Neurologic Manifestations of Enterovirus 71 Infection in Korea.

Enterovirus 71 frequently involves the central nervous system and may present with a variety of neurologic manifestations. Here, we aimed to describe the clinical features, magnetic resonance imaging (MRI) findings, and cerebrospinal fluid (CSF) profiles of patients presenting with neurologic complications of enterovirus 71 infection. We retrospectively reviewed the records of 31 pediatric patients hospitalized with acute neurologic manifestations accompanied by confirmed enterovirus 71 infection at Ulsan University Hospital between 2010 and 2014. The patients' mean age was 2.9 ± 5.5 years (range, 18 days to 12 years), and 80.6% of patients were less than 4 years old. Based on their clinical features, the patients were classified into 4 clinical groups: brainstem encephalitis (n = 21), meningitis (n = 7), encephalitis (n = 2), and acute flaccid paralysis (n = 1). The common neurologic symptoms included myoclonus (58.1%), lethargy (54.8%), irritability (54.8%), vomiting (48.4%), ataxia (38.7%), and tremor (35.5%). Twenty-five patients underwent an MRI scan; of these, 14 (56.0%) revealed the characteristic increased T2 signal intensity in the posterior region of the brainstem and bilateral cerebellar dentate nuclei. Twenty-six of 30 patients (86.7%) showed CSF pleocytosis. Thirty patients (96.8%) recovered completely without any neurologic deficits; one patient (3.2%) died due to pulmonary hemorrhage and shock. In the present study, brainstem encephalitis was the most common neurologic manifestation of enterovirus 71 infection. The characteristic clinical symptoms such as myoclonus, ataxia, and tremor in conjunction with CSF pleocytosis and brainstem lesions on MR images are pathognomonic for diagnosis of neurologic involvement by enterovirus 71 infection.

Perfluoropolyether-benzophenone as a highly durable, broadband anti-reflection, and anti-contamination coating.

Anti-reflection and anti-contamination coatings prepared from fluorinated polymers have widespread and important applications, ranging from protective films for corrosion resistance to high-tech microelectronics and medical devices due to their transparency, low refractive index, stain resistance, and antifouling properties. However, the application of existing coatings is hindered by low surface adhesion to the target substrate and weakness when exposed to mechanical stress or damage, resulting in significant limitations to their practical applications. Herein, we incorporate perfluoropolyether (PFPE) with benzophenone (BP) to develop an efficient coating material (PFPE-BP) possessing broadband anti-reflectivity, anti-contamination properties, excellent abrasion resistance, and stability under elevated temperatures and relative humidity. The presence of BP allows the coating materials to be homogeneously mixed with a commercial hard coating solution to uniformly coat the target substrate. Furthermore, UV light irradiation on the coating surface results in excellent adhesion between BP groups of PFPE-BP and the hard coating matrix.

Plant growth-promoting potential of endophytic bacteria isolated from roots of coastal sand dune plants.

Endophytic bacteria associated with the roots of coastal sand dune plants were isolated, taxonomically characterized, and tested for their plant growth-promoting activities. Ninety-one endophytic bacterial isolates were collected and assigned to 17 different genera of 6 major bacterial phyla based on partial 16S rDNA sequence analyses. Gammaproteobacteria represented the majority of the isolates (65.9%), and members of Pseudomonas constituted 49.5% of the total isolates. When testing for antagonism towards plant pathogenic fungi, 25 strains were antagonistic towards Rhizoctonia solani, 57 strains were antagonistic towards Pythium ultimum, 53 strains were antagonistic towards Fusarium oxysporum, and 41 strains were antagonistic towards Botrytis cinerea. Seven strains were shown to produce indole acetic acid (IAA), 33 to produce siderophores, 23 to produce protease, 37 to produce pectinase, and 38 to produce chitinase. The broadest spectra of activities were observed among the Pseudomonas strains, indicating outstanding plant growth-promoting potential. The isolates from C. kobomugi and M. sibirica also exhibited good plant growth-promoting potential. The correlations among individual plant growth-promoting activities were examined using phi coefficients, and the resulting data indicated that the production of protease, pectinase, chitinase, and siderophores was highly related.

Isolation and characterization of bacteria associated with two sand dune plant species, Calystegia soldanella and Elymus mollis.

Little is known about the bacterial communities associated with the plants inhabiting sand dune ecosystems. In this study, the bacterial populations associated with two major sand dune plant species, Calystegia soldanella (beach morning glory) and Elymus mollis (wild rye), growing along the costal areas in Tae-An, Chungnam Province, were analyzed using a culture-dependent approach. A total of 212 bacteria were isolated from the root and rhizosphere samples of the two plants, and subjected to further analysis. Based on the analysis of the 16S rDNA sequences, all the bacterial isolates were classified into six major phyla of the domain Bacteria. Significant differences were observed between the two plant species, and also between the rhizospheric and root endophytic communities. The isolates from the rhizosphere of the two plant species were assigned to 27 different established genera, and the root endophytic bacteria were assigned to 21. Members of the phylum Gammaproteobacteria, notably the Pseudomonas species, comprised the majority of both the rhizospheric and endophytic bacteria, followed by members of Bacteroidetes and Firmicutes in the rhizosphere and Alphaproteobacteria and Bacteroidetes in the root. A number of isolates were recognized as potentially novel bacterial taxa. Fifteen out of 27 bacterial genera were commonly found in the rhizosphere of both plants, which was comparable to 3 out of 21 common genera in the root, implying the host specificity for endophytic populations. This study of the diversity of culturable rhizospheric and endophytic bacteria has provided the basis for further investigation aimed at the selection of microbes for the facilitation of plant growth.

