| adhesins of leptospira interrogans mediate the interaction to fibrinogen and inhibit fibrin clot formation in vitro. | we report in this work that leptospira strains, virulent l. interrogans serovar copenhageni, attenuated l. interrogans serovar copenhageni and saprophytic l. biflexa serovar patoc are capable of binding fibrinogen (fg). the interaction of leptospires with fg inhibits thrombin- induced fibrin clot formation that may affect the haemostatic equilibrium. additionally, we show that plasminogen (plg)/plasmin (pla) generation on the surface of leptospira causes degradation of human fg. the data suggest ... | 2013 | 24009788 |
| post-translational modification of lipl32 during leptospira interrogans infection. | leptospirosis, a re-emerging disease of global importance caused by pathogenic leptospira spp., is considered the world's most widespread zoonotic disease. rats serve as asymptomatic carriers of pathogenic leptospira and are critical for disease spread. in such reservoir hosts, leptospires colonize the kidney, are shed in the urine, persist in fresh water and gain access to a new mammalian host through breaches in the skin. | 2014 | 25356675 |
| hideyo noguchi (1876-1928): distinguished bacteriologist. | | 2014 | 25631898 |
| interaction of leptospira elongation factor tu with plasminogen and complement factor h: a metabolic leptospiral protein with moonlighting activities. | the elongation factor tu (ef-tu), an abundant bacterial protein involved in protein synthesis, has been shown to display moonlighting activities. known to perform more than one function at different times or in different places, it is found in several subcellular locations in a single organism, and may serve as a virulence factor in a range of important human pathogens. here we demonstrate that leptospira ef-tu is surface-exposed and performs additional roles as a cell-surface receptor for host ... | 2013 | 24312361 |
| a prime-boost strategy using the novel vaccine candidate, lema, protects hamsters against leptospirosis. | toward developing an effective vaccine capable of conferring heterologous protection, the putative lipoprotein lema, which presents an m3 epitope similar to that of listeria, was evaluated as a vaccine candidate in the hamster model of leptospirosis. lema is conserved (>70% pairwise identity) among the pathogenic leptospira spp., indicating its potential in stimulating a cross-protective immune response. using different vaccination strategies, including prime-boost, dna vaccine, and a subunit pr ... | 2013 | 23515012 |
| interpretation of microscopic agglutination test for leptospirosis diagnosis and seroprevalence. | determination of antibody titer by microscopic agglutination test (mat) has been used as a tool for leptospirosis diagnosis. four fold or greater rise in antibody titers between acute and convalescent sera suggests recent leptospira infection. in addition, results obtained by mat have been used to predict infecting serovars. however, cross reactivity among various leptospira serovars have been reported when patient sera were tested with a battery of leptospira serovars. this study demonstrates c ... | 2014 | 25183074 |
| production and characterization of a polyclonal antibody of anti-rlipl21-igg against leptospira for early detection of acute leptospirosis. | leptospirosis is one of the zoonotic diseases in animals and humans throughout the world. lipl21 is one of the important surface-exposed lipoproteins in leptospires and the most effective cross protective immunogenic antigen. it is widely considered as a diagnostic marker for leptospirosis. in this study, we evaluated the serodiagnostic potential of lipl21 protein of leptospira interrogans serovar pomona. we have successfully amplified, cloned, and expressed lipl21 in e. coli and evaluated its s ... | 2014 | 24860824 |
| serodiagnosis of equine leptospirosis by enzyme-linked immunosorbent assay using four recombinant protein markers. | leptospirosis, caused by leptospira spp., is one of the most common zoonotic diseases in the world. we tested four recombinant proteins of leptospira interrogans, namely, rlipl21, rloa22, rlipl32, and rligacon4-8, to evaluate their potential for use as antigens for the diagnosis of equine leptospirosis. we employed equine sera (n = 130) that were microscopic agglutination test (mat) negative and sera (n = 176) that were mat positive for the 5 serovars that most commonly cause equine leptospirosi ... | 2014 | 24451330 |
| high-temperature protein g is an essential virulence factor of leptospira interrogans. | leptospira interrogans is a global zoonotic pathogen and is the causative agent of leptospirosis, an endemic disease of humans and animals worldwide. there is limited understanding of leptospiral pathogenesis; therefore, further elucidation of the mechanisms involved would aid in vaccine development and the prevention of infection. htpg (high-temperature protein g) is the bacterial homolog to the highly conserved molecular chaperone hsp90 and is important in the stress responses of many bacteria ... | 2014 | 24366253 |
| regional differences of leptospirosis in sri lanka: observations from a flood-associated outbreak in 2011. | leptospirosis is known to be an important cause of weather disaster-related infectious disease epidemics. in 2011, an outbreak of leptospirosis occurred in the relatively dry district of anuradhapura, sri lanka where diagnosis was resisted by local practitioners because leptospirosis was not known in the area and the clinical presentation was considered atypical. to identify the causative leptospira associated with this outbreak, we carried out a cross-sectional study. consecutive clinically sus ... | 2014 | 24454971 |
| role of sph2 gene regulation in hemolytic and sphingomyelinase activities produced by leptospira interrogans. | pathogenic members of the genus leptospira are the causative agents of leptospirosis, a neglected disease of public and veterinary health concern. leptospirosis is a systemic disease that in its severest forms leads to renal insufficiency, hepatic dysfunction, and pulmonary failure. many strains of leptospira produce hemolytic and sphingomyelinase activities, and a number of candidate leptospiral hemolysins have been identified based on sequence similarity to well-characterized bacterial hemolys ... | 2015 | 26274394 |
| comparative genomic analyses of transport proteins encoded within the genomes of leptospira species. | select species of the bacterial genus leptospira are causative agents of leptospirosis, an emerging global zoonosis affecting nearly one million people worldwide annually. we examined two leptospira pathogens, leptospira interrogans serovar lai str. 56601 and leptospira borgpetersenii serovar hardjo-bovis str. l550, as well as the free-living leptospiral saprophyte, leptospira biflexa serovar patoc str. 'patoc 1 (ames)'. the transport proteins of these leptospires were identified and compared us ... | 2015 | 26247102 |
