OBJECTIVES: To evaluate whether hepcidin concentrations in serum (Hep((S))) and urine (Hep((U))) correlate with iron metabolism, erythropoiesis, and inflammation in preterm infants. STUDY DESIGN: Thirty-one preterm infants (23-32 weeks gestational age) were included. The concentration of the mature, 25 amino-acid form of hepcidin was determined by enzyme-linked immunosorbent assay in serum, urine, blood counts, reticulocytes, and iron measurements. RESULTS: Median (IQR) Hep((S)) was 52.4 (27.9-91.9) ng/mL. The highest values were measured in patients with systemic inflammation. Hep((S)) and Hep((U)) correlated strongly (P =.0007). Hep((S)) and Hep((U)) also correlated positively with ferritin (P =.005 and P =.0002) and with reticulocyte hemoglobin content (P =.015 and P =.015). Hep((S)) and Hep((U)) correlated negatively with soluble transferrin receptor/ferritin-ratio (P =.005 and P =.003). Infants with lower hemoglobin concentrations and higher reticulocyte counts had lower Hep((S))(P =.0016 and P =.0089). CONCLUSION: In sick preterm infants, iron status, erythropoiesis, anemia, and inflammation correlated with the mature 25 amino-acid form of hepcidin. Further evaluation of Hep((U)) for non-invasive monitoring of iron status in preterm infants appears justified.

Recent studies evaluating bulk soap in public restroom soap dispensers have demonstrated up to 25% of open refillable bulk-soap dispensers were contaminated with ~ 6 log(10)(CFU ml(-1)) heterotrophic bacteria. In this study, plastic counter-mounted, plastic wall-mounted and stainless steel wall-mounted dispensers were analyzed for suspended and biofilm bacteria using total cell and viable plate counts. Independent of dispenser type or construction material, the bulk soap was contaminated with 4-7 log(10)(CFU ml(-1)) bacteria, while 4-6 log(10)(CFU cm(-2)) biofilm bacteria were isolated from the inside surfaces of the dispensers (n = 6). Dispenser remediation studies, including a 10 min soak with 5000 mg l(-1) sodium hypochlorite, were then conducted to determine the efficacy of cleaning and disinfectant procedures against established biofilms. The testing showed that contamination of the bulk soap returned to pre-test levels within 7-14 days. These results demonstrate biofilm is present in contaminated bulk-soap dispensers and remediation studies to clean and sanitize the dispensers are temporary.

ABSTRACT: BACKGROUND: It is becoming generally recognized that an individual's phenotype can be shaped not only by its own genotype and environmental experience, but also by its mother's environment and condition. Maternal environmental factors can influence mosquitoes' population dynamics and susceptibility to malaria, and therefore directly and indirectly the epidemiology of malaria. METHODS: In a full factorial experiment, the effects of two environmental stressors - food availability and infection with the microsporidian parasite Vavraia culicis - of female mosquitoes (Anopheles gambiae sensu stricto) on their offspring's development, survival and susceptibility to malaria were studied. RESULTS: The offspring of A. gambiae s.s. mothers infected with V. culicis developed into adults more slowly than those of uninfected mothers. This effect was exacerbated when mothers were reared on low food. Maternal food availability had no effect on the survival of their offspring up to emergence, and microsporidian infection decreased survival only slightly. Low food availability for mothers increased and V. culicis-infection of mothers decreased the likelihood that the offspring fed on malaria-infected blood harboured malaria parasites (but neither maternal treatment influenced their survival up to dissection). CONCLUSIONS: Resource availability and infection with V. culicis of A. gambiae s.s. mosquitoes not only acted as direct environmental stimuli for changes in the success of one generation, but could also lead to maternal effects. Maternal V. culicis infection could make offspring more resistant and less likely to transmit malaria, thus enhancing the efficacy of the microsporidian for the biological control of malaria.

OBJECTIVE: We sought to evaluate whether group B streptococcus (GBS) detection is altered by the digital cervical examination. STUDY DESIGN: A total of 302 women undergoing the clinical GBS culture had a digital cervical examination and a repeated GBS culture. Statistical comparison of pre-post culture results were performed with kappa and McNemar tests. RESULTS: The clinical prevalence of GBS was 19.5%. Discordant results were seen in 30/302 (9.9%) paired cultures (kappa = 0.68; 95% confidence interval, 0.568-0.783). An initially negative GBS culture result was positive on repeated testing in 13/161 (5.3%) pairs. Initially positive cultures were negative on repeated testing in 17/59 (28.8%) pairs. Patients with discordant results had similar characteristics as the remainder of the study group. Given the observed proportion of discordant results (9.9%), the study had 80% power to detect a 5% difference between discordant pairs. CONCLUSION: Paired GBS cultures showed a good level of agreement. The 28.8% rate of positive cultures becoming negative is clinically concerning and warrants further study.

