A review of tuberculosis and parasitic disease co-infection in ungulates, with regard to the potential threat to European bison (Bison bonasus).

Bovine tuberculosis (BTB) is a dangerous zoonosis which presents a serious problem for endangered species such as European bison ( Bison bonasus). Little is known about the influence of parasitic co-infections on the course and diagnosis of tuberculosis in animals. The best known co-infection in cattle is Fasciola hepatica and Mycobacterium bovis. The aim of this study was to review the most recent literature regarding tuberculosis and parasite co-infection in ungulates and relate the results to European bison. Our findings indicate that any comprehensive diagnosis of BTB should include parasitological monitoring, and the possible impact of such invasions on cellular response-based tuberculosis tests should be taken into account. The diagnosis of BTB is complex, as is its pathogenesis, and parasitic infestations can have a significant impact on both. This should be taken into account during further research and monitoring of tuberculosis in European bison.

What do we know about palmoplantar pustulosis?

Palmoplantar pustulosis is characterized by a chronic eruption of sterile pustules on palms and soles. The disease affects mainly women in the sixth and seventh decade of life. Some authors consider palmoplantar pustulosis a separate entity, whereas others consider it a condition in the spectrum of psoriasis. Aim of this study was to summarize the most recent data about PPP which aimed at establishing the nosological position of palmoplantar pustulosis. A systematic search of published literature was carried out. General characteristics of patients with PPP in different populations were present. We reviewed histological, immunological and genetic studies, as well as treatment options for PPP. PPP presents with clinical features, which are not present in psoriasis; however, the common coexistence of psoriasis vulgaris and/or positive family history for psoriasis indicates at least a close relationship between PPP and psoriasis. At present, there are not sufficient data to exclude PPP from psoriasis group.

Phase Behavior and Dynamics of the Liquid Crystal 4'-butyl-4-(2-methylbutoxy)azoxybenzene (4ABO5*).

The results of dielectric relaxation spectroscopy and polarizing microscope observation of the 4'-butyl-4-(2-methylbutoxy)azoxybenzene (abbreviated as 4ABO5*) are presented. Numerical analysis of the dielectric spectra results points to complex dynamics of 4ABO5* molecules in isotropic, cholesteric, and crystalline phases. Two well-separated maxima on the imaginary part of dielectric permittivity and the third low frequency relaxation process, hidden in the conductivity region, were detected and described in cholesteric and crystalline phases. Temperature dependence of mean relaxation times characterizing flip-flop motions and rotation around long axes, observed in all phases, is of the Arrhenius type.

Blockade of nitric oxide formation in the rat brain does not disturb development of endotoxin tolerance.

The involvement of nitric oxide (NO) in tolerance development to endotoxin has been proposed because peripherally administered NG-nitro-L-arginine methyl ester (L-NAME) (NO synthases inhibitor) delays the endotoxin tolerance formation. Since L-NAME is capable of crossing the blood-brain barrier, the question arises of where activity of NO synthases (inside or outside the blood-brain barrier) is crucial for development of endotoxin tolerance. To clarify the role of different NO synthases (NOS) isoforms, acting in the brain, on the tolerance development, effects of highly selective iNOS and nNOS inhibitors on stepwise attenuation of febrile response during tolerance formation were examined in freely moving biotelemetered rats. We monitored changes in febrile response during the development of tolerance to repeated intraperitoneal (i.p.) injections of lipopolysaccharide (LPS) (50 µg/kg) along with intracerebroventricular (i.c.v.) injections of vinyl-L-NIO, a neuronal NOS inhibitor, or aminoguanidine, an inducible NOS inhibitor at a dose of 10 µg/rat. Both inhibitors injected at the selected doses had no effect on normal day-time as well as night-time body temperature. Rats were treated with LPS and NOS inhibitors for three consecutive days. On the fourth day, all rats were injected with LPS alone. Rats repeatedly injected with LPS became tolerant to pyrogenic effect of LPS as early as on the second day of the experiment. The treatment with iNOS or nNOS inhibitors completely suppressed fever due to the first, second and third LPS injection. When rats, which received the three i.c.v. injections of vL-NIO along with i.p. injections of LPS, were then treated the fourth time with LPS alone, they responded with virtually identical changes in body temperature to that of the group of rats that were injected with water i.c.v. and LPS i.p. for three consecutive days. This data indicate that both group of rats became tolerant to pyrogenic effect of LPS. It is, therefore, reasonable to hypothesize that activation of nNOS and iNOS inside the brain is not important for the development of endotoxin tolerance.

Metabolomic fingerprinting employing DART-TOFMS for authentication of tomatoes and peppers from organic and conventional farming.