| neutrophil extracellular traps are involved in the innate immune response to infection with leptospira. | netosis is a process by which neutrophils extrude their dna together with bactericidal proteins that trap and/or kill pathogens. in the present study, we evaluated the ability of leptospira spp. to induce netosis using human ex vivo and murine in vivo models. microscopy and fluorometric studies showed that incubation of human neutrophils with leptospira interrogans serovar copenhageni strain fiocruz l1-130 (lic) resulted in the release of dna extracellular traps (nets). the bacteria number, path ... | 2015 | 26161745 |
| pathogenic leptospira interrogans exoproteins are primarily involved in heterotrophic processes. | leptospirosis is a life-threatening and emerging zoonotic disease with a worldwide annual occurrence of more than 1 million cases. leptospirosis is caused by spirochetes belonging to the genus leptospira. the mechanisms of disease manifestation in the host remain elusive, and the roles of leptospiral exoproteins in these processes have yet to be determined. our aim in this study was to assess the composition and quantity of exoproteins of pathogenic leptospira interrogans and to construe how the ... | 2015 | 25987703 |
| micronutrients and leptospirosis: a review of the current evidence. | leptospirosis is one of the most widespread zoonoses and represents a major threat to human health. due to the high burden of disease, limitations in diagnostics, and limited coverage and availability of effective human and veterinary vaccines, leptospirosis remains an important neglected zoonotic disease. improved surveillance and identification of modifiable risk factors for leptospirosis are urgently needed to inform preventive interventions and reduce the risk and severity of leptospira infe ... | 2016 | 27387046 |
| whole genome shotgun sequencing shows selection on leptospira regulatory proteins during in vitro culture attenuation. | leptospirosis is the most common zoonotic disease worldwide with an estimated 500,000 severe cases reported annually, and case fatality rates of 12-25%, due primarily to acute kidney and lung injuries. despite its prevalence, the molecular mechanisms underlying leptospirosis pathogenesis remain poorly understood. to identify virulence-related genes in leptospira interrogans, we delineated cumulative genome changes that occurred during serial in vitro passage of a highly virulent strain of l. int ... | 2016 | 26711524 |
| clinical evaluation of rapid diagnostic test kit using the polysaccharide as a genus-specific diagnostic antigen for leptospirosis in korea, bulgaria, and argentina. | leptospirosis, a zoonotic disease that is caused by many serovars which are more than 200 in the world, is an emerging worldwide disease. accurate and rapid diagnostic tests for leptospirosis are a critical step to diagnose the disease. there are some commercial kits available for diagnosis of leptospirosis, but the obscurity of a species- or genus-specific antigen of pathogenic leptospira interrogans causes the reduced sensitivity and specificity. in this study, the polysaccharide derived from ... | 2016 | 26839470 |
| in vivo-expressed proteins of virulent leptospira interrogans serovar autumnalis n2 elicit strong igm responses of value in conclusive diagnosis. | leptospirosis is a serious zoonosis that is underdiagnosed because of limited access to laboratory facilities in southeast asia, central and south america, and oceania. timely diagnosis of locally distributed serovars of high virulence is crucial for successful care and outbreak management. using pooled patient sera, an expression gene library of a virulent leptospira interrogans serovar autumnalis strain n2 isolated in south india was screened. the identified genes were characterized, and the p ... | 2016 | 26607308 |
| leptospirosis in chonbuk province of korea in 1987. | leptospirosis is a zoonosis with protean clinical manifestations. its diagnosis requires a high index of suspicion and is confirmed by isolation of the organism or, more commonly, by serologic tests. in the fall of 1987, after severe flooding, we saw 93 patients with leptospirosis, confirmed by a microagglutination test. thirteen percent of the patients had no clinical or laboratory findings except fever and headache, but the rest had mild to severe manifestations. jaundice, renal failure, and a ... | 1990 | 2271509 |
| computing prokaryotic gene ubiquity: rescuing the core from extinction. | the genomic core concept has found several uses in comparative and evolutionary genomics. defined as the set of all genes common to (ubiquitous among) all genomes in a phylogenetically coherent group, core size decreases as the number and phylogenetic diversity of the relevant group increases. here, we focus on methods for defining the size and composition of the core of all genes shared by sequenced genomes of prokaryotes (bacteria and archaea). there are few (almost certainly less than 50) gen ... | 2004 | 15574825 |
| genes encoding vitamin-k epoxide reductase are present in drosophila and trypanosomatid protists. | vitamin-k epoxide reductase is encoded by the vkorc1 gene in mammals and other vertebrates, which also have a paralog, vkorc1l1. single homologs are present in basal deuterostome and insect genomes, including drosophila, and three trypanosomatid protists. vkor is therefore an ancient gene/protein that can be studied in the drosophila model system. | 2004 | 15514077 |
| temporal trends in reproductive performance in irish dairy herds and associated risk factors. | : irish dairy herd fertility has been declining since the 1980s. the extent, nature and causes of this decline in fertility and the current status of irish dairy herd fertility were described. an increase in calving interval of approximately one day per year has been recorded. the principal components of this trend have been an increased incidence of postpartum endocrinopathies, reduced expression of oestrus and a fall in conception rate. both submission rate and calving-to-service interval have ... | 2004 | 21851656 |
| high serum nitric oxide levels in patients with severe leptospirosis. | leptospirosis is a globally distributed zoonosis of major public health importance and is associated with severe disease manifestations such as acute renal failure and pulmonary haemorrhage syndrome. however, the extent to which the pathogenesis of leptospirosis mimics sepsis caused by gram-negative bacteria remains unknown. the aim of this study was to evaluate serum levels of nitric oxide (no) in patients diagnosed with severe leptospirosis. sera from 35 confirmed cases of severe leptospirosis ... | 2007 | 17196920 |
| high serum nitric oxide levels in patients with severe leptospirosis. | leptospirosis is a globally distributed zoonosis of major public health importance and is associated with severe disease manifestations such as acute renal failure and pulmonary haemorrhage syndrome. however, the extent to which the pathogenesis of leptospirosis mimics sepsis caused by gram-negative bacteria remains unknown. the aim of this study was to evaluate serum levels of nitric oxide (no) in patients diagnosed with severe leptospirosis. sera from 35 confirmed cases of severe leptospirosis ... | 2007 | 17196920 |
