Publications
| Title | Abstract | Year(sorted ascending) Filter | PMID Filter |
|---|
| comparative efficacy of experimental anthrax vaccine candidates against inhalation anthrax in rhesus macaques. | the authors examined the efficacy of bacillus anthracis protective antigen (pa) combined with adjuvants as vaccines against an aerosol challenge of virulent anthrax spores in rhesus macaques. adjuvants tested included i) aluminum hydroxide (alhydrogel), ii) saponin qs-21 and iii) monophosphoryl lipid a (mpl) in squalene/lecithin/tween 80 emulsion (slt). animals were immunized once with either 50 micrograms of recombinant pa plus adjuvant, or with anthrax vaccine adsorbed (ava), the licensed huma ... | 1998 | 9682372 |
| anthrax lethal factor cleaves the n-terminus of mapkks and induces tyrosine/threonine phosphorylation of mapks in cultured macrophages. | lethal factor (lf) is the major virulence factor produced by bacillus anthracis. lf is sufficient to cause death in laboratory animals and cytolysis of peritoneal macrophages and macrophage cell lines. lf contains the characteristic zinc binding motif of metalloproteases and indirect evidence suggest that this hydrolytic activity is essential for its cytotoxicity. to identify the substrate(s) of lf, we have used the yeast two-hybrid system, employing a lf inactive mutant as bait. this approach h ... | 1998 | 9703991 |
| biological warfare. | 1998 | 9708788 | |
| bioterrorism as a public health threat. | the threat of bioterrorism, long ignored and denied, has heightened over the past few years. recent events in iraq, japan, and russia cast an ominous shadow. two candidate agents are of special concern--smallpox and anthrax. the magnitude of the problems and the gravity of the scenarios associated with release of these organisms have been vividly portrayed by two epidemics of smallpox in europe during the 1970s and by an accidental release of aerosolized anthrax from a russian bioweapons facilit ... | 1998 | 9716981 |
| ltx1, a mouse locus that influences the susceptibility of macrophages to cytolysis caused by intoxication with bacillus anthracis lethal factor, maps to chromosome 11. | the lethal factor (lf) toxin that is produced by bacillus anthracis plays an important role in the pathogenesis of anthrax. lf has mononuclear phagocyte-specific intoxicating effects that are not well understood. we have identified genetic differences in inbred mouse strains that determine whether their cultured macrophages are susceptible to the cytolytic effect of lf intoxication. our identification of resistant and susceptible mouse strains enabled us to analyse crosses between these strains ... | 1998 | 9720874 |
| a novel dipstick developed for rapid bet v 1-specific ige detection: recombinant allergen immobilized via a monoclonal antibody to crystalline bacterial cell-surface layers. | the incidence of allergy to airborne proteins derived from tree and grass pollen, feces of mites, spores of molds, and pet dander has been increasing over the last decades. since precise diagnosis is a prerequisite for successful immunotherapy, there is a rising demand for rapid, reliable, and inexpensive screening methods such as dipstick assays. with the purified recombinant major birch-pollen allergen rbet v 1a as model protein, crystalline bacterial cell-surface layers (s-layers) were tested ... | 1998 | 9722228 |
| use of a photoactivatable lipid to probe the topology of pa63 of bacillus anthracis in lipid membranes. | the protective antigen of bacillus anthracis is a key protein that promotes the translocation of the enzymatic moieties of the two toxins of b. anthracis into the cell cytoplasm. the membrane topology of the active form of the protective antigen (pa63) was investigated by proteolysis of pa63 inserted into liposomes containing a photoactivatable, radioactive lipid, and characterization of the n-terminal moiety of the deeply-inserted (and therefore radiolabeled) peptides. a single sequence startin ... | 1998 | 9746362 |
| anthrax toxin as a molecular tool for stimulation of cytotoxic t lymphocytes: disulfide-linked epitopes, multiple injections, and role of cd4(+) cells. | we have previously demonstrated that anthrax toxin-derived proteins, protective antigen (pa) and the amino-terminal portion of lethal factor (lfn), can be used in combination to deliver heterologous molecules to the cytosol of mammalian cells. in this study we examined the ability of an lfn-peptide disulfide-linked heterodimer to prime cytotoxic t lymphocytes (ctl) in the presence of pa. a mutant of lfn that contains a carboxy-terminal reactive cysteine was generated. this form of lfn could be o ... | 1998 | 9746566 |
| first shots fired in biological warfare. | 1998 | 9751039 | |
| [anthrax toxins]. | bacillus anthracis, a gram positive bacterium, is the causative agent of anthrax. this organism is capsulogen and toxinogenic. it secretes two toxins which are composed of three proteins: the protective antigen (pa), the lethal factor (lf) and the edema factor (ef). the lethal toxin (pa + lf) provokes a subite death in animals, the edema toxin (pa + ef) induces edema. the edema and the lethal factors are internalised into the target cells via the protective antigen. ef and lf exert an adenylate ... | 1998 | 9759382 |
