Search results for "microbiology"

Investigation and control of a Norovirus outbreak of probable waterborne transmission through a municipal groundwater system

2014

During March 2011 an outbreak of gastroenteritis occurred in Santo Stefano di Quisquina, Agrigento, Sicily, Italy. Within two weeks 156 cases were identified among the 4,965 people living in the municipality. An epidemiological investigation was conducted to characterize the outbreak and target the control measures. A case was defined as a person developing diarrhea or vomiting during February 27–March 13, 2011. Stool specimens were collected from 12 cases. Norovirus (NoV) genotype GII.4 variant New Orleans 2009 was identified in stool samples from 11 of 12 cases tested (91.7%). Epidemiological investigations suggested a possible association with municipal drinking water consumption. Water …

Consistency of Targeted Metatranscriptomics and Morphological Characterization of Phytoplankton Communities

2020

The composition of phytoplankton community is the basis for environmental monitoring and assessment of the ecological status of aquatic ecosystems. Community composition studies of phytoplankton have been based on time-consuming and expertise-demanding light microscopy analyses. Molecular methods have the potential to replace microscopy, but the high copy number variation of ribosomal genes and the lack of universal primers for simultaneous amplification of prokaryotic and eukaryotic genes complicate data interpretation. In this study, we used our previously developed directional primer-independent high-throughput sequencing (HTS) approach to analyze 16S and 18S rRNA community structures. C…

Shanghai Fever: Not Only an Asian Disease

2022

Objectives: To describe a case of Shanghai fever disease and to analyze other published reports in non-Asiatic countries, defining clinical characteristics and highlighting that this is not only an Asian disease. Study design: A computerized search without language restriction was conducted using PubMed and Scopus; all references listed were hand-searched to identify any other relevant literature. An article was considered eligible for inclusion in the systematic review if it reported cases with Shanghai fever described in non-Asiatic countries. Our case was also included in the analysis. Results: Ten articles reporting 10 cases of Shanghai fever disease were considered. Fever, diarrhea and…

2014

The free-living planktonic freshwater bacterium Polynucleobacter necessarius subspecies asymbioticus (> 99% 16S rRNA similarity) represents a taxon with a cosmopolitan distribution and apparently ubiquitous occurrence in lentic freshwater habitats. We tested for intra-taxon biogeographic patterns by combining cultivation-independent and cultivation methods. A culture collection of 204 strains isolated from globally distributed freshwater habitats (Arctic to Antarctica) was investigated for phylogeographic patterns based on sequences of two markers, the 16S–23S internal transcribed spacers and the glutamine synthetase gene (glnA). Genetic distance between isolates showed significant geograph…

Binding of Insecticidal Crystal Proteins of Bacillus thuringiensis to the Midgut Brush Border of the Cabbage Looper, Trichoplusia ni (Hübner) (Lepido…

1994

The susceptibility of Trichoplusia ni larvae to several Bacillus thuringiensis insecticidal crystal proteins (ICPs) was tested. Neonatal larvae proved to be susceptible to solubilized trypsin-treated CryIA(a), CryIA(b), and CryIA(c) (50% lethal concentrations [LC 50 s], 570, 480, and 320 ng/cm 2 , respectively) but showed little susceptibility to CryIB and CryID (LC 50 s, 5,640 and 2,530 ng/cm 2 , respectively). The toxicity of ICPs was correlated to binding to the epithelial brush border of the midgut, as revealed by immunocytochemical staining with monoclonal antibodies. In vitro binding experiments with iodinated ICPs and brush border membrane vesicles indicated that CryIA(b) and CryIA(…

Function and Fiber-Type Specific Distribution of Hsp60 and αB-Crystallin in Skeletal Muscles: Role of Physical Exercise

2021

Simple Summary Skeletal muscle represents about 40% of the body mass in humans and it is a copious and plastic tissue, rich in proteins that are subject to continuous rearrangements. Physical exercise is considered a physiological stressor for different organs, in particular for skeletal muscle, and it is a factor able to stimulate the cellular remodeling processes related to the phenomenon of adaptation. All cells respond to various stress conditions by up-regulating the expression and/or activation of a group of proteins called heat shock proteins (HSPs). Although their expression is induced by several stimuli, they are commonly recognized as HSPs due to the first experiments showing thei…

The peculiarities of genetic structure of the Blumeria graminis f. sp. hordei population in Lithuania

2014

In 2010, samples of Blumeria graminis f. sp. hordei both in sporulation and cleistothecia were collected in Lithuania from spring barley variety ‘Dina’. Eighty monopustule isolates were tested on differentials with well-known resistance genes. Frequencies of virulence genes, virulence complexity and pathotypes were detected. Virulence frequencies showed a wide range from 0 to 90%. The clear tendency of virulence increasing for Vla in cleistothecia was observed during the growing season of the pathogen. No virulences were found against resistances, which were present in the line SI1, as well as no matching virulence was found for the resistance gene mlo in Lithuania in 2010. Wide diversity o…

2014

Pandemic and seasonal influenza viruses cause considerable morbidity and mortality in the general human population. Protection from severe disease may result from vaccines that activate antigen-presenting DC for effective stimulation of influenza-specific memory T cells. Special attention is paid to vaccine-induced CD8+ T-cell responses, because they are mainly directed against conserved internal influenza proteins thereby presumably mediating cross-protection against circulating seasonal as well as emerging pandemic virus strains. Our study showed that influenza whole virus vaccines of major seasonal A and B strains activated DC more efficiently than those of pandemic swine-origin H1N1 and…

Targeting antibiotic resistant bacteria with phages reduces bacterial density in an insect host

2018

Phage therapy is attracting growing interest among clinicians as antibiotic resistance continues becoming harder to control. However, clinical trials and animal model studies on bacteriophage treatment are still scarce and results on the efficacy vary. Recent research suggests that using traditional antimicrobials in concert with phage could have desirable synergistic effects that hinder the evolution of resistance. Here, we present a novel insect gut model to study phage-antibiotic interaction in a system where antibiotic resistance initially exists in very low frequency and phage specifically targets the resistance bearing cells. We demonstrate that while phage therapy could not reduce th…

Response to salinity stress of Rhizobium leguminosarum bv. viciae strains in the presence of different legume host plants

2011

We investigated the effect of residual salts from the previous summer’s irrigation on two non-irrigated cover crops—broad bean and common vetch—and on their rhizobial symbiontics. Before sowing, seeds were inoculated with a salt-tolerant strain and a salt-sensitive strain of Rhizobium leguminosarum biovar viciae. An increase in the electrical conductivity of the saturated-soil extract from 2.0 dS m−1 to 6.0 dS m−1 caused a severe reduction of broad bean biomass, while growth of common vetch was almost unaffected by the salinity level. Our results clearly indicate that common vetch as a cover crop may increase the availability of nitrogen in soil more than broad bean also in saline environme…