Publications
| Title | Abstract | Year(sorted descending) Filter | PMID Filter |
|---|
| multiple-locus variable number tandem repeats analysis for genetic fingerprinting of pathogenic bacteria. | dna fingerprinting has attracted considerable interest as means for identifying, tracing and preventing the dissemination of infectious agents. various methods have been developed for typing of pathogenic bacteria, which differ in discriminative power, reproducibility and ease of interpretation. during recent years a typing method, which uses the information provided by whole genome sequencing of bacterial species, has gained increased attention. short sequence repeat (ssr) motifs are known to u ... | 2005 | 15937984 |
| protective antigen and toxin neutralization antibody patterns in anthrax vaccinees undergoing serial plasmapheresis. | recipients of licensed anthrax vaccine (ava; biothrax) could serve as a source of hyperimmune plasma and immunoglobulin for therapy and prophylaxis. we measured serum antibodies during serial weekly to biweekly plasmapheresis in 38 individuals previously vaccinated with 4 to 27 doses of ava. immunoglobulin g (igg) to protective antigen (pa) and toxin neutralization assay (tna) antibody levels were highly correlated (r = 0.86930 and p < 0.0001 for anti-pa concentration versus tna concentration). ... | 2005 | 15939745 |
| [studies on the germination of bacillus anthracoides spores induced by nutrient germinant]. | to explore the germination effects of bacillus anthracoides spores germinant to nutrient germinant. | 2005 | 15941512 |
| the dna-binding specificity of the bacillus anthracis abrb protein. | the bacillus subtilis abrb protein is a dna-binding global regulator of a plethora of functions that are expressed during the transition from exponential growth to stationary phase and under suboptimal growth conditions. abrb orthologues have been identified in a variety of prokaryotic organisms, notably in all species of bacillus, clostridium and listeria that have been examined. based on amino acid sequence identity in the n-terminal domains of the orthologues from b. subtilis and bacillus ant ... | 2005 | 15941984 |
| functional reconstitution of protein ion channels into planar polymerizable phospholipid membranes. | we demonstrate that polymerizable planar membranes permit reconstitution of protein ion channels formed by the bacterial toxins staphylococcus aureus alpha-hemolysin (alphahl) and bacillus anthracis protective antigen 63. the alphahl channel remained functional even after membrane polymerization. surface pressure measurements suggest that the ease of forming membranes depends on membrane surface elasticity estimated from langmuir-blodgett monolayer pressure-area isotherms. the ability to stabili ... | 2005 | 15943465 |
| phosphatidylinositol-specific phospholipase c of bacillus anthracis down-modulates the immune response. | phosphatidylinositol-specific phospholipases (pi-plcs) are virulence factors produced by many pathogenic bacteria, including bacillus anthracis and listeria monocytogenes. bacillus pi-plc differs from listeria pi-plc in that it has strong activity for cleaving gpi-anchored proteins. treatment of murine dcs with bacillus, but not listeria, pi-plc inhibited dendritic cell (dc) activation by tlr ligands. infection of mice with listeria expressing b. anthracis pi-plc resulted in a reduced ag-specifi ... | 2005 | 15944308 |
| specific detection of bacillus anthracis using a taqman mismatch amplification mutation assay. | single nucleotide polymorphisms (snps) are increasingly recognized as important diagnostic markers for the detection and differentiation of bacillus anthracis. the use of snp markers for identifying b. anthracis dna in environmental samples containing genetically similar bacteria requires the ability to amplify and detect dna with single nucleotide specificity. we designed a taqman mismatch amplification mutation assay (taqmama) around a snp in the plcr gene of b. anthracis. the assay permits sp ... | 2005 | 15945372 |
| multiplexed detection of pathogen dna with dna-based fluorescence nanobarcodes. | rapid, multiplexed, sensitive and specific molecular detection is of great demand in gene profiling, drug screening, clinical diagnostics and environmental analysis. one of the major challenges in multiplexed analysis is to identify each specific reaction with a distinct label or 'code'. two encoding strategies are currently used: positional encoding, in which every potential reaction is preassigned a particular position on a solid-phase support such as a dna microarray, and reaction encoding, w ... | 2005 | 15951805 |
| chips and snps, bugs and thugs: a molecular sleuthing perspective. | recent events both here and abroad have focused attention on the need for ensuring a safe and secure food supply. although much has been written about the potential of particular select agents in bioterrorism, we must consider seriously the more mundane pathogens, especially those that have been implicated previously in foodborne outbreaks of human disease, as possible agents of bioterrorism. given their evolutionary history, the enteric pathogens are more diverse than agents such as bacillus an ... | 2005 | 15954721 |
| comparative 3-d modeling of tmrna. | trans-translation releases stalled ribosomes from truncated mrnas and tags defective proteins for proteolytic degradation using transfer-messenger rna (tmrna). this small stable rna represents a hybrid of trna- and mrna-like domains connected by a variable number of pseudoknots. comparative sequence analysis of tmrnas found in bacteria, plastids, and mitochondria provides considerable insights into their secondary structures. progress toward understanding the molecular mechanism of template swit ... | 2005 | 15958166 |
| peptidoglycan n-acetylglucosamine deacetylases from bacillus cereus, highly conserved proteins in bacillus anthracis. | the genomes of bacillus cereus and its closest relative bacillus anthracis contain 10 polysaccharide deacetylase homologues. six of these homologues have been proposed to be peptidoglycan n-acetylglucosamine deacetylases. two of these genes, namely bc1960 and bc3618, have been cloned and expressed in escherichia coli, and the recombinant enzymes have been purified to homogeneity and further characterized. both enzymes were effective in deacetylating cell wall peptidoglycan from the gram(+) bacil ... | 2005 | 15961396 |