| [implications of bacterial protein toxins in infectious and food-borne diseases]. | among the 315 protein toxins elicited by gram positive and gram negative bacteria so far characterized, about 50 toxins are currently considered as totally or partially, responsible of the pathological manifestations and/or lethality resulting from host infection or intoxication (contaminated food) by relevant toxinogenic bacteria. a certain number of criteria are required for the assessment of indisputable involvement of a toxin or an array of toxins (from the same bacteria) in infectious disea ... | 1998 | 9759385 |
| rapid pathogen detection using a microchip pcr array instrument. | an array of pcr microchips for rapid, parallel testing of samples for pathogenic microbes is described. the instrument, called the advanced nucleic acid analyzer (anaa), utilizes 10 silicon reaction chambers with thin-film resistive heaters and solid-state optics. features of the system include efficient heating and real-time monitoring, low power requirements for battery operation, and no moving parts for reliability and ruggedness. we analyzed cultures of erwinia herbicola vegetative cells, ba ... | 1998 | 9761255 |
| practicalities of warfare required service personnel to be vaccinated against anthrax. | 1998 | 9774304 | |
| molecular characterization of bacillus strains involved in outbreaks of anthrax in france in 1997. | outbreaks of anthrax zoonose occurred in two regions of france in 1997. ninety-four animals died, and there were three nonfatal cases in humans. the diagnosis of anthrax was rapidly confirmed by bacteriological and molecular biological methods. the strains of bacillus anthracis in animal and soil samples were identified by a multiplex pcr assay. they all belonged to the variable-number tandem repeat (vntr) group (vntr)3. a penicillin-resistant strain was detected. nonvirulent bacilli related to ... | 1998 | 9774609 |
| sporadic human anthrax in urban brisbane. | 1998 | 9775523 | |
| the medical threat of biological weapons. | there is a heightened threat of biological weapons being used for biological warfare or bioterrorism. many of the microorganisms and toxins that may be used as such biological weapons can easily be acquired and mass produced. dissemination of aerosols of these biological agents can produce mass casualties. if used by a terrorist they may overwhelm our current public health system. some biological agents, such as bacillus anthracis (anthrax) and botulinum toxin, are considered far more likely tha ... | 1998 | 9800098 |
| [scientific language in the general communication media]. | 1998 | 9803582 | |
| exoy, an adenylate cyclase secreted by the pseudomonas aeruginosa type iii system. | the exoenzyme s regulon is a set of coordinately regulated virulence genes of pseudomonas aeruginosa. proteins encoded by the regulon include a type iii secretion and translocation apparatus, regulators of gene expression, and effector proteins. the effector proteins include two enzymes with adp-ribosyltransferase activity (exos and exot) and an acute cytotoxin (exou). in this study, we identified exoy as a fourth effector protein of the regulon. exoy is homologous to the extracellular adenylate ... | 1998 | 9811898 |
| comparative studies of magnetic particle-based solid phase fluorogenic and electrochemiluminescent immunoassay. | two solid phase immunoassays, an electrochemiluminescent immunoassay (eclia) and a magnetic particle fluorogenic immunoassay (mpfia) were evaluated and compared for bacterial detection. briefly, the eclia is based on a redox reaction between ruthenium (ii)-trisbipyridyl ru[(bpy)3]2+ labeled antibody and the excess of tripropylamine, which generates photons. the entire reaction is carried on the near surface area between the spherical magnetic beads and an anode electrode. the detectable bacteria ... | 1998 | 9819118 |
| cutaneous anthrax associated with the kombucha "mushroom" in iran. | 1998 | 9820255 | |
| the pathology of experimental anthrax in rabbits exposed by inhalation and subcutaneous inoculation. | although rhesus monkeys are considered to be an appropriate model for inhalational anthrax in humans, an alternative for vaccine and therapeutic efficacy studies is desirable. this study characterized the pathology of lethal anthrax in rabbits challenged by subcutaneous inoculation and aerosol exposure. | 1998 | 9822127 |
| surgical management of cutaneous anthrax. | cutaneous anthrax in humans is a very rare disease caused by bacillus anthracis. humans become infected with this spore-forming bacterium when they come into contact with an infected animal. the disease usually develops on exposed sites like the hands and the face. the authors present 4 patients with cutaneous anthrax: 2 of the hands and 2 of the eyelids. all patients needed plastic surgical help via skin grafting after excision of the black eschar. no complications occurred after surgery. becau ... | 1998 | 9827947 |
| bacillus weihenstephanensis sp. nov. is a new psychrotolerant species of the bacillus cereus group. | the bacillus cereus group comprises the four valid species bacillus cereus, bacillus mycoides, bacillus thuringiensis and bacillus anthracis. some isolates of b. cereus are known to be psychrotolerant (growth at 7 degrees c or below). here, specific sequence differences are described between the 16s rdna, the 23s rdna, the 16s-23s rdna spacer region and the genes of the major cold-shock protein homologue cspa in a variety of psychrotolerant and mesophilic b. cereus and b. mycoides strains. rando ... | 1998 | 9828439 |
