Introduction: Extraintestinal pathogenic Escherichia coli (ExPEC) is associated with various diseases such as urinary tract infections, neonatal meningitis and septicemia. There are many virulence factors (VF) encoded by genes in ExPEC, including papC, papG, ecpA, iroN, fyuA, iutA, ompTp, tsh, hlyF, hlyA and iss. These virulence genes may be present in pathogenicity islands (PAI) or plasmids. M...

The PapC usher is a β-barrel outer membrane protein essential for assembly and secretion of P pili that are required for adhesion of pathogenic E. coli, which cause the development of pyelonephritis. Multiple protein subunits form the P pilus, the highly specific assembly of which is coordinated by the usher. Despite a wealth of structural knowledge, how the usher catalyzes subunit polymerizati...

The vertebrate body plan is established in two major steps. First, mesendoderm induction singles out prospective endoderm, mesoderm and ectoderm progenitors. Second, these progenitors are spatially rearranged during gastrulation through numerous and complex movements to give rise to an embryo comprising three concentric germ layers, polarised along dorsoventral, anteroposterior and left-right a...

CD8(+) T cells (T(CD8+)) differentiate into effector cells following recognition of specific peptide-major histocompatibility complex (MHC) class I complexes (pMHC-I) on the surface of professional APCs (pAPCs), such as dendritic cells. Antigenic pMHC-I can be generated from two spatially distinct sources. The direct presentation pathway involves generation of peptide from protein substrate syn...

4F is an anti-inflammatory, apolipoprotein A-I (apoA-I)-mimetic peptide that is active in vivo at nanomolar concentrations in the presence of a large molar excess of apoA-I. Physiologic concentrations ( approximately 35 microM) of human apoA-I did not inhibit the production of LDL-induced monocyte chemotactic activity by human aortic endothelial cell cultures, but adding nanomolar concentration...

PURPOSE We phylogenetically analyzed the Escherichia coli strains isolated from children with urinary tract infection (UTI) in 2 regions of Korea. Virulence factors (VFs) and antibiotic resistance of the strains were also determined to compare the possible differences. METHODS A total of 138 E. coli strains were collected from the 2 regions; Gyeongin (78 strains) and Gyeongnam (60 strains). T...

BACKGROUND AND OBJECTIVES The aim of this study was to determine the role of host factors and bacterial virulence genes in the development of pyelonephritis caused by Escherichia coli in renal transplant (Tx) recipients. DESIGN, SETTING, PARTICIPANTS, & MEASUREMENTS A total of 328 E. coli isolates from cases of cystitis (Cys; n=239) or pyelonephritis (PN; n=89), with 169 from renal Tx recipie...

Cnidarians surprise by the completeness of Wnt gene subfamilies (11) expressed in an overlapping pattern along the anterior-posterior axis. While the functional conservation of canonical Wnt-signaling components in cnidarian gastrulation and organizer formation is evident, a role of Nematostella Wnts in noncanonical Wnt-signaling has not been shown so far. In Xenopus, noncanonical Wnt-5a/Ror2 a...

INTRODUCTION Extraintestinal pathogenic Escherichia coli (ExPEC) is associated with various diseases such as urinary tract infections, neonatal meningitis and septicemia. There are many virulence factors (VF) encoded by genes in ExPEC, including papC, papG, ecpA, iroN, fyuA, iutA, ompTp, tsh, hlyF, hlyA and iss. These virulence genes may be present in pathogenicity islands (PAI) or plasmids. ...

RATIONALE Chronic exposure to ambient air-borne particulate matter of < 2.5 μm (PM₂.₅) increases cardiovascular risk. The mechanisms by which inhaled ambient particles are sensed and how these effects are systemically transduced remain elusive. OBJECTIVE To investigate the molecular mechanisms by which PM₂.₅ mediates inflammatory responses in a mouse model of chronic exposure. METHODS AND R...