8,9 Wakai et al.8 reported a scoring system to predict renal outcome in patients with IgA nephropathy using a nationwide prospective study from 1995 to 2002. Although the quality of some data collected by the postal survey is limited and the influence of therapy could not be considered, the scoring system will serve as a useful prognostic Nutlin-3 price tool for this disease in clinical practice.8 Goto et al.9 reported that the risk of deterioration in renal

function can be quickly estimated using clinical information obtained in routine examinations for IgA nephropathy. In 2005, the reply rate from the renal units was 82.7% and 2285 cases were analyzed. Median follow-up periods were 87 months (inter-quartile 42–122). In the results, 252 cases (11.2%) were on dialysis and 21 cases (0.9%) were deceased. Renal survival after 10 years was 0.843 (95% confidence interval = 0.830–0.867). Predictive factors after 10 years were as follows: (i) male sex: (ii) under BGJ398 cost 30 years old; (iii) diastolic hypertension; (iv)

heavy proteinuria; (v) mild haematuria; (vi) low serum albumin; and (vii) elevated serum creatinine and impaired renal pathology.10 It appears that substantial renal deterioration can be validly estimated using these predictive factors in patients with IgA nephropathy. Immunoglobulin A nephropathy is one of the major causes of CKD in the world. Early diagnosis, treatment and improvement of predictive factors for a long duration may lead to better renal prognosis in patients with IgA nephropathy. I sincerely thank my colleagues in the Division of Nephrology

at Juntendo University, Tokyo and Professor Masayuki Endoh, Division of Nephrology and Metabolism, Department of Internal Medicine, Tokai University School of Medicine, Kanagawa, Japan. The Authors state that there is no conflict of interest regarding the material discussed in the manuscript. “
“Aim:  Glucocorticoid therapy has been used in childhood nephrotic syndrome since the 1950s, where Methocarbamol the characteristic change is effacement of the actin-rich foot process of glomerular podocytes. Recent studies have shown that glucocorticoids, in addition to their general immunosuppressive and anti-inflammatory effects, have a direct effect on podocytes, regulate some apoptotic factors, and increase the stability of actin filaments. However, the precise mechanism(s) underlying the protective effects of glucocorticoids on podocytes remain unclear. It is known that adriamycin (ADR) can induce podocyte foot process effacement and trigger massive proteinuria in rodent models. However, few reports have examined the direct role of ADR in podocyte actin rearrangement in vitro.

The

RYR1 mutations associated with CCD are usually dominant but recessive inheritance has also been reported, whereas cases identified as MmD are exclusively linked to recessive mutations [2–7] and recently in patients with fibre type disproportion as their only pathological feature. [8] Classically in the RYR1 sequence, three hot-spots are considered, two in the large hydrophilic domain of RyR1 and one in the C-terminal hydrophobic domain. Most of the heterozygous dominant CCD mutations are mapped to the C-terminal domain, whereas the recessive CCD and MmD mutations are more extensively distributed along the RYR1 sequence. Additionally, a heterozygous de novo RYR1 mutation in the C-terminal region of the protein has been found in a 16-year-old female patient initially diagnosed with selleck chemical centronuclear myopathy (CNM) with ‘core-like’ lesions and central nuclei in up to 50% of fibres in the muscle biopsy

[9], and a heterozygous de novo RYR1 mutation in the N-terminal domain has been found in a patient presented with King-Denborough syndrome and MHS [10]. In RYR1-related congenital myopathies, the histological phenotype varies widely. It comprises central and eccentric cores, unique and multiple, structured and unstructured, well-delimited cores spanning the entire fibre length or poorly defined cores that spread only a few sarcomeres, and occasionally LY2157299 a variable degree of sarcomeric disorganization [2,11–13]. These structural abnormalities are sometimes associated with an increased number of internal myonuclei (up to 30% of the fibres) and variable degrees of fibrous and adipose tissue replacement [6,14,15]. There also exist biopsies without major alterations showing only a type I fibre predominance or uniformity [16]. Moreover, a histopathological continuum has been suggested linking the diverse RYR1-related core myopathies [17–20]. On the other hand, centronuclear myopathies (CNM; OMIM 310400, 160150 and 255200), comprise X-linked recessive, autosomal dominant and autosomal recessive forms, associated, respectively,