The rapidly growing demand for organic food requires the availability of analytical tools enabling their authentication. Recently, metabolomic fingerprinting/profiling has been demonstrated as a challenging option for a comprehensive characterisation of small molecules occurring in plants, since their pattern may reflect the impact of various external factors. In a two-year pilot study, concerned with the classification of organic versus conventional crops, ambient mass spectrometry consisting of a direct analysis in real time (DART) ion source and a time-of-flight mass spectrometer (TOFMS) was employed. This novel methodology was tested on 40 tomato and 24 pepper samples grown under specified conditions. To calculate statistical models, the obtained data (mass spectra) were processed by the principal component analysis (PCA) followed by linear discriminant analysis (LDA). The results from the positive ionisation mode enabled better differentiation between organic and conventional samples than the results from the negative mode. In this case, the recognition ability obtained by LDA was 97.5% for tomato and 100% for pepper samples and the prediction abilities were above 80% for both sample sets. The results suggest that the year of production had stronger influence on the metabolomic fingerprints compared with the type of farming (organic versus conventional). In any case, DART-TOFMS is a promising tool for rapid screening of samples. Establishing comprehensive (multi-sample) long-term databases may further help to improve the quality of statistical classification models.

Biotransformation of phosphogypsum in media containing different forms of nitrogen.

Studies on the biotransformation of phosphogypsum (a waste product formed in the course of the production of phosphorous fertilizers) with the use of sulfate reducing bacteria (SRB) demonstrated that it is a good source of sulfates and biogenic elements for these bacteria, though the addition of organic carbon and nitrogen is necessary. The aim of this study was to investigate the form of nitrogen and C:N ratio in the medium on the growth of SRB community in cultures containing phosphogypsum. Batch community cultures of sulfate reducing bacteria were maintained in medium with phosphogypsum (5.0 g/l), different concentrations of sodium lactate (1.6 - 9.4 g/l) and different forms (NH4CI, CO(NH2)2, KNO3) and concentrations (0 - 250 mg/l) of nitrogen. The growth of SRB was studied in the C:N ratio of from 2:1 to 300:1. It was found that: 1 - the best source of nitrogen for SRB is urea, followed by ammonium, the worst were nitrates; 2 - the bacteria were also able to grow in medium without nitrogen but their activity was then by approximately 15% lower than in optimal growth conditions; 3 - in medium with KNO3 inhibition of sulfate reduction by approx. 50% was observed; 4 - the highest reduction of nitrates (removal of nitrate) in media with phosphogypsum and nitrates was at limiting concentrations of sodium lactate. This is probably caused by the selection under these conditions (low concentration of hydrogen sulfide) of denitrifying bacteria or sulfate reducing bacteria capable of using nitrates as an electron acceptor.

Modification of beta 2glycoprotein I by glutardialdehyde. Conformational changes and aggregation accompany exposure of the cryptic autoepitope.

Autoantibodies from patients with antiphospholipid syndrome (APS) recognize an epitope on beta 2glycoprotein I (beta 2 GPI) only when native beta 2 GPI is adsorbed on surfaces composed of anionic phospholipids or oxidized polystyrene. beta 2 GPI was modified with the crosslinking agent, glutardialdehyde (GDA), which induced exposure of the anti-beta 2 GPI epitope at GDA:beta 2 GPI mol ratios in the range of 500-2000. A second crosslinking agent, dimethyl-suberimidate (DMS), did not expose the epitope, which may be a consequence of its having less tendency than GDA to form intermolecular links. SDS-PAGE experiments demonstrate that GDA does promote extensive intermolecular crosslinking of beta 2 GPI, and DMS does not. Formaldehyde also reacts with the lysine residues of beta 2 GPI, but does not expose the epitope. The circular dichroism spectra of native and modified beta 2 GPI confirm that GDA induces changes in conformation that are qualitatively different from those caused by formaldehyde. These data provide evidence that binding of lysine residues is not a sufficient condition for exposure of the autoepitope, and also support the likelihood that anti-beta 2 GPI antibodies bind only to aggregates of the protein. Thus, by synthesizing an active holoantigen of beta 2 GPI, conditions were defined that are necessary for binding of human autoantibodies.

A stable, multi-subunit complex of beta2glycoprotein I.

Beta2glycoprotein I (beta2GPI) is a 54-kDa plasma protein which is recognized as an autoantigen for antibodies from patients with antiphospholipid syndrome (APS). SDS-PAGE (under reducing conditions) of beta2GPI from three sources indicates that the 54-kDa beta2GPI band is accompanied by a band corresponding to an 8-kDa protein. In the absence of detergent and reducing agents (native PAGE), beta2GPI demonstrated a large complex (molecular mass approximately 320 kDa) which is dissociable by boiling in 6-8 M urea, yielding several lower molecular mass bands, one of which corresponds to the 8-kDa protein observed in SDS-PAGE. Sera from five healthy adults demonstrated native beta2GPI migration equivalent to the commercially purified protein. Atomic force microscopy (AFM) images of native beta2GPI show aggregrates of particles each having a diameter of 30-35 nm. This is consistent with a globular unit the size of which would be substantially larger than that expected for a 54-kDa protein. These experiments suggest that the 54-kDa beta2GPI monomer subunits exist as a multimeric complex with the 8-kDa protein.

