Exposure to oxidant air pollution is associated with increased respiratory morbidities and susceptibility to infections. Ozone is a commonly encountered oxidant air pollutant, yet its effects on influenza infections in humans are not known. The greater Mexico City area was the primary site for the spring 2009 influenza A H1N1 pandemic, which also coincided with high levels of environmental ozon...

A number of isolates of Aspergillus fumigatus obtained from the hospital environment produced extracellular elastolytic activity. This activity was found to be catalyzed by a single 33-kDa protein which was purified and characterized to be a serine protease. A. fumigatus, when grown on the insoluble structural material obtained from murine and bovine lung, produced the same extracellular 33-kDa...

Mannan-binding lectin (MBL), previously called 'mannan-binding protein' or MBP, is a plasma C-type lectin which, upon binding to carbohydrate structures on micro-organisms, activates the classical pathway of complement. Purification of MBL relies on its Ca(2+)-dependent affinity for carbohydrate, but existing methods are susceptible to contamination by anti-carbohydrate antibodies. In the prese...