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Sci Rep 2018 Dec 14;8(1):17848. Epub 2018 Dec 14.

Faculty of Geo-Information Science and Earth Observation (ITC), University of Twente, Enschede, Netherlands.

Knowledge of the temporal trends and spatial patterns will have significant implications for effective preparedness in future epidemics. Our objective was to investigate the temporal trends and the nature of the spatial interaction of cholera incidences, dwelling on an outbreak in the Kumasi Metropolis, Ghana. We developed generalized nonparametric and segmented regression models to describe the epidemic curve. Read More

Front Physiol 2018 21;9:1640. Epub 2018 Nov 21.

State Key Laboratory of Organ Failure Research, National Clinical Research Center for Kidney Disease, Nanfang Hospital, Southern Medical University, Guangzhou, China.

The potential function of distal cerebrospinal fluid-contacting nucleus (dCSF-CNs) in chronic kidney disease (CKD) development is poorly understood. We hypothesized that dCSF-CNs might affect the renin-angiotensin system (RAS) in kidney injury progression, with dCSF-CNs ablation potentially alleviating local RAS and renal fibrosis in rats after five-sixths nephrectomy (5/6Nx). Part of rats were randomly administered artificial cerebrospinal fluid (aCSF) intracerebroventricularly (icv), followed by 5/6Nx or sham operation; and other part of rats were administered Cholera toxin B subunit conjugated with saporin (CB-SAP) for dCSF-CNs lesion before 5/6Nx. Read More

Biomed Pharmacother 2018 Dec 8;110:631-640. Epub 2018 Dec 8.

Medicinal Plants Research Center (NPPM), Federal University of Piauí, 64.049-550, Teresina, PI, Brazil. Electronic address:

Diarrhea is one of the leading causes of infant death in the world accounting for high child mortality rate. It is also present in different pathophysiologies related to several etiological agents. The aim of this study is to investigate the antidiarrheal effect of α -Terpineol (α-TPN) in different diarrhea models in rodents. Read More

PLoS One 2018 12;13(12):e0207954. Epub 2018 Dec 12.

Division of Bacteriology, Indian Council of Medical Research-National Institute of Cholera and Enteric Diseases, Kolkata, West Bengal, India.

Salmonella enterica serovar Typhimurium (S. Typhimurium) is a common serovar associated with non-typhoidal salmonellosis globally. However, there is insufficient data on molecular characterization of S. Read More

Macromol Biosci 2018 Dec 7:e1800340. Epub 2018 Dec 7.

State Key Laboratory of Chemical Resource Engineering, Key Laboratory of Carbon Fiber and Functional Polymers (Ministry of Education), Beijing Laboratory of Biomedical Materials, Beijing Advanced Innovation Center for Soft Matter Science and Engineering, Beijing University of Chemical Technology, Beijing, 100029, China.

Alzheimer's disease (AD) is an incurable neurodegenerative brain disorder that exhibits clear pathologic changes in the hippocampus. Traditional drug delivery systems are ineffective due to the existence of the blood-brain barrier (BBB). In this study, an efficient, stable, and easily constructed nanosystem (CB-Gd-Cy5. Read More

Microbiol Resour Announc 2018 Aug 30;7(8). Epub 2018 Aug 30.

Enteric Diseases Division, Department of Microbiology, Kasturba Medical College, Manipal Academy of Higher Education, Manipal, India.

Salmonella enterica subsp. enterica serotype Typhimurium sequence type 313 (ST313) is most commonly associated with invasive nontyphoidal Salmonella disease in Africa among patients with HIV infection and malignancy. Here, we report a draft genome sequence of S. Read More

Microbiol Resour Announc 2018 Jul 26;7(3). Epub 2018 Jul 26.

Infection and Immunity, South Australian Health and Medical Research Institute, Adelaide, South Australia, Australia.

