A scheme has been developed for the identification of thermophilic actinomycetes associated with hypersensitivity pneumonitis. Eighty strains, 10 Micropolyspora faeni, 6 Saccharomonospora viridis, 52 Thermoactinomyces candidus, 7 T. vulgaris, 4 T. sacchari, and 1 T. dichotomica, either isolated from patients' environment or received as authentic strains, were studied. In addition to the cultura...

The cryptic asc (previous called "SAC") operon of Escherichia coli K12 has been completely sequenced. It encodes a repressor (ascG); a PTS enzyme IIasc for the transport of arbutin, salicin, and cellobiose (ascF); and a phospho-beta-glucosidase that hydrolyzes the sugars which are phosphorylated during transport (ascB). ascG and ascFB are transcribed from divergent promoters. The cryptic operon...

Cleavage of gentiobiose in cell extracts of gentiobiose-grown Aerobacter aerogenes was dependent on the presence of adenosine 5'-triphosphate (ATP). The enzymes that participate in the overall reaction were shown to be a beta-glucoside kinase, which catalyzes the phosphorylation of gentiobiose with ATP to form gentiobiose monophosphate [6-O-phosphoryl-beta-d-glucopyranosyl-(1 --> 6)-d-glucose],...

Skin-lightening agents such as kojic acid, arbutin, ellagic acid, lucinol and 5,5′-dipropylbiphenyl-2,2′-diol are used in ‘anti-ageing’ cosmetics. Cases of allergic contact dermatitis caused by these skin-lightening agents have been reported (1, 2). Vitamin C and its derivatives have also been used in cosmetics as skin-lightening agents for a long time. Vitamin C in topical agents is poorly abs...

The antioxidant, anti-α-glucosidase and anticholinesterase activity of the leaves and rhizomatous extract of Bergenia cordifolia were investigated. The rhizomes extract that showed a higher degree of 1,1-diphenyl-2-picrylhydrazyl radical scavenging and anti-α-glucosidase activity than reference compounds (rutin and acarbose respectively) were subjected to phytochemical analysis. The study revea...