| characterization of membrane translocation by anthrax protective antigen. | solving the crystallographic structure of the ring-shaped heptamer formed by protective antigen (pa), the b moiety of anthrax toxin, has focused attention on understanding how this oligomer mediates membrane translocation of the toxin's a moieties. we have developed an assay for translocation in which radiolabeled ligands are bound to proteolytically activated pa (pa63) at the surface of cho or l6 cells, and translocation across the plasma membrane is induced by lowering the ph. the cells are th ... | 1998 | 9843379 |
| development of internal controls for pcr detection of bacillus anthracis. | this work describes the development and evaluation of a multiplex polymerase chain reaction (pcr) for the detection of bacillus anthracis strains harbouring plasmid px02. the multiplex also incorporated an internal control (ic) to avoid false negative reactions. internal controls consisted of plasmids containing modified pcr target sequences, corresponding to the capc and ba813 genes of b. anthracis, which were then co-amplified with the original target sequences using the same set of amplimers. ... | 1998 | 9843654 |
| biological warfare: what happens if we are attacked? | 1998 | 9875006 | |
| identification of residues lining the anthrax protective antigen channel. | in its activated 63 kda form, the protective antigen (pa) component of anthrax toxin forms a heptameric prepore, which converts to a pore (channel) in endosomal membranes at low ph and mediates translocation of the toxin's enzymic moieties to the cytosol. it has been proposed that the prepore-to-pore conversion involves a conformational rearrangement of a disordered amphipathic loop (d2l2; residues 302-325), in which loops from the 7 protomers combine to form a transmembrane 14-stranded beta bar ... | 1998 | 9521715 |
| anthrax. | 1998 | 9526481 | |
| all troops sent to gulf should be randomised to receive anthrax vaccination or placebo. | 1998 | 9554917 | |
| proteolytic inactivation of map-kinase-kinase by anthrax lethal factor. | anthrax lethal toxin, produced by the bacterium bacillus anthracis, is the major cause of death in animals infected with anthrax. one component of this toxin, lethal factor (lf), is suspected to be a metalloprotease, but no physiological substrates have been identified. here it is shown that lf is a protease that cleaves the amino terminus of mitogen-activated protein kinase kinases 1 and 2 (mapkk1 and mapkk2) and that this cleavage inactivates mapkk1 and inhibits the mapk signal transduction pa ... | 1998 | 9563949 |
| lethal factor active-site mutations affect catalytic activity in vitro. | the lethal factor (lf) protein of bacillus anthracis lethal toxin contains the thermolysin-like active-site and zinc-binding consensus motif hexxh (k. r. klimpel, n. arora, and s. h. leppla, mol. microbiol. 13:1093-1100, 1994). lf is hypothesized to act as a zn2+ metalloprotease in the cytoplasm of macrophages, but no proteolytic activities have been previously shown on any target substrate. here, synthetic peptides are hydrolyzed by lf in vitro. mass spectroscopy and peptide sequencing of isola ... | 1998 | 9573135 |
| new clue to how anthrax kills. | 1998 | 9599144 | |
| anthrax vaccine. | 1998 | 9599595 | |
| carbon dioxide as a regulator of gene expression in microorganisms. | co2 regulates gene expression across a diverse group of microorganisms including fungi, and both photosynthetic and non photosynthetic bacteria. the processes that co2 regulates are diverse. several co2-responsive random promoter lacz fusions of unknown function have been isolated from a marine synechococcus and a pseudoalteromonas sp., highlighting the wide effect of co2 control in these organisms. regulatory proteins have been described that mediate the co2 response at transcription level in b ... | 1998 | 9602281 |
| cyclosporine induced autoimmunity in newborns prevented by early immunization. | it has been shown in animal toxicity models that administration of cyclosporine, csa, to a pregnant mouse greatly increases the risk that the offspring will develop autoimmunity. immunization starting at birth has been shown to prevent autoimmunity in other animal models of autoimmunity and early immunization is associated with the prevention of diabetes in humans. experiments were performed to see if early immunization could also prevent csa induced autoimmunity. mice were injected with csa dur ... | 1998 | 9609130 |
| construction of phylogenetic tree based on g + c contents in dna and 16s rrna sequences: example for group 1 of genus bacillus. | the applicability of the g + c content in dna in the construction of phylogenetic tree was studied. the group 1 of the genus bacillus was selected as an object for study. statistically reliable correlation between evolutionary distances of 16s rrna sequences (ei) and parameter pi named as "gc evolutionary distance" was shown. the value of pi is the difference between the g + c content in dna of two species branching from one phylogenetic line. the coefficient of correlation between ei and pi equ ... | 1998 | 9621692 |
