CSF beta-amyloid 1-42 and tau in Tunisian patients with Alzheimer's disease: the effect of APOE epsilon4 allele

Alzheimer's disease (AD) is the leading cause of dementia. Currently, no definitive diagnostic test for AD exists. An accurate, convenient and objective test to detect AD is urgently needed for efficient drug development and effective clinical use of emerging therapies. The aim of the present work is to investigate the usefulness of cerebrospinal fluid (CSF) beta-amyloid protein (Abeta1-42) and total tau protein (t-tau) analyses in the diagnosis of AD and whether apolipoprotein E (ApoE) epsilon4 allele is a factor for AD affecting Tunisian people. Abeta1-42 and t-tau levels were measured in CSF from AD patients (n=73), non-Alzheimer dementia (nAD, n=35) and healthy controls (HC, n=38) by sandwich enzyme-linked immunosorbent assay. Abeta1-42 levels were decreased and t-tau increased in AD patients. The combination of Abeta1-42 and t-tau at baseline yielded a sensitivity of 87.4% for detection of AD. The specificities were 97.3% for controls and 82.7% for other dementia. The ApoE epsilon4 allele frequency (29.5%) was significantly higher in the AD patients than in the nAD patients (17.1%) or in the control groups (9.5%). AD patients carrying ApoE epsilon4 allele had lower Abeta1-42 (p<0.001) levels than those without a epsilon4 allele. The combination of t-tau and Abeta1-42 is a robust and reliable assay that may be useful in discriminating cases at risk for AD such as ApoE epsilon4 allele carriers from nAD patients or from age-matched control subjects.     

Subcutaneous and intranasal immunization with type III secreted proteins can prevent colonization and shedding of Escherichia coli O157:H7 in mice

Type III secreted proteins from Escherichia coli O157:H7 are involved in the attachment of the organism to mammalian cells and have been shown to be effective vaccine components capable of reducing colonization of cattle by the organism. In the current study, we used a streptomycin-treated mouse model to evaluate the efficacy of subcutaneous vs intranasal administration of the vaccine. Following immunization, mice were infected with E. coli O157:H7 and feces were monitored for shedding. Immune responses against EspA and Tir were also monitored. Subcutaneous immunization of mice with type III secreted proteins induced significant EspA- and Tir-specific serum IgG antibodies but did not significantly induce any antigen-specific IgA in feces, whereas intranasal immunization elicited significant EspA- and Tir-specific serum IgG antibodies with some animals developing antigen-specific IgA in feces. Only mice that were immunized intranasally with formulations containing mucosal adjuvants, either cholera toxin or CpG-containing oligonucleotides, showed decreased E. coli O157:H7 shedding following experimental infection. Mice immunized subcutaneously with type III secreted proteins did not shed E. coli in feces. These results demonstrate the potential for the use of type III secreted proteins in mucosal vaccine formulations to prevent colonization and shedding of E. coli O157:H7.     

Randomized controlled trial of an automated problem list with improved sensitivity

PURPOSE: To improve the completeness and timeliness of an electronic problem list, we have developed a system using Natural Language Processing (NLP) to automatically extract potential medical problems from clinical, free-text documents; these problems are then proposed for inclusion in an electronic problem list management application. METHODS: A prospective randomized controlled evaluation of the Automatic Problem List (APL) system in an intensive care unit and in a cardiovascular surgery unit is reported here. A total of 247 patients were enrolled: 76 in an initial control phase and 171 in the randomized controlled trial that followed. During this latter phase, patients were randomly assigned to a control or an intervention group. All patients had their documents analyzed by the system, but the medical problems discovered were only proposed in the problem list for intervention patients. We measured the sensitivity, specificity, positive and negative predictive values, likelihood ratios and the timeliness of the problem lists. RESULTS: Our system significantly increased the sensitivity of the problem lists in the intensive care unit, from about 9% to 41%, and even 77% if problems automatically proposed but not acknowledged by users were also considered. Timeliness of addition of problems to the list was greatly improved, with a time between a problem's first mention in a clinical document and its addition to the problem list reduced from about 6 days to less than 2 days. No significant effect was observed in the cardiovascular surgery unit.     

脑膜炎大肠埃希菌侵袭素IbeA结合多肽的初步研究

目的脑膜炎大肠埃希菌（E．coli）侵袭素IbeA通过与脑微血管内皮细胞表面受体结合,从而介导细菌穿透血脑屏障引起新生儿细菌性脑膜炎。为通过肽库筛选获得与IbeA蛋白结合的多肽,建立噬菌体随机肽库筛选IbeA结合多肽模体的方法。方法首先制备靶分子,用PCR扩增出全长ibeA基因序列,克隆至表达载体pET28a中,转化大肠埃希菌BL21（DE3）．经IPTG诱导表达出带有His-tag的目的蛋白,经变性复性后通过Ni^2＋-NTA亲和层析柱得到纯度达90％的重组蛋白。然后以固相化IbeA重组蛋白为靶亲和筛选噬菌体线性12肽库。结果经过3轮淘选,得到能和IbeA结合的24个重组噬菌体克隆;挑选15个亲和力高的克隆进行DNA测序,对比分析所得的短肽序列。固相Fmoc法合成短肽,并进行结合实验、阻断实验和竞争抑制实验。绪论以重组表达的IbeA融合蛋白为靶筛选得到的重组噬菌体十二肽克隆,能够和IbeA蛋白结合,为IbeA蛋白结合多肽。结果提示所筛选的阳性噬菌体克隆及其合成肽可能模拟IbeA受体表位的结构。     

