Neisseria gonorrhoeae is the causative agent of gonorrhea and an obligate pathogen of humans. The Opa proteins of these bacteria are known to mediate attachment and internalization by host cells, including neutrophils. The Opa protein repertoire of a typical N. gonorrhoeae isolate is encoded on ~11 genes distributed throughout the chromosome and is subject to stochastic changes in expression th...

PURPOSE To investigate the associations between ocular pulse amplitude (OPA) as measured by dynamic contour tonometry (DCT) and ocular and systemic factors in patients with open angle glaucoma (OAG) and in glaucoma suspects. METHODS One hundred and seventy-three glaucoma-suspect patients were consecutively enrolled. All subjects underwent intraocular pressure (IOP) measurement by DCT and Gold...

BACKGROUND Researchers are looking for biomimetic mineralization of ena/mel to manage dental erosion. This study evaluated biomimetic mineralization of demineralized enamel induced by a synthetic and self-assembled oligopeptide amphiphile (OPA). RESULTS The results showed that the OPA self-assembled into nano-fibres in the presence of calcium ions and in neutral acidity. The OPA was alternate...

Physical activity (PA) is well documented to improve health. However, this documentation is restricted to leisure time physical activity (LTPA; eg, sports, recreation and transportation). Increasing evidence shows that occupational physical activity (OPA) does not improve health. Actually, OPA can be detrimental. These contrasting health effects of LTPA and OPA constitute the so-called PA healt...

BACKGROUND/AIMS To prevent the transmission of pathogens by endoscopes, following established reprocessing guidelines is critical. An ideal reprocessing step is simple, fast, and inexpensive. Here, we evaluated and compared the efficacy and safety of two disinfectants, a tertiary amine compound (TAC) and ortho-phthalaldehyde (OPA). METHODS A total of 100 colonoscopes were randomly reprocessed...

A squeezed vacuum field can be amplified or deamplified when it is injected, as the signal beam, into a phase-sensitive optical parametric amplifier (OPA) inside an optical cavity. The spectral features of the reflected quantized signal field are controlled by the relative phase between the injected squeezed vacuum field and the pump field for the OPA. The experimental results demonstrate coher...

1 2 3 4 Constitutively Opa-expressing and Opa-deficient Neisseria gonorrhoeae differentially 5 stimulate and survive exposure to human neutrophils 6 7 Louise M. Ball and Alison K. Criss 8 9 Department of Microbiology, Immunology, and Cancer Biology, 10 University of Virginia Health Sciences Center, Charlottesville, Virginia, USA 11 12 Running title: Gonococcal opa-mediated interactions with neu...

The transepithelial migration of Escherichia coli that expressed all possible combinations of a plasmid-encoded gonococcal porin (Por), opacity-associated protein (Opa), and 3F11 lipo-oligosaccharide (LOS) epitope was investigated. Surface expression of Por mediated selective changes in E. coli antibiotic susceptibility, and coexpression of Opa and the 3F11 LOS epitope mediated bacterial clumpi...

PURPOSE To compare the ocular pulse amplitude (OPA) lowering effects of preservative-free tafluprost and dorzolamide-timolol fixed combination (DTFC) using dynamic contour tonometry. METHODS In total, 66 eyes of 66 patients with normal tension glaucoma (NTG) (n = 34) or primary open angle glaucoma (POAG) (n = 32) were included. Patients were divided into two groups: the preservative-free tafl...

The eye/antennal discs of Drosophila form most of the adult head capsule. We are analyzing the role of the BMP family member decapentaplegic (dpp) in the process of head formation, as we have identified a class of cis-regulatory dpp mutations (dpp(s-hc)) that specifically disrupts expression in the lateral peripodial epithelium of eye/antennal discs and is required for ventral head formation. H...