A gram-negative bacillus, SMC-8986superscript T, which was isolated from the purulent exudate of an epidermal cyst but could not be identified by a conventional microbiologic method, was ...characterized by a variety of phenotypic and genotypic analyses. Sequences of the 16S rRNA gene revealed that this bacterium belongs to the genus Bordetella but diverged distinctly from previously described Bordetella species. Analyses of cellular fatty acid composition and performance of biochemical tests confirmed that this bacterium is distinct from other Bordetella species. Furthermore, the results of comparative sequence analyses of two protein-coding genes (risA and ompA) also showed that this strain represents a new species within the genus BORDETELLA: Based on the evaluated phenotypic and genotypic characteristics, it is proposed that SMC-8986superscript T should be classified as a new species, namely Bordetella ansorpii sp. nov.
Pancreatic ductal adenocarcinomas are among the most malignant neoplasms and have very poor prognosis. Our understanding of various cancers has recently improved the survival of patients with cancer, ...except for pancreatic cancers. Establishment of primary cancer cell lines of pancreatic ductal adenocarcinomas will be useful for understanding the molecular mechanisms of this disease.
Eighty-one surgically resected pancreatic ductal adenocarcinomas were collected. Six novel pancreatic cancer cell lines, AMCPAC01-06, were established and histogenetic characteristics were compared with their matched tissues. The clinicopathologic and molecular characteristics of the cell lines were investigated by
and
sequencing or SMAD4 and p53 immunohistochemistry. Xenografts using AMCPAC cell lines were established.
From the 81 pancreatic ductal adenocarcinomas, six (7.4% success rate) patient-derived primary cell lines were established. The six AMCPAC cell lines showed various morphologies and exhibited a wide range of doubling times. AMCPAC cell lines contained mutant
in codons 12, 13, or 61 and
in exon 5 as well as showed aberrant p53 (5 overexpression and 1 total loss) or DPC4 (all 6 intact) expression. AMCPAC cell lines demonstrated homology for the
mutation and p53 expression compared with matched primary cancer tissues, but showed heterogeneous DPC4 expression patterns.
The novel AMCPAC01-06 cell lines established in this study may contribute to the understanding of pancreatic ductal adenocarcinomas.
Retrospectively registered.
To evaluate the clinical outcomes of pneumococcal pneumonia caused by antibiotic-resistant strains in Asian countries, we performed a prospective observational study of 233 cases of adult ...pneumococcal pneumonia in 9 Asian countries from January 2000 to June 2001. Among 233 isolates, 128 (55%) were not susceptible to penicillin (25.3% were intermediately susceptible, and 29.6% were resistant). Clinical severity of pneumococcal pneumonia was not significantly different between antibiotic-resistant and antibiotic-susceptible groups. Mortality rates among patients with pneumococcal pneumonia caused by penicillin-, cephalosporin-, or macrolide-resistant strains were not higher than those with antibiotic-susceptible pneumococcal pneumonia. Bacteremia and mechanical ventilation were significant risk factors for death, but any kind of antibiotic resistance was not associated with increased mortality due to pneumococcal pneumonia. Outcome of pneumococcal pneumonia was not significantly affected by drug resistance, and current antimicrobial regimens are mostly effective in the treatment of pneumococcal pneumonia, despite the widespread emergence of in vitro resistance.
Multicenter data on in vitro susceptibility of Candida bloodstream isolates to echinocandin antifungal agents is still lacking in South Korea. We performed a prospective multicenter study to ...determine the species distribution of Candida bloodstream isolates and their susceptibility to five antifungal agents, including caspofungin and micafungin. A total of 639 isolates were collected from 20 tertiary hospitals between September 2006 and August 2007. Antifungal susceptibilities were determined through the use of the CLSI broth microdilution method M27-A3. The overall species distribution was as follows; Candida albicans (38%), Candida parapsilosis (26%), Candia tropicalis (20%), Candida glabrata (11%), and miscellaneous Candida species (5%). Although C. parapsilosis and miscellaneous Candida species were less susceptible to both echinocandins, all 639 isolates were susceptible to both caspofungin and micafungin (MIC, ≤ 2 μg/ml). Nearly all isolates (99.7%) had a MIC ≤ 1 μg/ml to amphotericin B. Resistance to fluconazole and voriconazole was found in 0.8% and 0.3%, respectively, among all Candida isolates, with C. glabrata and C. krusei isolates displaying the greatest level of resistance. This is the largest multicenter candidemia study conducted in South Korea and shows that non-C. albicans Candida species, including C. parapsilosis, constitutes over 60% of all Candida species isolates recovered from the bloodstream. In addition, the rates of resistance to all five antifungals, including two echinocandins, are still low among bloodstream isolates in South Korea.
