Qualitative analysis of the vaginal microbiota of healthy cattle and cattle with genital-tract disease.

The microbial community of the reproductive appara-tus, when known, can provide information about the health of the host. Metagenomics has been used to characterize and obtain genetic infor-mation about microbial communities in various environments and can relate certain diseases with changes in this community composition. In this study, samples of vaginal surface mucosal secretions were col-lected from five healthy cows and five cows that showed symptoms of reproductive disorders. Following high-throughput sequencing of the isolated microbial DNA, data were processed using the Mothur soft-ware to remove low-quality sequences and chimeras, and released to the Ribosomal Database Project for classification of operational taxo-nomic units (OTUs). Local BLASTn was performed and results were loaded into the MEGAN program for viewing profiles and taxonomic microbial attributes. The control profile comprised a total of 15 taxa, with Bacteroides, Enterobacteriaceae, and Victivallis comprising the highest representation of OTUs; the reproductive disorder-positive profile comprised 68 taxa, with Bacteroides, Enterobacteriaceae, His-tophilus, Victivallis, Alistipes, and Coriobacteriaceae being the taxa with the most OTU representation. A change was observed in both the community composition as well as in the microbial attributes of the profiles, suggesting that a relationship might exist between the patho-gen and representative taxa, reflecting the production of metabolites to disease progression.

[Living with an ostomy: a preliminary study]. / Vivendo com um ostoma: um estudo preliminar.

This study reveals some aspects of ostomy patients life experience. The data were obtained by using the participant observation technique during the monthly meeting session of the Ostomy Patients Association from July 1989 to August 1991. The findings showed that the ostomized patients were concerned with: 1) the ostomy pouch (how to get it); 2) other persons opinion about ostomized patients; 3) their sexuality, and stoma care. The patients perceived themselves as physically disable and inferior persons. Some of them perceived themselves as having a normal life. Other patients also had to cope with the stigma of cancer.

A model for the regulation of brain adenylate cyclase by ionic equilibria.

Multiple-equilibrium equations were solved to investigate the individual and separate effects of Mg2+, Mn2+, Ca2+, ATP4-, and their complexes on the kinetics of brain adenylate cyclase. The effects of divalent metals and/or ATP4- (in excess of their participation in complex formation) were determined and, from the corresponding apparent affinity values, the following kinetic constants were obtained: Km(MgATP) = 1.0 mM, Ki(ATP4-) = 0.27 mM, Km(MnATP) = 0.07 mM, and Ki(CaATP) = 0.015 mM. MgATP, MnATP, ATP4-, and CaATP were shown to compete for the active site of the enzyme. Hence, it is proposed that endogenous metabolites with a strong ligand activity for divalent metals, such as citrate and some amino acids, become integrated into a metabolite feedback control of the enzyme through the release of ATP4- from MgATP. Ca2+ fluxes may participate in the endogenous regulation of adenylate cyclase by modifying the level of CaATP. The free divalent metals show an order of affinity K0.5(Ca2+) = 0.02 mM, K0.5(Mn2+) = 3.8 mM, K0.5(Mg2+) - 4.7 mM, and an order of activity Mn2+ greater than Mg2+ greater than Ca2+. The data indicate that Mn2+ and Mg2+ ions may compete for a regulatory site distinct from the active site and increase Vm without changing Km(MgATP), Km(MnATP), or Ki(ATP4-). The interactions of ATP4- and CaATP, which act as competitive inhibitors of the reaction of the enzyme with the substrates MgATP and MnATP, and Mg2+ and Mn2+, which act as activators of the enzyme in the absence of hormones, are shown to follow the random rapid equilibrium BiBi group-transfer mechanism of Cleland with the stipulation that neither Mg2+ nor Mn2+, in excess of their respective participation in substrate formation, are obligatorily required for basal activity. ATP4- and CaATP are involved in dead-end inhibition. For MgCl2 saturation curves at constant total ATP concentration, the computer-generated curves based on the RARE BiBi model predict a change in the Hill cooperativity h from a basal value of 2.6, when Mg2+ is not obligatorily required, to 4.0 when the addition of hormones or neurotransmitters induces an obligatory requirement for Mg2+.