| anthrax lethal toxin represses glucocorticoid receptor (gr) transactivation by inhibiting gr-dna binding in vivo. | anthrax lethal factor (lf) is a non-competitive repressor of glucocorticoid (gr) and progesterone receptor (pr) transactivation. this repression was shown to be specific and selective and was dependent on promoter context and receptor subtype. anthrax lethal toxin (letx) selectively repressed gr-mediated transactivation but not transrepression. the dna binding region of gr was required for repression by letx and letx prevented gr-dna binding in vivo, which had downstream consequences on polymera ... | 2005 | 15964137 |
| modified anthrax fusion proteins deliver hiv antigens through mhc class i and ii pathways. | t cell-based hiv vaccine candidates have focused on eliciting both cd4- and cd8-mediated responses. one challenge in vaccine development is the successful introduction and presentation of exogenous antigen to elicit an immune response. modified bacterial toxins have been studied extensively as intracellular delivery agents because of their unique capability to translocate antigen across the cell membrane without affecting cell viability. modified anthrax toxin lethal factor (lfn) fusion protein ... | 2005 | 15964481 |
| membrane insertion by anthrax protective antigen in cultured cells. | the enzymatic moieties of anthrax toxin enter the cytosol of mammalian cells via a pore in the endosomal membrane formed by the protective antigen (pa) moiety. pore formation involves an acidic ph-induced conformational rearrangement of a heptameric precursor (the prepore), in which the seven 2beta2-2beta3 loops interact to generate a 14-strand transmembrane beta-barrel. to investigate this model in vivo, we labeled pa with the fluorophore 7-nitrobenz-2-oxa-1,3-diazole (nbd) at cysteine residues ... | 2005 | 15964805 |
| identification of a second collagen-like glycoprotein produced by bacillus anthracis and demonstration of associated spore-specific sugars. | certain carbohydrates (rhamnose, 3-o-methyl rhamnose, and galactosamine) have been demonstrated to be present in bacillus anthracis spores but absent in vegetative cells. others have demonstrated that these spore-specific sugars are constituents of the glycoprotein bcla. in the current work, spore extracts were separated by sodium dodecyl sulfate-polyacrylamide gel electrophoresis. a second collagen-like glycoprotein, bclb, was identified in b. anthracis. the protein moiety of this glycoprotein ... | 2005 | 15968070 |
| bacillus anthracis sortase a (srta) anchors lpxtg motif-containing surface proteins to the cell wall envelope. | cell wall-anchored surface proteins of gram-positive pathogens play important roles during the establishment of many infectious diseases, but the contributions of surface proteins to the pathogenesis of anthrax have not yet been revealed. cell wall anchoring in staphylococcus aureus occurs by a transpeptidation mechanism requiring surface proteins with c-terminal sorting signals as well as sortase enzymes. the genome sequence of bacillus anthracis encodes three sortase genes and eleven surface p ... | 2005 | 15968076 |
| oral spore vaccine based on live attenuated nontoxinogenic bacillus anthracis expressing recombinant mutant protective antigen. | an attenuated nontoxinogenic nonencapsulated bacillus anthracis spore vaccine expressing high levels of recombinant mutant protective antigen (pa), which upon subcutaneous immunization provided protection against a lethal b. anthracis challenge, was found to have the potential to serve also as an oral vaccine. guinea pigs immunized per os with the recombinant spore vaccine were primed to b. anthracis vegetative antigens as well as to pa, yet only a fraction of the animals (30% to 50%) mounted a ... | 2005 | 15972492 |
| endocrine perturbation increases susceptibility of mice to anthrax lethal toxin. | bacillus anthracis lethal toxin (lt) causes vascular collapse and high lethality in balb/cj mice, intermediate lethality in c57bl/6j mice, and no lethality in dba/2j mice. we found that adrenalectomized (adx) mice of all three strains had increased susceptibility to lt. the increased susceptibility of adx-dba/2j mice was not accompanied by changes in their macrophage sensitivity or cytokine response to lt. dba/2j mice showed no change in serum corticosteroid levels in response to lt injection, w ... | 2005 | 15972515 |
| complement depletion renders c57bl/6 mice sensitive to the bacillus anthracis sterne strain. | concerns regarding safety and control of virulent bacillus anthracis have created substantial hurdles to the study of anthrax. the sterne strain is considered relatively safe to study, but this acapsular strain has a defect in normal mice and is often studied in a/j mice. a/j mice are highly susceptible to the sterne strain, due to a defect in the hc locus, which encodes complement factor 5 (c5). here we show that normally resistant c57bl/6 mice become highly susceptible to the sterne strain upo ... | 2005 | 15972541 |
| antimicrobial agents and resistance--fifth international symposium. antifungal agents and novel vaccines. | 2005 | 15973560 | |
| atr/tem8 is highly expressed in epithelial cells lining bacillus anthracis' three sites of entry: implications for the pathogenesis of anthrax infection. | anthrax is a disease caused by infection with spores from the bacteria bacillus anthracis. these spores enter the body, where they germinate into bacteria and secrete a tripartite toxin that causes local edema and, in systemic infections, death. recent studies identified the cellular receptor for anthrax toxin (atr), a type i membrane protein. atr is one of the splice variants of the tumor endothelial marker 8 (tem8) gene. atr and tem8 are identical throughout their extracellular and transmembra ... | 2005 | 15689409 |
| choice of drugs to manage anthrax. | 2005 | 15694716 | |
| interactions between anthrax toxin receptors and protective antigen. | since the anthrax mail attacks of 2001, much has been learned about the interactions between anthrax toxin and its receptors. two distinct cellular receptors for anthrax toxin have been identified and are designated capillary morphogenesis protein 2 (cmg2) and anthrax toxin receptor/tumor endothelial marker 8 (atr/tem8). the molecular details of the toxin-receptor interactions have been revealed through crystallographic, biochemical and genetic studies. in addition, a novel pathway by which anth ... | 2005 | 15694864 |
| polyphasic approach for identifying bacillus spp. | 2005 | 15695735 | |
| folliculitis after smallpox vaccination: a report of two cases. | rashes are frequent and potentially serious adverse consequences of smallpox vaccination. life-threatening rashes must be differentiated from benign, self-limiting ones. generalized vaccinia, erythema multiforme, and folliculitis are distinct self-limiting entities but may be difficult to differentiate from one another. two cases of folliculitis after smallpox vaccination are described. both patients received anthrax vaccination within 2 weeks before smallpox vaccination. both presented with a p ... | 2005 | 15782834 |
