (p < 0.001) among patients with disease onset before the age of 18 years. Genetic analysis of 1090 patients revealed that M694V was the most frequent mutation (51.4%), followed by M680I (14.4%) and V726A (8.6%). Patients with the M694V/M694V genotype were found to have an earlier age of onset and higher frequencies of arthritis and arthralgia compared with the other groups (both p < 0.001). In contrast to other reported studies, there was no correlation between amyloidosis and M694V homozygosity in this cohort. However, amyloidosis was still remarkably frequent in our patients (12.9%), and it was prevalent (27.8%) even among the 18 patients with a disease onset after age 40 years. Twenty-two patients (0.8%) had nonamyloid glomerular diseases. The high prevalence of vasculitides (0.9% for polyarteritis nodosa and 2.7% for Henoch-Schonlein purpura) and high frequency of pericarditis (1.4%) were striking findings in the cohort. Phenotype II cases (those patients with amyloidosis as the presenting or only manifestation of disease) were rare (0.3% or less). There was a high rate of a past diagnosis of acute rheumatic fever, which suggested a possible misdiagnosis in children with FMF presenting with recurrent arthritis. To our knowledge, this is the largest series of patients with FMF reported from 1 country. We describe the features of the disease in the Turkish population and show that amyloidosis is still a substantial problem

A genetic probe into the ancient and medieval history of Southern Europe and West Asia

Literary and archaeological sources have preserved a rich history of Southern Europe and West Asia since the Bronze Age that can be complemented by genetics. Mycenaean period elites in Greece did not differ from the general population and included both people with some steppe ancestry and others, like the Griffin Warrior, without it. Similarly, people in the central area of the Urartian Kingdom around Lake Van lacked the steppe ancestry characteristic of the kingdom’s northern provinces. Anatolia exhibited extraordinary continuity down to the Roman and Byzantine periods, with its people serving as the demographic core of much of the Roman Empire, including the city of Rome itself. During medieval times, migrations associated with Slavic and Turkic speakers profoundly affected the region