The transglycosylation reaction of maltodextrin glucosidase (MalZ) cloned and purified from Escherichia coli K12 was characterized and applied to the synthesis of branched oligosaccharides. Purified ...MalZ preferentially catalyzed the hydrolysis of maltodextrin, γ-cyclodextrin (CD), and cycloamylose (CA). In addition, when the enzyme was incubated with 5% maltotriose (G3), a series of transfer products were produced. The resulting major transfer products, annotated as T1, T2, and T3, were purified and their structures were determined by TLC, MALDI-TOF/MS, 13C NMR, and enzymatic analysis. T1 was identified as a novel compound, maltosyl α-1,3-maltose, whereas T2 and T3 were determined to be isopanose and maltosyl-α-1,6-maltose, respectively. These results indicated that MalZ transferred sugar moiety mainly to C-3 or C-6–OH of glucose of the acceptor molecule. To obtain highly concentrated transfer products, the enzyme was reacted with 10% liquefied cornstarch, and then glucose and maltose were removed by immobilized yeast. The T1 content of the resulting reaction mixture reached 9.0%. The mixture of T1 containing a nigerose moiety can have an immunopotentiating effect on the human body and may be a potential functional sugar stuff.
We carry out 100-GHz band test observations with the newly-constructed KVN 21-m radio telescopes in order to evaluate their performance. The three telescopes have similar performance parameters. The ...pointing accuracies are about 4″rms for the entire sky. The main beam sizes are about 30″(FWHMs), which is nearly the diffraction limit of the telescopes at the observing frequency (97 GHz). The measured aperture and main-beam effciencies are about 52% and 46%, respectively, for all three telescopes. The estimated moon effciency is ∼84% for the KVN Tamna telescope. The first sidelobes appear 50″(∼1.6×FWHM) from the main beam centers and the levels are on average －14 dB. KCI Citation Count: 26
Abstract We investigated the characteristics of 48 carbapenem-resistant Acinetobacter baumannii isolates collected from 5 tertiary care hospitals in Korea by multilocus sequencing typing, ...pulsed-field gel electrophoresis, and polymerase chain reaction amplification of the antimicrobial resistance determinants. We identified 2 distinct main clones of carbapenem-resistant A. baumannii isolates, which showed different antimicrobial resistance profiles and are also differentiated by the kinds of oxacillinase (OXA) carbapenemases and Acinetobacter -derived cephalosporinase (ADC) β-lactamases. One main clone, ST22:A, had 27 carbapenem-resistant isolates (56.3%), showed high polymyxin B and colistin resistances (33.3% and 37.0%, respectively), and contained both blaOXA-51–like and blaOXA-23–like genes and the blaADC-29 or blaADC-30 gene. In contrast, the other main clone, ST28:B, included 15 isolates (31.3%), showed complete susceptibilities to polymyxin B and colistin, and contained only the blaOXA-51–like gene and blaADC-31 or blaADC-32 genes. The distribution of these main carbapenem-resistant A. baumannii clones did not relate to locality, indicating that they are widespread in Korean hospitals. In addition, we found new types of PER β-lactamases, PER-6.
Alcohol toxicity can induce multiple organ dysfunction, including the liver. Gallated catechins (GCs), the components of green tea extract (GTE), have been known to inhibit intestinal lipid ...absorption. This study was designed to investigate the inhibitory effect of GC on the absorption of the lipid-soluble ethanol in normal mice. In addition, the effectiveness of prolonging the GC-mediated effect was evaluated as a means of preventing alcoholic liver damage.
GTE was administered orally immediately or 90 min before ethanol administration and the blood ethanol and acetaldehyde levels were measured. Binge ethanol administration (by gavage every 6 h for 24 h) was used to induce acute liver injury, and GTE was administered 90 min prior to every ethanol administration.
When GTE, but not GC-decreased GTE, was administered immediately before ethanol intake, the blood ethanol and acetaldehyde levels were significantly lower than those in the control. On the other hand, GTE has no effect when GTE was administered 90 min before ethanol intake. When GTE was co-administered with polyethylene glycol (PEG) or poly-γ-glutamate (PGA) 90 min before ethanol intake, the lowering effect of GTE on the blood ethanol and acetaldehyde levels was maintained in contrast to the GTE-alone-treated group. After binge ethanol administration, liver weight decreased, and serum alanine aminotransferase and aspartate aminotransferase levels were elevated. Additionally, histopathological changes, such as macrovesicular steatosis and necrosis, were induced in the liver, together with reactive oxygen species generation. When GTE + PEG or GTE + PGA, but not GTE alone, was administered 90 min before ethanol intake, acute liver injury was ameliorated.
These findings support the development of GTE + PEG or GTE + PGA as an inhibitor of intestinal alcohol absorption for the preventative treatment of acute alcohol toxicity.
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