Vibrio cholerae is the causative agent of cholera and, more rarely, nondiarrheal opportunistic infections. We report here a draft genome sequence of a non-O1/O139 V. cholerae strain isolated from the urine of a patient presenting with dysuria at a South Australian health care facility. Read More

Vaccine 2018 Dec 5. Epub 2018 Dec 5.

Uniformed Services University of the Health Sciences, Department of Medicine, Bethesda, MD, USA.

Leishmaniasis is an expanding health threat worldwide complicated by the absence of an effective vaccine. We investigated transcutaneous immunization (TCI) as a needle-free immunization route which exploits the abundance of antigen presenting cells in the skin to induce both mucosal and systemic immunity. Leishmania (L. Read More

Benef Microbes 2018 Dec 10:1-14. Epub 2018 Dec 10.

1 Nutricia Research, Uppsalalaan 12, 3584 CT Utrecht, the Netherlands.

Non-breastfed infants at-risk of allergy are recommended to use a hydrolysed formula before the age of 6 months. The addition of prebiotics to this formula may reduce the allergy development in these infants, but clinical evidence is still inconclusive. This study evaluates (1) whether the exposure duration to different prebiotics alongside a partially hydrolysed whey protein (pHP) influences its' effectiveness to prevent allergy development and (2) whether the gut microbiota plays a role in this process. Read More

Colloids Surf B Biointerfaces 2018 Nov 28;175:84-90. Epub 2018 Nov 28.

Dept. of Chemical Engineering, Texas A&M University, College Station, TX, 77843, USA. Electronic address:

Lectin hetero-multivalency, binding to two or more different types of ligands, has been demonstrated to play a role in case of both LecA (a Pseudomonas aeruginosa adhesin) and Cholera Toxin subunit B (a Vibrio cholerae toxin). In order to screen the ligand candidates that involve in hetero-multivalent binding from large molecular libraries, we present a turbidity-based emulsion agglutination (TEA) assay that can be conducted in a high-throughput format using the standard laboratory instruments and reagents. The benefit of this assay is that it relies on the use of emulsions that can be formed using ultrasonication, minimizing the bottleneck of substrate surface functionalization. Read More

J Comp Neurol 2018 Dec 6. Epub 2018 Dec 6.

Department of Physiology, Teikyo University School of Medicine, Tokyo, Japan.

The central projection patterns of cutaneous afferents from the forelimb and shoulder of mice were studied in the spinal dorsal horn after intracutaneous injection of AlexaFluor 488-conjugated and/or 594-conjugated cholera toxin subunit B (CTB). Based on their dermatomes, the following eight skin regions are thought to be innervated by spinal nerves from the sixth to eighth cervical spinal nerve roots: the dorsal surface of the shoulder, brachium, proximal forearm, distal forearm, hand, palmar surface of the second and third digits, and palm. The termination areas of afferents from the dorsal surface of the shoulder and forearm were narrow, distributed in a dorsoventral direction, and aligned in order from lateral to medial within the sixth to eighth cervical dorsal horns. Read More

Chem Commun (Camb) 2018 Dec 3. Epub 2018 Dec 3.

School of Interdisciplinary Bioscience and Bioengineering, Pohang University of Science and Technology, Pohang 37673, Korea and Department of Chemical Engineering, Pohang University of Science and Technology, Pohang 37673, Korea.

A functional glycan chip combined with on-chip enzymatic glycosylation was developed to prepare complex glycan sources and to apply glycan-involved applications simultaneously. GM3 trisaccharide, GM2 tetrasaccharide, and GM1 pentasaccharide were successfully directly biosynthesized on lactose-immobilized surfaces through three consecutive glycosyltransferase reactions along with small amounts of enzymes and donors, without any additional processes. Biosynthesized GM1 pentasaccharide-related complex glycans were demonstrated to provide information on the substrate specificity of whole cholera toxin. Read More

J Educ Health Promot 2018 29;7:129. Epub 2018 Oct 29.