| protective efficacy of a recombinant protective antigen against bacillus anthracis challenge and assessment of immunological markers. | the efficacy of recombinant bacillus anthracis protective antigen (rpa) produced in bacillus subtilis and formulated in alhydrogel or mpl-tdm-cws (ribi adjuvant) has been tested and compared to the licensed uk human vaccine in guinea pigs challenged by the aerosol route with the ames strain of b. anthracis. rpa combined with the ribi adjuvant was found to be the only formulation to provide 100% protection from challenge. analysis of immunological parameters in the individual animals revealed sig ... | 1998 | 9627938 |
| a heat-inducible bacillus subtilis bacteriophage phi 105 expression system for the production of the protective antigen of bacillus anthracis. | the protective antigen of bacillus anthracis is the major protective immunogen in the current human vaccine. a heat-inducible protective antigen expression system was constructed based on a derivative of bacillus subtilis phage phi 105. the recombinant protein produced by this system protected immunised animals against challenge with spores of b. anthracis. gene instability and protease activity of the host strain contributed to the low level of recoverable protein in culture supernatant (approx ... | 1998 | 9631544 |
| study of immunization against anthrax with the purified recombinant protective antigen of bacillus anthracis. | protective antigen (pa) of anthrax toxin is the major component of human anthrax vaccine. currently available human vaccines in the united states and europe consist of alum-precipitated supernatant material from cultures of toxigenic, nonencapsulated strains of bacillus anthracis. immunization with these vaccines requires several boosters and occasionally causes local pain and edema. we previously described the biological activity of a nontoxic mutant of pa expressed in bacillus subtilis. in the ... | 1998 | 9632621 |
| airborne movement of anthrax spores from carcass sites in the etosha national park, namibia. | tests for airborne movement of anthrax spores downwind from three heavily contaminated carcass sites were carried out under a range of wind conditions. anthrax spores were detected in just three of 43 cyclone or gelatin filter air samples taken at distances of 6, 12 and 18 m from the sites. in addition, nine positives resulted during sampling sessions in which the site was mechanically disturbed, with a further five positives being found in sessions subsequent to those in which the site had been ... | 1998 | 9633664 |
| us anthrax-vaccine producer saved for now. | 1998 | 9500344 | |
| fermentation, purification, and characterization of protective antigen from a recombinant, avirulent strain of bacillus anthracis. | bacillus anthracis, the etiologic agent for anthrax, produces two bipartite, ab-type exotoxins, edema toxin and lethal toxin. the b subunit of both exotoxins is an m(r) 83,000 protein termed protective antigen (pa). the human anthrax vaccine currently licensed for use in the united states consists primarily of this protein adsorbed onto aluminum oxyhydroxide. this report describes the production of pa from a recombinant, asporogenic, nontoxigenic, and nonencapsulated host strain of b. anthracis ... | 1998 | 9501438 |
| anthrax as a potential biological warfare agent. | anthrax is a zoonotic illness recognized since antiquity. today, human anthrax has been all but eradicated from the industrialized world, with the vast majority of practitioners in the united states unlikely to have seen a case. unfortunately, the disease remains endemic in many areas of the world, and anthrax poses a threat as a mass casualty-producing weapon if used in a biological warfare capacity. | 1998 | 9508220 |
| internalization of a bacillus anthracis protective antigen-c-myc fusion protein mediated by cell surface anti-c-myc antibodies. | anthrax toxin, secreted by bacillus anthracis, consists of protective antigen (pa) and either lethal factor (lf) or edema factor (ef). pa, the receptor-binding component of the toxin, translocates lf or ef into the cytosol, where the latter proteins exert their toxic effects. we hypothesized that anthrax toxin fusion proteins could be used to kill virus-infected cells and tumor cells, if pa could be redirected to unique receptors found only on these cells. | 1998 | 9508786 |
| anthrax toxin-mediated delivery in vivo and in vitro of a cytotoxic t-lymphocyte epitope from ovalbumin. | we reported earlier that a nontoxic form of anthrax toxin was capable of delivering a cytotoxic t-lymphocyte (ctl) epitope in vivo, such that a specific ctl response was primed against the epitope. the epitope, of bacterial origin, was fused to an n-terminal fragment (lfn) from the lethal-factor component of the toxin, and the fusion protein was injected, together with the protective antigen (pa) component, into balb/c mice. here we report that pa plus lfn is capable of delivering a different ep ... | 1998 | 9453617 |
| expression and purification of the recombinant lethal factor of bacillus anthracis. | the structural gene for the 90-kda lethal factor (lf) isolated from bacillus anthracis was expressed as a fusion protein with six histidine residues in escherichia coli. expression of lf in e. coli under the transcriptional regulation of the t5 promoter yielded a soluble cytosolic protein with an apparent molecular mass of 90 kda, as determined by sodium dodecyl sulfate-polyacrylamide gel electrophoresis. recombinant lf reacted with anti-lf antibodies. the protein was purified to homogeneity by ... | 1998 | 9453657 |
