Mycobacterium tuberculosis ClpP Proteases Are Co-transcribed but Exhibit Different Substrate Specificities

PMCID: PMC3613350This is an open-access article distributed under the terms of the Creative Commons Attribution License, which permits unrestricted use, distribution, and reproduction in any medium, provided the original author and source are credited

A specific case in the classification of woods by FTIR and chemometric: discrimination of Fagales from Malpighiales

Fourier transform infrared (FTIR) spectroscopic data was used to classify wood samples from nine species within the Fagales and Malpighiales using a range of multivariate statistical methods. Taxonomic classification of the family Fagaceae and Betulaceae from Angiosperm Phylogenetic System Classification (APG II System) was successfully performed using supervised pattern recognition techniques. A methodology for wood sample discrimination was developed using both sapwood and heartwood samples. Ten and eight biomarkers emerged from the dataset to discriminate order and family, respectively. In the species studied FTIR in combination with multivariate analysis highlighted significant chemical differences in hemicelluloses, cellulose and guaiacyl (lignin) and shows promise as a suitable approach for wood sample classification

Probing host pathogen cross-talk by transcriptional profiling of both Mycobacterium tuberculosis and infected human dendritic cells and macrophages

This study provides the proof of principle that probing the host and the microbe transcriptomes simultaneously is a valuable means to accessing unique information on host pathogen interactions. Our results also underline the extraordinary plasticity of host cell and pathogen responses to infection, and provide a solid framework to further understand the complex mechanisms involved in immunity to M. tuberculosis and in mycobacterial adaptation to different intracellular environments

Turfgrass research report 1995

Postemergence herbicide efficacy on crabgrass / John R. Street and Renee M. Stewart -- Preemergence herbicide efficacy on crabgrass / John R. Street and Renee M. Stewart --Preemergent common chickweed weed control evaluation / William Pound -- Preemergent purple dead nettle weed control evaluation / William Pound -- General turfgrass broadleaf weed control evaluation / William Pound -- Finale/Roundup herbicide demonstration evaluation / William Pound -- Ground ivy control evaluation / William Pound -- Manage yellow nutsedge control evaluation / William Pound -- Alternative Turflon solvent tolerance evaluation / William Pound -- Wild violet control evaluation / William Pound --Leaf spot study, 1995 / Joe Rimelspach, Karl Danneberger and Jill Taylor -- Leaf spot control study - Galena, Ohio / Joe Rimelspach, Karl Danneberger and Jill Taylor -- Red thread control study, 1995 / Joe Rimelspach, Karl Danneberger -- Brown patch study, 1995 / Joe Rimelspach, Karl Danneberger, Joseph Vagnier and Jill Taylor -- Brown patch (Rhizoctonia solani) curative study / Joe Rimelspach, Karl Danneberger and Jill Taylor -- Preventive dollar spot (Sclerotinia homoeocarpa) control study, 1995 / Joe Rimelspach, Karl Danneberger, Joseph Vagnier and Jill Taylor -- Take-All control study / Joe Rimelspach and Karl Danneberger -- Yellow tuft study, 1995 / Joe Rimelspach, Karl Danneberger, Joseph Vagnier and Jill Taylor -- Summer patch control study / Rob Golembiewski, Joe Rimelspach and Karl Danneberger -- Sentinel and Daconil Ultrex gallonage study: influence on dollar spot control / Karl Danneberger and Jill Taylor -- Pink snow mold control study, 1994-1995 / Jill Taylor, Joe Rimelspach and Karl Danneberger -- Control of black cutworm, Agrotis ipsilon (Hufnagel), and sod webworms (Pyralidae: Crambinae) on short cut bentgrass, Agrostis palustris Hudson-1995 / David J. Shetlar, Harry D. Niemczyk and Kevin T. Power -- Control of black cutworm, Agrotis ipsilon (Hufnagel), and sod webworms (Pyralidae: Crambinae) on short cut bentgrass, Agrostis palustris Hudson using spinosad formulations -1995 / David J. Shetlar, Harry D. Niemczyk and Kevin T. Power -- Applications of insecticides for control of second generation hairy chinch bugs in turfgrass -1995 / David J. Shetlar, Harry D. Niemczyk and Kevin T. Power -- Preventive application of insecticides for control of black turfgrass Ataenius larvae on golf course fairways, 1995 / David J. Shetlar, Harry D. Niemczyk and Kevin T. Power -- Spring application of chemical and biological insecticides for control of overwintered white grubs in turfgrass, 1995 / David J. Shetlar, Harry D. Niemczyk and Kevin T. Power -- Influence of post-treatment irrigation on the efficacy of RH 0345 and Merit applied at the time of egg hatch for control of Japanese beetle larvae in turf, 1995 / David J. Shetlar, Harry D. Niemczyk and Kevin T. Power -- Application of various insecticides for preventive control of Japanese Beetle larvae in turfgrass, 1995 / David J. Shetlar, Harry D. Niemczyk and Kevin T. Power -- Chemical and biological insecticides applied for control of white grubs in turfgrass, 1995 / David J. Shetlar, Harry D. Niemczyk and Kevin T. Power -- Nitrogen source, rate, and timing effect on Kentucky bluegrass / John R. Street and Renee M. Stewart -- Natural organic source evaluation on a Kentucky bluegrass-perennial ryegrass mixture / John R. Street and Renee M. Stewart -- Nitrogen source, rate, and timing effect on Kentucky bluegrass / John R. Street and Renee M. Stewart -- Polymer-coated nitrogen source effect on Kentucky bluegrass / John R. Street and Renee M. Stewart -- 1993 NTEP bentgrass test (fairway/tee) / Jill A. Taylor -- 1993 NTEP fineleaf fescue test / Jill Taylor -- 1994 NTEP perennial ryegrass test / Jill Taylor -- 'Primo' growth regulator evaluation on creeping bentgrass / William Pound -- Bermudagrass management study / John Street and Jill Taylor -- Electrophoretic evaluation of esterase isozymes from turfgrass seed blends and mixtures / G. E. Bell, M. B. McDonald Jr. and T. K. Danneberger -- Computer Imaging of Electrophoretic Gels / G. E. Bell, M. B. McDonald Jr., T. K. Danneberger and S. K. St. Martin -- Evaluation of Kentucky bluegrass blends using isoelectric focusing and computer imaging / G. E. Bell, M. B. McDonald Jr. and T. K. Danneberger -- Identification of RAFLP markers in perennial ryegrass / Patricia M. Sweeney and Karl Danneberger -- RAPD analysis of dry turfgrass seed / Patricia Sweeney, Robert Golembiewski and Karl Danneberge