| isolation of leptospira serovars canicola and copenhageni from cattle urine in the state of paraná, brazil. | in 2001, 698 urine samples were randomly collected from cattle at a slaughterhouse in the state of paraná, brazil. direct examination using dark field microscopy was carried out immediately after collection. five putative positive samples were cultured in modified emjh medium, yielding two positive cultures (lo-14 and lo-10). typing with monoclonal antibodies revealed that the two isolates were similar to canicola (lo-14) and copenhageni (lo-10). microscopic agglutination test results show that ... | 2008 | 24031301 |
| case report: severe, symptomatic hypomagnesemia in acute leptospirosis. | we report a case of severe hypomagnesemia in non-oliguric acute renal failure caused by leptospirosis that required large doses of magnesium replacement during the acute phase of disease. biochemical studies confirmed kidney-related magnesium wasting and the mechanisms of this defect are discussed. magnesium imbalance with its attendant clinical complications occurs in leptospirosis and should be monitored and treated aggressively in cases of leptospirosis-induced non-oliguric acute kidney injur ... | 2008 | 19052304 |
| phylogenetic construction of 17 bacterial phyla by new method and carefully selected orthologs. | here, we constructed a phylogenetic tree of 17 bacterial phyla covering eubacteria and archaea by using a new method and 102 carefully selected orthologs from their genomes. one of the serious disturbing factors in phylogeny construction is the existence of out-paralogs that cannot easily be found out and discarded. in our method, out-paralogs are detected and removed by constructing a phylogenetic tree of the genes in question and examining the clustered genes in the tree. we also developed a m ... | 2008 | 19000750 |
| phylogenetic construction of 17 bacterial phyla by new method and carefully selected orthologs. | here, we constructed a phylogenetic tree of 17 bacterial phyla covering eubacteria and archaea by using a new method and 102 carefully selected orthologs from their genomes. one of the serious disturbing factors in phylogeny construction is the existence of out-paralogs that cannot easily be found out and discarded. in our method, out-paralogs are detected and removed by constructing a phylogenetic tree of the genes in question and examining the clustered genes in the tree. we also developed a m ... | 2008 | 19000750 |
| isolation and characterization of leptospira interrogans from pigs slaughtered in são paulo state, brazil. | with the aim of isolating leptospira spp., blood serum, kidney, liver and genital tract of 137 female swine (40 sows and 97 gilts) and also urine samples from 22 sows were collected in a slaughterhouse in the state of são paulo, from april 2003 to august 2004. four isolates were obtained from animals that presented microagglutination test (mat) titers ≥ 100 for the serovar pomona and one was obtained from an animal negative by mat in which leptospira was isolated from the liver and reproductive ... | 2008 | 24031254 |
| should immunocompromised patients have pets? | to evaluate the risks and benefits of pet ownership by immunodeficient patients, focusing primarily on organisms that colonize animals and are transmitted to humans. those diseases that are known to be progressive or more severe in patients with altered immune function are emphasized. | 2008 | 21603465 |
| toll-like receptors in skin infections and inflammatory diseases. | the skin is the ultimate example of the function of innate immunity, it alerts the host of danger by many systems including sensing pathogen-associated molecule patterns (pamps) through toll-like receptors and other pattern recognition receptors (prrs), yet normally provides defense without inflammation. the skin responds rapidly to invading microbes by producing antimicrobial peptides or other antimicrobial intermediates before cytokine release results in inflammation. to achieve maximal immune ... | 2008 | 18782031 |
| automated discovery and phylogenetic analysis of new toxin-antitoxin systems. | although often viewed as elements "at the service of" bacteria, plasmids exhibit replication and maintenance mechanisms that make them purely "selfish dna" candidates. toxin-antitoxin (ta) systems are a spectacular example of such mechanisms: a gene coding for a cytotoxic stable protein is preceded by a gene coding for an unstable antitoxin. the toxin being more stable than the antitoxin, absence of the operon causes a reduction of the amount of the latter relative to the amount of the former. t ... | 2008 | 18578869 |
| development and experimental validation of a predictive threshold cycle equation for quantification of virulence and marker genes by high-throughput nanoliter-volume pcr on the openarray platform. | development of quantitative pcr (qpcr) assays typically requires extensive screening within and across a given species to ensure specific detection and lucid identification among various pathogenic and nonpathogenic strains and to generate standard curves. to minimize screening requirements, multiple virulence and marker genes (vmgs) were targeted simultaneously to enhance reliability, and a predictive threshold cycle (c(t)) equation was developed to calculate the number of starting copies based ... | 2008 | 18424532 |
| leptospirosis-associated severe pulmonary hemorrhagic syndrome, salvador, brazil. | we report the emergence of leptospirosis-associated severe pulmonary hemorrhagic syndrome (sphs) in slum communities in salvador, brazil. although active surveillance did not identify sphs before 2003, 47 cases were identified from 2003 through 2005; the case-fatality rate was 74%. by 2005, sphs caused 55% of the deaths due to leptospirosis. | 2008 | 18325275 |
| cohesion group approach for evolutionary analysis of tyra, a protein family with wide-ranging substrate specificities. | many enzymes and other proteins are difficult subjects for bioinformatic analysis because they exhibit variant catalytic, structural, regulatory, and fusion mode features within a protein family whose sequences are not highly conserved. however, such features reflect dynamic and interesting scenarios of evolutionary importance. the value of experimental data obtained from individual organisms is instantly magnified to the extent that given features of the experimental organism can be projected u ... | 2008 | 18322033 |
| reliability and applications of statistical methods based on oligonucleotide frequencies in bacterial and archaeal genomes. | the increasing number of sequenced prokaryotic genomes contains a wealth of genomic data that needs to be effectively analysed. a set of statistical tools exists for such analysis, but their strengths and weaknesses have not been fully explored. the statistical methods we are concerned with here are mainly used to examine similarities between archaeal and bacterial dna from different genomes. these methods compare observed genomic frequencies of fixed-sized oligonucleotides with expected values, ... | 2008 | 18307761 |
| averaging of electron subtomograms and random conical tilt reconstructions through likelihood optimization. | the reference-free averaging of three-dimensional electron microscopy (3d-em) reconstructions with empty regions in fourier space represents a pressing problem in electron tomography and single-particle analysis. we present a maximum likelihood algorithm for the simultaneous alignment and classification of subtomograms or random conical tilt (rct) reconstructions, where the fourier components in the missing data regions are treated as hidden variables. the behavior of this algorithm was explored ... | 2009 | 20004160 |