with myotubularin 1 (MTM1), dynamin 2 (DNM2) and amphiphysin 2 why (BIN1) genes [21–23]. The histopathological presentation of these distinct forms of CNM has been well established [24]; so far, neither cores nor minicores have been described in such genetically determined CNM forms. Here we report clinical, histological and molecular characterization of seven patients initially diagnosed with CNM due to the significantly high number of fibres with internalized nuclei (up to 51% of the fibres). However, the key histopathological feature that led us to screen RYR1 gene for mutations was the invariable presence of large areas of sarcomeric disorganization in the muscle fibres, despite the number and location of internalized nuclei.

Quantitative PCR assays for GAPDH, TLR7, TLR9, and BAFF were done at least in duplicates by using the Light Cycler Fast Start DNA SYBR Green I Master Mix in the presence of 3 mM MgCl2 on a LightCycler Instrument (Roche Diagnostics) as previously

described [22]. Sample values were normalized by calculating the relative quantity of each mRNA to that of GAPDH using the formula 2−ΔCt GDC-0973 cost and expressed as mean ± SD. Primer pairs for GAPDH and TLR7 was as previously described [22]. TLR9 and BAFF primers used in this study were as follows: TLR9_forward: 5′-TGAAGACTTCAGGCCCAACTG-3′ TLR9_reverse: 5′-TGCACGGTCACCAGGTTGT-3′ BAFF_forward: 5′-TGAAACACCAACTATACAAAAG-3′ BAFF_reverse: 5′-TCAATTCATCCCCAAAGACAT-3 Statistical significance of differences was determined by Student’s t-test for paired or unpaired data (p < 0.05 was considered significant) NVP-LDE225 order from JAVA Applets & Servlets for Biostatistics software. This work was supported by the Italian Multiple Sclerosis Foundation # 2009/R/7 (to E.M.C.). We thank Dr. Mark Tomai (3M pharmaceuticals) and Francesca Aloisi (Department of Cell Biology and Neurosciences, Istituto Superiore di Sanità, Rome, Italy) for their helpful discussion. We acknowledge Dr. Silvia Romano, Dr. Giulia Coarelli, and Dr. Arianna Fornasiero, who took care of patients and helped with sampling. Furthermore,

we thank Eugenio Morassi (Division Service for Data Management, Documentation, Library and Publishing Activities, Istituto Superiore di Sanità, Rome, Italy) for preparing drawings. Marco Salvetti received lecture fees from Biogen-Dompé and received research support from Bayer-Schering, Biogen-Dompé, Merck-Serono, and Sanofi-Aventis.

As a service to our authors and readers, this journal provides supporting information supplied by the authors. Such materials are peer reviewed and may be re-organized for online delivery, but are not copy-edited or typeset. Technical support issues arising from supporting information (other than missing files) should be addressed Astemizole to the authors. “
“Improved tools are required to study immunopathogenesis of tuberculosis (TB). Mycobacterium tuberculosis antigen-stimulated T cell-based assays can detect TB but are less effective when responses are compromised such as in severe disease. We investigated immune responses to M. tuberculosis whole sonicate (MTBs), recombinant antigens ESAT6 and CFP10 in whole blood cells of healthy endemic controls (EC, n = 42) and patients with pulmonary (PTB, n = 36) or extrapulmonary (ETB, n = 41) disease. Biomarkers of T cell activation (IFNγ) or modulation (IL10) and chemokines, CXCL9, CXCL10 and CCL2, secretion were measured. MTBs, ESAT6 and CFP10 all induced IFNγ responses in TB. ESAT6-induced IFNγ was elevated in TB as compared with EC. MTBs stimulated the highest IFNγ levels but did not differentiate between TB and EC.

