Anthocyanin-rich Extracts Affect Coaggregation Among Oral Bacteria

Objective: Oral biofilms have been implicated in the etiology of several diseases, including periodontitis, dental caries and oral cancer. Coaggregation is critical for biofilm formation, and a potential treatment target to disrupt in the progression to disease. Food-based chemotherapeutics, especially using anthocyanin rich extracts, are emerging as viable treatment options for these diseases since they are derived from readily available food sources. However, source-based differences between various anthocyanin rich foods have not been fully investigated. Therefore, the purpose of the present study was to investigate the effects of anthocyanin extracts from various food sources on oral bacterial coaggregation. Methods: Anthocyanin-rich extracts were derived from strawberry, red grape, chokeberry and black raspberry and standardized. Early colonizing bacterial species (Actinomyces naeslundii, Streptococcus oralis, Streptococcus sanguis, Streptococcus mitis, and Veillonella parvula) and bridging species (Fusobacterium nucleatum) were grown to mid-log phase in Brain Heart Infusion medium, washed and resuspended in phosphate buffered saline (PBS), and diluted to an optical density of 1.0 at 650nm. Equal volumes of bacterial suspensions were combined in pairs either with or without anthocyanin conditioning and gently shaken for one hour. The optical density was measured before and after agitation. All assays were run in duplicates and replicated. Results: Addition of red grape extracts significantly decreased coaggregation between Actinomyces naeslundii with Streptococcus oralis, Streptococcus sanguis, Streptococcus mitis, and Veillonella parvula when compared to controls. The addition of strawberry extracts increased coaggregation between Veillonella parvula with Actinomyces naeslundii, Streptococcus oralis, and Fusobacterium nucleatum. Conclusion: The results demonstrate that anthocyanins from various fruits affect coaggregation of common oral bacteria in different ways and that this is dependent on the structure of the anthocyanins. Further work using different structures of anthocyanins derived form different fruits are needed to fully understand the potential of anthocyanins at affecting coaggregation and the formation of biofilms.United States Department of AgricultureNo embargoAcademic Major: Human Nutritio

Draft Genome Sequence of the Serratia rubidaea CIP 103234T Reference Strain, a Human-Opportunistic Pathogen.

We provide here the first genome sequence of a Serratia rubidaea isolate, a human-opportunistic pathogen. This reference sequence will permit a comparison of this species with others of the Serratia genus

Posiciones y posicionamientos: análisis comparativo de discursos religiosos y políticos

El objetivo general de este trabajo es dar cuenta de las relaciones entre discurso religioso y discurso político durante la transición democrática en la Argentina. Para ello nos detenemos en el caso de las alocuciones publicas producidas en la Jornada Nacional de la Juventud (1985) por un conjunto de obispos y de autoridades gubernamentales. Metodológicamente, analizamos las operaciones de reformulación interdiscursiva del documento episcopal "Juventud: presencia y desafío" operada por dichos actores en sus textos individuales. Como conclusión, encontramos que es posible distinguir obispos que asumen posicionamientos propios del discurso político y líderes políticos que asumen posicionamientos del ámbito religioso.Fil: Bonnin, Juan Eduardo. Consejo Nacional de Investigaciones Científicas y Técnicas. Oficina de Coordinación Administrativa Saavedra 15. Centro de Estudios e Investigaciones Laborales; Argentin

Space, place and identity: political violence in Mpumalanga township, Kwazulu-Natal, 1987-1993

ABSTRACT This thesis investigates political violence between the United Democratic Front and Inkatha in Mpumalanga township, Natal. In the early 1980s and early 1990s Mpumalanga was one of Natal’s townships most gravely affected by political violence. I ask and answer four questions: 1. Why and how did the conflict between political organisations in Natal become violent? 2. What forms did the violence take? 3. Why, as a result of the violence did ordinary people with little prior history of political activity come to identify with either the UDF or Inkatha? 4. How were these political identities produced? In order to answer these questions the thesis explores three primary arguments. The first argument is that 1987 represents a severe rupture in the politics of Natal. This rupture is captured in the violent form of political conflict that gripped the province. To understand this rupture the thesis looks back at a complex set of processes that interlocked over space and time. A second major argument of the thesis is that an aspect of the distinctiveness of the violence was its profoundly spatialised form in combination with gendered and generational forms. There were two major shifts in the spatialised form of the violence. The first shift occurred when instead of only attacking individuals, the household and its members also became targets. And then the second shift was when the purpose of the violence was about the pursuit of territory. Boundaries between territories identified who was ‘in’ and who was ‘out’ and all aspects of everyday life became politicised. The third major argument of the thesis is that there was a strong relationship between space/place and political identity. The re-territorialisation of space - iv - during the violence was central to the production of these new identities. Political violence created new spatialities, with space itself acquiring political meaning and identity. The political meanings of these spaces were intense markers of their identity and overrode all other meanings and identities. As the spatial form of the violence shifted it forced people to question their political identities. The lived experience of the politicisation of everyday life by the violence shaped the production of political identities

Valores hematológicos

En el trabajo se revisan las alteraciones más frecuentes en la clínica diaria relacionadas con los índices eritrocitarios, resaltando tanto el VCM como el VPM por estar íntimamente ligados a la anemia y la trombocitopenia