The comparative characteristics of the Salmonella serotypes rarely encountered in the Maritime Territory

The results of the comparative study of the phenotypical properties and the plasmid profile of 63 strains of salmonellae, belonging to 44 serotypes of groups B, C1, C2, C3, D, E1, E4, F. The study revealed that strains of different serotypes had their individual plasmid profile. Strains of the same serotype of salmonellae isolated from similar sources had an identical plasmid profile, while strains isolated from different sources differed in their plasmid profiles, though they might have a similar phenotype. Plasmid analysis was shown to be an effective method for the intraspecific typing of rarely isolated Salmonella serotypes and suitable for use as the basis of the microbiological monitoring of salmonellae.     

Three-week hepatitis B vaccination provides protective immunity

To determine whether a 3-week hepatitis B (HB) vaccination could achieve protective immunity, 89 healthy non-immunized young adults received three doses of 20 micrograms each of HBs antigen (GenHevac B, Pasteur) and were randomly assigned to schedule A (n = 44): two doses at day 0, one dose at day 21; or schedule B (n = 45): one dose at days 0, 10 and 21. Seroprotection rates (anti-HBs > or = 10 mIU ml-1) for groups A and B respectively were: 23 and 40% at day 21; and 77 and 91% at day 82 (not significant). Anti-HBs geometric mean titres were higher in group B than in group A (p < 0.05) at days 21 (6.4 versus 3.8) and 82 (77.6 versus 33.5). One year after primary vaccination, the seroprotection rate remained as high as 90% in the vaccinees of group B; after boosting all vaccinees had protective levels of anti-HBs antibodies. Thus 3-week HB vaccination with GenHevac B allowed early and durable protective immunity.     

A theory for the formation of tetrahedral amorphous carbon including deposition rate effects

A theoretical model is presented to describe the effect of ion beam bombardment rate on the formation of tetrahedral amorphous carbon (ta-C) films. The critical ion energy, E_c, corresponding to a 50% sp³ content in the films, is found to be dependent on both the effective thermal resistance and the ion beam bombardment rate. In the model, the ‘window’ width in the ion energy scale for the formation of ta-C material increases with decreasing deposition rate and with a reduction in the effective thermal resistance, until limited by lower and upper boundary thresholds. Experimental data are reproduced by the model. The plasmon energy, which correlates with sp³ fraction, is found experimentally of be higher for lower deposition rate and smaller effective thermal resistance. Data points for high sp³ content ta-C films deposited on silicon substrates at room temperature occupy a region in the ion energy-deposition rate (E-r) diagram similar to that predicated from the theory.     

Nutritional response of mature rats to kidney bean (Phaseolus vulgaris) lectins

In a series of 10-day pair feeding experiments it was found that the nutritional value of diets containing beans was essentially the same for rats aged between 30 and 123 days. Thus net protein utilisation (NPU) values of 25–39 on diets containing Processor bean (35 g protein kg^?1) + egg albumin (65g protein kg^?1) were obtained. As food intakes were considerably reduced when rats were fed diets containing more than 35g protein kg^?1 of Processor bean, the measurement of protein utilisation became increasingly more difficult. The severe disruption of the brush borders of duodenal and jejunal enterocytes, originally observed when bean-containing diets were fed to young (30-day-old) rats was also found with rats up to the age of 120 days on similar diets. Similarly, the development of circulating anti-lectin antibodies in the animals showed no age dependence within the age limits investigated. It was also shown that oral immunisation did not protect the rats from the effects of toxicity and that the immune response was a result of continuous absorption of lectin throughout the feeding period. Thus the extent and the mechanism of toxicity of Phaseolus vulgaris bean lectins were found not to be dependent on the age or maturity of the animal.     

Controlling orthopoxvirus infections--200 years after Jenner's revolutionary immunization

An 11-year global WHO campaign for eradication of smallpox finished in October 1977 as the result of Edward Jenner's primary success in 1796, who for the first time applied human vaccination against variola virus (VARV). The 200th anniversary of this happening is a good occasion to summarize the current status of the knowledge about the role of B and T lymphocytes in the control of orthopoxvirus infections. This short review concentrates on general characteristics of orthopoxviruses and the immune response to infection, mainly by vaccinia virus (VV) and ectromelia virus (EV).     

Can radioactive iodine be used in the treatment of diffuse non-toxic goiter?

Traditional treatment modalities of diffuse nontoxic goitre are thyroid hormone suppression or surgery. When treating nodular nontoxic goitre with 131I treatment, a reduction in thyroid volume to about 50% is seen. In the present study we evaluated the effect of 131I treatment in 21 patients treated for a diffuse nontoxic goitre and followed by evaluation of thyroid volume measured by ultrasound. Thyroid volume declined in all patients from median of 66 ml (range 27-160 ml) to 21 ml (9-108 ml) over a year, a reduction of 62%. Three patients developed hypothyroidism in the follow-up period (14%), one of these had a temporary hyperthyroid fase. In conclusion, 131I treatment of diffuse nontoxic goitre reduces thyroid volume by approximately 60% within 12 months. Hypothyroidism developed in 14% during a limited follow-up period.     

Reversibility of scrapie inactivation is enhanced by copper

The only known difference between the cellular (PrPC) and scrapie-specific (PrPSc) isoforms of the prion protein is conformational. Because disruption of PrPSc structure decreases scrapie infectivity, restoration of the disease-specific conformation should restore infectivity. In this study, disruption of PrPSc (as monitored by the loss of proteinase K resistance) by guanidine hydrochloride (GdnHCl) resulted in decreased infectivity. Upon dilution of the GdnHCl, protease resistance of PrP was restored and infectivity was regained. The addition of copper facilitated restoration of both infectivity and protease resistance of PrP in a subset of samples that did not renature by the simple dilution of the GdnHCl. These data demonstrate that loss of scrapie infectivity can be a reversible process and that copper can enhance this restoration of proteinase K resistance and infectivity.     

The complexity of intersecting finite automata having few final states

The problem of determining whether several finite automata accept a word in common is closely related to the well-studied membership problem in transformation monoids. We raise the issue of limiting the number of final states in the automata intersection problem. For automata with two final states, we show the problem to be \({\oplus}\)L-complete or NP-complete according to whether a nontrivial monoid other than a direct product of cyclic groups of order 2 is allowed in the automata. We further consider idempotent commutative automata and (Abelian, mainly) group automata with one, two, or three final states over a singleton or larger alphabet, elucidating (under the usual hypotheses on complexity classes) the complexity of the intersection nonemptiness and related problems in each case.