| unifying vertical and nonvertical evolution: a stochastic arg-based framework. | evolutionary biologists have introduced numerous statistical approaches to explore nonvertical evolution, such as horizontal gene transfer, recombination, and genomic reassortment, through collections of markov-dependent gene trees. these tree collections allow for inference of nonvertical evolution, but only indirectly, making findings difficult to interpret and models difficult to generalize. an alternative approach to explore nonvertical evolution relies on phylogenetic networks. these networ ... | 2009 | 20525618 |
| unifying vertical and nonvertical evolution: a stochastic arg-based framework. | evolutionary biologists have introduced numerous statistical approaches to explore nonvertical evolution, such as horizontal gene transfer, recombination, and genomic reassortment, through collections of markov-dependent gene trees. these tree collections allow for inference of nonvertical evolution, but only indirectly, making findings difficult to interpret and models difficult to generalize. an alternative approach to explore nonvertical evolution relies on phylogenetic networks. these networ ... | 2009 | 20525618 |
| comparing cellular proteomes by mass spectrometry. | mass spectrometry and cryo-electron tomography together enable the determination of the absolute and relative abundances of proteins and their localization, laying the groundwork for comprehensive systems analyses of cells. | 2009 | 19886975 |
| sphingomyelin metabolism at the plasma membrane: implications for bioactive sphingolipids. | the plasma membrane (pm) is a major resource for production of bioactive lipids and contains a large proportion of the cellular sphingomyelin (sm) content. consequently, the regulation of sm levels at the pm by enzymes such as sphingomyelinase (smase) and sm synthase 2 (sms2) can have profound effects - both on biophysical properties of the membrane, but also on cellular signaling. over the past 20 years, there has been considerable research into the physiological and cellular functions associat ... | 2009 | 19857494 |
| sphingomyelin metabolism at the plasma membrane: implications for bioactive sphingolipids. | the plasma membrane (pm) is a major resource for production of bioactive lipids and contains a large proportion of the cellular sphingomyelin (sm) content. consequently, the regulation of sm levels at the pm by enzymes such as sphingomyelinase (smase) and sm synthase 2 (sms2) can have profound effects - both on biophysical properties of the membrane, but also on cellular signaling. over the past 20 years, there has been considerable research into the physiological and cellular functions associat ... | 2009 | 19857494 |
| molecular basis of substrate promiscuity for the sam-dependent o-methyltransferase ncsb1, involved in the biosynthesis of the enediyne antitumor antibiotic neocarzinostatin. | the small molecule component of chromoprotein enediyne antitumor antibiotics is biosynthesized through a convergent route, incorporating amino acid, polyketide, and carbohydrate building blocks around a central enediyne hydrocarbon core. the naphthoic acid moiety of the enediyne neocarzinostatin plays key roles in the biological activity of the natural product by interacting with both the carrier protein and duplex dna at the site of action. we have previously described the in vitro characteriza ... | 2009 | 19702337 |
| absolute abundance for the masses. | | 2009 | 19741640 |
| testing and validation of high density resequencing microarray for broad range biothreat agents detection. | rapid and effective detection and identification of emerging microbiological threats and potential biowarfare agents is very challenging when using traditional culture-based methods. contemporary molecular techniques, relying upon reverse transcription and/or polymerase chain reaction (rt-pcr/pcr) provide a rapid and effective alternative, however, such assays are generally designed and optimized to detect only a limited number of targets, and seldom are capable of differentiation among variants ... | 2009 | 19668365 |
| a hidden reservoir of integrative elements is the major source of recently acquired foreign genes and orfans in archaeal and bacterial genomes. | archaeal and bacterial genomes contain a number of genes of foreign origin that arose from recent horizontal gene transfer, but the role of integrative elements (ies), such as viruses, plasmids, and transposable elements, in this process has not been extensively quantified. moreover, it is not known whether ies play an important role in the origin of orfans (open reading frames without matches in current sequence databases), whose proportion remains stable despite the growing number of complete ... | 2009 | 19531232 |
| therapeutic targeting of toll-like receptors for infectious and inflammatory diseases and cancer. | since first being described in the fruit fly drosophila melanogaster, toll-like receptors (tlrs) have proven to be of great interest to immunologists and investigators interested in the molecular basis to inflammation. they recognize pathogen-derived factors and also products of inflamed tissue, and trigger signaling pathways that lead to activation of transcription factors such as nuclear factor-kappab and the interferon regulatory factors. these in turn lead to induction of immune and inflamma ... | 2009 | 19474110 |
| overview of toll-like receptors in the cns. | mammalian toll-like receptors (tlrs) were first identified in 1997 based on their homology with drosophila toll, which mediates innate immunity in the fly. over the past eight years, the number of manuscripts describing tlr expression and function in the central nervous system (cns) has been increasing steadily and expanding beyond their traditional roles in infectious diseases to neurodegenerative disorders and injury. interest in the field serves as the impetus for this volume in the current t ... | 2009 | 19688325 |
| novel pharmacologic approaches to the management of sepsis: targeting the host inflammatory response. | sepsis is currently the 10(th) leading cause of death overall and accounts for significant healthcare expenditures in the developed world. there are now more deaths attributable to sepsis than coronary artery disease, stroke, or cancer, and it is widely believed that the incidence of sepsis and sepsis-related mortality will continue to rise. based on these sobering statistics, there is great interest in identifying novel treatments for managing critically ill children and adults with sepsis. unf ... | 2009 | 19519586 |
| unifying themes in microbial associations with animal and plant hosts described using the gene ontology. | microbes form intimate relationships with hosts (symbioses) that range from mutualism to parasitism. common microbial mechanisms involved in a successful host association include adhesion, entry of the microbe or its effector proteins into the host cell, mitigation of host defenses, and nutrient acquisition. genes associated with these microbial mechanisms are known for a broad range of symbioses, revealing both divergent and convergent strategies. effective comparisons among these symbioses, ho ... | 2010 | 21119014 |
