Zoological institutions aim to continually improve the lives of animals under their stewardship. To this end, bull elephants are now increasingly maintained in all-male groups mimic social conditions observed wild. While cortisol is most frequently used “stress” biomarker, secretory immunoglobulin A (sIgA) as a measure health and positive affect, hormone, oxytocin, viewed additional markers wel...

Stress is a response of the central nervous system to environmental stimuli perceived as a threat to homeostasis. The stress response triggers the generation of neurotransmitters and hormones from the hypothalamus pituitary adrenal axis, sympathetic axis and brain gut axis, and in this way modulates the intestinal immune system. The effects of psychological stress on intestinal immunity have be...

M protein is a major surface component of group A streptococci, and more than 80 distinct serological types exist . Antigenic variability resides in the NH2-terminal distal portion ofthe fibrillarM protein molecule, whereas the COOH-terminal half is highly conserved among different M serotypes (1, 2) . With few exceptions, only serum IgGdirected to the antigenically variable portion ofM protein...

Our results suggest that the prevalence of sIgA-ID is underestiSelective IgA deficiency (sIgA-ID) is the most common wellmated in the Caucasian population. It could be due to the bias in defined primary immunodeficiency disorder, with a frequency reprevalence studies with volunteer blood donors because of pathology ported to range between 1:328 in American blood donors and associated to sIgA-ID...

UNLABELLED In this study, we have characterized the functional properties of a novel Escherichia coli antigen named EsiB (E. coli secretory immunoglobulin A-binding protein), recently reported to protect mice from sepsis. Gene distribution analysis of a panel of 267 strains representative of different E. coli pathotypes revealed that esiB is preferentially associated with extraintestinal strain...

M cells represent the primary route by which mucosal Ags are transported across the intestinal epithelium and delivered to underlying gut-associated lymphoid tissues. In rodents and rabbits, Peyer's patch M cells selectively bind and endocytose secretory IgA (SIgA) Abs. Neither the nature of the M cell IgR nor the domains of SIgA involved in this interaction are known. Using a mouse ligated ile...

Breast-feeding plays a potentially significant role in mother to child transmission of human immunodeficiency virus type 1 (HIV-1). The additional transmission risk attributable to breast-feeding and the factors that enhance or inhibit transmission are presently unknown. One mechanism by which breast milk might inhibit HIV-1 transmission is the presence of specific antibodies directed against H...

It is quite difficult to diagnose active toxoplasmosis in patients with ocular toxoplasmosis. Active posterior uveitis presumably due to Toxoplasma gondii infection (APUPT) is seldom produced during a prime-infection; hence most patients do not show high IgM antibodies. High levels of IgA have been described in active toxoplasmosis. The purpose of this study was to investigate possible associat...

BACKGROUND AND OBJECTIVES This study aims to better understand the relationship between immune compounds in human milk and infant health. We hypothesized that the concentration of immune compounds in milk would relate to infant illness symptoms according to two possible theoretical paradigms. In the 'protective' paradigm, high concentrations of immune compounds prevent infant illness. The conve...

Cholera and enterotoxigenic Escherichia coli (ETEC) are among the most common causes of acute infantile gastroenteritis globally. We previously developed a rice-based vaccine that expressed cholera toxin B subunit (MucoRice-CTB) and had the advantages of being cold chain-free and providing protection against cholera toxin (CT)-induced diarrhea. To advance the development of MucoRice-CTB for hum...