| rapid detection of an anthrax biomarker by surface-enhanced raman spectroscopy. | a rapid detection protocol suitable for use by first-responders to detect anthrax spores using a low-cost, battery-powered, portable raman spectrometer has been developed. bacillus subtilis spores, harmless simulants for bacillus anthracis, were studied using surface-enhanced raman spectroscopy (sers) on silver film over nanosphere (agfon) substrates. calcium dipicolinate (cadpa), a biomarker for bacillus spores, was efficiently extracted by sonication in nitric acid and rapidly detected by sers ... | 2005 | 15783231 |
| understanding health literacy: an expanded model. | a long and yet unfinished history of investigating how individual capabilities and social processes explain or predict health indicates that poor education, low literacy, poor health and early death are strongly linked around the world. however, the complexity of those relationships is not fully understood. in this article, we propose an expanded model of health literacy characterized by four domains: fundamental literacy (reading, writing, speaking and numeracy), science literacy, civic literac ... | 2005 | 15788526 |
| history of a public health emergency. | 2005 | 15790057 | |
| heading-off anthrax at hamilton, new jersey: events of october 2001. | 2005 | 15790066 | |
| bioterrorism and smallpox: policies, practices, and implications for social work. | terrorist acts and the fear of terrorism have become a part of everyday life in the early 21st century. among the threats most feared is bioterrorism, including the intentional release of smallpox. with the invasion of iraq and toppling of the saddam hussein regime, acute bioterrorism fears have abated; however, an ongoing threat remains.this article addresses the need for knowledge and rational policies in dealing with potential bioterrorism attacks. it presents information on four of the most ... | 2005 | 15853189 |
| use of fatty acid profiles to identify food-borne bacterial pathogens and aerobic endospore-forming bacilli. | capillary gas chromatography (gc) with flame ionization detection was used to determine the cellular fatty acid profiles of various food-borne microbial pathogens and to compare the fatty acid profiles of spores and vegetative cells of the same endospore-forming bacilli. fifteen bacteria, representing eight genera (staphylococcus, listeria, bacillus, yersinia, salmonella, shigella, escherichia, and vibrio) and 11 species were used to compare the extracted fatty acid methyl esters (fames). endosp ... | 2005 | 15853428 |
| management of anthrax meningitis. | meningitis due to infection with bacillus anthracis is considered an infrequent manifestation of the disease but one associated with high mortality. the bioterrorism event in the usa in the autumn of 2001 demonstrated our need for a better understanding of anthrax meningitis, as well as management and antimicrobial therapy. however, human clinical trials are not possible and animal experiments to guide such therapy are limited. an approach to the treatment of anthrax meningitis, based on the pat ... | 2005 | 15854884 |
| prediction of smallpox outbreak and evaluation of control-measure policy in japan, using a mathematical model. | since the september 1 terrorist attacks and moreover, since the anthrax exposure events in 2001 in the united states, bioterrorism attacks seem to be a real threat. of course, the public health authorities in japan have started to prepare control measures for such events. we report here our attempts, using a mathematical model, to estimate outbreak size and to examine the most effective measures; comparing ring vaccination (contact tracing, isolation, and vaccination among contacts) and mass vac ... | 2005 | 15856374 |
| a novel semiquantitative fluorescence-based multiplex polymerase chain reaction assay for rapid simultaneous detection of bacterial and parasitic pathogens from blood. | a multiplex polymerase chain reaction assay was developed for the rapid simultaneous detection of category a select bacterial agents (bacillus anthracis and yersinia pestis) and parasitic pathogens (leishmania species) in blood using the cepheid smart cycler platform. b. anthracis (sterne) and yersinia. pseudotuberculosis were used in the assay for optimization for b. anthracis and y. pestis, respectively. the specificity of the target amplicons [protective antigen gene of b. anthracis and rrna ... | 2005 | 15858151 |
| anthrax vaccines. | anthrax, an uncommon disease in humans, is caused by a large bacterium, bacillus anthracis. the risk of inhalation infection is the main indication for anthrax vaccination. pre-exposure vaccination is provided by an acellular vaccine (anthrax vaccine adsorbed or ava), which contains anthrax toxin elements and results in protective immunity after 3 to 6 doses. anthrax vaccine precipitated (avp) is administered at primovaccination in 3 doses with a booster dose after 6 months. to evoke and maintai ... | 2005 | 15977694 |
| functional genomics of bacterial pathogens: from post-genomics to therapeutic targets. | a wealth of new data have become available to the scientific community as a result of the sequencing of many pathogen genomes. a recent meeting devoted to functional genomics of pathogenic microorganisms confirmed the notion that bacterial genomes are not static, because large blocks of genes can be acquired or deleted. less complex environments usually result in reduction in genome size, while genome expansion is usually associated with environmental change and complexity. during the meeting, p ... | 2005 | 15978065 |
| efficient synthetic inhibitors of anthrax lethal factor. | inhalation anthrax is a deadly disease for which there is currently no effective treatment. bacillus anthracis lethal factor (lf) metalloproteinase is an integral component of the tripartite anthrax lethal toxin that is essential for the onset and progression of anthrax. we report here on a fragment-based approach that allowed us to develop inhibitors of lf. the small-molecule inhibitors we have designed, synthesized, and tested are highly potent and selective against lf in both in vitro tests a ... | 2005 | 15983377 |