| exploring the spatial and temporal organization of a cell's proteome. | to increase our current understanding of cellular processes, such as cell signaling and division, knowledge is needed about the spatial and temporal organization of the proteome at different organizational levels. these levels cover a wide range of length and time scales: from the atomic structures of macromolecules for inferring their molecular function, to the quantitative description of their abundance, and spatial distribution in the cell. emerging new experimental technologies are greatly i ... | 2010 | 21094684 |
| exploring the spatial and temporal organization of a cell's proteome. | to increase our current understanding of cellular processes, such as cell signaling and division, knowledge is needed about the spatial and temporal organization of the proteome at different organizational levels. these levels cover a wide range of length and time scales: from the atomic structures of macromolecules for inferring their molecular function, to the quantitative description of their abundance, and spatial distribution in the cell. emerging new experimental technologies are greatly i ... | 2010 | 21094684 |
| leptospirosis presenting in a woman with fulminant hepatic failure from wilson's disease: a case report. | we report an unusual case of wilson's disease that was revealed by presentation of leptospirosis. the prompt detection of this potentially life-threatening disease highlights the importance of careful investigation. to the best of our knowledge, this is the first reported case of leptospirosis involving the development of fulminant liver failure due to wilson's disease. | 2010 | 20698945 |
| differences in clinical manifestations of imported versus autochthonous leptospirosis in austria and germany. | leptospirosis, a zoonosis occurring worldwide, has a broad spectrum of clinical manifestations. recently, various countries observed an increase of severe anicteric cases. in austria and germany, growing numbers of imported cases are notified in addition to autochthonous infections. the aim of this study was to assess whether imported and autochthonous cases differ in clinical manifestations and outcome. we retrospectively analyzed 24 imported and 35 autochthonous cases treated in six infectious ... | 2010 | 20682876 |
| nuclear receptors and inflammation control: molecular mechanisms and pathophysiological relevance. | tissue inflammation is a tightly regulated process that normally serves to recruit the immune system to sites of infection and injury and to facilitate tissue repair processes. when an inflammatory state is excessive or prolonged, local and systemic damage to host tissues can result in loss of normal physiological functions. here, we briefly review recent studies that advance our understanding of signaling pathways involved in initiation of inflammatory responses at the level of transcription an ... | 2010 | 20631355 |
| intergenic transposable elements are not randomly distributed in bacteria. | insertion sequences (iss) are mobile genetic elements in bacterial genomes. in general, intergenic is elements are probably less deleterious for their hosts than intragenic iss, simply because they have a lower likelihood of disrupting native genes. however, since promoters, shine-dalgarno sequences, and transcription factor binding sites are intergenic and upstream of genes, i hypothesized that not all neighboring gene orientations (ngos) are selectively equivalent for is insertion. to test thi ... | 2010 | 20697140 |
| toll-like receptor agonists: are they good adjuvants? | therapeutic immunization leading to cancer regression remains a significant challenge. successful immunization requires activation of adaptive immunity, including tumor specific cd4 t cells and cd8 t cells. generally, the activation of t cells is compromised in patients with cancer because of immune suppression, loss of tumor antigen expression, and dysfunction of antigen-presenting cells. antigen-presenting cells such as dendritic cells (dcs) are key for the induction of adaptive antitumor immu ... | 2010 | 20693851 |
| save the tree of life or get lost in the woods. | the wealth of prokaryotic genomic data available has revealed that the histories of many genes are inconsistent, leading some to question the value of the tree of life hypothesis. it has been argued that a tree-like representation requires suppressing too much information, and that a more pluralistic approach is necessary for understanding prokaryotic evolution. we argue that trees may still be a useful representation for evolutionary histories in light of new data. | 2010 | 20594329 |
| host-microbe interactions in the developing zebrafish. | the amenability of the zebrafish to in vivo imaging and genetic analysis has fueled expanded use of this vertebrate model to investigate the molecular and cellular foundations of host-microbe relationships. study of microbial encounters in zebrafish hosts has concentrated on developing embryonic and larval stages, when the advantages of the zebrafish model are maximized. a comprehensive understanding of these host-microbe interactions requires appreciation of the developmental context into which ... | 2010 | 20153622 |
| a persistent and diverse airway microbiota present during chronic obstructive pulmonary disease exacerbations. | acute exacerbations of chronic obstructive pulmonary disease (copd) are a major source of morbidity and contribute significantly to healthcare costs. although bacterial infections are implicated in nearly 50% of exacerbations, only a handful of pathogens have been consistently identified in copd airways, primarily by culture-based methods, and the bacterial microbiota in acute exacerbations remains largely uncharacterized. the aim of this study was to comprehensively profile airway bacterial com ... | 2010 | 20141328 |
| the path to next generation biofuels: successes and challenges in the era of synthetic biology. | volatility of oil prices along with major concerns about climate change, oil supply security and depleting reserves have sparked renewed interest in the production of fuels from renewable resources. recent advances in synthetic biology provide new tools for metabolic engineers to direct their strategies and construct optimal biocatalysts for the sustainable production of biofuels. metabolic engineering and synthetic biology efforts entailing the engineering of native and de novo pathways for con ... | 2010 | 20089184 |
| leptospirosis diagnosed by molecular dna detection on skin biopsy. | leptospirosis is one of the most common anthropozoonoses in the world. humans are accidental hosts who get infected through damaged skin or conjunctiva from environmental sources such as soil and water contaminated by urine or tissues from infected animals. we report the case of a young man for whom the diagnosis was obtained by polymerase chain reaction (pcr) detection from a skin biopsy. | 2010 | 22242069 |