SUMO modification of NZFP mediates transcriptional repression through TBP binding.

The negatively regulating zinc finger protein (NZFP) is an essential transcription repressor required for early development during gastrulation in Xenopus laevis. In this study, we found that NZFP interacts with the small ubiquitin-like modifier (SUMO) conjugation E2 enzyme, Ubc9, and contains three putative SUMO conjugation sites. Studies with NZFP mutants containing mutations at the putative SUMO conjugation sites showed that these sites were able to be modified independently with SUMO. NZFP was found to be localized in the same nuclear bodies with SUMO-1. However, sumoylation of NZFP did not play a role either in the translocation of NZFP into the nucleus or on nuclear body formation. While wild type NZFP showed significant transcriptional repression, SUMO-conjugation site mutants manifested a decrease in transcriptional repression activity which is reversely proportional to the amount of sumoylation. The sumoylation defective mutant lost its TBP binding activity, while wild type NZFP interacted with TBP and inhibited transcription complex formation. These results strongly suggest that the sumoylation of NZFP facilitates NZFP to bind to TBP and the NZFP/TBP complex then represses the transcription of the target gene by inhibiting basal transcription complex formation.

Dominance of Lysobacter sp. in the rhizosphere of two coastal sand dune plant species, Calystegia soldanella and Elymus mollis.

Bacterial diversity in the rhizosphere of beach morning glory (Calystegia soldanella) and wild rye (Elymus mollis), two of the major plant species inhabiting the coastal sane dune in Tae-An, Korea, was studied by the analysis of community 16S rRNA gene clones. The amplified rDNA restriction analysis (ARDRA) of the clones using HaeIII exhibited significant differences in the community composition between the two plant species as well as regional differences, but also identified a specific ARDRA pattern that was most common among the clones regardless of plant species. Subsequent sequence analysis indicated that the pattern was that of Lysobacter spp., which is a member of the family Xanthomonadaceae, class Gamma proteobacteria. The Lysobacter clones comprised 50.6% of the clones derived from C. soldanella and 62.5% of those from E. mollis. Other minor patterns included those of Pseudomonas spp., species of Rhizobium, Chryseobacterium spp. and Pantoea spp. among C. soldanella clones, and Pseudomonas sp. and Aeromonas hydrophila among E. mollis clones. It is not yet clear what kind of roles Lysobacter plays in association with sand dune plants, but its universal presence in the rhizosphere, together with the potential of this taxon for antagonistic activity against plant pathogens, suggests that Lysobacter might form a symbiotic relationship with its host plants.

Leptin and the metabolic syndrome in Korean adolescents: factor analysis.

BACKGROUND: The objectives of this study were to evaluate the relationships of leptin with the metabolic syndrome and to examine leptin's role in clustering of the metabolic components among Korean adolescents. METHODS: A cross sectional study was carried out in 68 male and 80 female adolescents aged 13-18 years in an urban area of South Korea. Anthropometric variables were measured and blood pressure, fasting plasma glucose, low-density lipoprotein cholesterol, triglyceride, high-density lipoprotein cholesterol, and serum leptin were obtained. RESULTS: As more metabolic components were clustered, body mass index, body fat, waist circumference, and serum leptin levels were significantly increased. Principal components factor analysis revealed three factors in males and females that explained 70% and 65%, respectively, of the observed variance of the 10 measured variables. These were obesity-leptin-lipid factor, blood pressure factor, and glucose-cholesterol factor in males and obesity-leptin-glucose factor, blood pressure factor, and cholesterol factor in females. Leptin loaded on only one factor in both genders. CONCLUSION: Leptin did not appear to have a major role linking various components of the metabolic syndrome, even though it was strongly associated with obesity indices. Gender difference of linking of leptin with glucose or lipid was observed. There seems to be more than one pathophysiological mechanism which might underlie full expression of the metabolic syndrome among Korean adolescents.

A novel TBP-interacting zinc finger protein represses transcription by inhibiting the recruitment of TFIIA and TFIIB.

We isolated a novel gene encoding a zinc finger protein from Xenopus laevis, designated NZFP that interacts with the TATA-binding protein (TBP). NZFP contains a highly conserved sequence designated finger associated box (FAX) and SUMO-1 consensus-binding motifs at the N-terminal half and 10 C2H2 type zinc finger motifs at the C-terminal half, respectively. Deletion mutants of NZFP fused with the Gal4 DNA binding domain were used to determine the function of NZFP during gene transcription by transfecting them into a Xenopus kidney cell line. Both full-length NZFP and the FAX domain repressed transcription activity by 3-5-fold. Moreover, an in vitro pull-down assay showed that the C-terminal core domain of TBP makes direct contact with the N-terminal portion of NZFP. We also found through chromatin immunoprecipitation experiments that the interaction between NZFP and TBP inhibits binding of TFIIA and TFIIB. These data strongly suggest that the repression by NZFP occurs through its binding to both DNA and TBP and the resulting NZFP-TBP-promoter complex inhibits preinitiation complex assembly by preventing binding of TFIIA and TFIIB.