Re-aerosolization of Bacillus thuringiensis spores from concrete and turf.

Spores of Bacillus anthracis deposited on surfaces can become airborne again as a result of air currents and mechanical forces. As such, they are a potential source of infection by inhalation. Spores of Bacillus thuringiensis were used to quantify this phenomenon in a simulation of outdoor conditions. Concrete and turf surfaces were inoculated by aerosol to produce high spore densities (greater than 1 × 109  CFU per m2 ) which were then subjected to the passage of air at 10 ms-1 with and without simulated walking. Re-aerosolized spores were sampled by wetted wall cyclone air samplers. The mean total re-aerosolization rate from concrete (m-2  min-1 ) was 1·16 × 10-3 for wind alone and 3·2 × 10-3 for wind and simulated walking while for turf the respective values were 2·7 × 10-4 and 6·7 × 10-4 . SIGNIFICANCE AND IMPACT OF THE STUDY: Following the malicious and/or accidental release of an aerosol of Bacillus anthracis spores, the immediate risk of human inhalation would decrease as the spores were deposited on surfaces or diluted by wind flow. There is, however, a concern that the deposited spores could become re-aerosolized and so present an ongoing hazard. Using an accurate simulant for B. anthracis spores a method is reported here that allowed the enumeration of re-aerosolized spores from concrete and turf by wind flow and footfall. Under the conditions used, the rates of re-aerosolization were low. These findings will need to be verified under real outdoor conditions before the true significance in terms of secondary exposure to pathogenic spores can be assessed.

Investigations into the source of two fungicides measured in the air for 24 hours following application to a cereal crop.

Airborne pesticides can be detected near to recently-treated arable fields for a period of days following the application. Identifying the source of such pesticides is important in developing predictive models for use in exposure and risk assessments. Previous work showed levels of pesticide in the air that were higher than expected for a low-vapour-pressure active ingredient, epoxiconazole, and comparable with an active ingredient of a significantly higher vapour pressure, fenpropidin. It was possible that the measured concentrations could be attributed to 'dust' particles emitted from the crop, either biological material contaminated with pesticide or solid dried deposits of active ingredient and other formulation components. A second experiment was therefore undertaken to measure airborne concentrations of the same active ingredients and to determine whether some or all of the measured airborne pesticide could be attributed to particles, using a Marple personal cascade impactor, which collects particles in the range 0.3 - 50 microm. Such samplers are not optimised to give good sampling efficiencies under the proposed field conditions, so some initial tests were undertaken in the Silsoe wind tunnel to assess its ability to sample particles in an air flow. In the subsequent field trial, a 192 m square plot in a commercially established winter cereal crop was sprayed with a tank mix of commercial formulations of epoxiconazole and fenpropidin. Measurements of airborne pesticides were made for 24 hours following the application with suction samplers attached to tenax tubes to evaluate vapour concentrations and with the cascade impactor to determine whether contaminated airborne particles were present. The concentrations of pesticide measured with the tenax tubes were significantly higher than the particulate component detected on the cascade impactor plates and it is therefore it was very unlikely that there was a significant contribution from pesticide-laden particles to the airborne concentration. Although it is clear that under these particular experimental conditions, airborne contaminated particles were not detected in significant quantities after the application, it is possible that this could occur under different circumstances, such as during pollen release or harvest.

Regulation of the strypsin-related proteinase ISP2 by progesterone in endometrial gland epithelium during implantation in mice.

Hormones prepare the uterus for the arrival and subsequent invasion of the embryo during pregnancy. Extracellular matrix-degrading proteinases and their inhibitors are involved in this integration process. Recent genetic evidence indicates that there is redundancy within the implantation proteinase cascade, indicating that additional proteinases may be involved. Recently, we described a novel implantation serine proteinase (ISP1) gene that encodes the embryo-derived enzyme strypsin, which is necessary for blastocyst hatching in vitro and the initiation of invasion. The evidence presented in the present study indicates that a second proteinase secreted from the uterus also participates in lysis of the zona pellucida. A second implantation serine proteinase gene (ISP2) was isolated, which encodes a related secreted tryptase expressed specifically within uterine endometrial glands. In pseudopregnancy, ISP2 gene expression is dependent on progesterone priming and is inhibited by the antiprogestin RU486. On the basis of similarities between ISP2 gene expression and that of a progesterone-regulated luminal proteinase associated with lysis of the zona pellucida, it is possible that the strypsin-related protein, ISP2, may encode a zona lysin proteinase.

A novel murine tryptase involved in blastocyst hatching and outgrowth.

Before implantation the blastocyst is maintained within a proteinaceous coat, the zona pellucida, which prevents polyspermy and ectopic pregnancy. An extracellular trypsin-like activity, which is necessary for hatching from the zona pellucida in vitro, is localized to the abembryonic pole of the blastocyst. Upon hatching, the extracellular matrix-degrading proteinases urokinase plasminogen activator (uPA) and matrix metalloproteinase 9 (MMP-9) are thought to promote blastocyst invasion. However, gene disruption experiments have demonstrated that uPA and MMP-9 are dispensable and, thus, that other key enzymes are involved in implantation. In this study, a novel implantation serine proteinase (ISP1) gene, which is distantly related to haematopoietic tryptases and represents a novel branch of the S1 proteinase family, was cloned. ISP1 is expressed throughout morulae and blastocysts during hatching and outgrowth. Abrogation of ISP1 mRNA accumulation using antisense oligodeoxynucleotides disrupts blastocyst hatching and outgrowth in vitro. The results of this study indicate that the ISP1 gene probably encodes the long sought after 'hatching enzyme' that is localized to the abembryonic pole during hatching in vitro. ISP1 is the earliest embryo-specific proteinase to be expressed in implantation and may play a critical role in connecting embryo hatching to the establishment of implantation competence at the abembryonic pole of the blastocyst.