Abstract Estrogens are powerful endogenous and exogenous neuroprotective hormones in animal models of brain injury including focal cerebral ischemia. This protective effect has been proven under a variety of different treatments and injury paradigms such as in vivo and in vitro stroke conditions. Neuroprotection in the CNS by progesterone is less defined. In the present study, cultured cortical and midbrain mouse neurons and human neuroblastoma cells (SH-SY5Y) were exposed to combined glucose-serum deprivation (CGSD), which is regarded as a reliable model mimicking the effects of ischemia in vitro. Cell viability was assayed using LDH release and metabolic activity. Conditions for CGSD treatment were chosen to yield half-maximal cell death rates. Validity of CGSD in vitro was compared with permanent middle cerebral artery occlusion (MCAO) in vivo. CGSD for 4h induced half-maximal neuronal cell death. MCAO in vivo for the same period resulted in significant neuronal loss also suggesting the validity of CGSD as a suitable stroke-like in vitro model. Combined steroid treatment (17ss-estradiol and progesterone) but not the application of single steroids abolished CGSD-induced cell death of cortical neurons in vitro. In contrast, no cell protection was found in midbrain neurons or neuroblastoma cells. The co-application of estrogen (ICI 182,780) or progesterone (RU-486) receptor antagonists did not obviously counteract protective steroid effects. This suggests operation of non-classical steroid mechanisms and their implication in mediation of hormonal effects. The surplus of combined protective hormonal effects might be due to observed influence of progesterone application on neuronal estradiol synthesis. Our data clearly highlight the potential of a combined steroid treatment under toxic degenerative brain pathologies.

This protocol describes how to grow a Pseudomonas aeruginosa biofilm under low fluid shear close to the air-liquid interface using the drip flow reactor (DFR). The DFR can model environments such as food-processing conveyor belts, catheters, lungs with cystic fibrosis and the oral cavity. The biofilm is established by operating the reactor in batch mode for 6 h. A mature biofilm forms as the reactor operates for an additional 48 h with a continuous flow of nutrients. During continuous flow, the biofilm experiences a low shear as the media drips onto a surface set at a 10 degrees angle. At the end of 54 h, biofilm accumulation is quantified by removing coupons from the reactor channels, rinsing the coupons to remove planktonic cells, scraping the biofilm from the coupon surface, disaggregating the clumps, then diluting and plating for viable cell enumeration. The entire procedure takes 13 h of active time that is distributed over 5 d.

Despite our efforts at malaria control, malaria remains one of our most serious and deadly diseases. The failure of control stems in part from the parasite's intense transmission in many areas and from the emergence and spread of resistance of the malaria parasites and their mosquito vectors against most of the chemicals used to attack them. New methods for control are desperately needed. However, new methods will be useful only if they are effective (i.e., decrease transmission substantially) and evolutionarily sustainable (i.e., evolution-proof, in that they prevent evolution from eroding efficacy). We suggest microsporidian parasites that infect mosquitoes could be potentially effective and sustainable agents for malaria control. They may be effective because they target several epidemiologically important traits: survival of larvae (and thus number of adult mosquitoes), adult longevity, biting rate and the development of malaria within the mosquitoes. Even if each trait is affected only moderately, the intensity of transmission can be reduced considerably. They may be evolution-proof, for the evolutionarily most important trait is juvenile survival, whereas the two epidemiologically most important factors are traits of the adult mosquito: biting rate and longevity. Under the intense microsporidian pressure of a control programme, it is likely (if not inevitable) that the larvae evolve to survive microsporidian infection. However, if this larval tolerance to microsporidians is genetically correlated with the adult traits, tolerant mosquitoes may not live as long and bite less frequently than microsporidian-sensitive ones. While such a trade-off has not been measured, combining several studies suggests indirectly a negative genetic correlation between larval tolerance and adult longevity. Therefore, evolution might not undermine control; rather it might increase its effectiveness. While the evolution of resistance may be inevitable, the failure of control need not be.