| cutaneous manifestations of anthrax in rural haiti. | in industrialized countries, the zoonotic disease anthrax has been virtually eradicated because of effective public health measures including animal vaccination and quality control of animal products. in developing parts of the world, however, anthrax remains an occupational hazard of herdsmen and workers who have direct contact with infected animals or who process animal hides, hair, bone and bone products, and wool. for clinicians unfamiliar with this interesting infectious disease, the major ... | 1998 | 9455516 |
| military stays in bosnia; vaccinates for anthrax. | 1998 | 9450696 | |
| pcr analysis of tissue samples from the 1979 sverdlovsk anthrax victims: the presence of multiple bacillus anthracis strains in different victims. | an outbreak of human anthrax occurred in sverdlovsk, union of soviet socialists republic (now ekaterinburg, russia) in april 1979. officials attributed this to consumption of contaminated meat, but western governments believed it resulted from inhalation of spores accidentally released from a nearby military research facility. tissue samples from 11 victims were obtained and methods of efficiently extracting high-quality total dna from these samples were developed. extracted dna was analyzed by ... | 1998 | 9448313 |
| the capsule and s-layer: two independent and yet compatible macromolecular structures in bacillus anthracis. | bacillus anthracis, the etiological agent of anthrax, is a gram-positive spore-forming bacterium. fully virulent bacilli are toxinogenic and capsulated. two abundant surface proteins, including the major antigen, are components of the b. anthracis surface layer (s-layer). the b. anthracis paracrystalline s-layer has previously only been found in noncapsulated vegetative cells. here we report that the s-layer proteins are also synthesized under conditions where the poly-gamma-d-glutamic acid caps ... | 1998 | 9422592 |
| [pulmonary anthrax]. | anthrax is a zoonotic disease caused by bacillus anthracis. skin disease is the most common form in humans. pulmonary anthrax related to the inhalation of airborne germs develops after a silent incubation period of several days and followed by acute respiratory distress. diagnosis is a difficult task and generally based on demonstration of bacillus anthracis on direct examination. despite the sensitivity of b. anthracis to penicillin, treatment is rarely successful. | 1998 | 10100352 |
| [pathogenicity and diagnosis of bacillus anthracis]. | in poland cutaneous form of anthrax is occurring sporadically. most of these cases were recognized in the eastern part of the country adjacent to the eastern border (lomza region and others). the latest literature on epidemiology, diagnosis, prevention and treatment of anthrax is reviewed in order to spread modern views on anthrax and to implement changes in the diagnostic methods of anthrax in poland. | 1998 | 9919922 |
| biological warfare: would you recognize an attack? | 1998 | 10562136 | |
| production and purification of recombinant protective antigen and protective efficacy against bacillus anthracis. | recombinant protective antigen (rpa), expressed by bacillus subtilis wb600 (ppa 101), has been purified to homogeneity and the protective efficacy against a bacillus anthracis challenge has been investigated. rpa was fractionated from culture supernatant fluid by ammonium sulphate, followed by anion exchange chromatography using deae streamline, anion-exchange chromatography on fplc monoq hr 10/10 and finally, gel filtration chromatography on fplc superose 12 hr 10/30, to yield 7 mg rpa per litr ... | 1998 | 9489035 |
| facial cutaneous anthrax in a pregnant woman: a case report. | anthrax remains an uncommon, but worldwide problem, particularly in countries in which domestic animals and processing of animal by-products are an important part of the economy. the disease has received attention recently because of its potential for use in biologic warfare. in poland during the last 10 years, several human cases of cutaneous anthrax occurred. we report here a case of a pregnant woman with this disease. the lesion was atypical and in a potentially dangerous location since it wa ... | 1998 | 11103023 |
| anthrax pathogenesis and host response. | 1998 | 9386326 | |
| robert koch's debt to ferdinand cohn. | 1999 | 11108127 | |
| would you have thought of anthrax? | 1999 | 10787705 | |
| [anthrax in man with reference to alimentary infection and environmental conditions]. | based on already published data, the following issues have been covered in the present review: epidemiology, epizootiology and the occurrence of anthrax in man with reference to current data. moreover, in the paper are presented some problems of intestinal anthrax with emphasis on environment conditions, pathogenesis, prevention and treatment of this clinical form. | 1999 | 10800568 |
| [monitoring of life-threatening infection pathogens in relation to the problem of prediction of critical situations]. | the epidemic situation in the context of many infectious diseases caused by bacteria is presently assessed as being poor in russia and other countries. the spectrum of the pathogens that can deteriorate epidemic well-being is highly wide. the epidemic situation in terms of many infectious diseases, including those caused by such causative agents as bacillus anthracis, vibrio cholerae, yersinia pestis, francisella tularensis and others may deteriorate due to the emergence of their modified forms ... | 1999 | 10709458 |
