This study compares gender differences in Healthy Life Years (HLY) and unhealthy life years (ULY) between the original (EU15) and new member states (EU10). Based on the number of deaths, population and prevalence of activity limitations from the Statistics of Living and Income Conditions Survey (SILC) survey, we calculated HLY and ULY for the EU10 and EU15 in 2006 with the Sullivan method. We u...

Thirty-six Shiga toxin-producing Escherichia coli (STEC) O111:H- strains, 18 of which were isolated from patients with hemolytic-uremic syndrome (HUS) and 18 from patients suffering from diarrhea, were investigated for their enterohemolytic phenotypes and genotypes. Twenty-two strains were EHEC hemolysin (EHEC Hly) positive by probe hybridization and by PCR with sequences complementary to the E...

Bacillus Calmette-Guérin (BCG), the only approved tuberculosis vaccine, provides only limited protection. Previously, we generated a recombinant derivative (BCG ΔureC::hly), which secretes the pore-forming toxin listeriolysin O (LLO) of Listeria monocytogenes. This vaccine shows superior protection against tuberculosis in preclinical models and is safe in humans. Here we describe two new vaccin...

The nucleoid-associated proteins Hha and YdgT repress the expression of the toxin α-hemolysin. An Escherichia coli mutant lacking these proteins overexpresses the toxin α-hemolysin encoded in the multicopy recombinant plasmid pANN202-312R. Unexpectedly, we could observe that this mutant generated clones that no further produced hemolysin (Hly(-)). Generation of Hly(-) clones was dependent upon ...

The Bordetella pertussis CyaA-hemolysin (CyaA-Hly) domain was previously demonstrated to be an important determinant for hemolysis against target erythrocytes and ion-channel formation in planar lipid bilayers (PLBs). Here, net-charge variations in the pore-lining helix of thirteen related RTX cytolysins including CyaA-Hly were revealed by amino acid sequence alignments, reflecting their differ...

Mutants of Staphylococcus aureus which fail to express alpha-toxin (Hly), beta-toxin (Hlb), or both have been constructed by site-specific mutagenesis. The virulence of the mutants was compared with that of wild-type toxigenic strains by intramammary inoculation of lactating mice. A bovine strain, M60, and a laboratory strain, 8325-4, caused acute mastitis and death within 48 h for 60% of the m...

The hemolysin (Hly/Bac) determinant in strains of Enterococcus faecalis was found to be present on plasmids in different incompatibility groups (conferring different sex pheromone responses) as well as on the chromosome. Of 33 Hly/Bac plasmids identified in clinical isolates, the related pheromone for 30 was cAD1; the related pheromone for another two (pYI1 and pYI3) or one (pYI2) was cOB1 or c...

BACKGROUND AND OBJECTIVES The Escherichia coli (E. coli) bacterium is one of the main causative agents of urinary tract infections (UTI) worldwide. The ability of this bacterium to form biofilms on medical devices such as catheters plays an important role in the development of UTI. The aim of the present study was to investigate the possible relationship between virulence factors and biofilm fo...

Listeriolysin O (LLO, hly-encoded) is a major virulence factor secreted by the pathogen Listeria monocytogenes. The amino acid sequence of LLO shows a high degree of similarity with that of ivanolysin O (ILO), the cytolysin secreted by the ruminant pathogen Listeria ivanovii. Here, it was tested whether ILO could functionally replace LLO by expressing the gene encoding ILO under the control of ...

Escherichia coli hemolysin (Hly) is a proteinaceous pore-forming exotoxin that probably represents a significant virulence factor in E. coli infections. We investigated its influence on human polymorphonuclear neutrophils (PMN), previously identified as highly susceptible targets. Hly provoked rapid secretion of elastase and myeloperoxidase, generation of superoxide, and synthesis of platelet-a...