Breakdown of microvilli is a common early event in various types of apoptosis, but its molecular mechanism and implications remain unclear. ERM (ezrin/radixin/moesin) proteins are ubiquitously expressed microvillar proteins that are activated in the cytoplasm, translocate to the plasma membrane, and function as general actin filament/plasma membrane cross-linkers to form microvilli. Immunofluor...

PURPOSE To investigate the characteristics in spontaneous release of epiretinal membrane (ERM) during watchful waiting and to introduce a possible mechanism of pathogenesis as a photo essay. METHODS Records from all patients with ERM were obtained from Osaka Medical College Hospital from January 2001 to October 2012. Visual acuity (VA), fundus photo, and optical coherence tomography (OCT) wer...

In Streptococcus pyogenes, inducible erythromycin (ERY) resistance is due to posttranscriptional methylation of an adenine residue in 23S rRNA that can be encoded either by the erm(B) gene or by the more recently described erm(TR) gene. Two erm(TR)-carrying genetic elements, showing extensive DNA identities, have thus far been sequenced: ICE10750-RD.2 (∼49 kb) and Tn1806 (∼54 kb), from tetracyc...

Fungal diversity within plant roots is affected by several factors such as dispersal limitation, habitat filtering, and plant host preference. Given the differences in life style between symbiotic and non-symbiotic fungi, the main factors affecting these two groups of fungi may be different. We assessed the diversity of root associated fungi of Rhododendron decorum using internal transcribed sp...

Ezrin/radixin/moesin (ERM) proteins have been thought to play a central role in the organization of cortical actin-based cytoskeletons including microvillar formation through cross-linking actin filaments and integral membrane proteins such as CD43, CD44, and ICAM-2. To examine the functions of these ERM-binding membrane proteins (ERMBMPs) in cortical morphogenesis, we overexpressed ERMBMPs (th...

Dwarf shrubs of the family Ericaceae are common in arctic and alpine regions. Many of these plants are associated with ericoid mycorrhizal (ERM) fungi, which allow them to take nutrients and water from the soil under harsh environmental conditions and, thus, affect host plant survival. Despite the importance of ERM fungi to alpine plant communities, limited information is available on the effec...

OBJECTIVES The objective of this study was to determine the prevalence of specific acquired macrolide resistance genes previously reported as present in clinical isolates of Haemophilus influenzae. METHODS A collection of 172 clinical respiratory isolates of H. influenzae, including 59 isolates from cystic fibrosis patients and 27 from non-cystic fibrosis bronchiectasis patients with signific...

Ericoid mycorrhizal fungi (ERM) may specialize in capturing nutrients from their host's litter as a strategy for regulating nutrient cycles in terrestrial ecosystems. In spite of their potential significance, we know little about the structure of ERM fungal communities and the genetic basis of their saprotrophic traits (e.g., genes encoding extracellular enzymes). Rhododendron maximum is a mode...

We determined the macrolide resistance phenotypes of 241 clinical isolates of erythromycin-resistant enterococci (MICs, > or = 1 microg/ml), including 147 Enterococcus faecalis strains and 94 Enterococcus faecium strains, collected from a hospital in Seoul, Korea, between 1999 and 2000. By the erythromycin (40 micro g)-josamycin (100 microg) double-disk test, 93 strains were assigned to the con...

Erythromycin-resistant Streptococcus pneumoniae isolates from young carriers were tested for their antimicrobial susceptibility; additionally, inducibility of macrolide and clindamycin resistance was investigated in pneumococci carrying erm(A), erm(B), or mef(A). Of 125 strains tested, 101 (81%) were multidrug resistant. Different levels of induction were observed with erythromycin, miocamycin,...