| [expression and analysis of biological activity of the recombination anthrax edema factor]. | anthrax toxin consists of three separate proteins, protective antigen (pa), lethal factor (lf) and edema factor (ef). ef is bacterial adenylate cyclase which, upon activation by its eukaryotic cofactor, calmodulin, causes a rapid increase in the intracellular camp level of host cells. ef can reduce the protective ability of host animal. in order to further research the mechanism of anthrax toxin, the expression plasmid was constructed and the structural gene for anthrax edema factor (ef) was exp ... | 2005 | 15989247 |
| viral entry: a detour through multivesicular bodies. | 2005 | 15990891 | |
| the medicinal chemistry of botulinum, ricin and anthrax toxins. | the potential use of weapons of mass destruction (nuclear, biological or chemical) by terrorist organizations represents a major threat to world peace and safety. only a limited number of vaccines are available to protect the general population from the medical consequences of these weapons. in addition there are major health concerns associated with a pre-exposure mass vaccination of the general population. to reduce or eliminate the impact of these terrible threats, new drugs must be developed ... | 2005 | 15790305 |
| anthrax vaccine design: strategies to achieve comprehensive protection against spore, bacillus, and toxin. | the successful use of bacillus anthracis as a lethal biological weapon has prompted renewed research interest in the development of more effective vaccines against anthrax. the disease consists of three critical components: spore, bacillus, and toxin, elimination of any of which confers at least partial protection against anthrax. current remedies rely on postexposure antibiotics to eliminate bacilli and pre- and postexposure vaccination to target primarily toxins. vaccines effective against tox ... | 2005 | 15790405 |
| glycerol monolaurate inhibits virulence factor production in bacillus anthracis. | anthrax, caused by bacillus anthracis, has been brought to the public's attention because of the 2001 bioterrorism attacks. however, anthrax is a disease that poses agricultural threats in the united states as well as human populations in europe, china, africa, and australia. glycerol monolaurate (gml) is a compound that has been shown to inhibit exotoxin production by staphylococcus aureus and other gram-positive bacteria. here, we study the effects of gml on growth and toxin production in b. a ... | 2005 | 15793101 |
| is in vitro antibiotic combination more effective than single-drug therapy against anthrax? | antibiotic combinations are used to enhance antibacterial efficacy and to prevent the development of resistance. we have tested a possible synergistic effect of several antibacterial combinations on bacillus anthracis. the in vitro activities of antibiotic combinations against two strains of b. anthracis, strain sterne and the russian anthrax vaccine strain sti, were tested by the fractional inhibitory concentration (fic) method, derived from the mics of the agents in combination, and by measuri ... | 2005 | 15793105 |
| role of superoxide in the germination of bacillus anthracis endospores. | the spore forming gram-positive bacterium bacillus anthracis, the causative agent of anthrax, has achieved notoriety due to its use as a bioterror agent. in the environment, b. anthracis exists as a dormant endospore. germination of endospores during their internalization within the myeloid phagocyte, and the ability of those endospores to survive exposure to antibacterial killing mechanisms such as superoxide (o(2)*-, is a key initial event in the infective process. we report herein that endosp ... | 2005 | 15796976 |
| multilocus sequence typing reveals that bacillus cereus strains isolated from clinical infections have distinct phylogenetic origins. | eight strains of bacillus cereus isolated from bacteremia and soft tissue infections were assigned to seven sequence types (sts) by multilocus sequence typing (mlst). two strains from different locations had identical sts. the concatenated sequences of the seven sts were aligned with 65 concatenated sequences from reference sts and a neighbor-joining tree was constructed. two strains were distantly related to all reference sts. three strains were recovered in a clade that included bacillus anthr ... | 2005 | 15796996 |
| antibody microarrays for native toxin detection. | we have developed antibody-based microarray techniques for the multiplexed detection of cholera toxin beta-subunit, diphtheria toxin, anthrax lethal factor and protective antigen, staphylococcus aureus enterotoxin b, and tetanus toxin c fragment in spiked samples. two detection schemes were investigated: (i) a direct assay in which fluorescently labeled toxins were captured directly by the antibody array and (ii) a competition assay that employed unlabeled toxins as reporters for the quantificat ... | 2005 | 15797567 |
| inadvertent laboratory exposure to bacillus anthracis--california, 2004. | on june 9, 2004, the california department of health services (cdhs) was notified of possible inadvertent exposure to bacillus anthracis spores at children's hospital oakland research institute (chori), where workers were evaluating the immune response of mice to b. anthracis. this report summarizes the subsequent investigation by cdhs and cdc, including assessment of exposures, administration of postexposure chemoprophylaxis, and serologic testing of potentially exposed workers. the findings un ... | 2005 | 15800474 |
| american chemical society meeting. fast, sensitive scan targets anthrax. | 2005 | 15802583 | |
| the evolving field of biodefence: therapeutic developments and diagnostics. | the threat of bioterrorism and the potential use of biological weapons against both military and civilian populations has become a major concern for governments around the world. for example, in 2001 anthrax-tainted letters resulted in several deaths, caused widespread public panic and exerted a heavy economic toll. if such a small-scale act of bioterrorism could have such a huge impact, then the effects of a large-scale attack would be catastrophic. this review covers recent progress in develop ... | 2005 | 15803193 |
| genomics of the bacillus cereus group of organisms. | members of the bacillus cereus group of organisms include bacillus cereus, bacillus anthracis and bacillus thuringiensis. collectively, these organisms represent microbes of high economic, medical and biodefense importance. given this significance, this group contains the highest number of closely related fully sequenced genomes, giving the unique opportunity for thorough comparative genomic analyses. much of the disease and host specificity of members of this group can be attributed to their pl ... | 2005 | 15808746 |