| airman discharged for refusal to take anthrax vaccine as rebellion grows. | 1999 | 11647631 | |
| the controversial anthrax vaccine. | 1999 | 10562219 | |
| the threat of biological warfare. | 1999 | 10566851 | |
| one urban hospital's experience with false anthrax exposure disaster response. | 1999 | 10579773 | |
| anthrax lethal factor cleaves mkk3 in macrophages and inhibits the lps/ifngamma-induced release of no and tnfalpha. | the lethal toxin of bacillus anthracis consists of two proteins, pa and lf, which together induce lethal effects in animals and cause macrophage lysis. lf is a zinc-endopeptidase which cleaves two mitogen-activated protein kinase kinases (mapkks), mek1 and mek2, within the cytosol. here, we show that also mkk3, another dual-specificity kinase that phosphorylates and activates p38 map kinase, is cleaved by lf in macrophages. no direct correlation between lf-induced cell death and cleavage of thes ... | 1999 | 10580119 |
| the hemolytic enterotoxin hbl is broadly distributed among species of the bacillus cereus group. | the prevalence of the hemolytic enterotoxin complex hbl was determined in all species of the bacillus cereus group with the exception of bacillus anthracis. hbla, encoding the binding subunit b, was detected by pcr and southern analysis and was confirmed by partial sequencing of 18 strains. the sequences formed two clusters, one including b. cereus and bacillus thuringiensis strains and the other one consisting of bacillus mycoides, bacillus pseudomycoides, and bacillus weihenstephanensis strain ... | 1999 | 10584001 |
| risks of publicity about bioterrorism: anthrax hoaxes and hype. | 1999 | 10586149 | |
| anthrax vaccine: evidence for safety and efficacy against inhalational anthrax. | 1999 | 10591317 | |
| molecular pathogenesis of bacillus anthracis infection. | this review summarizes the current knowledge pertaining to the pathogenesis of infection with bacillus anthracis relative to the two exotoxins and the capsule. emphasis is given to the structure and activities of the individual components of the exotoxins, their interaction with cells, and the response of macrophages to lethal toxin. finally, results from vaccination studies are reviewed. | 1999 | 10594977 |
| ulnar nerve lesion due to cutaneous anthrax. | anthrax is an acute infectious disease caused by the spore-forming bacterium bacillus anthracis. anthrax is most common in agricultural regions, where it occurs in animals. it can also infect humans. cutaneous anthrax infections occur when the bacterium enters a cut or abrasion on the skin. a case of cutaneous anthrax infection of the arm is presented. the patient needed to undergo a skin graft. he subsequently developed an ulnar nerve lesion after severe edema in his arm and hand. | 1999 | 10597826 |
| the threat of bioterrorism: a reason to learn more about anthrax and smallpox. | threats of domestic terrorism and international news about germ warfare research have forced us to recognize the potential menace of biological weapons. both smallpox and anthrax could be used as biological weapons. it is important for physicians to reacquaint themselves with these diseases, because if a domestic attack were to occur, it might first be recognized when patients with unusual symptoms began presenting to hospitals and primary care physicians. in this article, we discuss symptoms an ... | 1999 | 10598363 |
| [anthrax: an unusual escharotic lesion]. | anthrax is basically an animal disease rarely found in humans. we report a case occurring in a young boy who had minimal signs and a suggestive skin lesion. | 1999 | 10604013 |
| [correlation of the virulence of bacillus anthracis with expression of signs, coded for by chromosomal genes]. | clonal analysis of bacillus anthracis strains showed heterogeneity of the majority of populations by the proteolytic, hemolytic, and pigment-adsorbing activities. phenotypes isolated within each population were subdivided into 4 subpopulations. the appearance of sub-populations of virulent and vaccine strains (b. anthracis sterne, zenkowskii) was due to the ability of clones adsorbing congo red and possessing high activities of proteolytic and hemolytic enzymes to dissociate with the formation o ... | 1999 | 10621935 |
| comparison of noninvasive sampling sites for early detection of bacillus anthracis spores from rhesus monkeys after aerosol exposure. | bacillus anthracis, a spore-forming bacterium, is the etiologic agent of anthrax. b. anthracis spores can be aerosolized, are relatively easy to produce, and are capable of producing high mortality when inhaled. the prompt use of postexposure antibiotics combined with vaccination greatly increases the survival rate. rapid detection of exposure is critical to effective case management. using common collection swabs, culture medium, and culturing equipment, we compared six different noninvasive sa ... | 1999 | 10628152 |
| sensitive and rapid identification of biological threat agents. | 1999 | 10681982 | |
| [progress on the study of prevention and control of anthrax in china]. | 1999 | 10682520 | |
