Persistent and acute chlamydial infections induce different structural changes in the Golgi apparatus.

Chlamydia trachomatis causes a wide range of diseases that have a significant impact on public health. Acute chlamydial infections can cause fragmentation of the Golgi compartment ensuring the lipid transportation from the host cell. However, the changes that occur in the host cell Golgi apparatus after persistent infections are unclear. Here, we examined Golgi-associated gene (golga5) transcription and expression along with the structure of the Golgi apparatus in cells persistently infected with Chlamydia trachomatis. The results showed that persistent infections caused little fragmentation of the Golgi. The results also revealed that Golgi fragmentation might be associated with the suppression of transcription of the gene golga5.

Structural insights into the classification of Mud Crab Reovirus.

Cryo-electron microscopy was applied to analyze mud crab reovirus (MCRV), which causes 'sleeping disease' in mud crab, Scylla serrata, a marine species cultured in China. We present here the three dimensional structure of MCRV at 13.8Å resolution. The outer capsid shell is composed of 260 trimers with complete T=13 icosahedral symmetry. A major difference between MCRV and previously reported aquareoviruses is that it lacks a pentameric turret structure. These results together with recently published molecular biological evidence (Deng et al., 2012) indicate that, from a structural perspective, MCRV should be classified as a new member of the family Reoviridae.

5-aminolevulinic acid-mediated photodynamic therapy on cervical condylomata acuminata.

OBJECTIVE: The aim of this study was to evaluate the efficacy of 5-aminolevulinic acid-mediated photodynamic therapy (PDT) on cervical condylomata accuminate (CA) and to determine the ultrastructural changes of the lesion after treatment. BACKGROUND DATA: Although there are many methods to treat cervical CA, a high recurrence rate and cervical scars are troublesome problems. MATERIALS AND METHODS: Forty-eight patients with cervical CA were treated with topical 20% ALA gel followed by PDT through a cylindrical fiber with a wavelength of 630 nm of laser light. The treatment was repeated 7 days later if the lesion had not been removed completely. Eight cases were biopsied before and after treatment, and the biopsied lesions were evaluated by electron microscopy. RESULTS: After the first PDT treatment, the cervical condylomatous lesions were removed completely in 62.5% (30/48). The complete response (CR) rate was 95.8% (46/48) after three treatments. The recurrence rate was 4.4% at the 12-month follow-up. Electron microscopy revealed that ALA-PDT damaged proliferative keratinocytes of CA lesions while the surrounding normal tissue injury was less damaged. CONCLUSIONS: ALA-PDT is an effective and minimally invasive treatment for cervical CA.

[Spectroscopy characteristics of various aluminum phosphates in Al2O3-P2O5-H2O system and its high temperature products].

Various aluminum phosphates were prepared with phosphoric acid and aluminum hydroxide under different conditions. IR, XRD, Raman and SEM were used to study the structure difference and their change in heating process and particle morphology of obtained products and aluminum tripolyphosphate. The results show that the spectral characteristic change of phosphate from H2PO4-, PO4(3-), H2P3O10(3-) and PO3- can be seen when P/Al molar ratio = 3 or the condensation temperature is different. The PO symmetric stretching peaks shift to lower wavenumber and the bands widen along with the extent of polymerization. After aluminum tripolyphosphate is heated, the frequencies of stretching vibrational modes depend on the micro-structure units of phosphate and increase with the extent of polymerization. Both Raman and infrared spectra can characterize the pattern of the hydroxyl stretching vibrations. The laminated thickness of reaction product is increases and laminar boundary is vague until the clinker clew is formed.

[Spectral properties and thermal stability of zinc phosphate hydrate].

X-ray, FTIR, and Raman spectra were used to measure the spectral properties of three kinds of zinc phosphate hydrate. Spectral changes with crystalline water were analyzed. The thermal stability of zinc phosphate tetrahydrate was studied by TG-DTA to identify the existent temperature of zinc phosphate hydrate. The results show that the differences in crystalline water among these hydrates results in the variation in both 2theta characteristic values and peaks. The FTIR spectra reflect H--O--H strength information (1 600 cm(-1)) and O--H bond stretching vibrations (3 400-3 500 cm(-1)). Raman spectra show the difference in P--O bond stretching mode at 400-700 cm(-1) and the shape of O--H stretching peak. According to the mass-loss curves, the onset temperature of zinc phosphate tetrahydrate was 95 degrees C. Heating to 145 degrees C was accompanied by the removal of 2H2O and transform into Zn3 (PO4)2 x 2H2O, indicating that Zn3 (PO4)2 x 2H2O was established at this temperature. Zn3 (PO4)2 x H2O can be obtained by heating to 195 degrees C. The third stage of dehydration gave an anhydrous Zn3 (PO4)2 phase.