Department of Community Medicine, Seth G. S. Medical College and KEM Hospital, Mumbai, Maharashtra, India.

Introduction: Immunization against vaccine-preventable diseases in adults is the need of the hour. The student nurses by virtue of training are the frontline health workers dealing with patient care. They are exposed to maximum risk of contracting the diseases. Read More

Bull World Health Organ 2018 Dec 27;96(12):817-825. Epub 2018 Sep 27.

Epicentre, 8 rue Saint-Sabin, 75011 Paris, France.

Objective: To evaluate vaccination coverage, identify reasons for non-vaccination and assess satisfaction with two innovative strategies for distributing second doses in an oral cholera vaccine campaign in 2016 in Lake Chilwa, Malawi, in response to a cholera outbreak.

Methods: We performed a two-stage cluster survey. The population interviewed was divided in three strata according to the second-dose vaccine distribution strategy: (i) a standard strategy in 1477 individuals (68 clusters of 5 households) on the lake shores; (ii) a simplified cold-chain strategy in 1153 individuals (59 clusters of 5 households) on islands in the lake; and (iii) an out-of-cold-chain strategy in 295 fishermen (46 clusters of 5 to 15 fishermen) in floating homes, called . Read More

BMC Public Health 2018 Dec 4;18(1):1338. Epub 2018 Dec 4.

Department of International Health, Johns Hopkins Bloomberg School of Public Health, 615 N. Wolfe Street, Baltimore, MD, 21205, USA.

The Yemen cholera outbreak has been driven by years of conflict and has now become the largest in epidemiologically recorded history with more than 1.2 million cases since the beginning of the outbreak in April, 2017. In this report we review and discuss the cholera management strategies applied by the major international humanitarian health organizations present in Yemen. Read More

Rev Prat 2017 12;67(10):1117-1121

Assistance publique-Hôpitaux de Marseille, hôpital de La Timone et Hôpital européen Marseille, Marseille, France.

Cholera. Cholera is caused by Vibrio cholerae, a Gram-negative bacteria. Some strains can synthesize an enterotoxin - the cholera toxin - which is responsible for the disease. Read More

Health Secur 2018 Dec 4. Epub 2018 Dec 4.

Michael R. Snyder, MALD, is an Analyst, and Sanjana J. Ravi, MPH, is a Senior Analyst, both at the Johns Hopkins Center for Health Security.

2018 marks the centennial of the 1918 influenza pandemic, widely acknowledged as one of the deadliest infectious disease crises in human history. As public health and medical communities of practice reflect on the aftermath of the influenza pandemic and the ways in which it has altered the trajectory of history and informed current practices in health security, it is worth noting that the Spanish flu was preceded by a very different 100-year threat: the first Asiatic cholera pandemic of 1817 to 1824. In this commentary, we offer a historical analysis of the common socioeconomic, political, and environmental factors underlying both pandemics, consider the roles of cholera and Spanish flu in shaping global health norms and modern public health practices, and examine how strategic applications of soft power and broadening the focus of health security to include sustainable development could help the world prepare for pandemics of the future. Read More

Mar Pollut Bull 2018 Nov 8;136:79-83. Epub 2018 Sep 8.

Maryland Pathogen Research Institute, University of Maryland, College Park, MD, USA; Maryland Institute of Applied Environmental Health, University of Maryland, College Park, MD, USA. Electronic address:

Ballast water is used to safely stabilize and operate shipping vessels worldwide, in a multitude of aquatic settings, including inland, coastal and open oceans. However, ballast water may pose ecological, public health, and/or economic problems as it may serve as vehicles of transmission of microorganisms. Current ballast water regulations include limits of Escherichia coli, Enterococcus spp. Read More

PLoS One 2018 30;13(11):e0207693. Epub 2018 Nov 30.

Pulmonary Branch, National Heart, Lung, and Blood Institute, National Institutes of Health, Bethesda, Maryland, United States of America.