Internet and game behaviour at a secondary school and a newly developed health promotion programme: a prospective study

<p>Abstract</p> <p>Background</p> <p>This study investigated the Internet and game use of secondary school children, the compulsiveness of their use and the relationship with other health behaviours. It also evaluated the preliminary results of a recently developed school health promotion programme, implemented at a secondary school in the Netherlands in January 2008. This programme is one of the first to combine seven health behaviours in one educational programme and is a pilot project for a case-control study.</p> <p>Methods</p> <p>A total of 475 secondary school children completed an extensive questionnaire before and a year after starting the programme. Of these children, 367 were in first, second and third grade; the grades in which the lessons about internet and game behaviour were implemented. Questionnaires contained questions about personal information, Internet and game use (Compulsive Internet Use Scale), and other health behaviours (alcohol use, physical activity, psychosocial wellbeing and body mass index).</p> <p>Results</p> <p>Heavy Internet use was significantly associated with psychosocial problems, and heavy game use was significantly associated with psychosocial problems and less physical activity. No relationship was found with alcohol use or body mass index. The time spent on Internet (hours/day) and the number of pathological Internet users increased during the study. The number of game users decreased but heavy game use increased.</p> <p>Conclusion</p> <p>The association between heavy Internet use and psychosocial problems and between game use and psychosocial problems and less physical activity emphasizes the need to target different health behaviours in one health education programme. A case-control study is needed to further assess the programme-induced changes in Internet and game behaviour of school children.</p

Beam-Induced Nuclear Depolarisation in a Gaseous Polarised Hydrogen Target

Spin-polarised atomic hydrogen is used as a gaseous polarised proton target in high energy and nuclear physics experiments operating with internal beams in storage rings. When such beams are intense and bunched, this type of target can be depolarised by a resonant interaction with the transient magnetic field generated by the beam bunches. This effect has been studied with the HERA positron beam in the HERMES experiment at DESY. Resonances have been observed and a simple analytic model has been used to explain their shape and position. Operating conditions for the experiment have been found where there is no significant target depolarisation due to this effect.Comment: REVTEX, 6 pages, 5 figure

