The correlation between Clostridium-difficile infection and human gut concentrations of Bacteroidetes phylum and clostridial species.

We aimed to assess differences in bacterial intensities of Bacteroidetes phylum and different clostridial species in the human intestines with respect to C. difficile infection. Patients with a stool assay for C. difficile toxin were identified via the microbiology laboratory in our institute. Bacterial populations were quantified from stool samples of four groups of patients: Group I-patients with C. difficile associated diarrhea (CDAD); Group II-asymptomatic C. difficile carriers; Group III-patients with non-C. difficile diarrhea; Group IV-patients with no diarrhea and negative stool samples for the C. difficile toxin (control group). Stool was examined for three genes-C. difficile toxin A gene, 16S rRNA gene from Clostridium thermocellum representing other clostridial species, and 16S rRNA gene from Bacteroides fragilis representing the Bacteroidetes phylum. Fifty-nine patients underwent analysis of the stool (CDAD group 14, carriers group 14, non-C. difficile diarrhea group 16, control group 15). C. difficile concentration was highest in the CDAD group, followed by the carriers group. Higher concentrations of both clostridial species and Bacteriodetes were observed in the control and non-C. difficile diarrhea groups compared to the CDAD and carriers groups. We demonstrated an inverse association between infection with C. difficile and the abundance of Bacteroidetes phylum and other clostridial species in human intestines. Studies with larger samples and broader diagnostic procedures are needed in order to better explore and understand this association.

A convenient synthesis of N-succinimidyl-3-iodo-[125I]benzoate, a reagent for protein iodination.

A convenient procedure has been developed for the synthesis of N-succinimidyl-3-iodo-[125I]benzoate. The procedure involved the synthesis of chloromercuribenzoic acid, its esterification with N-hydroxysuccinimide (NHS) and exchanging the mercury moiety with radioactive iodine in the presence of an oxidant. The obtained product was attached to human serum albumin and its stability was compared with Chloramine-T (Ch-T) radioiodinated protein. The results indicated that the reagent-radiolabeled protein was stable for longer periods and the deiodination rate was significantly lower.

Spectra of convolution operators on L spaces.

Let 1 < p < infinity with p not equal 2. Let G denote the n-torus or Euclidean n-space, and let Gamma be the dual group of G. We show the existence of a multiplier transformation T on L(p)(G) which satisfies the following properties: (a) the transform T of T is smooth and vanishes at infinity on Gamma; (b) the spectrum of T on L(p) properly contains T(Gamma) union or logical sum{0}.