| liquid chromatography/microspray mass spectrometry for bacterial investigations. | cellular proteins (biomarkers) specific to any individual microorganism, determined by the direct mass spectral analysis of the corresponding intact cellular suspension, can be applied for the rapid and specific identification of the organisms present in unknown samples. the components of the bacterial suspensions, after a rapid separation over a c18 reversed-phase microcapillary column, were directly subjected to on-line electrospray ionization followed by analysis using an ion trap tandem mass ... | 1999 | 9921688 |
| germination of bacillus anthracis spores within alveolar macrophages. | the fatal character of the infection caused by inhalation of bacillus anthracis spores results from a complex pathogenic cycle involving the synthesis of toxins by the bacterium. we have shown using immunofluorescent staining, confocal scanning laser microscopy and image cytometry analysis that the alveolar macrophage was the primary site of b. anthracis germination in a murine inhalation infection model. bacillus anthracis germinated inside murine macrophage-like raw264.7 cells and murine alveo ... | 1999 | 9987105 |
| protection against anthrax toxin by vaccination with a dna plasmid encoding anthrax protective antigen. | a dna vaccine encoding the immunogenic and biologically active portion of anthrax protective antigen (pa) was constructed. spleen cells from balb/c mice immunized intramuscularly with this vaccine were stimulated to secrete ifn gamma and il-4 when exposed to pa in vitro. immunized mice also mounted a humoral immune response dominated by igg1 anti-pa antibody production, the subclass previously shown to confer protection against anthrax toxin. a 1:100 dilution of serum from these animals protecte ... | 1999 | 9987172 |
| bioterrorism alleging use of anthrax and interim guidelines for management--united states, 1998. | from october 30 through december 23, 1998, cdc received reports of a series of bioterroristic threats of anthrax exposure. letters alleged to contain anthrax were sent to health clinics on october 30, 1998, in indiana, kentucky, and tennessee. during december 17-23 in california, a letter alleged to contain anthrax was sent to a private business, and three telephone threats of anthrax contamination of ventilation systems were made to private and public buildings. all threats were hoaxes and are ... | 1999 | 10023627 |
| us military face punishment for refusing anthrax vaccine. | 1999 | 10023914 | |
| the looming threat of bioterrorism. | biological weapons have recently attracted the attention and the resources of the nation. discerning the nature of the threat of bioweapons as well as appropriate responses to them requires greater attention to the biological characteristics of these instruments of war and terror. the dominant paradigm of a weapon as a nuclear device that explodes or a chemical cloud that is set adrift leaves us ill-equipped conceptually and practically to assess and thus to prevent the potentially devastating e ... | 1999 | 10037590 |
| production and cell surface anchoring of functional fusions between the slh motifs of the bacillus anthracis s-layer proteins and the bacillus subtilis levansucrase. | many surface proteins of gram-positive bacteria contain motifs, about 50 amino acids long, called s-layer homology (slh) motifs. bacillus anthracis, the causal agent of anthrax, synthesizes two s-layer proteins, each with three slh motifs towards the amino-terminus. we used biochemical and genetic approaches to investigate the involvement of these motifs in cell surface anchoring. proteinase k digestion produced polypeptides lacking these motifs, and stable three-motif polypeptides were produced ... | 1999 | 10048035 |
| activation of phospholipase c and protein kinase c is required for expression of anthrax lethal toxin cytotoxicity in j774a.1 cells. | anthrax lethal toxin (lt) comprises two proteins: the protective antigen (pa) and the lethal factor (lf). the lt is cytotoxic to macrophage-like cell line j774a.1. pre-treatment of these cells with neomycin, a phospholipase c inhibitor, protected them against anthrax lt cytotoxicity. protection obtained with neomycin indicated that lt stimulates phospholipase c in these cells. it was found that levels of inositol 1,4,5-triphosphate (ip3) dramatically increased in toxin-treated cells. the rise in ... | 1999 | 10048788 |
| a randomly amplified polymorphic dna marker specific for the bacillus cereus group is diagnostic for bacillus anthracis. | aiming to develop a dna marker specific for bacillus anthracis and able to discriminate this species from bacillus cereus, bacillus thuringiensis, and bacillus mycoides, we applied the randomly amplified polymorphic dna (rapd) fingerprinting technique to a collection of 101 strains of the genus bacillus, including 61 strains of the b. cereus group. an 838-bp rapd marker (sg-850) specific for b. cereus, b. thuringiensis, b. anthracis, and b. mycoides was identified. this fragment included a putat ... | 1999 | 10049896 |
| from the centers for disease control and prevention. bioterrorism alleging use of anthrax and interim guidelines for management--united states, 1998. | 1999 | 10070984 | |
