Extraintestinal pathogenic Escherichia coli (ExPEC) is one of the main etiological agents of bloodstream infections caused by Gram-negative bacilli. In the present study, 20 E. coli isolates from human hemocultures were characterized to identify genetic features associated with virulence (pathogenicity islands markers, phylogenetic group, virulence genes, plasmid profiles, and conjugative plasm...

in this study, the pathogenicity of a/ch/it/5093/1999 h7n1 which had been isolated from chicken during the outbreak in italy was assessed in chicken by experimental infection virus. ten spf chickens of four week-old were inoculated with this virus, and five chickens were inoculated with uninfected allantoic fluid. for determination of virus shedding, oropharyngeal and cloacal swabs were taken f...

Colibacillosis caused by avian pathogenic Escherichia coli (APEC) is a leading cause of economic loss to the poultry industry worldwide. The ability of APEC to cause disease is determined by certain virulence markers, some of which are located on pathogenicity islands (PAls). We recently described one such PAI in an APEC O1:K1 strain (APEC-O1). This PAI, termed PAI I(APEC-O1), carries the genes...

The genome of human immunodeficiency virus (HIV) has an average nucleotide composition strongly biased as compared to the human genome. The consequence of such nucleotide composition on HIV pathogenicity has not been investigated yet. To address this question, we analyzed the role of nucleotide bias of HIV-derived nucleic acids in stimulating type-I interferon response in vitro. We found that t...

Background A school-based electrocardiographic screening program has been developed in Japan. However, few data are available regarding the genetic characteristics of pediatric patients with long QT syndrome (LQTS) who were diagnosed by this program. Methods and Results A total of 117 referred to our centers for genetic testing were the subjects. Of these, 69 subjects diagnosed by the program f...