However, addition of 0.5 ng EGCG did not suppress IgE production. Some of the active components in GTE, other than EGCG, might have contributed either additively or synergistically to the total IgE suppression observed. We used unseparated GTE because this likely closely mimics the advantageous effects of green tea, in that it includes all of the potentially bioactive ingredients a human-consuming green tea would receive. The GTE contained 90% polyphenols, and 80% of the polyphenols are catechins. 70% of the catechins are EGCG, which approximates to 50% of the GTE is EGCG. Based on the above, the EGCG concentration in culture was 50% of

the GTE concentration. Published studies investigating the effect of GTE on development of allergic disease are inconclusive, with some reporting deleterious effects and increased risk for inducing asthma [28–30]. However, in this website those studies, green tea-induced asthma was reported in individuals who worked in green tea factories. It may be that excess occupational exposure to green tea results in a hyperresponsiveness to green tea or its components, which would not be applicable to the general population. Future studies, including mechanism, are warranted to determine whether individual catechins (e.g. EGCG) or other MAPK Inhibitor Library concentration plant extracts result in suppression of IgE production in vivo. This study has potential limitations including small study/sample size; future studies will be

performed on a larger scale to increase our sample size. In addition, PBMC from non-allergic/non-asthmatic healthy controls do not produce IgE responses in vitro [39]. Thus, this group was not studied. However, the strengths of this study are (1) that our results are highly relevant to addressing potential safe treatments Methamphetamine for allergic asthma and possible other atopic conditions and (2) that these in vitro studies can be the framework for further exploration of this topic both in vitro and in vivo. In summary, this study demonstrates GTE and EGCG suppression of human IgE production in vitro. These results may lead to future improvements in asthma treatment and prevention. The authors declare no competing financial

interest. This work has been funded by a NY State Divisional Grant. “
“Protein-based vaccines offer safety and cost advantages but require adjuvants to induce immunity. Here we examined the adjuvant capacity of glucopyranosyl lipid A (GLA), a new synthetic non-toxic analogue of lipopolysaccharide. In mice, in comparison with non-formulated LPS and monophosphoryl lipid A, formulated GLA induced higher antibody titers and generated Type 1 T-cell responses to HIV gag-p24 protein in spleen and lymph nodes, which was dependent on TLR4 expression. Immunization was greatly improved by targeting HIV gag p24 to DCs with an antibody to DEC-205, a DC receptor for antigen uptake and processing. Subcutaneous immunization induced antigen-specific T-cell responses in the intestinal lamina propria.

WANG BO, WISE ANDREA F, HUUSKES BROOKE M, RICARDO SHARON D Monash University Introduction: MicroRNA (miR), including miR-let7, is highly effective at reducing

renal fibrosis and reversing progression of disease in rodent models. However, the advancement of miR therapies is hampered by difficulties in delivering miR in a robust and sustainable manner. Thus, it is imperative to develop an efficient delivery method for targeting miR to injured kidneys to exert their anti-fibrotic function. Mesenchymal stem cells (MSC) have demonstrated a strong safety profile in both completed and numerous ongoing clinical trials. The ability of MSC to transfer molecules and organelles suggests their potential usefulness as delivery vehicle for therapeutic miR treatment that is an innovative approach. Methods: C57BL6/J mice underwent 40 mins Talazoparib concentration of unilateral ischemia/reperfusion

(IR) injury and were injected with GFP+/luciferase+ MSCs or PBS and imaged from 0–7 days using whole body bioluminescence imaging for cell tracing. miR-let7c modified MSCs were generated and characterised and miR expression assayed with Taqman microRNA assay. The miR-let7c-MSCs were co-cultured with NRK52E, a kidney proximal tubular cell line, using a Transwell system with/without TGF-β1 for 72 hours, and the expression of fibrotic genes assessed using qPCR. Results: Following IR, MSCs homed to the injured kidney where Venetoclax they remained for up to 3 days. miR-let7c was successfully engineered and expressed in MSCs. The modified miR-let7c-MSCs maintained a normal karyotype and proliferative ability, but importantly

