The presence of a novel macrolide efflux system in streptococci was first described and firmly established in 1996 by Sutcliffe et al. (81). This system was phenotypically recognized and characterized to confer low-level resistance (MICs, 1 to 32 g/ml) to 14and 15-membered macrolides but not to 16membered macrolides, lincosamides, or streptogramin B (or their analogues). This phenotypic pattern...

Anhydromannose (anMan)-containing heparan sulfate (HS) derived from S-nitrosylated glypican-1 is generated in endosomes by an endogenously or ascorbate induced S-nitrosothiol-catalyzed reaction. Expression and processing of amyloid precursor protein (APP) is required to initiate formation and endosome-to-nucleus translocation of anMan-containing HS in wild-type mouse embryonic fibroblasts (WT M...

The production of a macrophage migration enhancement factor (MEF) has been achieved as a consequence of administering a desensitizing dose of purified protein derivative (PPD) to Mycobacterium bovis BCG-sensitized rabbits. The migration-enhancing effect was first demonstrated when alveolar macrophages (AM) harvested from desensitized rabbits exhibited marked migration stimulation; whereas maxim...

BACKGROUND Activating transcription factor 3 (ATF3) is a negative regulator of proinflammatory cytokine expression in macrophages, and ATF3 deficient mice are more susceptible to endotoxic shock. This study addresses the role of ATF3 in the Kdo(2)-Lipid A-induced Toll-like receptor 4 (TLR4) signaling pathway in mouse embryonic fibroblasts (MEF). Kdo(2)-Lipid A upregulates ATF3 expression in wil...

Overexpression of GLUT4 in skeletal muscle enhances whole-body insulin action. Exercise increases GLUT4 gene and protein expression, and a binding site for the myocyte enhancer factor 2 (MEF-2) is required on the GLUT4 promoter for this response. However, the molecular mechanisms involved remain elusive. In various cell systems, MEF-2 regulation is a balance between transcriptional repression b...

Of 120 erythromycin-resistant pneumococci isolated in Italian hospitals, 39 (32.5%) were M-type isolates, carrying the mef gene alone. The mef gene was also detected, together with erm(AM), in one constitutively resistant isolate and in five isolates of the partially inducible phenotype. Among the 45 mef-positive isolates, 25 (55.6%) carried mef(A) and 20 (44.4%) carried mef(E) as observed from...

Akt, a serine/threonine kinase has been shown to stimulate glycolysis in cancer cells but its role in mitochondrial respiration is unknown. Using PTEN-knockout mouse embryonic fibroblasts (MEF(PTEN-/-)) with hyper-activated Akt as a cell model, we observed a higher respiratory capacity in MEF(PTEN-/-) compared to the wildtype (MEF(WT)). The respiratory phenotype observed in MEF(PTEN-/-) was rep...

Antibiotic-resistant pneumococci are difficult to eradicate from middle ear fluid (MEF) and the nasopharynx (NP). Bacteriologic eradication from the NP and MEF during acute otitis media (AOM) by 3 common antibiotic drugs was prospectively evaluated. In 19 (16%) of 119 MEF culture-positive patients, an organism susceptible to the treatment drug (Haemophilus influenzae, Streptococcus pneumoniae, ...

The population structure (serotypes, pulsed-field gel electrophoresis [PFGE] types, and multilocus sequencing types) of 45 mef-positive Streptococcus pneumoniae isolates [carrying mef alone (n = 17) or with the erm(B) gene n = 28)] were studied. They were selected from among all erythromycin-resistant isolates (n = 244) obtained from a collection of 712 isolates recovered from different Spanish...

PURPOSE Mefenamic acid (MEF) as a non-steroidal anti-inflammatory drug is used as a medication for relieving of pain and inflammation. Radiation-induced inflammation process is involved in DNA damage and cell death. In this study, the radioprotective effect of MEF was investigated against genotoxicity induced by ionizing radiation in human blood lymphocytes. MATERIALS AND METHODS Peripheral b...