The staphylococcal accessory gene regulatory (agr) operon is a well-characterised global regulatory element that is important in the control of virulence gene expression for Staphylococcus aureus, a major human pathogen. Hence, accurate and sensitive measurement of Agr activity is central in understanding the virulence potential of Staphylococcus aureus, especially in the context of Agr dysfunc...

accessory gene regulator (agr locus) is a global regulator of many virulence gene expressions instaphylococcus aureus. four interference classes related to genetic polymorphisms in the agr locus have sofar been described. in the present study, the agr locus specificity groups were studied within a total of 43 s.aureus isolates which were isolated from ewes with mastitis in three regions in the ...

BACKGROUND Preoperative albumin-globulin ratio (AGR) reflects both malnutrition and systemic inflammation in cancer patients. In particular, systemic inflammation has been reported to contribute to tumor progression and poor oncological outcome in various malignancies. However, the prognostic value of preoperative AGR in upper tract urothelial carcinoma (UTUC) has not been examined. METHODS W...

BACKGROUND Staphylococcus aureus secretes numerous exotoxins which may exhibit superantigenic properties. Whereas the virulence of several of them is well documented, their exact biological effects are not fully understood. Exotoxins may influence the immune and inflammatory state of various organs, including the sinonasal mucosa: their possible involvement in chronic rhinosinusitis has been su...

The expression of genes involved in the pathogenesis of Staphylococcus aureus is controlled by global regulatory loci, including two-component regulatory systems and transcriptional regulators (e.g., sar family genes). Most members of the SarA family have been partially characterized and shown to regulate a large numbers of target genes. Here, we describe the characterization of sarZ, a sarA pa...

AGR syndrome (the clinical triad of aniridia, genitourinary anomalies, and mental retardation, a subgroup of WAGR syndrome for Wilm's tumor, aniridia, genitourinary anomalies, and mental retardation) is a rare syndrome caused by a contiguous gene deletion in the 11p13-14 region. However, the mechanisms of WAGR syndrome pathogenesis are elusive. In this study we provide evidence that LGR4 (also ...

Staphylococcus (S.) aureus is recognised worldwide as an important pathogen causing contagious acute and chronic bovine mastitis. Chronic mastitis account for a significant part of all bovine cases and represent an important economic problem for dairy producers. Several properties (biofilm formation, intracellular survival, capsular expression and group agr) are thought to be associated with th...

BACKGROUND Low serum albumin is predictive of poor survival in nasopharyngeal carcinoma (NPC). We evaluated the ability of the pretreatment albumin/globulin ratio (AGR) to predict long-term mortality in patients with NPC. METHODS This retrospective study examined an unselected cohort of 694 patients with NPC who had documented pretreatment total serum protein and serum albumin levels (ALB). A...

The LEE pathogenicity island has been acquired on multiple occasions within the different lineages of enteropathogenic and enterohemorrhagic Escherichia coli. In each lineage, LEE expression is regulated by complex networks of pathways, including core pathways shared by all lineages and lineage-specific pathways. Within the O157:H7 lineage of enterohemorrhagic E. coli, strain-to-strain variatio...

OBJECTIVES The objective of this study was to analyse the prevalence of tracheal carriage of Staphylococcus aureus/MRSA in storks and to study the resistance and virulence genes in the obtained isolates. METHODS Tracheal samples from 92 stork nestlings of two landfill-associated and two natural-habitat colonies were inoculated in specific media for S. aureus and MRSA recovery. Antimicrobial s...