Cholera toxin, an 84-kDa multimeric protein and a major virulence factor of Vibrio cholerae, uses the ADP-ribosyltransferase activity of its A subunit to intoxicate host cells. ADP-ribosylation is a posttranslational modification of proteins, in which the ADP-ribose moiety of NAD+ is transferred to an acceptor. In mammalian cells, ADP-ribosylation of acceptors appears to be reversible. Read More

J Ethnopharmacol 2018 Nov 26;231:275-282. Epub 2018 Nov 26.

Shenzhen Key Laboratory of ENT, Institute of ENT & Longgang ENT Hospital, Shenzhen 518172, China.

Ethnopharmacological Relevance: Yan-Hou-Qing (YHQ), a Chinese medicine formula containing fourteen kinds of materials, has been designed for pharyngitis and cough treatment in Oriental medicine. In the present study, the anti-allergic effects and underlying mechanisms of YHQ in inhibition of airway hyper responsiveness (AHR) was explored in an ovalbumin (OVA)-induced allergic asthma mouse model.

Materials And Methods: BALB/c mice were sensitized by OVA and cholera toxin (CT) and challenged with OVA intranasally to induce allergic asthma mouse model. Read More

Int Health 2018 Nov 29. Epub 2018 Nov 29.

International Centre for Diarrhoeal Disease Research, Bangladesh, Dhaka, Bangladesh.

Background: Past research has suggested that the most cost-effective approach to using oral cholera vaccines (OCVs) to control endemic cholera may be to target only children <15 y of age. However, the assumption that vaccination of children with OCVs protects unvaccinated adults has never been tested.

Methods: We reanalyzed the data of an OCV trial in Bangladesh in which children 2-15 y of age and women >15 y of age were allocated to OCV or placebo and assessed herd protection by relating the risk of cholera in each nonvaccinated adult (>15 y) to OCV coverage (OCVC) of residents residing in virtual clusters within 500 m of the residence of that unvaccinated adult. Read More

Mol Genet Genomics 2018 Nov 28. Epub 2018 Nov 28.

Key Laboratory of Quality and Safety Risk Assessment for Aquatic Products on Storage and Preservation (Shanghai), China Ministry of Agriculture, College of Food Science and Technology, Shanghai Ocean University, Shanghai, People's Republic of China.

Vibrio cholerae, which is autochthonous to estuaries worldwide, can cause human cholera that is still pandemic in developing countries. A number of V. cholerae isolates of clinical and environmental origin worldwide have been subjected to genome sequencing to address their phylogenesis and bacterial pathogenesis, however, little genome information is available for V. Read More

Sci Total Environ 2018 Nov 22;655:831-841. Epub 2018 Nov 22.

Engineering Geology and Hydrogeology, Department of Geology, University of Pretoria, Pretoria 0028, South Africa. Electronic address:

Recent studies have identified cemeteries as potential environmental reservoirs of multi-drug resistant pathogenic bacteria that could contaminate groundwater sources posing public health threats. However, these findings were based on the identification of culturable bacteria and at times not below burial grounds. Investigation on the bacterial diversity and functional profiles of bacterial communities above and below burial grounds in human cemeteries are few. Read More

Arch Virol 2018 Nov 27. Epub 2018 Nov 27.

Division of Electron Microscopy, ICMR-National Institute of Cholera and Enteric Diseases, P-33 C.I.T Road, Scheme-XM, Beleghata, Kolkata, 700010, India.

Bacteriophages play a crucial role in tracking the spread of bacterial epidemics. The frequent emergence of antibiotic-resistant bacterial strains throughout the world has motivated studies on bacteriophages that can potentially be used in phage therapy as an alternative to conventional antibiotic treatment. A recent outbreak of cholera in Haiti took many lives due to a rapid development of resistance to the available antibiotics. Read More

Int J Environ Res Public Health 2018 Nov 25;15(12). Epub 2018 Nov 25.