produced miR-let7c into the exogenous environment through exosome delivery. MSC-delivered miR-let7c was endocytosed into NRK52E cells, confirmed by the up-regulation of miR-let7c expression and fluorescent microscopy. After 3 days co-culturing, the miR-let7c-MSCs strongly inhibited the up-regulation of TGF-β type I receptor (TGBR1), a specific target of miR-let7c, and reduced a-smooth muscle actin and collagen mRNA expression, when NRK52E cells were treated with TGF-β1. Conclusion: MSCs home to the injured kidney in mice with IR injury. In vitro studies show that miR-let7c produced from modified MSC can be endocytosed into kidney epithelial cells leading to the inhibition of fibrotic genes and TGBR1 induced by TGF-β1. This data will pave the way for the application of miR, or siRNA, as an innovative Histidine ammonia-lyase RNAi therapeutic strategy for renal disease therapy, but may also offer promise for other degenerative chronic disorders. YAMANAKA SHUICHIRO1,2, YOKOTE SHINYA1, KATSUOKA YUICHI2, IZUHARA LUNA2, OGURA MAKOTO1, YOKOO TAKASHI1 1Department of Internal Medicine, Division of Nephrology and Hypertension; 2Division of Regenerative Medicine Introduction: We have previously demonstrated that mesenchymal stem cells (MSCs) differentiate into functional kidney cells capable of urine and erythropoietin production, indicating that MSCs may be used for kidney regeneration.

8 mL/min per 1.73 m2 and was lowest in Indians (93 ± 12.3 mL/min per

1.73 m2; P < 0.001). The CKD-EPI equation appears to be more accurate for healthy participants. Estimated GFR correlated with measured GFR (r = 0.57, P < 0.001), and the mean difference is 3.72 ± 14.43 mL/min per 1.73 m2 (P < 0.001). However, estimating GFR using self-directed 24-hour urine creatinine clearances is poorer than using the CKD-EPI equation. GFR estimation using self-directed 24-hour urine collection for creatinine clearance is less accurate than using the CKD-EPI equation. A larger study is required to clarify GFR in healthy Asians, and the association of health outcomes of Asian kidney donors with lower GFR thresholds. "
“Aim:  Nocturnal Carfilzomib ic50 home haemodialysis (NHHD) was started in Hong Protein Tyrosine Kinase inhibitor Kong in 2006. The experience of 1 year of NHHD with an alternate

night schedule in two local centres is reported. Methods:  The clinical parameters of 14 patients who had completed 1 year of NHHD were retrospectively analyzed. All patients were receiving an alternate night schedule (3.5 sessions/week) for 6–8 h/session. Results:  After 1 year of NHHD, haemoglobin levels increased from 9.6 ± 1.6 g/dL before NHHD to 11.4 ± 2.2 g/dL (P < 0.05) despite a reduction in erythropoietin dose requirement from 120.6 ± 44.3 to 59.4 ± 74.6 U/kg/week (P < 0.05). Four patients (29%) were able to stop taking erythropoietin after NHHD. Serum phosphate levels reduced from 2.33 ± 0.41 to 1.59 ± 0.29 mmol/L (P < 0.01)

and calcium phosphate product decreased from 5.29 ± 0.96 to 3.74 ± 0.90 mmol2/L2 (P < 0.01). Phosphate binder dose was greatly reduced and eight patients (67%) were able to stop taking phosphate binders. The number of antihypertensive medications tended filipin to reduced from 2.5 ± 1.3 to 1.6 ± 1.5 (P = 0.067) with four patients (29%) able to stop antihypertensives. Left ventricular mass index decreased from 186 ± 62 to 168 ± 60 g/m2 (P = 0.463) although this was not statistically significant. Weekly spKt/V during conventional haemodialysis was 3.63 ± 0.95 while that during NHHD was three times higher at 11.09 ± 6.44 (P < 0.01). The quality of life indexes also showed improvement. Conclusion:  This 1 year experience of alternate night NHHD demonstrates benefits in terms of anaemia control, erythropoietin requirement, serum phosphate and calcium phosphate product reduction, blood pressure control, haemodialysis adequacy and quality of life. NHHD with an alternate night schedule is a promising dialytic therapy for patients receiving chronic haemodialysis in this locality. "
“Aim:  The renoprotective effects of angiotensin receptor blockers vary considerably among individuals. We investigated the renoprotective effects of valsartan according to polymorphisms of the renin–angiotensin system and transforming growth factor-b1 (TGFB1) genes in patients with chronic non-diabetic proteinuric nephropathies.