Phospholipid-independent binding of beta 2glycoprotein I by IgA from patients with antiphospholipid syndrome.

beta 2glycoprotein I (beta 2GPI) is a phospholipid-binding protein of the coagulation system. In patients with the antiphospholipid syndrome (APS), antibodies to beta 2GPI contribute to the population of "antiphospholipid antibodies" measured in the anticardiolipin antibody (aCL) assay. In fact, both IgG and IgM antibodies from patients with APS bind beta 2GPI in the absence of anionic phospholipids if the antigen is bound to a suitable surface, i.e., one which exposes the epitope. The binding of IgA was studied from patients with APS, using an enzyme-linked immunosorbent assay (ELISA), and significantly higher binding of IgA was observed from 39 patients compared to a control group of 50 healthy individuals (p < 0.0001). Moreover, 15 out of 39 APS subjects (38 percent) exhibited binding greater than 5 standard deviations (SD) above the mean of the control group. All 39 APS patients had elevated IgG anti-beta 2GPI; however, depletion of IgG from two APS sera diminished, rather than enhanced, binding of IgA. Pre-incubation with purified IgG from a subject with APS led to inhibition of IgA binding at inhibitor levels > 125 micrograms IgG/well. These data demonstrate that patients with APS have IgA anti-beta 2GPI autoantibodies and that the epitope(s) which are recognized by these antibodies can be presented in the absence of cardiolipin or other anionic phospholipids.

Binding of beta 2 glycoprotein I to activated polystyrene and its recognition by human IgG autoantibodies.

Beta 2 glycoprotein I (apolipoprotein H, beta 2GPI) is involved in the formation of epitope(s) recognized by clinically relevant autoantibodies from patients with antiphospholipid syndrome. We studied the binding of beta 2GPI to chemically activated polystyrene in a microtitre plate format. Adsorption isotherms (at 37 degrees C) were generated for beta 2GPI on activated polystyrene and on unactivated polystyrene, with both human serum antibodies and rabbit polyclonal IgG antibodies as probes, and horseradish peroxidase (HRP)-tagged anti-IgG to detect binding. Additionally, beta 2GPI was biotinylated and isotherms were developed by using HRP-streptavidin as the recognition sequence. Human serum autoantibodies, which did not precipitate beta 2GPI in solution, yielded a characteristic chemisorption isotherm on activated polystyrene but did not recognize beta 2GPI bound to untreated polystyrene. The rabbit IgG, which did precipitate beta 2GPI in solution, detected beta 2GPI bound to both activated polystyrene and, to a lesser extent, to untreated polystyrene. The binding of beta 2GPI to untreated polystyrene was confirmed by the use of biotinylated beta 2GPI. To assess the prevalence of IgG anti-beta 2GPI autoantibodies, we surveyed 113 sera submitted to our laboratory for anticardiolipin antibody (aCL) testing. Only nine (8%) had anti-beta 2GPI activity greater than two standard deviations above the mean for those sera in which aCL activity was within normal limits. We conclude that epitope presentation of beta 2GPI for human autoantibody binding is dependent on surface properties of the polystyrene, and that beta 2GPI autoantibodies are found only in a subpopulation of sera positive for aCL.

[Salmonella infections in infants hospitalized in the years 1979-1983]. / Uwagi dotyczace zakazen paleczkami Salmonella u niemowlat hospitalizowanych w latach 1979-1983.

The clinical course is described of Salmonella infections in 228 infants. The infection was associated, most frequently, with diarrhoea (with admixture of blood in stools in 57.2% of cases). In infants in the first 3 months of life the course of the disease was more serious, with evidence of toxic organ damage and prolonged diarrhoea. Salmonella infection was often associated with pneumonia or bronchitis (36.8%), urinary tract infection (29.8%), otitis media (22.8%). Iron-deficiency anaemia was present in three-fourths of children. In 35% of the infected children with Salmonella infection decreased level of gamma-globulins was found.

[Hypochromic anemia associated with ascariasis and giardiasis in children]. / Niedokrwistosc niedobarwliwa towarzyszaca glistnicy i giardiazie u dzieci.

The purpose of the study was determination of the frequency of the association of hypochromic anaemia with infections by Ascaris lumbricoides and Giardia intestinalis. Among 5603 studied patients of either sex, aged 3 to 18 years ascaridiasis alone was diagnosed in 226 children (4%), and giardiasis alone in 106 cases (1.9%). The frequency of this anaemia in these groups ranged from 6% to 16%.