The properties of Rickettsia rickettsii purified from infected chicken yolk sacs or mouse L cell cultures by sucrose density gradient centrifugation in a zonal rotor were examined in various ways. Rickettsiae derived from both L cells and yolk sacs had similar compositions: about 12% nitrogen, 1.5% phosphorus, 5% carbohydrate, and 30% fatty acids. On a dry-weight basis, purified rickettsiae wer...

Tularemia, casued by Francisella tularensis, is a zoonotic disease presenting various clinical forms. In the present study, three outbreaks of tularemia occurred from January to March and September in 2004 (first and second) and January to March in 2005 (third) are reported from the north-eastern part of Turkey. All cases originated from the same geographical location. In total, 56 patients hav...

Surface carbohydrates of Giardia lamblia were examined using six plant lectins chosen because of their specificity for major carbohydrates moieties. The binding to axenically grown G. lamblia trophozoites was assessed in both a quantitative microagglutination assay and a fluorescence assay. Of the six lectins tested, wheat germ agglutinin (WGA) agglutinated the highest percentage (22.9 +/- 3.7%...

A semiquantitative indirect immunofluorescence assay to detect coproantibody secretory IgA (SIgA) was established to investigate the human intestinal immune response to Yersinia species. This assay was based on microagglutination of SIgA in fecal specimens with the patient's homologous organism. Two populations of patients were defined, those who produced an agglutinating (2+) SIgA response and...

Sera of 204 wild boars (Sus scrofa), shot by hunters in the South-Moravian district of Břeclav during 19932001, were tested by microagglutination reaction using safranin-stained antigens of Francisella tularensis and Brucella abortus: 10.8% and 8.7% seroreactors, respectively, were detected. The highest (17%) prevalence of tularaemia antibodies was found in wild boars during 1993–1994 at the be...

Forty-two urine and 96 blood and serum samples were obtained from California sea lion (Zalophus californianus) pups from the Gulf of California during the 2000 reproductive season. Antibody prevalence to 13 serovars of Leptospira interrogans was determined by microagglutination tests (MAT); presence of pathogenic leptospires was detected by polymerase chain reaction (PCR). Samples with antibody...

A method for the in vitro identification of transformed rat liver epithelial and hepatoma cells was developed using the prefer ential microagglutination of concanavalin A (Con A) coupled to agarose beads (Con A:agarose) to their colonies. Con A:agarose attaches to the cell surface through a specific interaction of the Con A moiety and its receptors. The attachment is dependent on the mobility a...

the present study was an attempt to investigate varieties of cloze test and c-test as measures of reading comprehension ability. it aimed at comparing the performances of subjects on different cloze and c-test forms constructed from the same passage. to this end, five versions of cloze test and two versions of c-test were developed by applying different deletion techniques and deletion rates, a...