Characterization of Bacteriophages of Pseudomonas syringae pv. tomato

Bacteriophages from supernatants of the plant pathogenic bacteria Pseudomonas syringae pv. tomato (P. tomato) were isolated, enriched, and purified by density block centrifugation in cesium chloride (CsCl) step gradients. The DNA from purified phage was isolated and digested with the restriction endonucleases EcoRl or HindIII. Three different DNA fingerprint patterns were determined indicating 3 unique phage isolates. Genome sizes of the phage ranged from 40 to 52 kilobases (kB). Buoyant densities of phage particles in CsCI varied from 1.36 to 1.51 glml. Electron microscopy revealed a single morphological type with an elongated polyhedral head and a long tail indicating the family Siphovirida

Influence of bevacizumab on vaginal cuff evisceration eight months after ovarian cancer cytoreduction surgery: A case report.

•44 year old woman treated with bevacizumab for metastatic epithelial ovarian cancer•The patient experienced vaginal cuff dehiscence and evisceration at 8 months post-operatively.•Metastasis at the surgical site and chronic inflammation implicated

Childhood Maltreatment and Adult Dispositional Mindfulness

Dispositional mindfulness has been conceptualized as both a trait and skill set for managing life stress. Levels of dispositional mindfulness appear to provide a meaningful barometer of emotional well-being and behavioral functioning. This chapter reviews selected literature regarding the potential effects of early life experience on the development of this important trait and coping skill. Empirical data regarding the developmental sources of this important psychological attribute has been surprisingly limited. Some prior research has implicated childhood maltreatment as disruptive to the development of this important coping skill. The present study examined the potential impact of six different forms of childhood maltreatment on dispositional mindfulness development. A number of parental relationship and resiliency protective factors were also added to the analysis. Survey respondents in this college sample (N = 978) completed indices of dispositional mindfulness, childhood maltreatment, parental relationship qualities, and resiliency factors. Respondents who described histories of sexual abuse, peer abuse, or sibling maltreatment showed lower levels of dispositional mindfulness. Parental temper was inversely related to dispositional mindfulness. Spirituality and larger childhood friendship circles provided favorable indicators. These results should encourage continued efforts to examine childhood maltreatment, early parent-child relationship qualities, and resiliency factors as potential sources of dispositional mindfulness development

Postprandial And Fasting Lipopolysaccharide Levels In Healthy Hispanic Residents Of Southeast Texas With Positive Family History Of Type 2 Diabetes

PURPOSE: Healthy people with a family history (FH+) of type 2 diabetes (T2D) display impaired metabolic and microvascular function prior to glucose intolerance, and are at greater risk for developing T2D. While mechanisms to explain this disparity are lacking, it is possible that intestinal permeability plays a role, as it is also linked with insulin resistance, glucose intolerance, and chronic inflammation. Lipopolysaccharides (LPS) act as an outer membrane component of gram-negative bacteria in intestines and play a role in inflammation and chronic disease when in circulation, thus serving as a surrogate measure of intestinal permeability. However, the link between FH+ health disparities and intestinal permeability has not been studied. Thus, the purpose of this study was to quantify circulating plasma LPS in healthy FH+ and FH-. METHODS: In this cross-sectional study, FH- (n=14) and FH+ (n=18) participants matched for age (24.4 ± 1.6 and 25.0 ± 2.3 respectively) and BMI (25.0 ± 1.1 and 25.0 ± 1.1 years respectively) had blood drawn while fasting, and 60-min after consuming a mixed composition meal to quantify changes in plasma LPS, and had body composition determined via iDXA. Other anthropogenic data were collected. RESULTS: Fasting LPS was lower in FH- than FH+ (p \u3c 0.5, 42.3ng/ml ± 5.3 and 48.1ng/ml ± 6.8 respectively) with postprandial LPS increasing more in FH- than FH+ (p\u3c0.05, +10.3ng/ml ± 3.1 and + 1.4ng/ml ± 3.1 respectively). No group differences (p\u3e0.5) were noted in blood pressure (115/69 and 116/69mmHG) LDL-c (4.3mmol/L and 4.4mmol/L), HDL-c (2.2mmol/L and 2.3mmol/L), body fat (29% and 28%), or android fat (30.4% and 30.7%) between FH- and FH+ groups respectively. CONCLUSION: Disparities noted for increase T2D risk in FH+ have been linked to microvascular and metabolic function, with mechanisms for these remaining elusive. However, differences in circulating LPS suggest varying intestinal permeability in these groups, which may help explain the varying risk for T2D. Further work to characterize intestinal microbiota may advance our understanding of health disparities in this and other high-risk populations