| tlr cross-talk mechanism of hemorrhagic shock-primed pulmonary neutrophil infiltration. | hemorrhage resulted from severe trauma renders patients susceptible to the development of acute lung injury (ali). the accumulation of polymorphonuclear neutrophils (pmn) in the lung is a critical event in the development of ali. pmn migration is a result of a cascade of cellular events, in which pmn, endothelial cells (ec), and macrophages (mϕ) act in concert. recent studies explored interrelated novel findings indicating that toll-like receptors (tlrs) cross-talk mechanisms occurring in pmn, e ... | 2010 | 20072711 |
| early identification of leptospirosis-associated pulmonary hemorrhage syndrome by use of a validated prediction model. | to identify prediction factors for the development of leptospirosis-associated pulmonary hemorrhage syndrome (lphs). | 2010 | 20026189 |
| early identification of leptospirosis-associated pulmonary hemorrhage syndrome by use of a validated prediction model. | to identify prediction factors for the development of leptospirosis-associated pulmonary hemorrhage syndrome (lphs). | 2010 | 20026189 |
| putting structure into context: fitting of atomic models into electron microscopic and electron tomographic reconstructions. | a complete understanding of complex dynamic cellular processes such as cell migration or cell adhesion requires the integration of atomic level structural information into the larger cellular context. while direct atomic-level information at the cellular level remains inaccessible, electron microscopy, electron tomography and their associated computational image processing approaches have now matured to a point where sub-cellular structures can be imaged in three dimensions at the nanometer scal ... | 2011 | 22152946 |
| putting structure into context: fitting of atomic models into electron microscopic and electron tomographic reconstructions. | a complete understanding of complex dynamic cellular processes such as cell migration or cell adhesion requires the integration of atomic level structural information into the larger cellular context. while direct atomic-level information at the cellular level remains inaccessible, electron microscopy, electron tomography and their associated computational image processing approaches have now matured to a point where sub-cellular structures can be imaged in three dimensions at the nanometer scal ... | 2011 | 22152946 |
| investment in rapid growth shapes the evolutionary rates of essential proteins. | proteins evolve at very different rates and, most notably, at rates inversely proportional to the level at which they are produced. the relative frequency of highly expressed proteins in the proteome, and thus their impact on the cell budget, increases steeply with growth rate. the maximal growth rate is a key life-history trait reflecting trade-offs between rapid growth and other fitness components. we show that the maximal growth rate is weakly affected by genetic drift. the negative correlati ... | 2011 | 22135464 |
| bridging the gap between validation and implementation of non-animal veterinary vaccine potency testing methods. | in recent years, technologically advanced high-throughput techniques have been developed that replace, reduce or refine animal use in vaccine quality control tests. following validation, these tests are slowly being accepted for use by international regulatory authorities. because regulatory acceptance itself has not guaranteed that approved humane methods are adopted by manufacturers, various organizations have sought to foster the preferential use of validated non-animal methods by interfacing ... | 2011 | 26486625 |
| proteogenomic analysis of bacteria and archaea: a 46 organism case study. | experimental evidence is increasingly being used to reassess the quality and accuracy of genome annotation. proteomics data used for this purpose, called proteogenomics, can alleviate many of the problematic areas of genome annotation, e.g. short protein validation and start site assignment. we performed a proteogenomic analysis of 46 genomes spanning eight bacterial and archaeal phyla across the tree of life. these diverse datasets facilitated the development of a robust approach for proteogeno ... | 2011 | 22114679 |
| generic comparison of protein inference engines. | protein identifications, instead of peptide-spectrum matches, constitute the biologically relevant result of shotgun proteomics studies. how to appropriately infer and report protein identifications has triggered a still ongoing debate. this debate has so far suffered from the lack of appropriate performance measures that allow us to objectively assess protein inference approaches. this study describes an intuitive, generic and yet formal performance measure and demonstrates how it enables exper ... | 2011 | 22057310 |
| generic comparison of protein inference engines. | protein identifications, instead of peptide-spectrum matches, constitute the biologically relevant result of shotgun proteomics studies. how to appropriately infer and report protein identifications has triggered a still ongoing debate. this debate has so far suffered from the lack of appropriate performance measures that allow us to objectively assess protein inference approaches. this study describes an intuitive, generic and yet formal performance measure and demonstrates how it enables exper ... | 2011 | 22057310 |
| toll-like receptors and myocardial inflammation. | toll-like receptors (tlrs) are a member of the innate immune system. tlrs detect invading pathogens through the pathogen-associated molecular patterns (pamps) recognition and play an essential role in the host defense. tlrs can also sense a large number of endogenous molecules with the damage-associated molecular patterns (damps) that are produced under various injurious conditions. animal studies of the last decade have demonstrated that tlr signaling contributes to the pathogenesis of the crit ... | 2011 | 21977329 |
| leptospirosis as frequent cause of acute febrile illness in southern sri lanka. | to determine the proportion of fevers caused by leptospirosis, we obtained serum specimens and epidemiologic and clinical data from patients in galle, sri lanka, march-october 2007. immunoglobulin m elisa was performed on paired serum specimens to diagnose acute (seroconversion or 4-fold titer rise) or past (titer without rise) leptospirosis and seroprevalence (acute). we compared (individually) the diagnostic yield of acute-phase specimens and clinical impression with paired specimens for acute ... | 2011 | 21888794 |
| leptospirosis among hospitalized febrile patients in northern tanzania. | we enrolled consecutive febrile admissions to two hospitals in moshi, tanzania. confirmed leptospirosis was defined as a ≥ 4-fold increase in microscopic agglutination test (mat) titer; probable leptospirosis as reciprocal mat titer ≥ 800; and exposure to pathogenic leptospires as titer ≥ 100. among 870 patients enrolled in the study, 453 (52.1%) had paired sera available, and 40 (8.8%) of these met the definition for confirmed leptospirosis. of 832 patients with ≥ 1 serum sample available, 30 ( ... | 2011 | 21813847 |
