This work reports on the physicochemical characterization of 21 exopolysaccharides (EPS) produced by Lactobacillus and Bifidobacterium strains isolated from human intestinal microbiota, as well as the growth and metabolic activity of the EPS-producing strains in milk. The strains belong to the species Lactobacillus casei, Lactobacillus rhamnosus, Lactobacillus plantarum, Lactobacillus vaginalis...

It is now generally accepted that Down's syndrome is due to the presence of extra genetic material of a chromosome in the G group. By convention, Down's syndrome is attributed to the presence of a triple dose of the genetic material of chromosome 21, but recent autoradiographic studies seem to suggest that the extra chromosome is in fact No. 22 (Patau, 1965). However, for the sake of convenienc...

A 29-year-old man admitted to a psychiatric unit was successfully treated for a paranoid psychosis with trifluoperazine. Following reduction of neuroleptic dosage and addition of paroxetine he developed severe extra-pyramidal side effects. These remitted after withdrawal of medication and did not recur following recommencement of trifluoperazine. This is the first report of such a side effect a...

The physical properties of Arctic sea ice determine its habitability. Whether ice-dwelling organisms can change those properties has rarely been addressed. Following discovery that sea ice contains an abundance of gelatinous extracellular polymeric substances (EPS), we examined the effects of algal EPS on the microstructure and salt retention of ice grown from saline solutions containing EPS fr...

Most marine bacteria produce exopolysaccharides (EPS), and bacterial EPS represent an important source of dissolved organic carbon in marine ecosystems. It was proposed that bacterial EPS rich in uronic acid is resistant to mineralization by microbes and thus has a long residence time in global oceans. To confirm this hypothesis, bacterial EPS rich in galacturonic acid was isolated from Alterom...

Vitamin B12 deficiency and hyperhomocysteinemia are common in tropical developing countries. In prevalence study, among Indian population by Yajnik and colleagues, 67% of men had low vitamin B12 concentration and 58% had hyperhomocysteinemia [1]. Here, we report two patients with vitamin B12 deficiency presented with symptoms of schizophrenia and required very high doses of antipsychotic medica...

In five patients with multiple system atrophy, electromyographic studies using a new surface electrode technique, showed unequivocal evidence of denervation of the posterior crico-arytenoid muscle, and in three of them, of the interarytenoid muscle or crico-pharyngeal sphincter. By comparison, only minor electromyographic abnormalities were found in one-third of patients with other extra-pyrami...