Lactococcus lactis and Lactobacillus salivarius differently modulate early immunological response of Wistar rats co-administered with Listeria monocytogenes.

In the light of the increasing resistance of bacterial pathogens to antibiotics, one of the main global strategies in applied science is development of alternative treatments, which would be safe both for the host and from the environmental perspective. Accordingly, the aim of this study was to test whether two lactic acid bacteria (LAB) strains, Lactococcus lactis BGBU1-4 and Lactobacillus salivarius BGHO1, could be applied as safe supplements for Listeria infection. Two major research objectives were set: to compare the effects of BGBU1-4 and BGHO1 on early immune response in gut tissue of Wistar rats co-administered with Listeria monocytogenes ATCC19111 and next, to test how this applies to their usage as therapeutics in acute ATCC19111 infection. Intestinal villi (IV), Peyer's patches (PP) and mesenteric lymph nodes (MLN) were used for the analysis. The results showed that BGHO1 increased the mRNA expression of innate immune markers CD14, interleukin (IL)-1ß and tumour necrosis factor (TNF)-α in PP and IV, and, in parallel, caused a decrease of listeriolysin O (LLO) mRNA expression in same tissues. In MLN of BGHO1 treated rats, LLO expression was increased, along with an increase of the expression of OX-62 mRNA and CD69, pointing to the activation of adaptive immunity. On the other hand, in BGBU1-4 treated rats, there was no reduction of LLO mRNA expression and no induction of innate immunity markers in intestinal tissue. Additionally, CD14 and IL-1ß, as well as LLO, but not OX-62 mRNA and CD69 expression, were elevated in MLN of BGBU1-4 treated rats. However, when applied therapeutically, both, BGBU1-4 and BGHO1, lowered Listeria count in spleens of infected rats. Our results not only reveal the potential of LAB to ameliorate Listeria infections, but suggest different immunological effects of two different LAB strains, both of which could be effective in Listeria elimination.

Gut-associated lymphoid tissue, gut microbes and susceptibility to experimental autoimmune encephalomyelitis.

Gut microbiota and gut-associated lymphoid tissue have been increasingly appreciated as important players in pathogenesis of various autoimmune diseases, including multiple sclerosis. Experimental autoimmune encephalomyelitis (EAE) is an animal model of multiple sclerosis that can be induced with an injection of spinal cord homogenate emulsified in complete Freund's adjuvant in Dark Agouti (DA) rats, but not in Albino Oxford (AO) rats. In this study, mesenteric lymph nodes (MLN), Peyer's patches (PP) and gut microbiota were analysed in these two rat strains. There was higher proportion of CD4(+) T cells and regulatory T cells in non-immunised DA rats in comparison to AO rats. Also, DA rat MLN and PP cells were higher producers of pro-inflammatory cytokines interferon-γ and interleukin-17. Finally, microbial analyses showed that uncultivated species of Turicibacter and Atopostipes genus were exclusively present in AO rats, in faeces and intestinal tissue, respectively. Thus, it is clear that in comparison of an EAE-susceptible with an EAE-resistant strain of rats, various discrepancies at the level of gut associated lymphoid tissue, as well as at the level of gut microbiota can be observed. Future studies should determine if the differences have functional significance for EAE pathogenesis.

Strong universality and algebraic scaling in two-dimensional Ising spin glasses.

At zero temperature, two-dimensional Ising spin glasses are known to fall into several universality classes. Here we consider the scaling at low but nonzero temperatures and provide numerical evidence that eta approximately equal 0 and nu approximately equal 3.5 in all cases, suggesting a unique universality class. This algebraic (as opposed to exponential) scaling holds, in particular, for the +/- J model, with or without dilutions, and for the plaquette diluted model. Such a picture, associated with an exceptional behavior at T = 0, is consistent with a real space renormalization group approach. We also explain how the scaling of the specific heat is compatible with the hyperscaling prediction.

Low T scaling in the binary 2d spin glass.

We investigate 2d Ising spin glasses with binary couplings via exact computations of the partition function on lattices with periodic boundary conditions. After introducing the physical issues, we sketch the algorithm to compute the partition function as a polynomial with integer coefficients. This technique is then exploited to obtain the thermodynamic properties of the spin glass. We find an anomalous low temperature scaling of the heat capacity c(v) approximately e(-2beta) and that hyperscaling holds.

Critical thermodynamics of the two-dimensional +/-J Ising spin glass.

We compute the exact partition function of 2d Ising spin glasses with binary couplings. In these systems, the ground state is highly degenerate and is separated from the first excited state by a gap of size 4J. Nevertheless, we find that the low temperature specific heat density scales as exp(-2J/T), corresponding to an "effective" gap of size 2J; in addition, an associated crossover length scale grows as exp(J/T). We justify these scalings via the degeneracy of the low lying excitations and by the way low energy domain walls proliferate in this model.