Toll-like receptor (TLR) 4 is essential for the defense against infection with gram-negative pathogens, but reduced TLR4 expression has not been linked to altered disease susceptibility in humans. In mice, Tlr4 controls the mucosal response to Escherichia coli urinary tract infections. Inactivation of mouse Tlr4 causes an asymptomatic carrier state resembling asymptomatic bacteriuria (ABU). The...

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It has been recently pointed out by Arkani-Hamed and Dimopoulos that if the universe is a landscape of vacua, and if therefore fine-tuning is not a valid guidance principle for searching for physics beyond the standard model, supersymmetric unification only requires the fermionic superpartners. We argue that in that landscape scenario, the fermionic superpartners are not needed for unification,...

Petrological and geochemical examination of Upper Cretaceous chalks from the Abu Roash area and Bahariya Oasis (Egypt) provide insights into factors which control porosity development in fine-grained calcitic carbonates. Petrological studies indicate that primary skeletal fabrics of coccoliths and foraminifera in micrites of Abu Roash are well preserved. In contrast, primary skeletal fabrics of...

Asymptomatic bacterial colonization of the urinary bladder (asymptomatic bacteriuria, ABU) can prevent bladder colonization by uropathogens and thus symptomatic urinary tract infection (UTI). Deliberate bladder colonization with Escherichia coli ABU isolate 83972 has been shown to outcompete uropathogens and prevent symptomatic UTI by bacterial interference. Many ABU isolates evolved from uropa...

These comparative studies on the aggregation behaviour of Ac-(Z)-∆Abu-NMe2 and Ac-L-AbuNMe2 in carbon tetrachloride were performed by the analysis of their FTIR spectra and by theoretical calculations. The percentage of the monomeric form (α) decreased as concentration increased and this occurred to a higher degree for the (Z)-∆Abu derivative than for its saturated analogue. The dimerization co...

report on page 639 identifies a family of proteins that are important when worms are unable to deal with ER stress. The results from Urano et al. suggest that these proteins are receptors for incorrectly folded proteins at the ER. In worms and other eukaryotes, conditions that stress the ER, such as those that inhibit glycosylation, activate the unfolded protein response (UPR). The UPR comprise...

The severity of urinary tract infection (UTI) reflects the quality and magnitude of the host response. While strong local and systemic innate immune activation occurs in patients with acute pyelonephritis, the response to asymptomatic bacteriuria (ABU) is low. The immune response repertoire in ABU has not been characterized, due to the inherent problem to distinguish bacterial differences from ...

Escherichia coli is the most common organism associated with asymptomatic bacteriuria (ABU) in humans. In contrast to uropathogenic E. coli (UPEC) that cause symptomatic urinary tract infection, very little is known about the mechanisms by which these strains colonize the urinary tract. Here, we have investigated the biofilm-forming capacity on abiotic surfaces of groups of ABU strains and UPEC...

The endoplasmic reticulum stress response, also known as the unfolded protein response (UPR), has been implicated in the normal physiology of immune defense and in several disorders, including diabetes, cancer, and neurodegenerative disease. Here, we show that the apoptotic receptor CED-1 and a network of PQN/ABU proteins involved in a noncanonical UPR response are required for proper defense t...