Abstract Recent studies suggest that the intestinal microenvironment regulate lung immune cells. Conversely, changes in can modulate gut system. Yet, mucosal-associated responses have been studied a compartmentalized manner, as if there is no communication between different organs. Thus, role of gut-lung axis mucosal poorly understood. Using enterotoxigenic Escherichia coli (ETEC), we establish...

Equine rhinitis B virus (ERBV), genus Erbovirus, family Picornaviridae, occurs as two serotypes, ERBV1 and ERBV2, and the few isolates previously tested were acid labile. Of 24 ERBV1 isolates tested in the studies reported here, 19 were acid labile and five were acid stable. The two available ERBV2 isolates, as expected, were acid labile. Nucleotide sequences of the P1 region encoding the capsi...

The unexplained collapse of honeybee (Apis mellifera) colonies across the world continues to fascinate both the scientific and mainstream media alike. This is mainly due to the worldwide importance of honeybees in ecological and commercial sectors. We recently reported how the ectoparasitic mite, Varroa destructor, altered the viral landscape in the Hawaiian archipelago by decreasing the viral ...

The maintenance of discrete subcellular pools of zinc (Zn) is critical for the functional and structural integrity of cells. Among the important biological processes influenced by Zn is apoptosis, a process that is important in cellular homeostasis (an important cellular homeostatic process). It has also been identified as a major mechanism contributing to cell death in response to toxins and i...

BACKGROUND Enterotoxigenic Escherichia coli (ETEC) is a major cause of traveller's and infantile diarrhoea in the developing world. ETEC produces two toxins, a heat-stable toxin (known as ST) and a heat-labile toxin (LT) and colonization factors that help the bacteria to attach to epithelial cells. METHODOLOGY/PRINCIPAL FINDINGS In this study, we characterized a subset of ETEC clinical isolat...

Chemical extractants used to measure labile soil metal must ideally select for and solubilise the labile fraction, with minimal solubilisation of non-labile metal. We assessed four extractants (0.43 M HNO3, 0.43 M CH3COOH, 0.05 M Na2H2EDTA and 1 M CaCl2) against these requirements. For soils contaminated by contrasting sources, we compared isotopically exchangeable Ni, Cu, Zn, Cd and Pb (EValue...