| annulling a dangerous liaison: vaccination strategies against aids and tuberculosis. | human immunodeficiency virus (hiv) and mycobacterium tuberculosis annually cause 3 million and 2 million deaths, respectively. last year, 600,000 individuals, doubly infected with hiv and m. tuberculosis, died. since world war i, approximately 150 million people have succumbed to these two infections--more total deaths than in all wars in the last 2,000 years. although the perceived threats of new infections such as sars, new variant creutzfeldt-jakob disease and anthrax are real, these outbreak ... | 2005 | 15812488 |
| the effect of electron beam irradiation on forensic evidence. 1. latent print recovery on porous and non-porous surfaces. | the recent use of the postal system as a means of delivering anthrax spores via several contaminated envelopes has led to the selective irradiation of mail. these as yet unsolved attacks and the u.s. postal service's decision to irradiate certain types of mail has led to some unexpected complications. the high doses of radiation required to destroy biological agents like anthrax are sufficient to induce damage to other materials present in the envelope. there have been reports of damage to many ... | 2005 | 15813540 |
| anthrax edema toxin cooperates with lethal toxin to impair cytokine secretion during infection of dendritic cells. | bacillus anthracis secretes two critical virulence factors, lethal toxin (lt) and edema toxin (et). in this study, we show that murine bone marrow-derived dendritic cells (dc) infected with b. anthracis strains secreting et exhibit a very different cytokine secretion pattern than dc infected with b. anthracis strains secreting lt, both toxins, or a nontoxinogenic strain. et produced during infection selectively inhibits the production of il-12p70 and tnf-alpha, whereas lt targets il-10 and tnf-a ... | 2005 | 15814721 |
| anthrax lethal toxin blocks mapk kinase-dependent il-2 production in cd4+ t cells. | anthrax lethal toxin (lt) is a critical virulence factor that cleaves and inactivates mapk kinases (mapkks) in host cells and has been proposed as a therapeutic target in the treatment of human anthrax infections. despite the potential use of anti-toxin agents in humans, the standard activity assays for anthrax lt are currently based on cytotoxic actions of anthrax lt that are cell-, strain-, and species-specific, which have not been demonstrated to occur in human cells. we now report that t cel ... | 2005 | 15814725 |
| characterization of a bacillus anthracis isolate causing a rare case of fatal anthrax in a 2-year-old boy from hong kong. | we used multiple-locus variable-number tandem repeat analysis (mlva) and paga sequencing to genotype a bacillus anthracis isolate from a fatal case of human anthrax in hong kong. the isolate has a unique mlva genotype, is related to the sterne and ames strains, and is consistent with genotypes identified in china. | 2005 | 15815041 |
| use of single nucleotide polymorphisms in the plcr gene for specific identification of bacillus anthracis. | a taqman-minor groove binding assay designed around a nonsense mutation in the plcr gene was used to genotype bacillus anthracis, b. cereus, and b. thuringiensis isolates. the assay differentiated b. anthracis from these genetic near-neighbors and determined that the nonsense mutation is ubiquitous across 89 globally and genetically diverse b. anthracis strains. | 2005 | 15815042 |
| infectious disease emergencies: role of the infectious disease specialist. | the importance of infections for public health has become obvious during the last decades. examples are emerging infections such as hiv/aids and severe acute respiratory syndrome, deliberate release of microorganisms, such as the anthrax episode in the usa, the increasing problems with organisms resistant to antimicrobial treatment, such as methicillin-resistant staphylococcus aureus, and the threat of a new influenza pandemic with a case fatality rate similar to that in the 1918 outbreak. an ef ... | 2005 | 15816100 |
| bacteria as potential tools in bioterrorism, with an emphasis on bacterial toxins. | the threat of bioterrorism remains a reality worldwide and, although of low probability, an attack would be a high-consequence event. microbes are available to individuals with appropriate contacts and even many low-grade bacterial pathogens can severely affect health. toxins provide bacteria with a system of defence that is often detrimental to humans and their versatility makes them potential tools of bioterrorism. it should be remembered that the aim of terrorism is not always to kill but rat ... | 2005 | 15816214 |
| effective antiprotease-antibiotic treatment of experimental anthrax. | inhalation anthrax is characterized by a systemic spread of the challenge agent, bacillus anthracis. it causes severe damage, including multiple hemorrhagic lesions, to host tissues and organs. it is widely believed that anthrax lethal toxin secreted by proliferating bacteria is a major cause of death, however, the pathology of intoxication in experimental animals is drastically different from that found during the infectious process. in order to close a gap between our understanding of anthrax ... | 2005 | 15819985 |
| inhalational anthrax with acute respiratory distress syndrome. | a 10-year-old boy presented with facial swelling, thick exudates in the nasal cavities with membranes covering the nasopharynx, shock and respiratory distress. x-ray of the paranasal sinuses showed opacification of both maxillary sinuses. nasal diphtheria was suspected but culture of the membranes grew bacillus anthracis. chest x-ray showed mediastinal widening and extensive pulmonary infiltrates compatible with respiratory anthrax. | 2005 | 15822245 |
| viral and bacterial diseases in livestock in mongolia. | this review focuses on the status of infectious diseases that are serious for animal health and have adverse economic effects in mongolia. data presented here are limited due to the lack of published or other easily available documents. foot-and-mouth disease continues to cause substantial economic losses as exemplified by the outbreak of infection with serotype o panasia lineage virus. in the case of the 2001 outbreak, a 65% reduction in export revenues was recorded. in order to ascertain the f ... | 2005 | 15822857 |
| veterinarian part of us-russian collaboration on anthrax sensor. | 2005 | 15825723 | |