Positive psychology of Malaysian students: impacts of engagement, motivation, self-compassion and wellbeing on mental health

Malaysia plays a key role in education of the Asia Pacific, expanding its scholarly output rapidly. However, mental health of Malaysian students is challenging, and their help-seeking is low because of stigma. This study explored the relationships between mental health and positive psychological constructs (academic engagement, motivation, self-compassion, and wellbeing), and evaluated the relative contribution of each positive psychological construct to mental health in Malaysian students. An opportunity sample of 153 students completed the measures regarding these constructs. Correlation, regression, and mediation analyses were conducted. Engagement, amotivation, self-compassion, and wellbeing were associated with, and predicted large variance in mental health. Self-compassion was the strongest independent predictor of mental health among all the positive psychological constructs. Findings can imply the strong links between mental health and positive psychology, especially selfcompassion. Moreover, intervention studies to examine the effects of self-compassion training on mental health of Malaysian students appear to be warranted.N/

Utilisation of an operative difficulty grading scale for laparoscopic cholecystectomy

Background A reliable system for grading operative difficulty of laparoscopic cholecystectomy would standardise description of findings and reporting of outcomes. The aim of this study was to validate a difficulty grading system (Nassar scale), testing its applicability and consistency in two large prospective datasets. Methods Patient and disease-related variables and 30-day outcomes were identified in two prospective cholecystectomy databases: the multi-centre prospective cohort of 8820 patients from the recent CholeS Study and the single-surgeon series containing 4089 patients. Operative data and patient outcomes were correlated with Nassar operative difficultly scale, using Kendall’s tau for dichotomous variables, or Jonckheere–Terpstra tests for continuous variables. A ROC curve analysis was performed, to quantify the predictive accuracy of the scale for each outcome, with continuous outcomes dichotomised, prior to analysis. Results A higher operative difficulty grade was consistently associated with worse outcomes for the patients in both the reference and CholeS cohorts. The median length of stay increased from 0 to 4 days, and the 30-day complication rate from 7.6 to 24.4% as the difficulty grade increased from 1 to 4/5 (both p < 0.001). In the CholeS cohort, a higher difficulty grade was found to be most strongly associated with conversion to open and 30-day mortality (AUROC = 0.903, 0.822, respectively). On multivariable analysis, the Nassar operative difficultly scale was found to be a significant independent predictor of operative duration, conversion to open surgery, 30-day complications and 30-day reintervention (all p < 0.001). Conclusion We have shown that an operative difficulty scale can standardise the description of operative findings by multiple grades of surgeons to facilitate audit, training assessment and research. It provides a tool for reporting operative findings, disease severity and technical difficulty and can be utilised in future research to reliably compare outcomes according to case mix and intra-operative difficulty

S100A1: A Multifaceted Therapeutic Target in Cardiovascular Disease

Cardiovascular disease is the leading cause of death worldwide, showing a dramatically growing prevalence. It is still associated with a poor clinical prognosis, indicating insufficient long-term treatment success of currently available therapeutic strategies. Investigations of the pathomechanisms underlying cardiovascular disorders uncovered the Ca2+ binding protein S100A1 as a critical regulator of both cardiac performance and vascular biology. In cardiomyocytes, S100A1 was found to interact with both the sarcoplasmic reticulum ATPase (SERCA2a) and the ryanodine receptor 2 (RyR2), resulting in substantially improved Ca2+ handling and contractile performance. Additionally, S100A1 has been described to target the cardiac sarcomere and mitochondria, leading to reduced pre-contractile passive tension as well as enhanced oxidative energy generation. In endothelial cells, molecular analyses revealed a stimulatory effect of S100A1 on endothelial NO production by increasing endothelial nitric oxide synthase activity. Emphasizing the pathophysiological relevance of S100A1, myocardial infarction in S100A1 knockout mice resulted in accelerated transition towards heart failure and excessive mortality in comparison with wild-type controls. Mice lacking S100A1 furthermore displayed significantly elevated blood pressure values with abrogated responsiveness to bradykinin. On the other hand, numerous studies in small and large animal heart failure models showed that S100A1 overexpression results in reversed maladaptive myocardial remodeling, long-term rescue of contractile performance, and superior survival in response to myocardial infarction, indicating the potential of S100A1-based therapeutic interventions. In summary, elaborate basic and translational research established S100A1 as a multifaceted therapeutic target in cardiovascular disease, providing a promising novel therapeutic strategy to future cardiologists