Department of Geography, Environment, and Spatial Sciences, Michigan State University, East Lansing, MI 48824, USA.

El Niño is a quasi-periodic pattern of climate variability and extremes often associated with hazards and disease. While El Niño links to individual diseases have been examined, less is known about the cluster of multi-disease risk referred to as an ecosyndemic, which emerges during extreme events. The objective of this study was to explore a mapping approach to represent the spatial distribution of ecosyndemics in Piura, Peru at the district-level during the first few months of 1998. Read More

Nutr Cancer 2018 Nov 26:1-15. Epub 2018 Nov 26.

b Department of Clinical Medicine , National Institute of Cholera and Enteric Diseases , Beliaghata , Kolkata, India.

Numerous mechanisms are believed to contribute to the role of dietary fiber-derived butyrate in the protection against the development of colorectal cancers (CRCs). To identify the most crucial butyrate-regulated genes, we exploited whole genome microarray of HT-29 cells differentiated in vitro by butyrate treatment. Butyrate differentiates HT-29 cells by relaxing the perturbation, caused by mutations of Adenomatous polyposis coli (APC) and TP53 genes, the most frequent mutations observed in CRC. Read More

Front Microbiol 2018 9;9:2686. Epub 2018 Nov 9.

Department of Microbiology, Moyne Institute of Preventive Medicine, Trinity College Dublin, Dublin, Ireland.

Gram-negative enteropathogenic bacteria use a variety of strategies to cause disease in the human host and gene regulation in some form is typically a part of the strategy. This article will compare the toxin-based infection strategy used by the non-invasive pathogen , the etiological agent in human cholera, with the invasive approach used by , the cause of bacillary dysentery. Despite the differences in the mechanisms by which the two pathogens cause disease, they use environmentally-responsive regulatory hierarchies to control the expression of genes that have some features, and even some components, in common. Read More

Pak J Pharm Sci 2018 Nov;31(6):2341-2346

Department of Plant Sciences, Quaid-i-Azam University, Islamabad, Pakistan.

Present research work was aimed to investigate the biological activities i.e. antibacterial, antifungal, antioxidant, cytotoxic and antitumor activities of crude methanolic extract of Anagallis arvensis L. Read More

Antiviral Res 2018 Nov 19;161:53-62. Epub 2018 Nov 19.

Division of Virology, National Institute of Cholera and Enteric Diseases, P-33, C.I.T. Road Scheme- XM, Beliaghata, Kolkata 700010, India. Electronic address:

Acute watery diarrhea due to Rotavirus (RV) infection is associated with high infantile morbidity and mortality in countries with compromised socio-economic backgrounds. Although showing promising trends in developed countries, the efficacy of currently licensed RV vaccines is sub-optimal in socio-economically poor settings with high disease burden. Currently, there are no approved anti-rotaviral drugs adjunct to classical vaccination program. Read More

Acta Trop 2018 Nov 19;190:235-243. Epub 2018 Nov 19.

Laboratory of Ecohydrology, École Polytechnique Fédérale de Lausanne (EPFL), 1015 Lausanne, Switzerland; Dipartimento ICEA, Università di Padova, 35100 Padova, Italy. Electronic address:

The correlation between cholera epidemics and climatic drivers, in particular seasonal tropical rainfall, has been studied in a variety of contexts owing to its documented relevance. Several mechanistic models of cholera transmission have included rainfall as a driver by focusing on two possible transmission pathways: either by increasing exposure to contaminated water (e.g. Read More

J Photochem Photobiol B 2018 Nov 12;190:8-20. Epub 2018 Nov 12.

Department of Biotechnology and Genetic Engineering, Bharathidasan University, Tiruchirappali 620 024, Tamilnadu, India.