| hospital preparedness and management of patients affected by viral haemorrhagic fever or smallpox at the lazzaro spallanzani institute, italy. | the us cases of anthrax in 2001 and the recent severe acute respiratory syndrome outbreak have heightened the need for preparedness and response to naturally emerging and re-emerging infections or deliberately released biological agents. this report describes the response model of the istituto nazionale per le malattie infettive lazzaro spallanzani (inmi), rome, italy for managing patients suspected of or affected by smallpox or viral haemorrhagic fever (vhf) either in the context of an intentio ... | 2005 | 15827373 |
| emerging infectious diseases: a 10-year perspective from the national institute of allergy and infectious diseases. | although optimists once imagined that serious infectious disease threats would by now be conquered, newly emerging (e.g., severe acute respiratory syndrome [sars]), reemerging (e.g., west nile virus), and even deliberately disseminated infectious diseases (e.g., anthrax bioterrorism) continue to appear throughout the world. over the past decade, the global effort to identify and characterize infectious agents, decipher the underlying pathways by which they cause disease, and develop preventive m ... | 2005 | 15829188 |
| an assessment of pasteurization treatment of water, media, and milk with respect to bacillus spores. | this study evaluated the ability of spore-forming bacillus spp. to resist milk pasteurization conditions from 72 to 150 degrees c. spores from the avirulent surrogate sterne strain of bacillus anthracis, as well as a representative strain of a common milk contaminant that is also a pathogen, bacillus cereus atcc 9818, were heated at test temperatures for up to 90 min in dh2o, brain heart infusion broth, or skim milk. in skim milk, characteristic log reductions (log cfu per milliliter) for b. ant ... | 2005 | 15830666 |
| wanted, an anthrax vaccine: dead or alive? | it has been more than 100 years since the realization that microbes are capable of causing disease. in that time, we have learned a great deal as to how each organism has adapted to the immune system so as to avoid elimination. as well, we have also learned an immense amount since louis pasteur first proposed that the solution to infectious diseases was to culture the microbes and attenuate their virulence, so as to use them as vaccines. from the optimism and promise of the 19th century and immu ... | 2005 | 15836780 |
| efficient gene inactivation in bacillus anthracis. | a procedure for high-efficiency gene inactivation in bacillus anthracis has been developed. it is based on a highly temperature-sensitive plasmid vector carrying kanamycin resistance cassette surrounded by dna fragments flanking the desired insertion site. the approach was tested by constructing glutamate racemase e1 (race1), glutamate racemase e2 (race2) and comec knock-out mutants of b. anthracis strain deltaanr. allelic replacements were observed at high frequencies, ranging from approximatel ... | 2005 | 15837388 |
| plasmid-encoded regulator of extracellular proteases in bacillus anthracis. | bacillus anthracis sterne cured of the pxo1 plasmid had enhanced secreted protease activity during the postexponential phase but no change in hemolytic or lecithinase activities. a zymogen profile revealed at least six proteases, including serine, metal, and perhaps cysteine types. there were similar amounts of protease secreted by the closely related species bacillus cereus and bacillus thuringiensis, but the patterns differed. among the pxo1 plasmid-encoded proteins, there is a tetratricopepti ... | 2005 | 15838040 |
| summaries for patients. what is the most cost-effective way to protect people in the event of an anthrax terror attack? | 2005 | 15838060 | |
| cost-effectiveness of defending against bioterrorism: a comparison of vaccination and antibiotic prophylaxis against anthrax. | weaponized bacillus anthracis is one of the few biological agents that can cause death and disease in sufficient numbers to devastate an urban setting. | 2005 | 15838066 |
| being prepared: modeling the response to an anthrax attack. | 2005 | 15838074 | |
| clostridium botulinum: a bug with beauty and weapon. | clostridium botulinum, a gram-positive, anaerobic spore-forming bacteria, is distinguished by its significant clinical applications as well as its potential to be used as bioterror agent. growing cells secrete botulinum neurotoxin (bont), the most poisonous of all known poisons. while bont is the causative agent of deadly neuroparalytic botulism, it also serves as a remarkably effective treatment for involuntary muscle disorders such as blepharospasm, strabismus, hemifacial spasm, certain types ... | 2005 | 15839401 |
| quantitative immunoassay of biotoxins on hydrogel-based protein microchips. | three-dimensional gel-based microchips with immobilized proteins were used for quantitative immunoassay of a series of plant (ricin and viscumin) and bacterial (staphylococcal enterotoxin b, tetanus and diphtheria toxins, and lethal factor of anthrax) toxins. it was shown that different types of immunoassays (direct, competitive, and sandwich type) could be carried out on gel microchips. as shown by confocal microscope studies, antigen-antibody interactions involving the formation of tertiary an ... | 2005 | 15840505 |
| cutaneous anthrax: conservative or surgical treatment? | this article summarizes the diagnostic features and treatment recommendations for cutaneous anthrax, exemplified by a case report of nontypical cutaneous anthrax. the treatment of choice is medical, with ciprofloxacin or doxycycline the preferred antibiotics. however, surgical biopsy may be used if the clinical setting and microbiologic examination of swabs are not diagnostically conclusive. histopathologic findings explain the clinical observation that most cutaneous anthrax lesions heal withou ... | 2005 | 15840983 |
| evaluation of the vp22 protein for enhancement of a dna vaccine against anthrax. | background: previously, antigens expressed from dna vaccines have been fused to the vp22 protein from herpes simplex virus type i in order to improve efficacy. however, the immune enhancing mechanism of vp22 is poorly understood and initial suggestions that vp22 can mediate intercellular spread have been questioned. despite this, fusion of vp22 to antigens expressed from dna vaccines has improved immune responses, particularly to non-secreted antigens. methods: in this study, we fused the gene f ... | 2005 | 15842732 |
| dendritic cells endocytose bacillus anthracis spores: implications for anthrax pathogenesis. | phagocytosis of inhaled bacillus anthracis spores and subsequent trafficking to lymph nodes are decisive events in the progression of inhalational anthrax because they initiate germination and dissemination of spores. found in high frequency throughout the respiratory track, dendritic cells (dcs) routinely take up foreign particles and migrate to lymph nodes. however, the participation of dcs in phagocytosis and dissemination of spores has not been investigated previously. we found that human dc ... | 2005 | 15843553 |
