GC-MS analysis of exhaled gas for fine detection of inflammatory diseases.

Exhaled gas analysis is a non-invasive test ideal for continuous monitoring of biological metabolic information. We analyzed the exhaled gas of patients with inflammatory diseases for trace gas components that could serve as biomarkers that enable early detection of inflammatory diseases and assessment of treatment efficacy. Furthermore, we examined the clinical potential of this method. We enrolled 34 patients with inflammatory disease and 69 healthy participants. Volatile components from exhaled gas were collected and analyzed by a gas chromatography-mass spectrometry system, and the data were examined for gender, age, inflammatory markers, and changes in markers before and after treatment. The data were tested for statistical significance through discriminant analysis by Volcano plot, Analysis of variance test, principal component analysis, and cluster analysis comparing healthy and patient groups. There were no significant differences in the trace components of exhaled gas by gender or age. However, we found differences in some components of the exhaled gas between healthy and untreated patients. In addition, after treatment, gas patterns including the patient-specific components changed to a state closer to the inflammation-free status. We identified trace components in the exhaled gas of patients with inflammatory diseases and found that some of these regressed after treatment.

Two different Panton-Valentine leukocidin phage lineages predominate in Japan.

We determined the entire nucleotide sequence of phiSa2958-carrying Panton-Valentine leukocidin (PVL) gene, which was lysogenized in a sequence type 5 staphylococcal cassette chromosome mec (SCCmec) type II strain of methicillin-resistant Staphylococcus aureus (MRSA). Based on the nucleotide sequences of PVL phages, we developed PCRs to discriminate among five PVL phages, with a preliminary classification into two morphological groups (elongated-head type and icosahedral-head type) with four PCRs, including two PCRs for identifying the gene lineage between lukS-PV and the tail gene. The phages were then classified into five types by four PCRs identifying each phage-specific structure. With these PCRs, we examined the PVL phage types of 67 MRSA strains isolated in Japan from 1979 through 1985 and since 2000 and found that two morphologically distinct phages were predominant in Japan. The icosahedral-head-type phage, represented by the phi108PVL type, was identified for 39 of 53 strains isolated from 1979 through 1985. Of 26 other Japanese isolates, 25 belonged either definitively or presumably to elongated-head types as follows: 3 belonged to the phiSa2958 type; 8 were determined to belong to an elongated-head type, but a determination of greater specificity was not made; and 14 belonged to a phiSa2958-like phage of unknown type. We induced prophages by treatment with mitomycin C from six strains of the phiSa2958 type or of phiSa2958-like unknown-type phages; five of six strains carried intact PVL-carrying phages, which can infect other S. aureus strains and might generate novel PVL-positive strains of S. aureus. That various SCCmec elements were carried by different strains of the same phage type suggests that S. aureus strains might independently acquire PVL phages before they acquire various SCCmec elements.

Cerenkov counting of low-energy beta-emitters using a new ceramic with high refractive index.

The threshold beta-ray energy for Cerenkov photon production can be reduced to about 0.07 MeV by using a transparent ceramic with a high refractive index. This makes it possible to measure the low-energy beta-emitters 14C and 45Ca by Cerenkov counting with efficiencies of 1.5% and 2.3%, respectively.

A novel positive regulatory element for exfoliative toxin A gene expression in Staphylococcus aureus.

A 1.4 kb positive regulatory element (ETA(exp)) that controls staphylococcal exfoliative toxin A (sETA) transcription was cloned from Staphylococcus aureus. ETA(exp) is located upstream of the cloned 5.8 kb eta gene (etaJ1) obtained from the chomosomal DNA of S. aureus ZM, the standard ETA-producing strain. The cETA prepared from an Escherichia coli transformant into which the recombinant plasmid petaJ1 (5.8 kb eta/pUC9) had been introduced was expressed at high levels in the culture supernatant and the ammonium-sulfate-precipitated culture supernatant fraction as shown by immunoblotting and the single radial immunodiffusion test. However, cETA produced by the recombinant plasmid petaJ3 containing the 1.7 kb eta sequence (etaJ3) with a 1.45 kb ETA(exp)-deficient eta fragment (1.7 kb eta/pUC9) obtained from the 5.8 kb eta sequence by subcloning was not detected in either the culture supernatant or the ammonium-sulfate-precipitated culture supernatant fraction (167-fold concentrate of the culture supernatant) by immunoblotting or the single radial immunodiffusion test. A large amount of cETA was produced by the 1.7 kb eta sequence when it was linked to ETA(exp) amplified by PCR (1.7 kb eta-ETA(exp)/pUC9), regardless of the orientation of ETA(exp) insertion. Northern blot hybridization showed lower levels of the transcripts of the 1.7 kb eta sequence than of the 5.8 kb eta sequence. The rsETA prepared from an S. aureus transformant into which the recombinant plasmid 3.4 kb eta-ETA(exp)/pYT3 (pYT3-etaJ6) had been introduced was expressed at high levels in the culture supernatant fraction as shown by the latex agglutination test. However, the agglutination titre in the culture supernatant fraction of rsETA produced by the recombinant plasmid (1.7 kb eta/pYT3) containing the 1.7 kb eta sequence carrying the 1.4 kb ETA(exp)-deficient eta fragment (pYT3-etaJ3) was 2500-4000 times lower than that of pYT3-etaJ6.