Pili are critical in host recognition, colonization and biofilm formation during bacterial infection. Here, we report the crystal structures of SafD-dsc and SafD-SafA-SafA (SafDAA-dsc) in Saf pili. Cell adherence assays show that SafD and SafA are both required for host recognition, suggesting a poly-adhesive mechanism for Saf pili. Moreover, the SafDAA-dsc structure, as well as SAXS characteri...

When challenged by stresses such as starvation, the soil bacterium Bacillus subtilis produces an endospore surrounded by a proteinaceous coat composed of >70 proteins that are organized into three main layers: an amorphous undercoat, lightly staining lamellar inner coat and electron-dense outer coat. This coat protects the spore against a variety of chemicals or lysozyme. Mutual interactions of...

Minimal research exists for non-chromatographic separations of rare-earth metallofullerenes containing di-metallic (M2), di-metallic carbide (M2C2), and tri-metallic nitride (M3N) clusters trapped inside fullerene cages. Herein, we demonstrate a non-HPLC method (i.e., SAFA, Stir and Filter Approach) for purifying Er3N@Ih-C80, a rare-earth, metallic nitride clusterfullerene. We describe a strate...

Helen Safa has been a leading program builder and pioneer in research that examines the complex intersections of gender, race, class, and nation in Latin America and the Caribbean. Her comparative research culminated in her influential book, The Myth of the Male Breadwinner: Women and Industrialization in the Caribbean (1995), which examined gender, family, and employment across three Caribbean...

INTRODUCTION Childhood obesity has become a worldwide epidemic in Western and in developing countries and has been accompanied by many serious and severe comorbidities, such as diabetes, hypertension, sleep apnea syndrome, depression, dyslipidemia, impaired glucose homeostasis, steatohepatitis, and intracranial hypertension, as well as medical concerns unique to youth, such as accelerated puber...

Paul Robeson Park in Los Angeles County was often the designated location for Eid al-Fitr, the obligatory group prayer and celebration following Ramadan, the Islamic month of fasting. Families, predominantly African American, would begin arriving around 7:00 am dressed in their best Eid clothing. Well before the crowd began to trickle in, plastic tarps would be positioned in straight rows so th...

Footprinting is a powerful and widely used tool for characterizing the structure, thermodynamics, and kinetics of nucleic acid folding and ligand binding reactions. However, quantitative analysis of the gel images produced by footprinting experiments is tedious and time-consuming, due to the absence of informatics tools specifically designed for footprinting analysis. We have developed SAFA, a ...

Dietary fats have important effects on the risk of cardiovascular disease (CVD). Abundant evidence shows that partial replacement of saturated fatty acids (SAFA) with unsaturated fatty acids improves the blood lipid and lipoprotein profile and reduces the risk of coronary heart disease (CHD). Low-fat diets high in refined carbohydrates and sugar are not effective. Very long-chain polyunsaturate...