In September 2010, a cholera outbreak was reported from Odisha, Eastern India. V. cholerae isolated from the clinical samples were biochemically and serologically confirmed as serogroup O1, biotype El Tor, and serotype Ogawa. Multiplex PCR screening revealed the presence of various genes, namely, ompW, ctxB, zot, rfbO1, tcp, ace, hlyA, ompU, rtx, and toxR, in all of the isolates. The isolates w...

Lateral segregation of cell membranes is accepted as a primary mechanism for cells to regulate a diversity of cellular functions. In this context, lipid rafts have been conceptualized as organizing principle of biological membranes where underlying cholesterol-mediated selective connectivity must exist even at the resting state. However, such a level of nanoscale compositional connectivity has ...

The retrograde pathway is defined by the transport of proteins and lipids from the plasma membrane through endosomes to the Golgi complex, and is essential for a variety of cellular activities. Recycling endosomes are important sorting stations for some retrograde cargo. SMAP2, a GTPase-activating protein (GAP) for Arf1 with a putative clathrin-binding domain, has previously been shown to parti...

GM1-ganglioside receptor binding by the B subunit of cholera toxin (CtxB) is widely accepted to initiate toxin action by triggering uptake and delivery of the toxin A subunit into cells. More recently, GM1 binding by isolated CtxB, or the related B subunit of Escherichia coli heat-labile enterotoxin (EtxB), has been found to modulate leukocyte function, resulting in the down-regulation of proin...

The properties of cholesterol-dependent domains (lipid rafts) in cell membranes have been controversial. Because integrin-mediated cell adhesion and caveolin both regulate trafficking of raft components, we investigated the effects of adhesion and caveolin on membrane order. The fluorescent probe Laurdan and two-photon microscopy revealed that focal adhesions are highly ordered; in fact, they a...

In October 2010, the US Centers for Disease Control and Prevention received reports of cases of severe watery diarrhea in Haiti. The cause was confirmed to be toxigenic Vibrio cholerae, serogroup O1, serotype Ogawa, biotype El Tor. We characterized 122 isolates from Haiti and compared them with isolates from other countries. Antimicrobial drug susceptibility was tested by disk diffusion and bro...

Fe-filled carbon nanotubes (Fe@CNTs) recently emerged as an effective class of hybrid nanoparticles for biotechnological applications, such as magnetic cell sorting and magnetic fluid hyperthermia. Aiming at studying the effects of both the Fe loading and the magnetocrystalline characteristics in these applications, we describe herein the preparation of Fe@CNTs containing different Fe phases th...

BACKGROUND AND PURPOSE Non-O1/non-O139 Vibrio cholerae can cause invasive extraintestinal disease as well as enteritis. The pathogenesis of invasive non-O1/non-O139 V. cholerae infections remains to be determined. This study compared the clinical manifestations and predisposing factors between bacteremic and non-bacteremic non-O1/non-O139 V. cholerae infections and examined virulence-associated...