| potential applications of conventional and molecular imaging to biodefense research. | imaging methods that visualize the structure and function of the living body are widely used in patient care and biomedical research, but their full potential has not yet been applied to the study and treatment of the severe illnesses caused by pathogens of biodefense concern. "conventional" imaging techniques (e.g., radiography, computed tomography, ultrasound, or magnetic resonance imaging) delineate anatomic changes in tissues, whereas "molecular" methods employ magnetic resonance, positron e ... | 2005 | 15844070 |
| cyclopentane-modified pna improves the sensitivity of nanoparticle-based scanometric dna detection. | trans-cyclopentane-modified pna has been successfully utilized as a target capture strand to improve the detection limit of a known dna detection assay, and provide high levels of mismatch discrimination. | 2005 | 15846413 |
| [progress on the vaccine for anthrax]. | bacillus anthracis is the causative organism of the potentially fatal disease anthrax, and the used vaccines have some disadvantages. there are new developments appeared for the bacillus anthracis in recent years, such as anti-pa antibody kills the spore of bacillus anthracis, mucosal immunization induces immune responses in both systemic and secretory immune compartments, poly (gamma-d-pga) protein induce igg antibodies to the vegetative bacteria, new pathogens were found by genomic analysis. t ... | 2005 | 15847185 |
| development of an edema factor-mediated camp-induction bioassay for detecting antibody-mediated neutralization of anthrax protective antigen. | intoxication of mammalian cells by bacillus anthracis requires the coordinate activity of three distinct bacterial proteins: protective antigen (pa), edema factor (ef), and lethal factor (lf). among these proteins, pa has become the major focus of work on monoclonal antibodies and vaccines designed to treat or prevent anthrax infection since neither ef nor lf is capable of inducing cellular toxicity in its absence. here, we present the development of a sensitive, precise, and biologically releva ... | 2005 | 15847796 |
| tnxo1, a germination-associated class ii transposon from bacillus anthracis. | bacillus anthracis harbours two virulence plasmids, pxo1 (182 kb) and pxo2 (95 kb). whereas pxo2 harbours the cap operon coding for the capsule, pxo1 contains the pag, lef, and cya genes coding for protective antigen, lethal, and oedema factors, respectively, as well as the atxa regulatory gene. these genes are located within a 44.8 kb long pathogenicity island flanked by insertion sequences. here, we describe the presence in the same plasmid region of an 8679 bp genetic element displaying the s ... | 2005 | 15848228 |
| development of high-throughput assay of lethal factor using native substrate. | the design of inhibitors for anthrax lethal factor (lf) is currently of interest as an approach for the treatment of anthrax because lf plays a major role in the cytotoxicity of target cells. lf is a zinc-dependent metalloprotease that specifically cleaves the mitogen-activated protein kinase kinase (mkk) family. current assay systems for the screening of lf inhibitor use the optimized synthetic peptide coupled with various kinds of fluorophores, enabling fast, sensitive, and robust assays suite ... | 2005 | 15866525 |
| the application of the haddon matrix to public health readiness and response planning. | state and local health departments continue to face unprecedented challenges in preparing for, recognizing, and responding to threats to the public's health. the attacks of 11 september 2001 and the ensuing anthrax mailings of 2001 highlighted the public health readiness and response hurdles posed by intentionally caused injury and illness. at the same time, recent natural disasters have highlighted the need for comparable public health readiness and response capabilities. public health readines ... | 2005 | 15866764 |
| genetic analysis of bacillus anthracis sap s-layer protein crystallization domain. | bacillus anthracis, the aetiological agent of anthrax, synthesizes two surface-layer (s-layer) proteins. s-layers are two-dimensional crystalline arrays that completely cover bacteria. in rich medium, the b. anthracis s-layer consists of sap during the exponential growth phase. sap is a modular protein composed of an slh (s-layer homology)-anchoring domain followed by a putative crystallization domain (sap c). a projection map of the two-dimensional sap array has been established on deflated bac ... | 2005 | 15870458 |
| inhibition of bacillus anthracis growth and virulence-gene expression by inhibitors of quorum-sensing. | density-dependent gene expression, quorum sensing (qs), involves the synthesis and detection of low-molecular-weight molecules known as autoinducers. inhibitors of bacterial qs systems offer potential treatment of infections with highly virulent or multidrug-resistant agents. we studied the effects on bacillus anthracis growth and the virulence gene (paga, lef, and cya) expression of the qs inhibitor (5z)-4-bromo-5-(bromomethylene)-3-butyl-2(5h)-furanone, which is naturally synthesized by the ma ... | 2005 | 15871122 |
| microarray-based detection of 90 antibiotic resistance genes of gram-positive bacteria. | a disposable microarray was developed for detection of up to 90 antibiotic resistance genes in gram-positive bacteria by hybridization. each antibiotic resistance gene is represented by two specific oligonucleotides chosen from consensus sequences of gene families, except for nine genes for which only one specific oligonucleotide could be developed. a total of 137 oligonucleotides (26 to 33 nucleotides in length with similar physicochemical parameters) were spotted onto the microarray. the micro ... | 2005 | 15872258 |
| the effect of filter material on bioaerosol collection of bacillus subtilis spores used as a bacillus anthracis simulant. | the objective of this study was to determine filter materials and extraction methods that are appropriate to use for environmental sampling of b. anthracis. four types of filters were tested: mixed cellulose ester (mce) with a pore size of 3 microm, polytetrafluoroethylene (ptfe) with pore sizes of 1 and 3 microm, and gelatin with a pore size of 3 microm. bacillus subtilis var. niger endospores (also known as bacillus globigii[bg]) were used as a surrogate for b. anthracis. endospores were colle ... | 2005 | 15877169 |
