Mechanisms of killing of Bacillus thuringiensis Al Hakam spores in a blast environment with and without iodic acid.

AIMS: To determine the mechanism of killing of spores of Bacillus thuringiensis Al Hakam, a Bacillus anthracis spore surrogate, in a blast environment with or without HIO3 and whether the spores are truly dead. METHODS AND RESULTS: Spores exposed to an aluminium-based blast environment with or without HIO3 with dynamic peak gas phase temperatures near 1000°C persisting for 10's of ms, were killed 97 and 99·99% without and with HIO3 respectively and the spores were truly dead. The survivors of the detonations did not acquire mutations, did not become wet heat sensitive, became sensitive to elevated NaCl but not lack of glucose in recovery media, and many dead spores remained phase bright and retained their Ca-dipicolinic acid. A large fraction of the dead spores could germinate, but most of these germinated spores were dead. CONCLUSIONS: Most spores exposed to a blast environment are truly dead, and HIO3 increases spore death. The likely mechanism of spore killing in these blast environments is damage to some essential spore protein, although spore inner membrane damage could contribute. SIGNIFICANCE AND IMPACT OF THE STUDY: This work shows that spores of a surrogate for B. anthracis spores are killed in a blast environment without or with HIO3 present, this approach could inactivate up to 99·99% of dry B. anthracis spores, and the spores are likely killed by damage to some essential spore protein.

Depicting the analyses of the first National Maltese Childhood BMI study.

INTRODUCTION: Obesity is a chronic disease that often commences in childhood. Several publications have shown that a quarter to a third of Maltese children are overweight or obese. Malta will be the first country to measure height and weight (and hence Body Mass Index) for all school children in order to quantify the extent of the problem. METHODS: This study would include 46,000 children in 150 schools. This would be the first time that any country measured its entire childhood cohort, as opposed to sampling. Hence, it was decided to attempt to facilitate data collection and analysis with the use of bespoke spreadsheets. RESULTS: This paper will demonstrate how standard Microsoft Excel was used to accomplish this, greatly speeding up the data analysis process. CONCLUSION: Software should be prepared in advance in anticipation of large amounts of data that need to be analysed and summarised. Particular care must be taken in order to prepare the requisite graphs and tables in advance so as to process the data once and present it in a suitable format for consumption and evaluation.

A novel immunodeficiency disorder characterized by genetic amplification of interleukin 25.

Many primary immunodeficiency disorders of differing etiologies have been well characterized, and much understanding of immunological processes has been gained by investigating the mechanisms of disease. Here, we have used a whole-genome approach, employing single-nucleotide polymorphism and gene expression microarrays, to provide insight into the molecular etiology of a novel immunodeficiency disorder. Using DNA copy number profiling, we define a hyperploid region on 14q11.2 in the immunodeficiency case associated with the interleukin (IL)-25 locus. This alteration was associated with significantly heightened expression of IL25 following T-cell activation. An associated dominant type 2 helper T cell bias in the immunodeficiency case provides a mechanistic explanation for recurrence of infections by pathogens met by Th1-driven responses. Furthermore, this highlights the capacity of IL25 to alter normal human immune responses.