Sulphur dioxide (SO2) is an important air pollutant and causes bronchoconstriction in normal and asthmatic adults. This paper has explored the autonomic consequences of SO2 exposure using the spectral analysis of heart rate variability. Electrocardiogram recordings were made in 12 normal and 12 asthmatic adults undergoing pollutant exposures. Exposures were of a 1 h duration, double blind, in r...

AIMS To study the survival and removal of viruses from fresh fruit and vegetables using the bacteriophage MS2 as a potential surrogate for noroviruses. METHOD AND RESULTS Survival of MS2 in buffer and on fresh produce was studied at 4, 8 and 22 degrees C. At 4 and 8 degrees C a reduction of <1 log10 was observed after 50 days in buffer; however a reduction in excess of 1 log10 occurred within...

BACKGROUND Heart rate variability (HRV) indices may detect autonomic changes with good diagnostic accuracy. Type diabetes mellitus (DM) individuals may have changes in autonomic modulation; however, studies of this nature in this population are still scarce. OBJECTIVE To compare HRV indices between and assess their prognostic value by measurements of sensitivity, specificity and predictive va...

Bacteriophage MS2 is widely used as a surrogate to estimate pathogenic virus elimination by membrane filtration processes used in water treatment. Given that this water technology may be conducted with different types of waters, we focused on investigating the effects of ionic strength on MS2 behavior. For this, MS2 was analyzed while suspended in solutions of various ionic strengths, first in ...

BACKGROUND Diabetes is a well-known cause of sudden mortality. Due to autonomic imbalance, those patients who are suffering from ischemic heart disease and diabetes concurrently are at a greater risk of manifesting arrhythmias. Heart rate variability (HRV) can be utilised for assessment of autonomic nervous system. The purpose of this study was to identify the values of HRV in diabetic and non-...

The secondary structure of encapsidated MS2 genomic RNA poses an interesting RNA folding challenge. Cryoelectron microscopy has demonstrated that encapsidated MS2 RNA is well-ordered. Models of MS2 assembly suggest that the RNA hairpin-protein interactions and the appropriate placement of hairpins in the MS2 RNA secondary structure can guide the formation of the correct icosahedral particle. Th...

The stability of functionalized nanoparticles generally results from both steric and electrostatic interactions. Viruses like bacteriophage MS2 have adopted similar strategies for stability against aggregation, including a net negative charge under natural water conditions and using polypeptides that form loops extending from the surface of the protein capsid for stabilization. In natural syste...

The coat proteins of the RNA phages MS2 and Qβ are structurally homologous, yet they specifically bind different RNA structures. In an effort to identify the basis of RNA binding specificity we sought to isolate mutants that convert MS2 coat protein to the RNA binding specificity of Qβ. A library of mutations was created which selectively substitutes amino acids within the RNA binding site. Gen...

The parasympathetic vagus nerve supplies the heart and lung. Parasympathetic activity modifies rate force of contraction in Airway bronchial smooth muscle constriction hypersecretion mucus lungs. There is a link between these two components. Hence this study designed to find association Spectral analysis variability pulmonary function tests asthma patients. In study, 30 asthmatic patients were ...