| the efforts of who and pugwash to eliminate chemical and biological weapons--a memoir. | the world health organization and the pugwash conferences on science and world affairs (nobel peace prize 1995) have been involved in questions concerning chemical and biological arms since the early 1950s. this memoir reviews a number of milestones in the efforts of these organizations to achieve the elimination of these weapons through international treaties effectively monitored and enforced for adherence to their provisions. it also highlights a number of outstanding personalities who were i ... | 1999 | 10083714 |
| bioterror defense initiative injects shot of cash. | 1999 | 10084920 | |
| oligomerization of anthrax toxin protective antigen and binding of lethal factor during endocytic uptake into mammalian cells. | the protective antigen (pa) protein of anthrax toxin binds to a cellular receptor and is cleaved by cell surface furin to produce a 63-kda fragment (pa63). the receptor-bound pa63 oligomerizes to a heptamer and acts to translocate the catalytic moieties of the toxin, lethal factor (lf) and edema factor (ef), from endosomes to the cytosol. in this report, we used nondenaturing gel electrophoresis to show that each pa63 subunit in the heptamer can bind one lf molecule. studies using pa immobilized ... | 1999 | 10085027 |
| identification of a receptor-binding region within domain 4 of the protective antigen component of anthrax toxin. | anthrax toxin from bacillus anthracis is a three-component toxin consisting of lethal factor (lf), edema factor (ef), and protective antigen (pa). lf and ef are the catalytic components of the toxin, whereas pa is the receptor-binding component. to identify residues of pa that are involved in interaction with the cellular receptor, two solvent-exposed loops of domain 4 of pa (amino acids [aa] 679 to 693 and 704 to 723) were mutagenized, and the altered proteins purified and tested for toxicity i ... | 1999 | 10085028 |
| cutaneous manifestations of biological warfare and related threat agents. | the specter of biological warfare (bw) looms large in the minds of many americans. the us government has required that emergency response teams in more than 100 american cities be trained by the year 2001 to recognize and contain a bw attack. the us military is requiring active duty soldiers to receive immunization against anthrax. dermatologists need not feel helpless in the face of a potential bw attack. many potential agents have cutaneous manifestations that the trained eye of a dermatologis ... | 1999 | 10086453 |
| [inhalation anthrax]. | 1999 | 10088414 | |
| [anthrax]. | 1999 | 10088485 | |
| [the intrastrain heterogeneity of the causative agent of anthrax]. | 1999 | 10851999 | |
| [the capacity of the causative agent of anthrax to reduce methylene blue]. | 1999 | 10852066 | |
| cloning and nucleotide sequence analysis of gyrb of bacillus cereus, b. thuringiensis, b. mycoides, and b. anthracis and their application to the detection of b. cereus in rice. | as 16s rrna sequence analysis has proven inadequate for the differentiation of bacillus cereus from closely related species, we employed the gyrase b gene (gyrb) as a molecular diagnostic marker. the gyrb genes of b. cereus jcm 2152(t), bacillus thuringiensis iam 12077(t), bacillus mycoides atcc 6462(t), and bacillus anthracis pasteur #2h were cloned and sequenced. oligonucleotide pcr primer sets were designed from within gyrb sequences of the respective bacteria for the specific amplification a ... | 1999 | 10103241 |
| antivaccine advocates line up to support airman. | 1999 | 10189440 | |
| [contribution of determinants, located in bacillus anthracis chromosomes, in realizing the pathogenic properties of the pathogen]. | comparative study of virulence of b. anthracis strains harbouring pxo1 and pxo2 plasmids in mice and guinea pigs showed that among six b. anthracis strains, three were 100-1000 times less virulent for guinea pigs. genetic construction of b. anthracis strains using transduction and conjugation transfer of resident plasmids permitted us to rule out the effects of modified pxo1 and pxo2 replicons and to prove the existence of nonidentified chromosome locuses responsible for the development of an in ... | 1999 | 10190106 |
| involvement of phospholipase a2 activation in anthrax lethal toxin-induced cytotoxicity. | the molecular mechanism of cytotoxic effect exerted by the lethal toxin (letx) of bacillus anthracis is not well understood. in the present study, using primary culture of mouse peritoneal macrophages, we have investigated possible cytotoxic mechanisms. letx was not found to induce high levels of nitric oxide (no) production for no-mediated toxicity. fragmentation of dna, a biochemical marker of apoptosis, was not observed in letx-treated cells. pretreatment of cells with antioxidants such as me ... | 1999 | 10195347 |
| genetic diversity in the protective antigen gene of bacillus anthracis. | bacillus anthracis is a gram-positive spore-forming bacterium that causes the disease anthrax. the anthrax toxin contains three components, including the protective antigen (pa), which binds to eucaryotic cell surface receptors and mediates the transport of toxins into the cell. in this study, the entire 2,294-nucleotide protective antigen gene (pag) was sequenced from 26 of the most diverse b. anthracis strains to identify potential variation in the toxin and to further our understanding of b. ... | 1999 | 10197996 |