Magnesium oxide (MgO) nanostructures were prepared using microwave-assisted (M 1) and hydrothermal (M 2) methods and characterized by XRD, SEM and FT-IR. It exhibits cubic structure with an average crystallite size of 20 nm (M 1) and 14 nm (M 2) and the lattice strain (WH plot) is 0.0017 (M 1), 0. Read More

Appl Environ Microbiol 2018 Nov 16. Epub 2018 Nov 16.

Graduate School of Life and Environmental Sciences, Osaka Prefecture University, Izumisano, Osaka 598-8531, Japan

Atypical El Tor strains of O1 harboring variant genes of cholera toxin (CT) are gradually becoming a major cause of recent cholera epidemics. occasionally produces CT, encoded by on CTXФ genome; and toxin-coregulated pilus (TCP), a major intestinal colonization factor and also the CTXФ-specific receptor. This study carried out extensive molecular characterization of CTXФ and ToxT regulon in strains of isolated from the Bengal coast. Read More

Microbiology 2018 Nov 16. Epub 2018 Nov 16.

Infectious Diseases and Immunology Division, CSIR-Indian Institute of Chemical Biology, Kolkata-700 032, India.

Expression of cholera toxin (CT), the principal virulence factor of the cholera pathogen Vibrio cholerae, is positively modulated by the RNA polymerase binding unusual transcription factor DksA (DksAVc) of the stringent response pathway. Here we report that even though CT (encoded by the genes ctxAB) production is downregulated in the V. cholerae ΔdksA (ΔdksAVc) mutant, the expression of the ctxA gene as well as the genes encoding different virulence regulators, namely, AphA, TcpP and ToxT, were also upregulated. Read More

Dev Neurobiol 2018 Nov 14. Epub 2018 Nov 14.

Program in Neuroscience and Department of Psychological and Brain Sciences, Indiana University, Bloomington, Indiana, 47405.

Partial depletion of spinal motoneuron populations induces dendritic atrophy in neighboring motoneurons, and treatment with testosterone protects motoneurons from induced dendritic atrophy. We explored a potential mechanism for this induced atrophy and protection by testosterone, examining the microglial response to partial depletion of motoneurons. Motoneurons innervating the vastus medialis muscles of adult male rats were killed by intramuscular injection of cholera toxin-conjugated saporin; some saporin-injected rats were treated with testosterone. Read More

Exp Neurobiol 2018 Oct 31;27(5):387-396. Epub 2018 Oct 31.

Department of Brain and Cognitive Sciences, Ewha Womans University, Seoul 03760, Korea.

The nucleus accumbens (NAc) is the major component of the ventral striatum that regulates stress-induced depression. The NAc receives dopaminergic inputs from the ventral tegmental area (VTA), and the role of VTA-NAc neurons in stress response has been recently characterized. The NAc also receives glutamatergic inputs from various forebrain structures including the prelimbic cortex (PL), basolateral amygdala (BLA), and ventral hippocampus (vHIP), whereas the role of those glutamatergic afferents in stress response remains underscored. Read More

Cell Microbiol 2018 Nov 14:e12976. Epub 2018 Nov 14.

Department of General Microbiology, Microbiology Institute, Federal University of Rio de Janeiro, Rio de Janeiro, Brazil.

Recognition and internalisation of intracellular pathogens by host cells is a multifactorial process, involving both stable and transient interactions. The plasticity of the host cell plasma membrane is fundamental in this infectious process. Here, the participation of macrophage lipid microdomains during adhesion and internalisation of the fungal pathogen Histoplasma capsulatum (Hc) was investigated. Read More

Cell Microbiol 2018 Nov 13:e12982. Epub 2018 Nov 13.

Division of Clinical Medicine, National Institute of Cholera and Enteric Diseases, Kolkata, India.

Typhoid is a life-threatening febrile illness that affects ~24.2 million people worldwide and is caused by the intracellular bacteria Salmonella Typhi (S. Typhi). Read More

Int J Hyg Environ Health 2018 Nov 10. Epub 2018 Nov 10.