Cardiovascular Responses Differ Between Different Orders of Upper- and Lower-Body Resistance Exercise

Upper-body resistance exercise (RE) induces different cardiovascular responses compared to lower-body RE. However, combination of upper- and lower-body RE with different orders on cardiovascular responses are unclear. PURPOSE: To evaluate the effects of different orders of upper-and lower-body RE on cardiovascular responses in active men. METHODS: Thirteen active men (22±2 years old) participated in the study. Heart rate (HR), systolic and diastolic blood pressure (BP), cardiac output (CO), stroke volume (SV), and total peripheral resistance (TPR) were assessed at rest, 15-20 (R1), and 25-30 (R2) minutes after performing upper- and lower-body RE (UL) or lower- and upper-body RE (LU) for 3 sets of 10 repetitions at 75% 1-repetition maximum with 90-second and 2-minute rests between sets and exercises, respectively. The upper-body RE consisted of pulldown and chest press while lower-body RE consisted of knee extension and knee flexion. A repeated measures ANOVA was used to evaluate the conditions (UL, LU) across time (rest, R1, R2) on cardiovascular responses. RESULTS: There were time-by-condition interactions (p\u3c0.05) for CO and SV such that CO was significantly elevated at R1 and R2 after UL and LU compared to rest while UL had higher CO compared to LU at R1 (UL: rest: 5.68±0.99 L/min; R1: 9.09±1.44 L/min; R2: 7.65±1.87 L/min; and LU: rest: 5.55±0.78 L/min; R1: 8.14±1.65 L/min; R2: 7.23±1.76 L/min). SV was significantly increased after UL at R1 compared to rest and LU (UL: rest: 85.2±16.5 ml/beat; R1: 90.9±14.3 ml/beat; R2: 81.8±18.8 ml/beat; and LU: rest: 84.7±12.7 ml/beat; R1: 83.0±13.9 ml/beat; R2: 78.6±16.2 ml/beat). TPR was significantly (p\u3c0.001) reduced at R1 and R2 compared to rest after UL and LU with greater reduction after UL compared to LU (UL: rest: 0.96±0.27 mmHg•min/L; R1: 0.53±0.16 mmHg•min/L; R2: 0.68±0.22 mmHg•min/L; and LU: rest: 1.03±0.33 mmHg•min/L; R1: 00.67±0.26 mmHg•min/L; R2: 0.77±0.26 mmHg•min/L). HR was significantly (p\u3c0.001) increased at R1 and R2 after UL and LU compared to rest. Systolic BP was significantly (p=0.026) decreased after LU at R1 compared to rest and R2. However, there was no change for diastolic BP. CONCLUSION: These data suggest that UL significantly increases cardiac output and stroke volume than LU which means different orders of RE change cardiovascular responses

Pharmacotherapy for treatment-resistant schizophrenia

Schizophrenia is a disabling mental illness with a lifetime prevalence of 0.7% worldwide and significant, often devastating, consequences on social and occupational functioning. A range of antipsychotic medications are available; however, suboptimal therapeutic response in terms of psychotic symptoms is common and affects up to one-third of people with schizophrenia. Negative symptoms are generally less amenable to treatment. Because of the consequences of inadequate symptom control, effective treatment strategies are required for people with treatment-resistant schizophrenia. Clozapine has been shown to be more effective than other antipsychotics in treatment-resistant populations in several studies; however, the occurrence of adverse effects, some of which are potentially life-threatening, are important limitations. In addition to those who are intolerant to clozapine, only 30% to 50% experience clinically significant symptom improvement. This review describes the recent evidence for treatment strategies for people not responding to nonclozapine antipsychotic agents and people not responding or only partially responding to clozapine

AMPA Receptor Phosphorylation and Synaptic Colocalization on Motor Neurons Drive Maladaptive Plasticity below Complete Spinal Cord Injury.