| identification of novel anthrax lethal factor inhibitors generated by combinatorial pictet-spengler reaction followed by screening in situ. | 2005 | 15880659 | |
| [characterization of bacillus anthracis typical virulent test strain 81/1]. | the results of the prolonged and many-sided study of b. anthracis strain 81/1 by different authors are presented. the cultural and morphological, biochemical, antigenic, molecular-genetic characteristics of this strain give grounds for regarding it as a typical test strain to be used for the determination of the vaccines immunogenicity, the effectiveness of antibiotics and immunomodulators. | 2005 | 15881953 |
| occupational physician perceptions of bioterrorism. | the rationale for most preparedness training of healthcare professionals is based on the assumption that most persons infected following a biological incident will present first to emergency departments of acute care facilities or to ambulatory settings such as private physician offices, and such incidences would be recognized, appropriately treated, and reported to the local health departments. however, an alternative first point of contact is industry, a location where workers gather and dispe ... | 2005 | 15881986 |
| developmental commitment in a bacterium. | we investigated developmental commitment during sporulation in bacillus subtilis. sporulation is initiated by nutrient limitation and involves division of the developing cell into two progeny, the forespore and the mother cell, with different fates. differentiation becomes irreversible following division when neither the forespore nor the mother cell can resume growth when provided with nutrients. we show that commitment is governed by the transcription factors sigma(f) and sigma(e), which are a ... | 2005 | 15882622 |
| degradation of biological weapons agents in the environment: implications for terrorism response. | we investigate the impact on effective terrorism response of the viability degradation of biological weapons agents in the environment. we briefly review the scientific understanding and modeling of agent environmental viability degradation. in general, agent susceptibility to viability loss is greatest for vegetative bacteria, intermediate for viruses, and least for bacterial spores. survival is greatest in soil and progressively decreases in the following environments: textiles, water, hard su ... | 2005 | 15884371 |
| us response to anthrax scare "uncoordinated". | 2005 | 15889475 | |
| osler and the infected letter. | the spread of infectious agents through the mail has concerned public health officials for 5 centuries. the dissemination of anthrax spores in the us mail in 2001 was a recent example. in 1901, two medical journals reported outbreaks of smallpox presumably introduced by letters contaminated with variola viruses. the stability and infectivity of the smallpox virus are reviewed from both a historical (anecdotal) perspective and modern virologic studies. bubonic plague was the contagious disease th ... | 2005 | 15890120 |
| host-pathogen interactions: a proteomic view. | host-pathogen interactions reflect the balance of host defenses and pathogen virulence mechanisms. advances in proteomic technologies now afford opportunities to compare protein content between complex biologic systems ranging from cells to animals and clinical samples. thus, it is now possible to characterize host-pathogen interactions from a global proteomic view. most reports to date focus on cataloging protein content of pathogens and identifying virulence-associated proteins or proteomic al ... | 2005 | 15892564 |
| activation of dendritic cells by microparticles containing bacillus anthracis protective antigen. | we have carried out an in vitro investigation into the mechanism by which microencapsulation enhances the immunogenicity of recombinant protective antigen (rpa) from bacillus anthracis. murine bone marrow derived dendritic cells (dc) were cocultured with soluble and microencapsulated rpa and the activation status of the cells monitored using facs. as compared with soluble rpa, it was found that coculture of dc with rpa-loaded microparticles stimulated higher levels of mhc ii, cd54, cd80 and cd86 ... | 2005 | 15893625 |
| intermolecular complementation achieves high-specificity tumor targeting by anthrax toxin. | anthrax toxin protective antigen (prag) forms a heptamer in which the binding site for lethal factor (lf) spans two adjacent monomers. this suggested that high cell-type specificity in tumor targeting could be obtained using monomers that generate functional lf-binding sites only through intermolecular complementation. we created prag mutants with mutations affecting different lf-binding subsites and containing either urokinase plasminogen activator (upa) or matrix metalloproteinase (mmp) cleava ... | 2005 | 15895075 |
| inhibition of daptomycin by pulmonary surfactant: in vitro modeling and clinical impact. | the lipopeptide daptomycin has been approved for use in skin and skin-structure infections but has failed to meet statistical noninferiority criteria in a clinical trial for severe community-acquired pneumonia. daptomycin exhibited an unusual pattern of activity in pulmonary animal models: efficacy in staphylococcus aureus hematogenous pneumonia and inhalation anthrax but no activity against streptococcus pneumoniae in simple bronchial-alveolar pneumonia. daptomycin was shown to interact in vitr ... | 2005 | 15898002 |
| media exposure to bioterrorism: stress and the anthrax attacks. | this study examined media exposure and adjustment to anthrax bioterrorism attacks and the terrorist attacks on 9/11 in a sample of 300 people who lived distant from the attacks. measures of direct and indirect exposure to terrorism, perceived risk of anthrax exposure, psychological distress, and outlook were assessed at 2 to 3 months and at 8 months after the first reported anthrax attack. initial anthrax media exposure was a powerful predictor of distress, whereas subsequent anthrax media expos ... | 2005 | 15899708 |
| an immuno-diffusion assay to assess the protective antigen content of anthrax vaccine. | the uk anthrax vaccine uses the culture supernatant of toxigenic non-encapsulated bacillus anthracis as a crude source for protective antigen (pa). the precise amount of pa is not known. we developed a single radial immuno-diffusion (srd) assay and an indirect elisa to measure pa in desorbed anthrax vaccines. based on 23 batches, the pa contents varied from 19.1 to 88.8 microgml(-1), with an average of 39.6 microgml(-1). analysis of four batches by elisa revealed considerably lower levels of pa. ... | 2005 | 15908061 |