The CT and TT genotypes were pooled to avoid classes with very small numbers, because only two individuals had the TT genotype (one in the case group and one in the control group). This type of pooling was also used in other studies. Therefore, distinguishing between the dominant or co-dominant model of inheritance for the C and T alleles at this locus and their effect on the studied variables is difficult. However, as expected,

the effect of ethnicity was not observed in the HLA-DR3 /DR4 allele frequency, because these alleles usually confer high susceptibility to T1AD in all populations [4, 5]. The association of C1858T polymorphism with T1AD and other autoimmune diseases was proposed to depend upon the pathogenic LYP-W620 variant that shows increased phosphatase activity and is a gain-of-function inhibitor of T cell signalling selleck screening library [9]. In our study, this polymorphism was associated with an increased frequency of GAD65 autoantibody and TG autoantibody when the entire cohort (T1AD patients + healthy controls) was considered. Although the T1AD patients had higher frequencies of pancreatic and non-pancreatic autoantibodies than the healthy controls, there

was no association between the *T1858 allele and other islet and organ-specific autoantibodies. Thus, although the frequency of organ-specific autoantibodies in our population Selleckchem KU 57788 was similar to what has been reported previously for Caucasians, this frequency did not depend on the presence of the T1858 allele, except for the autoantibodies against the pancreas and thyroid. The C1858T PTPN22 polymorphism was associated with T1AD susceptibility C59 in vivo and autoimmune thyroid disease. Autoantibodies specific to other organs and tissues were frequent in T1AD carriers, predominantly the thyroid glands. The 1858T PTPN22 polymorphism was associated with a higher frequency of GAD65 and TG autoantobody. Allelic variants

in the 5′-proximal region of the IL-21 gene were not related to T1AD susceptibility and other autoimmune diseases. The HLA-DR3 and/or DR4 alleles predominated in T1D patients. We thank Dr George S. Eisenbarth of the Barbara Davis Center for review of the manuscript. We thank Greci S. Paula, Adriana Rosa, Maria de Fátima Sanches and Maria José Pegoraro of the Laboratório de Investigação Médica LIM 18 and to LIM-25, LIM-42, LIM-56 and Hospital das Clínicas da Faculdade de Medicina da USP for technical assistance. This work was supported by Fundação de Amparo à Pesquisa do Estado de São Paulo-FAPESP, process 2006/06390-1. All authors declare they have no conflicting interests. “
“The human homologue of the mouse double minute 2 (MDM2) is known to be overexpressed in a variety of human malignancies. As one of E3 ubiquitin–protein ligases, MDM2 interacts with the tumour suppressor p53 by mediating ubiquitination and degradation of p53.

5 2nd: 1.5 All reported paediatric gastrointestinal basidiobolomycosis (GIB) cases were males with no significant medical history or apparent predisposing factor(s), age ranged between 1.5–13 years, and presented with fever and abdominal pain as their main symptoms. Leucocytosis with marked eosinophilia, high erythrocyte sedimentation rate (ESR) and C-reactive protein

