Search results for "back"
showing 10 items of 2078 documents
Importance of Propionibacterium acnes hemolytic activity in human intervertebral discs: A microbiological study
2018
Most patients with chronic lower back pain (CLBP) exhibit degenerative disc disease. Disc specimens obtained during initial therapeutic discectomies are often infected/colonized with Propionibacterium acnes, a Gram-positive commensal of the human skin. Although pain associated with infection is typically ascribed to the body's inflammatory response, the Gram-positive bacterium Staphylococcus aureus was recently observed to directly activate nociceptors by secreting pore-forming α-hemolysins that disrupt neuronal cell membranes. The hemolytic activity of P. acnes in cultured disc specimens obtained during routine therapeutic discectomies was assessed through incubation on sheep-blood agar. T…
Integrative Model for Binding of Bacillus thuringiensis Toxins in Susceptible and Resistant Larvae of the Diamondback Moth (Plutella xylostella)
1999
ABSTRACT Insecticidal crystal proteins from Bacillus thuringiensis in sprays and transgenic crops are extremely useful for environmentally sound pest management, but their long-term efficacy is threatened by evolution of resistance by target pests. The diamondback moth ( Plutella xylostella ) is the first insect to evolve resistance to B. thuringiensis in open-field populations. The only known mechanism of resistance to B. thuringiensis in the diamondback moth is reduced binding of toxin to midgut binding sites. In the present work we analyzed competitive binding of B. thuringiensis toxins Cry1Aa, Cry1Ab, Cry1Ac, and Cry1F to brush border membrane vesicles from larval midguts in a susceptib…
Shared Binding Sites in Lepidoptera for Bacillus thuringiensis Cry1Ja and Cry1A Toxins
2001
ABSTRACT Bacillus thuringiensis toxins act by binding to specific target sites in the insect midgut epithelial membrane. The best-known mechanism of resistance to B. thuringiensis toxins is reduced binding to target sites. Because alteration of a binding site shared by several toxins may cause resistance to all of them, knowledge of which toxins share binding sites is useful for predicting cross-resistance. Conversely, cross-resistance among toxins suggests that the toxins share a binding site. At least two strains of diamondback moth ( Plutella xylostella ) with resistance to Cry1A toxins and reduced binding of Cry1A toxins have strong cross-resistance to Cry1Ja. Thus, we hypothesized that…
Variation in Susceptibility to Bacillus thuringiensis Toxins among Unselected Strains of Plutella xylostella
2001
ABSTRACT So far, the only insect that has evolved resistance in the field to Bacillus thuringiensis toxins is the diamondback moth ( Plutella xylostella ). Documentation and analysis of resistant strains rely on comparisons with laboratory strains that have not been exposed to B. thuringiensis toxins. Previously published reports show considerable variation among laboratories in responses of unselected laboratory strains to B. thuringiensis toxins. Because different laboratories have used different unselected strains, such variation could be caused by differences in bioassay methods among laboratories, genetic differences among unselected strains, or both. Here we tested three unselected st…
High Genetic Variability for Resistance to Bacillus thuringiensis Toxins in a Single Population of Diamondback Moth
2001
ABSTRACT The long-term benefit of insecticidal products based on Cry toxins, either in sprays or as transgenic crops, is threatened by the development of resistance by target pests. The models used to predict evolution of resistance to Cry toxins most often are monogenic models in which two alleles are used. Moreover, the high-dose/refuge strategy recommended for implementation with transgenic crops relies on the assumption that the resistance allele is recessive. Using selection experiments, we demonstrated the occurrence in a laboratory colony of diamondback moth of two different genes (either allelic or nonallelic) that confer resistance to Cry1Ab. At the concentration tested, resistance…
Global variation in the genetic and biochemical basis of diamondback moth resistance to Bacillus thuringiensis
1997
Insecticidal proteins from the soil bacterium Bacillus thuringiensis (Bt) are becoming a cornerstone of ecologically sound pest management. However, if pests quickly adapt, the benefits of environmentally benign Bt toxins in sprays and genetically engineered crops will be short-lived. The diamondback moth ( Plutella xylostella ) is the first insect to evolve resistance to Bt in open-field populations. Here we report that populations from Hawaii and Pennsylvania share a genetic locus at which a recessive mutation associated with reduced toxin binding confers extremely high resistance to four Bt toxins. In contrast, resistance in a population from the Philippines shows multilocus control, a …
Genetic and Biochemical Approach for Characterization of Resistance to Bacillus thuringiensis Toxin Cry1Ac in a Field Population of the Diamondback M…
2000
ABSTRACT Four subpopulations of a Plutella xylostella (L.) strain from Malaysia (F 4 to F 8 ) were selected with Bacillus thuringiensis subsp. kurstaki HD-1, Bacillus thuringiensis subsp. aizawai , Cry1Ab, and Cry1Ac, respectively, while a fifth subpopulation was left as unselected (UNSEL-MEL). Bioassays at F 9 found that selection with Cry1Ac, Cry1Ab, B. thuringiensis subsp. kurstaki , and B. thuringiensis subsp. aizawai gave resistance ratios of >95, 10, 7, and 3, respectively, compared with UNSEL-MEL (>10,500, 500, >100, and 26, respectively, compared with a susceptible population, ROTH). Resistance to Cry1Ac, Cry1Ab, B. thuringiensis subsp. kurstaki , and B. thuringiensis subsp…
CMB Anisotropy Computations Using Hydra Gas Code
2014
From FFP6 to FFP11, we presented the advances in our Cosmic Microwave Background (CMB) anisotropy computations using N-body Hydra Codes. For such computations, codes without baryons were used: First sequential versions and afterwards parallel ones. With both of them we computed the weak lensing and the Rees-Sciama contributions to the CMB angular power spectrum. Using our numerical techniques, we reported a lensing effect higher than that estimated in previous papers (for very small angular scales). Our CMB computations require less interpolations and approximations than other approaches. This could explain part of our excess of power in lensing computations. Our higher time and angular res…
A New Numerical Approach to Estimate the Sunyaev–Zel’dovich Effect
2013
Several years ago, we designed a particular ray tracing method. Combined with a Hydra parallel code (without baryons), it may compute some CMB anisotropies: weak lensing (WL) and Rees–Sciama (RS) effects. Only dark matter is fully necessary to estimate these effects. For very small angular scales, we made an exhaustive study leading to a lensing contribution slightly—but significantly—greater than previous ones. Afterwards, the same ray tracing procedure was included in a parallel Hydra code with baryons. The resulting code was then tested. This code is being currently applied to the study of the thermal and kinetic Sunyaev–Zel’dovich (SZ) contributions to the CMB anisotropies. We present h…
Ediacaran, Early Ordovician and early Silurian arcs in the South Tianshan orogen of Kyrgyzstan
2020
Abstract The oldest magmatic rocks from the South Tianshan orogen of Kyrgyzstan (STS) are important for better understanding of the Neoproterozoic and early Palaeozoic evolution of the southwestern Central Asian Orogenic Belt. Bulk rock major and trace element and Sm-Nd isotopic composition and zircon U-Pb ages of granitoids from melange blocks reveal two previously unknown episodes of arc magmatism in the STS orogen of Kyrgyzstan, namely, the Ediacaran (ca. 624 Ma) and Early Ordovician (ca. 472 Ma) episodes. Moderately positive ɛNd(t) value of + 5.8 of the Ediacaran granodiorite indicates a mainly juvenile source for this rock. Negative ɛNd(t) value of −9.1 for the Early Ordovician granodi…