Human papillomavirus type 16 E5 protein as a therapeutic target

Cervical cancer is a progressive disease with an onset of one to two decades on average. During the productive replication stage, the Human papillomavirus (HPV) genome is maintained episomally in the infected cervical epithelium and early gene products, including E5, are expressed. Therefore, E5 has a potential to contribute to the HPV-associated carcinogenic process. In invasive malignancies, the HPV genomes are commonly integrated into the host genome, and E6 and E7 genes remain intact. However, the E5 is lost or, if present, under-expressed as compared with the E6 and E7 proteins. This suggests that E5 may play a critical role in the genesis of cervical cancer but less of a role in its persistence or progression. In the initiation of neoplasia and the premalignant stage, there are fewer malignant cells than in the invasive malignancies. Moreover, cells in the invasive malignant stage are found to have a very low level of MHC class I and II, which could hamper the presentation of the antigen and lead to a decreased immune response. Since the E5 protein is likely to play a role during the early tumorigenesis stage, a therapeutic vaccine to target and eliminate the E5-expressing cells may be a good strategy to prevent premalignant lesions from progressing toward invasive cervical cancers. This paper provides an overview of HPV-induced cervical carcinogenesis and strategies for designing prophylactic and therapeutic vaccines to prevent and cure the cervical cancer. In particular, focus will be on the rationale of targeting the E5 protein to develop therapeutic vaccines.     

Causes of B chromosome variant substitution in the grasshopper Eyprepocnemis plorans

We have analysed B chromosome frequency for three consecutive years, B transmission rate at population and individual levels, clutch size, egg fertility and embryo–adult viability in a natural population of the grasshopper Eyprepocnemis plorans containing two different B chromosome variants, i.e. B₂ and B₂₄, the second being derived from the first and having replaced it in nearby populations. From 2002 to 2003 the relative frequency of both variants changed, although the differences did not reach significance. A mother–offspring analysis showed no significant effect of any of the two B variants on clutch size, egg fertility or embryo–adult viability, but B₂₄ was more efficiently transmitted than B₂ through males from the 2002 season, which explains the observed frequency change. Controlled crosses, at individual level, showed significant drive through some females for B₂₄ but not for B₂, suggesting that this difference in transmission rate might also be important for the substitution process. The analysis of relative fitness for B₂ and B₂₄ carriers for all fitness components, as a whole, showed a significantly better performance of B₂₄-carrying individuals, suggesting that the cumulative effect of these slight differences might contribute to the replacement of B₂ by B₂₄. Electronic Supplementary Material Supplementary material is available for this article at .     

Effect of vitamin E nutritional supplementation on the pathological changes induced in the ileum of rabbits by experimental infection with enteropathogenic Escherichia coli

A well-established rabbit model of enteropathogenic E. coli (EPEC) disease was used to examine whether vitamin E (VE) nutritional supplementation had an effect on the pathological changes induced in the bowel by EPEC. Quantitative methods were used to evaluate the influence of VE on bacterial colonization, intestinal mucosal architecture and inflammation, and intestinal epithelial proliferation and apoptosis. VE did not affect EPEC colonization and did not give significant protection against EPEC-induced changes and diarrhoea. Although VE had no effect on the EPEC-related increase of enterocyte apoptosis, it clearly contributed to an acceleration of epithelial cell proliferation in the ileal crypts. This finding may explain why ileal morphometry undertaken in this study showed that VE ameliorated somewhat the effects of EPEC on intestinal mucosal architecture. Quantitative studies on inflammatory cells in the intestinal mucosa revealed that VE nutritional supplementation resulted in an increased neutrophilic and mononuclear inflammatory cell response to EPEC infection, which did not contribute, however, to the clearance of infection.     

人冠状病毒229E、OC43与SARS-CoV血清学相关性的研究

目的 检测正常人和SARS患者血清中3种人冠状病毒（229E、OCA3和SARS-CoV）特异性抗体．分析3种冠状病毒血清学相关性。方法 采用免疫印迹、免疫荧光和ELISA方法检测100例健康献血员、34例SARS患者恢复期以及11例SARS患者双份血清中229E、OCA3和SARS-CoV3种冠状病毒核衣壳（N）蛋白抗体。结果 用免疫荧光方法检测100例健康献血员血清中229E、OCA3和SARS-CoV IgG阳性率分别为98％、100％和1％，34例SARS患者恢复期血清中3种冠状病毒IgG的阳性率均为100％；免疫印迹检测100例健康献血员血清中229E、OCA3和SARS-CoVN蛋白IgG阳性率分别9r7％、99％和2％，34例SARS患者恢复期血清中229E、OCA3和SARS-CoVN蛋白IgG阳性率分别97％、100％和100％；11例SARS患者的急性期和恢复期双份血清中，免疫荧光检测有5例出现229E IgG滴度4倍或以上升高，10例出现OC43 IgG滴度4倍或以上升高，ELISA检测2例出现229EN蛋白IgG滴度4倍以上升高，没有一例出现OCA3N蛋白抗体滴度升高。结论 正常人群中普遍存在229E和OCA3两种人冠状病毒抗体，SARS-CoV感染者存在对人冠状病毒229E和OCA3血清学交叉反应，提示核衣壳蛋白不是引起血清学交叉反应的主要抗原，结果对研究SARS溯源有重要意义。