| similar structures but different roles - an updated perspective on tlr structures. | toll-like receptors (tlrs) are pattern recognition receptors that recognize conserved structures in pathogens, trigger innate immune responses, and prime antigen-specific adaptive immunity. elucidation of crystal structures of tlrs interacting with their ligands such as tlr1-2 with triacylated lipopeptide, tlr2-6 with diacylated lipopeptide, tlr4-md-2 with lps, and tlr3 with double-stranded rna (dsrna) have enabled an understanding of the initiation of tlr signaling. agonistic ligands such as lp ... | 2011 | 21845181 |
| production of reactive oxygen (h2o2) and nitrogen (no) intermediates and tnf-α in mice genetically selected for high (h) and low (l) antibody response and experimentally infected with leptospira serovar pomona. | the aim of the present study was to evaluate the activity of macrophages, and the production of tnf-α and antibodies against experimental infection by leptospira serovar pomona in mice genetically selected for high (h) or low (l) humoral immune response. to evaluate macrophagic activity, peritoneal and splenic lavages were performed for determination of oxygen (h2o2) and nitrogen (no) intermediates. the production of the tumor necrosis factor (tnf-α) was investigated through bioassays in serum a ... | 2011 | 24031688 |
| outpatient follow-up of patients hospitalized for acute leptospirosis. | the outcome of leptospirosis after the resolution of acute disease, either spontaneously or after treatment, is not well described. the aim of this study was to assess the possible sequelae of acute leptospirosis after hospital discharge. | 2011 | 21616696 |
| trapping conformational states along ligand-binding dynamics of peptide deformylase: the impact of induced fit on enzyme catalysis. | for several decades, molecular recognition has been considered one of the most fundamental processes in biochemistry. for enzymes, substrate binding is often coupled to conformational changes that alter the local environment of the active site to align the reactive groups for efficient catalysis and to reach the transition state. adaptive substrate recognition is a well-known concept; however, it has been poorly characterized at a structural level because of its dynamic nature. here, we provide ... | 2011 | 21629676 |
| sporadic urban leptospirosis. | severe leptospirosis (weil syndrome) was diagnosed in an otherwise healthy environmental worker in baltimore alleys in late november 2010. he developed multiple organ failure but responded to antibiotic therapy and experienced a full recovery within 4 weeks. his diagnosis was confirmed by a rise in indirect hemagglutinin titer (acute 0, convalescent 400). the subject had close contact with baltimore alley rats; a similar epidemiologic exposure and location reported in an outbreak 15 years ago. | 2011 | 23882321 |
| chemical analysis of single cells. | | 2011 | 21500835 |
| directed networks reveal genomic barriers and dna repair bypasses to lateral gene transfer among prokaryotes. | lateral gene transfer (lgt) plays a major role in prokaryote evolution with only a few genes that are resistant to it; yet the nature and magnitude of barriers to lateral transfer are still debated. here, we implement directed networks to investigate donor-recipient events of recent lateral gene transfer among 657 sequenced prokaryote genomes. for 2,129,548 genes investigated, we detected 446,854 recent lateral gene transfer events through nucleotide pattern analysis. among these, donor-recipien ... | 2011 | 21270172 |
| ataqs: a computational software tool for high throughput transition optimization and validation for selected reaction monitoring mass spectrometry. | since its inception, proteomics has essentially operated in a discovery mode with the goal of identifying and quantifying the maximal number of proteins in a sample. increasingly, proteomic measurements are also supporting hypothesis-driven studies, in which a predetermined set of proteins is consistently detected and quantified in multiple samples. selected reaction monitoring (srm) is a targeted mass spectrometric technique that supports the detection and quantification of specific proteins in ... | 2011 | 21414234 |
| detection of severe fever with thrombocytopenia syndrome virus by reverse transcription-cross-priming amplification coupled with vertical flow visualization. | a virus known as severe fever with thrombocytopenia syndrome virus (sftsv) was recently identified as the etiological agent of severe fever with thrombocytopenia syndrome (sfts) in china. reliable laboratory detection and identification of this virus are likely to become clinically and epidemiologically desirable. we developed a nearly instrument-free, simple molecular method which incorporates reverse transcription-cross-priming amplification (rt-cpa) coupled with a vertical flow (vf) visualiza ... | 2012 | 22993179 |
| a novel tetravalent leptospira bacterin protects against infection and shedding following challenge in dogs. | recent evidence based on the current epidemiological situation suggests that vaccines against canine leptospirosis in europe should be directed against infection with leptospira interrogans (sensu lato) serogroups canicola, icterohaemorrhagiae, grippotyphosa and australis. in the eight studies presented here, dogs were vaccinated with nobivac l4 (msd animal health), a new tetravalent inactivated vaccine containing antigen from four strains representing these four serogroups. the dogs were then c ... | 2012 | 23180149 |
| a novel tetravalent leptospira bacterin protects against infection and shedding following challenge in dogs. | recent evidence based on the current epidemiological situation suggests that vaccines against canine leptospirosis in europe should be directed against infection with leptospira interrogans (sensu lato) serogroups canicola, icterohaemorrhagiae, grippotyphosa and australis. in the eight studies presented here, dogs were vaccinated with nobivac l4 (msd animal health), a new tetravalent inactivated vaccine containing antigen from four strains representing these four serogroups. the dogs were then c ... | 2012 | 23180149 |
| structure determination of lpxa from the lipopolysaccharide-synthesis pathway of acinetobacter baumannii. | acinetobacter baumannii is a gram-negative pathogenic bacterium which is resistant to most currently available antibiotics and that poses a significant health threat to hospital patients. lpxa is a key enzyme in the biosynthetic pathway of the lipopolysaccharides that are components of the bacterial outer membrane. it is a potential target for antibacterial agents that might be used to fight a. baumannii infections. this paper describes the structure determination of the apo form of lpxa in spac ... | 2012 | 23192027 |
| serosurveillance for livestock pathogens in free-ranging mule deer (odocoileus hemionus). | routine disease surveillance has been conducted for decades in mule deer (odocoileus hemionus) in california for pathogens shared between wildlife and domestic ruminants that may have implications for the animal production industry and wildlife health. deer sampled from 1990 to 2007 (n = 2,619) were tested for exposure to six pathogens: bluetongue virus (btv), epizootic hemorrhagic disease virus (ehdv), bovine viral diarrhea virus (bvdv), leptospira spp., anaplasma spp. and brucella spp. we eval ... | 2012 | 23209790 |