Clinical spinal cord injury (SCI) is accompanied by comorbid peripheral injury in 47% of patients. Human and animal modeling data have shown that painful peripheral injuries undermine long-term recovery of locomotion through unknown mechanisms. Peripheral nociceptive stimuli induce maladaptive synaptic plasticity in dorsal horn sensory systems through AMPA receptor (AMPAR) phosphorylation and trafficking to synapses. Here we test whether ventral horn motor neurons in rats demonstrate similar experience-dependent maladaptive plasticity below a complete SCI in vivo. Quantitative biochemistry demonstrated that intermittent nociceptive stimulation (INS) rapidly and selectively increases AMPAR subunit GluA1 serine 831 phosphorylation and localization to synapses in the injured spinal cord, while reducing synaptic GluA2. These changes predict motor dysfunction in the absence of cell death signaling, suggesting an opportunity for therapeutic reversal. Automated confocal time-course analysis of lumbar ventral horn motor neurons confirmed a time-dependent increase in synaptic GluA1 with concurrent decrease in synaptic GluA2. Optical fractionation of neuronal plasma membranes revealed GluA2 removal from extrasynaptic sites on motor neurons early after INS followed by removal from synapses 2 h later. As GluA2-lacking AMPARs are canonical calcium-permeable AMPARs (CP-AMPARs), their stimulus- and time-dependent insertion provides a therapeutic target for limiting calcium-dependent dynamic maladaptive plasticity after SCI. Confirming this, a selective CP-AMPAR antagonist protected against INS-induced maladaptive spinal plasticity, restoring adaptive motor responses on a sensorimotor spinal training task. These findings highlight the critical involvement of AMPARs in experience-dependent spinal cord plasticity after injury and provide a pharmacologically targetable synaptic mechanism by which early postinjury experience shapes motor plasticity

Intravenous Prenatal Nicotine Exposure Alters METH-Induced Hyperactivity, Conditioned Hyperactivity, and BDNF in Adult Rat Offspring

In the USA, approximately 15% of women smoke tobacco cigarettes during pregnancy. In utero tobacco smoke exposure produces somatic growth deficits like intrauterine growth restriction and low birth w

Different Orders of Combined Upper- and Lower-Body Resistance Exercise on Pulse Wave Reflection

Acute upper-body resistance exercise (RE) has been shown to induce greater impacts on pulse wave reflection (PWR) compared to lower-body RE. However, different orders of combined upper- and lower-body RE on PWR is unknown. PURPOSE: To evaluate the effects of different orders of combined upper-and lower-body RE on PWR in active men. METHODS: Sixteen men (22±2 yrs) volunteered for the study. PWR was assessed at rest, 10 (R1), and 20 (R2) minutes after either upper- and lower-body RE (UL) or lower- and upper-body RE (LU) at 75% 1-repetition maximum for 3 sets of 10 repetitions, 1.5- and 2-minute rests between sets and exercises, respectively, was allotted. The upper- and lower-body RE consisted of latissimus dorsi pulldown and incline chest press, and knee extension and knee flexion, respectively. A 2x3 repeated measures ANOVA was used to evaluate the conditions across time on PWR. RESULTS: There was no difference (p=0.42) on exercise volume between UL and LU. There were significant condition-by-time interactions (pCONCLUSION: These data suggest that different orders of combined upper- and lower-body RE induce different responses on pulse wave reflection. In addition, LU significantly elevated PWR than UL which might place greater workload to the heart in active men. Starting at upper-body RE then finishing at lower-body RE may be a more cardio-protective workout regime