The mechanism of resistance to macrolides, lincosamides, and streptogramins B was studied in four Bacillus clausii strains that are mixed in a probiotic administered to humans for prevention of gastrointestinal side effects due to oral antibiotic chemotherapy and in three reference strains of B. clausii, DSM8716, ATCC 21536, and ATCC 21537. An 846-bp gene called erm(34), which is related to the...

We conducted population-based surveillance for pneumococcal bacteremia within a 5-county region surrounding Philadelphia from October 2001 through September 2008, the period following introduction of the seven-valent pneumococcal conjugate vaccine. Erythromycin resistance increased from 14.7% in 2001-2002 to 20.3% in 2007-2008, while the resistance rate to penicillin (MIC, ≥2 μg/ml) decreased f...

We are studying how the cytoskeleton determines cell shape, using a simple model system, the marginal band of chicken erythrocytes. We previously identified a minor component of the marginal band by a monoclonal antibody, called 13H9 (Birgbauer and Solomon (1989). J. Cell Biol. 109, 1609-1620; Goslin et al. (1989). J. Cell Biol. 109, 1621-1631). mAb 13H9 also binds to the leading edges of fibro...

Aberrant methylation of multiple CpG islands has been described in acute myeloid leukemia (AML), but it is not known whether these are independent events or whether they reflect specific methylation defects in a subset of cases. To study this issue, the methylation status of 14 promoter-associated CpG islands was analyzed in 36 cases of AML previously characterized for estrogen-receptor methyla...

Background: Development of drug resistance to Staphylococcus aureus (S. aureus) has led to the use of older antibiotics such as macrolide-lincosamide-streptogramin B (MLSB) for the treatment of infections. MLSB resistance can be caused by several mechanisms, however, one of the predominant reasons is target modification mediated by erm gene...

The population structure (serotypes, pulsed-field gel electrophoresis [PFGE] types, and multilocus sequencing types) of 45 mef-positive Streptococcus pneumoniae isolates [carrying mef alone (n = 17) or with the erm(B) gene n = 28)] were studied. They were selected from among all erythromycin-resistant isolates (n = 244) obtained from a collection of 712 isolates recovered from different Spanish...

Antibiotics are one of the greatest scientific achievements modern medicine, but excessive use is creating challenges for future medicine. Antibiotic resistance (AR) thought to cause changes in bowel habits and an increased risk gastroenteritis, it may also increase overweight, obesity, autoimmune atopic diseases, a low response vaccines cancer, likely mediated by antibiotic-induced gut dysbios...

ERM (ezrin-radixin-moesin) proteins mediate linkage of actin cytoskeleton to plasma membrane in many cells. ERM activity is regulated in part by phosphorylation at a C-terminal threonine, but the identity of ERM kinases is unknown in lymphocytes and incompletely defined in other mammalian cells. Our studies show that lymphocyte-oriented kinase (LOK) is an ERM kinase in vitro and in vivo. Mass s...

Six hundred fifteen isolates of Streptococcus pyogenes were collected over a 6-year period from patients with pharyngitis in Korea. All isolates were characterized in terms of their antibiotic resistance, the phenotypes of erythromycin resistance, the frequencies of erm(B), erm(A), and mef(A) genes, and the emm genotype. The prevalent emm genotypes were emm12 and emm4. Moreover, the emm12 genot...