The persistence of humoral and cellular immunities more than three decades after smallpox vaccination.

This study assessed the persistence of humoral (neutralising antibody titre to vaccinia virus) and cellular (immediate vaccinia-specific interferon (IFN)-gamma-producing T-cell) immunities to smallpox in a Korean population. Individuals who were vaccinated 25-60 years previously had higher neutralising antibody titres (geometric mean titre (GMT) 13.7; 95% CI 11.0-17.2) than vaccinia-naive individuals (GMT 6.7; 95% CI 5.5-8.0; p <0.001). However, there was no significant difference in cellular immunity between individuals vaccinated previously and vaccinia-naive individuals, and only 15% of the individuals vaccinated previously displayed an immediate IFN-gamma-producing effector-memory response in ELISPOT assays.

Outcome of inappropriate empirical antibiotic therapy in patients with Staphylococcus aureus bacteraemia: analytical strategy using propensity scores.

Patients with Staphylococcus aureus bacteraemia (SAB) who received either inappropriate or appropriate empirical therapy were compared by using two risk stratification models: (1) a cohort study using a propensity score to adjust for confounding by empirical treatment assignment; and (2) a propensity-matched case-control study. Inappropriate empirical therapy was modelled on the basis of patient characteristics, and included in the multivariate model to adjust for confounding. For case-matching analysis, patients with inappropriate empirical therapy (cases) were matched to those with appropriate empirical therapy (controls) on the basis of the propensity score (within 0.03 on a scale of 0-1). In total, 238 patients with SAB were enrolled in the cohort study. Characteristics associated with inappropriate empirical therapy were methicillin resistance, underlying haematological malignancy, no history of colonisation with methicillin-resistant S. aureus, and a long hospital stay before SAB. These variables were included in the propensity score, which had an area under the receiver operating characteristics curve of 85%. In the cohort study, SAB-related mortality was 39% (45/117) for inappropriate empirical therapy vs. 28% (34/121) for appropriate empirical therapy (odds ratio (OR) 1.60; 95% CI 0.93-2.76). After adjustment for independent predictors for mortality and the propensity score, inappropriate empirical therapy was not associated with mortality (adjusted OR 1.39; 95% CI 0.62-3.15). In the matched case-control study (50 pairs), SAB-related mortality was 32% (16/50) for inappropriate empirical therapy and 28% (14/50) for appropriate empirical therapy (McNemar's test; p 0.85; OR 1.15; 95% CI 0.51-2.64). In conclusion, inappropriate empirical therapy resulted in only a slight tendency towards increased mortality in patients with SAB.

Physical mapping and microsynteny of Brassica rapa ssp. pekinensis genome corresponding to a 222 kbp gene-rich region of Arabidopsis chromosome 4 and partially duplicated on chromosome 5.

We constructed a bacterial artificial chromosome (BAC) library, designated as KBrH, from high molecular weight genomic DNA of Brassica rapa ssp. pekinensis (Chinese cabbage). This library, which was constructed using HindIII-cleaved genomic DNA, consists of 56,592 clones with average insert size of 115 kbp. Using a partially duplicated DNA sequence of Arabidopsis, represented by 19 and 9 predicted genes on chromosome 4 and 5, respectively, and BAC clones from the KBrH library, we studied conservation and microsynteny corresponding to the Arabidopsis regions in B. rapa ssp. pekinensis. The BAC contigs assembled according to the Arabidopsis homoeologues revealed triplication and rearrangements in the Chinese cabbage. In general, collinearity of genes in the paralogous segments was maintained, but gene contents were highly variable with interstitial losses. We also used representative BAC clones, from the assembled contigs, as probes and hybridized them on mitotic (metaphase) and/or meiotic (leptotene/pachytene/metaphase I) chromosomes of Chinese cabbage using bicolor fluorescence in situ hybridization. The hybridization pattern physically identified the paralogous segments of the Arabidopsis homoeologues on B. rapa ssp. pekinensis chromosomes. The homoeologous segments corresponding to chromosome 4 of Arabidopsis were located on chromosomes 2, 8 and 7, whereas those of chromosome 5 were present on chromosomes 6, 1 and 4 of B. rapa ssp. pekinensis.

Differential expression of four sweet potato peroxidase genes in response to abscisic acid and ethephon.

Expression of four peroxidase (POD) genes, three anionic PODs (swpa1, swpa2 and swpa3), and one neutral POD (swpn1) isolated from suspension cultures of sweet potato (Ipomoea batatas) were analyzed by measuring the accumulation of transcripts in suspension cultured cells and leaves of sweet potato in response to the stress-related plant hormones abscisic acid (ABA) and ethephon (an ethylene generating chemical). The four genes responded differently to ABA (0.1 mM) and ethephon (0.1 mM) in cultured cells and leaves. In suspension cultures, ABA reduced the expression levels of swpa1, swpa2, and swpn1, but did not affect the level of swpa3. Ethephon strongly increased expression levels of swpa3 and swpn1, and slightly increased the level of swpa1. The expression level of swpa2 was reduced. Expression levels in intact leaves, however, were significantly changed by this treatment. Expression of the swpa1 and swpa2 genes was induced 15 min after ABA treatment, followed by a decrease to a basal level after 3 h. A strong re-expression occurred after 12 h. Expression of the swpa3 and swpn1 genes occurred from 3 to 24 h after treatment. All four genes were differentially expressed 12 h after ethephon treatment. The swpa2 gene was strongly expressed immediately after ethephon treatment. The results indicate that each POD gene is differentially regulated by ABA and ethylene in whole plants and in cultured cells in vitro.