Systemic inflammation biomarkers have been associated with risk of cardiovascular morbidity and mortality. We aimed to clarify associations of acute exposure to particulate matter (PM10 (PM < 10 μm), PM2.5-10 (PM 2.5-10 μm), PM2.5 (PM < 2.5 μm), PM1-2.5 (PM 1-2.5 μm), and PM1 (PM < 1 μm)) with systemic inflammation using panels of elderly subjects and healthy young adults. We followed a panel o...

The fuel oxygenate methyl tert-butyl ether (MTBE), a widely distributed groundwater contaminant, shows potential for treatment by in situ bioremediation. The bacterial strain PM1 rapidly mineralizes and grows on MTBE in laboratory cultures and can degrade the contaminant when inoculated into groundwater or soil microcosms. We applied the TaqMan quantitative PCR method to detect and quantify str...

Two real-time instruments, NCSA (Nanoparticle Chemical Speciation Analyzer) and ACSA (Aerosol Chemical Speciation Analyzer), were both deployed in Beijing, China to explore the sized-dependent characterization of atmospheric particles. The mass concentrations of PM1, PM2.5, PM10, and sulfate and nitrate in the three size fractions were hourly measured in situ from 13 December 2013 to 7 January ...

Methicillin-resistant Staphylococcus aureus (MRSA) with ST59/SCCmecV and Panton-Valentine leukocidin gene is a major community-acquired MRSA (CA-MRSA) lineage in Taiwan and has been multidrug-resistant since its initial isolation. In this study, we studied the acquisition mechanism of multidrug resistance in an ST59 CA-MRSA strain (PM1) by comparative genomics. PM1's non-β-lactam resistance was...

To evaluate lung function responses to short-term indoor PM1 and PM2.5 concentrations, we conducted a panel study of healthy schoolchildren aged 13-14 years. The following lung function parameters FVC, FEV1, PEF, and mid expiratory flows MEF25, MEF50, and MEF75 were measured in 141 schoolchildren of the secondary school in Wroclaw, Poland in years 2009-2010. On days when spirometry tests were c...

Methyl tert-butyl ether (MTBE) is a widespread groundwater contaminant that does not respond well to conventional treatment technologies. Growing evidence indicates that microbial communities indigenous to groundwater can degrade MTBE under aerobic and anaerobic conditions. Although pure cultures of microorganisms able to degrade or cometabolize MTBE have been reported, to date the specific org...

Lactobacillus panis PM1 has the ability to produce 1,3-propanediol (1,3-PDO) from thin stillage (TS), which is the major waste material after bioethanol production, and is therefore of significance. However, the fact that L. panis PM1 cannot use glycerol as a sole carbon source presents a considerable problem in terms of utilization of this strain in a wide range of industrial applications. Acc...

Mobile measurements of PM1 (particulate matter with an aerodynamic diameter <1 μm) chemical composition using a quadrupole aerosol mass spectrometer and a multi-angle absorption photometer were performed using the PSI mobile laboratory during winter 2007/2008 and December 2008 in the metropolitan area of Zurich, Switzerland. Positive matrix factorization (PMF) applied to the organic fraction of...

The solution structure of polyphemusin I was determined using (1)H-NMR spectroscopy. Polyphemusin I was found to be an amphipathic, beta-hairpin connected by a type I' beta-turn. The 17 low-energy structures aligned very well over the beta-sheet region while both termini were poorly defined due in part to a hinge-like region centred in the molecule about arginine residues 6 and 16. Conversely, ...

Ambient particles whose aerodynamic diameters were not greater than 2.5 μm (fine fraction of Particulate Matter; PM2.5) and 1 μm (PM1; sub-fraction of PM2.5) were sampled at three sites in Upper Silesia (Poland): urban background site, rural background site, and urban traffic site. In total, 240 samples were collected between 2 August 2009 and 27 December 2010. The reflectance of the collected ...