| accuracy of a dual path platform (dpp) assay for the rapid point-of-care diagnosis of human leptospirosis. | diagnosis of leptospirosis by the gold standard serologic assay, the microscopic agglutination test (mat), requires paired sera and is not widely available. we developed a rapid assay using immunodominant leptospira immunoglobulin-like (lig) proteins in a dual path platform (dpp). this study aimed to evaluate the assay's diagnostic performance in the setting of urban transmission. | 2012 | 23133686 |
| quantification of bacterial indicators and zoonotic pathogens in dairy wastewater ponds. | zoonotic pathogens in land-applied dairy wastewaters are a potential health risk. the occurrence and abundance of 10 pathogens and 3 fecal indicators were determined by quantitative real-time pcr (qpcr) in samples from 30 dairy wastewaters from southern idaho. samples tested positive for campylobacter jejuni, stx(1)- and eaea-positive escherichia coli, listeria monocytogenes, mycobacterium avium subsp. paratuberculosis, and salmonella enterica, with mean recoveries of genomic dna corresponding t ... | 2012 | 22983964 |
| leptospirosis outbreaks in nicaragua: identifying critical areas and exploring drivers for evidence-based planning. | leptospirosis is an epidemic-prone zoonotic disease that occurs worldwide. in central america, leptospirosis outbreaks have been reported in almost all countries; nicaragua in particular has faced several outbreaks. the objective of this study was to stratify the risk and identify "critical areas" for leptospirosis outbreaks in nicaragua, and to perform an exploratory analysis of potential "drivers". this ecological study includes the entire country (153 municipalities). cases from 2004 to 2010 ... | 2012 | 23202822 |
| leptospira and inflammation. | leptospirosis is an important zoonosis and has a worldwide impact on public health. this paper will discuss both the role of immunogenic and pathogenic molecules during leptospirosis infection and possible new targets for immunotherapy against leptospira components. leptospira, possess a wide variety of mechanisms that allow them to evade the host immune system and cause infection. many molecules contribute to the ability of leptospira to adhere, invade, and colonize. the recent sequencing of th ... | 2012 | 23132959 |
| evaluation of immunoprotective activity of six leptospiral proteins in the hamster model of leptospirosis. | leptospirosis is a worldwide zoonosis caused by pathogenic leptospira. the whole-genome sequence of l. interrogans serovar copenhageni together with bioinformatics tools represent a great opportunity to search for novel antigen candidates that could be used as subunit vaccine against leptospirosis. we focused on six genes encoding for conserved hypothetical proteins predicted to be exported to the outer membrane. the genes were amplified by pcr from leptospira interrogans genomic dna and were cl ... | 2012 | 23173023 |
| plasminogen binding proteins and plasmin generation on the surface of leptospira spp.: the contribution to the bacteria-host interactions. | leptospirosis is considered a neglected infectious disease of human and veterinary concern. although extensive investigations on host-pathogen interactions have been pursued by several research groups, mechanisms of infection, invasion and persistence of pathogenic leptospira spp. remain to be elucidated. we have reported the ability of leptospires to bind human plasminogen (plg) and to generate enzimatically active plasmin (pla) on the bacteria surface. pla-coated leptospira can degrade immobil ... | 2012 | 23118516 |
| humanized tlr4/md-2 mice reveal lps recognition differentially impacts susceptibility to yersinia pestis and salmonella enterica. | although lipopolysaccharide (lps) stimulation through the toll-like receptor (tlr)-4/md-2 receptor complex activates host defense against gram-negative bacterial pathogens, how species-specific differences in lps recognition impact host defense remains undefined. herein, we establish how temperature dependent shifts in the lipid a of yersinia pestis lps that differentially impact recognition by mouse versus human tlr4/md-2 dictate infection susceptibility. when grown at 37°c, y. pestis lps is hy ... | 2012 | 23071439 |
| characterization of nitric oxide-inducing lipid a derived from mesorhizobium loti lipopolysaccharide. | mesorhizobium loti is a member of the rhizobia and forms nitrogen-fixing symbioses with several lotus species. recently, it was reported that m. loti bacterial cells and their lipopolysaccharide (lps) preparations transiently induced nitric oxide (no) production in the roots of l. japonicus. we subsequently found that polysaccharides and the lipid a moiety were responsible for this no induction. in this study, we elucidated the chemical structure of m. loti lipid a and characterized its no-induc ... | 2012 | 23059724 |
| evolutionary analyses of non-genealogical bonds produced by introgressive descent. | all evolutionary biologists are familiar with evolutionary units that evolve by vertical descent in a tree-like fashion in single lineages. however, many other kinds of processes contribute to evolutionary diversity. in vertical descent, the genetic material of a particular evolutionary unit is propagated by replication inside its own lineage. in what we call introgressive descent, the genetic material of a particular evolutionary unit propagates into different host structures and is replicated ... | 2012 | 23090996 |
| fatal co-infection--melioidosis and leptospirosis. | co-infection of melioidosis and leptospirosis is uncommon. we report here four such cases, confirmed by blood culture for melioidosis and blood polymerase-chain reaction for leptospirosis, which occurred among rescuers involved in a search and rescue operation for a young man who was suspected to have drowned in lubuk yu, a recreational forest in pahang, malaysia. despite treatment, three of the patients died from the co-infection. | 2012 | 22826499 |
| health assessment and seroepidemiologic survey of potential pathogens in wild antillean manatees (trichechus manatus manatus). | the antillean manatee (trichechus manatus manatus), a subspecies of the west indian manatee, inhabits fresh, brackish, and warm coastal waters distributed along the eastern border of central america, the northern coast of south america, and throughout the wider caribbean region. threatened primarily by human encroachment, poaching, and habitat degradation, antillean manatees are listed as endangered by the international union for the conservation of nature. the impact of disease on population vi ... | 2012 | 22984521 |
| the future of human dna vaccines. | dna vaccines have evolved greatly over the last 20 years since their invention, but have yet to become a competitive alternative to conventional protein or carbohydrate based human vaccines. whilst safety concerns were an initial barrier, the achilles heel of dna vaccines remains their poor immunogenicity when compared to protein vaccines. a wide variety of strategies have been developed to optimize dna vaccine immunogenicity, including codon optimization, genetic adjuvants, electroporation and ... | 2012 | 22981627 |