Gillings School of Global Public Health, Dep. of Environmental Science and Engineering, University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill, NC, USA.

In situ physico-chemical disinfection of high risk faecal waste is both effective and widely used as a sanitation management strategy for infection prevention and control. Systematic tests where the performance of alternative physico-chemical disinfection methods is systematically compared and optimized must be based on reliable protocols. These protocol are currently not adequately addressing the neutralization related issues: the neutralization of the tested disinfectant after specified conditions of concentration and contact time (CT) is necessary to prevent continued disinfection after the intended contact time; moreover such neutralization is often necessary in practice and on a large scale to prevent adverse health and ecological impacts from remaining disinfectant after the target CT is achieved. Read More

Mol Pharm 2018 Nov 29. Epub 2018 Nov 29.

Faculty of Pharmacy , Université de Montréal , H3C 3J7 Montréal , Québec , Canada.

Drugs and proteins with poor intestinal permeability have a limited oral bioavailability. To remediate this problem, a receptor-mediated endocytosis and transcytosis approach was explored. Indeed, the nontoxic β subunit of cholera toxin (CTB) can cross the intestinal barrier by binding to receptor GM1. Read More

J Comp Neurol 2018 Dec 8;526(18):2973-2983. Epub 2018 Nov 8.

Department of Anesthesiology & Perioperative Medicine, Mayo Clinic, Rochester, Minnesota.

Structural plasticity in motoneurons may be influenced by activation history and motoneuron-muscle fiber interactions. The goal of this study was to examine the morphological adaptations of phrenic motoneurons following imposed motoneuron inactivity while controlling for diaphragm muscle inactivity. Well-characterized rat models were used including unilateral C2 spinal hemisection (SH; ipsilateral phrenic motoneurons and diaphragm muscle are inactive) and tetrodotoxin phrenic nerve blockade (TTX; ipsilateral diaphragm muscle is paralyzed while phrenic motoneuron activity is preserved). Read More

Allergy Asthma Clin Immunol 2018 1;14:42. Epub 2018 Nov 1.

1Department of Neuroscience, Carleton University, 1125 Colonel By Drive, Ottawa, K1S 5B6 ON Canada.

Background: Accumulating evidence suggests that the gut microbiota shapes developmental processes within the immune system. Early life antibiotic use is one factor which may contribute to immune dysfunction and the recent surge in allergies by virtue of its effects on gut microbiota.

Objective And Methods: As a first step towards determining whether a relationship exists between perinatal antibiotic induced changes in the gut microbiota and the later development of a peanut allergy, we exposed newborn mice to either the broad-spectrum antibiotic vancomycin or to a vehicle for 6 weeks and then used a novel murine model of peanut allergy. Read More

Am J Physiol Gastrointest Liver Physiol 2018 Nov 8. Epub 2018 Nov 8.

Molecular Pathophysiology, National Inastitute of Cholera & Enteric Diseases, India.

Whether zinc(Zn) regulates barrier functions by modulating tight junction (TJ) proteins when pathogens such as Shigella alter epithelial permeability is still un-resolved. We investigated the potential benefits of Zn in restoring impaired barrier function in vivo in Shigella infected mouse tissue and in vitro T84 cell monolayers. Basolateral Shigella infection triggered time dependent decrease in trans-epithelial resistance (TER) followed by an increase in paracellular permeability of FITC-labelled dextran and altered ion selectivity. Read More

Front Immunol 2018 18;9:2405. Epub 2018 Oct 18.

Department of Molecular Genetics and Infection Biology, Center for Functional Genomics of Microbes, Interfaculty Institute of Genetics and Functional Genomics, University of Greifswald, Greifswald, Germany.

is endowed with a variety of surface-exposed proteins representing putative vaccine candidates. Lipoproteins are covalently anchored to the cell membrane and highly conserved among pneumococcal serotypes. Here, we evaluated these lipoproteins for their immunogenicity and protective potential against pneumococcal colonisation. Read More

New Microbes New Infect 2018 Nov 21;26:S10-S18. Epub 2018 Sep 21.

