BACKGROUND In vivo bioluminescence imaging (BLI) is a powerful method for the analysis of host-pathogen interactions in small animal models. The commercially available bioluminescent Listeria monocytogenes strain Xen32 is commonly used to analyse immune functions in knockout mice and pathomechanisms of listeriosis. FINDINGS To analyse and image listerial dissemination after oral infection we ...

In the present study, we evaluated the effects of once-weekly mupirocin application to catheter exit sites on Staphylococcus aureus and coagulase-negative staphylococcus (CNS) colonization and investigated the resistance of those bacteria to methicillin (MeR) and mupirocin (MuR). We enrolled 36 continuous ambulatory peritoneal dialysis (CAPD) patients (mean age: 55.1 +/- 1.4 years) into the stu...

The Mi III phenotype of the Miltenberger subsystem (or GP Mur) is relatively common in Southeast Asia especially along the south-east coast lines of China and Taiwan. The term anti-"Mia" describes antibodies that react with the Mi III phenotype. Since the Peninsula Malaysian population is a multiethnic one with a significant proportion of Chinese, a study was conducted into the prevalence of an...

The sex-dependent differences in serum levels of complement components have been reported concerning C4 (1), C5 (2, 3), C6 (3), C4-binding protein (C4-bp) ~ (4), and sex-limited protein (Slp) (5) in the mouse complement system. The serum levels o f these components in adult mice are always higher in males than in females within each inbred strain and are strongly under hormonal control. With re...

The recognition of threatening faces is important for making social judgments. For example, threatening facial features of defendants could affect the decisions of jurors during a trial. Previous neuroimaging studies using faces of members of the general public have identified a pivotal role of the amygdala in perceiving threat. This functional magnetic resonance imaging study used face photogr...