Early studies of plant response to ozone (O3) utilized concentration-based metrics, primarily by summarizing the commonly monitored hourly average data sets. Research with the O3 concentration parameter led to the recognition that both peak concentrations and cumulative effects are important when relating plant response to O3. The US and Canada currently use O3 concentration-based (exposure-bas...

This study evaluated defense mechanism differences between younger and older adults and also assessed the relationship between defense mechanisms and perceived stress, in order to provide evidence of construct validity of a self-reported defense mechanisms scale. Community-dwelling younger (n = 259; M age = 19.7 years) and older adults (n = 69; M age = 70.8 years) completed the Defense Style Qu...

Ever since the pH of the vagina was found to be much more acidic than blood and interstitial fluids, a belief going back more than a century has persisted that the vagina is protected from pathogenic organisms by the high level of hydronium ions present. A corollary of this belief is that the pH of the vagina and antipathogen activity is due to colonizing Lactobacilli. Unfortunately, this dogma...

In the last years, a considerable increase in syphilis incidence was observed in Poland. This is a condition with serious health and psychosocial consequences. The research demonstrates that one of the events which significantly modify the course of human life is the somatic disease experience; hence, it was decided to examine selected aspects of the living situation of persons suffering from s...

The intracellular parasite Listeria monocytogenes is able to induce its internalization by cultured mammalian cells that are not normally phagocytic. This process requires the expression of the chromosomal locus inlAB. We studied the virulence of an inlAB mutant and of its parent in murine listeriosis. Irrespective of the route of inoculation, the inlAB mutant was severely attenuated for growth...

Finegoldia magna is an anaerobic bacterial species that is part of the normal human flora on all nonsterile body surfaces, but it is also a significant opportunistic pathogen causing a wide range of infections. Some isolates of F. magna that are more frequently associated with clinical infection express protein L, a surface protein containing multiple homologous domains (B1-B5) that bind Igs th...

In an attempt to understand why different organisms defend against potential antigens differently, the influence of possible interactions between host-related factors and respective antigen repertoires on the complexity of host defense mechanisms was investigated. A compartmental model coupling these two variables was developed and tested. Data analysis suggests that the more complex the organi...