IRD, AP-HM, MEPHI, Aix-Marseille Université, IRD, IHU-Méditerranée Infection, Marseille, France.

Many infectious diseases have emerged or reemerged in Africa in the 21st century. Some of them are associated with newly discovered microorganisms such as and others are known, historical diseases such as plague and cholera. In addition are diseases related to previously known microorganisms which recently have been involved for the first time in massive outbreaks with worldwide impacts (such as Ebola virus, Zika virus and Chikungunya virus). Read More

New Microbes New Infect 2018 Nov 16;26:S4-S9. Epub 2018 Aug 16.

Aix-Marseille Université, IRD, APHM, MEPHI, IHU Méditerranée Infection, Marseille, France.

Marseille has been exposed to epidemics for two millennia, including plague, cholera and yellow fever. This long-standing exposure to epidemics has given the people of Marseilles a particular expertise in fighting epidemics. Lazarets and other quarantine measures were implemented as a response to preventing the further spread of the disease in the community. Read More

BMC Gastroenterol 2018 Nov 6;18(1):167. Epub 2018 Nov 6.

Laboratory of Nutritional Pathophysiology, National Institute of Gastroenterology, "S. de Bellis" Research Hospital, Via Turi 27, I-70013 Castellana Grotte, Bari, Italy.

Background: Alterations of the small-intestinal permeability (s-IP) might play an essential role in both diarrhoea-predominant IBS (D-IBS) and celiac disease (CD) patients. Our aims were to analyse in D-IBS patients the symptom profile along with the levels of urinary sucrose (Su), lactulose (La), mannitol (Ma), and circulating biomarkers (zonulin, intestinal fatty acid binding protein - I-FABP, and diamine oxidase - DAO) of the gastrointestinal (GI) barrier function. The pro-inflammatory interleukins 6 and 8 (IL-6 and IL-8), the plasma values of lipopolysaccharide (LPS), and Toll-like receptor 4 (TLR-4) were also investigated. Read More

Mar Drugs 2018 Nov 2;16(11). Epub 2018 Nov 2.

Department of Molecular Medicine-Biological Chemistry, University of Padova, 35131 Padova, Italy.

Astaxanthin (Asta), red pigment of the carotenoid family, is known for its anti-oxidant, anti-cancer, anti-diabetic, and anti-inflammatory properties. In this study, we evaluated the effects of Asta on isolated human sperm in the presence of human papillomavirus (HPV) 16 capsid protein, L1. Sperm, purified by gradient separation, were treated with HPV16-L1 in both a dose and time-dependent manner in the absence or presence of 30 min-Asta pre-incubation. Read More

J Infect Dis 2018 Nov 3. Epub 2018 Nov 3.

School of Veterinary Medicine and Science, University of Nottingham, Sutton Bonington, Leicestershire.

Cholera remains a major risk in developing countries, particularly after natural or man-made disasters. Vibrio cholerae El Tor is the most important cause of these outbreaks, and is becoming increasingly resistant to antibiotics, so alternative therapies are urgently needed. In this study, a single bacteriophage, Phi_1, was used to control cholera prophylactically and therapeutically in an infant rabbit model. Read More

Can J Infect Dis Med Microbiol 2018 2;2018:4032531. Epub 2018 Oct 2.

Department of Microbiology, Islamic Azad University-Karaj Branch, Karaj 3148635731, Iran.

Background: The conventional methods for diagnosis of are time consuming, complicated, and expensive. Development of rapid detection tests is critical for prevention and management of cholera. This study aimed to introduce two sensitive sandwich ELISAs based on avian antibodies (IgY) targeting outer membrane protein W (OmpW) and cytotoxin B (CtxB) antigens of . Read More