(CRP) were found in all cases.[10, 25] Abdominal examination revealed intra-abdominal masses in all cases and were confirmed Crizotinib price by abdominal ultrasonography and computed tomography. Almost all cases were misdiagnosed as other chronic granulomatous diseases or malignancies.[25] Some examples are: (i) AlJarie series,[16] where two patients were misdiagnosed as appendicitis with appendicular mass, two as abdominal tuberculosis and two as lymphomas, (ii) Khan and his colleagues’ patient was also misdiagnosed as intestinal tuberculosis,[9] (iii) Fahimzad and his colleagues,[17] initially didn’t achieve diagnosis and titled their patient as inflammatory granuloma with undetermined aetiology, CAL-101 ic50 (iv) Nguyen’s patient was misdiagnosed as Crohn’s disease,[2] etc. In all reported cases, chronic granulomas rich in eosinophils and the Splendore–Hoeppli phenomenon were the usual diagnostic histological criteria.[26] Surgical resection and long-term antifungal like amphotericin B were the gold standard treatment in almost all patients.[25] A few patients received

only medical treatment.[16] The outcome was excellent in most cases. Some patients who died were very young and had delayed diagnosis.[13, 15, 16] All the patients who did not receive treatment died.[14] Laboratory investigations with close observation are usually requested: complete blood picture with differential counts, CRP, ESR, urinalysis, stool analysis, serum electrolytes, total proteins and albumin, biochemical liver function tests, blood urea nitrogen, serum creatinine and immunological profiles, as

well as cultures from blood, urine and stool for bacteria and fungi. Imaging studies, mainly abdominal ultrasonography and computed tomography (CT), are performed. We had reported one case of GIB from KSA in a 10-year-old male child who presented with a tender firm mass in the right iliac fossa, fixed to deep structures confirmed by abdominal imaging involving the caecum with associated marked see more eosinophilia (17%), thrombocytosis (628 000 mm−3), high ESR (39 at 1 h) and high CRP (120 mg/dl).The patient condition rapidly deteriorated with caecal perforation, and right hemicolectomy. Histopathology misdiagnosed it as bilharzial granuloma followed by huge recurrence of the mass, revised histopathology diagnosed basidiobolomycosis with the characteristic Splendore–Hoeppli phenomenon. Long-term antifungal treatment using itraconazole for 1 year was followed by dramatic clinical improvement and regression of the mass with normal follow-up for 3 years.

Referral to these services may be low because of lack of knowledge of availability and previous exposure of the referring physician to the use of these services. Providing specialist renal palliative/supportive care services will need to involve some on the ground outreach services to gain the trust and respect of the local physicians. Any model will need to enhance contact between palliative care services and local physicians. Metropolitan

palliative care services should have www.selleckchem.com/products/wnt-c59-c59.html a responsibility to provide outreach rural services and will need adequate resources. The same model is used to provide transplant services successfully in rural areas and not only allows rural patients to access these services locally but provides up skilling of the local workforce. The role of the supportive care nurse in this model is critical to the success of this model promoting a wider referral base especially

from dialysis nurses and Allied health. The caring RAD001 cost physician may not always be aware of the iceberg of symptoms that are very apparent to the dialysis staff that care for these patients during the long hours of dialysis or of patients on a ASK1 non-dialysis pathway. Developments in Information Technology are likely to play a significant role in management

(telemedicine), education and advice in these specialist areas. This can be easily performed with currently available technology including Skype. General Practitioners are important and should be involved in decision-making and Advanced Care Planning for patients with advanced kidney disease Advanced kidney disease has a biphasic trajectory, with an earlier stage focused upon the ‘medical’ issues aimed at preventing or slowing progression of the CKD, the later phase being a more rapid acceleration towards the uremic symptoms, needing specific care as outlined above. Both phases require strong input from general practitioners, who are likely to know their patients and families better than most specialists. Not having dialysis does not equate to having no treatment for the patient with CKD. This is an important concept to emphasise to patients and their families; reaffirmation of this principle by their general practitioner is pivotal in ensuring that ESKD patients and their families continue to feel supported during their disease phases.

The sequences of the primers used for the PCR were emm-n4Eco

and emm-c3Sal (Table 1). The DNA was then digested with EcoRI and SalI, and subcloned into the same site in pGEX4T-1 (GE Healthcare Biosciences, Piscataway, NJ, USA). After confirmation of the sequence, this plasmid was used to produce the recombinant M protein in Escherichia coli BL21. The recombinant M protein was purified using GST Purification Modules (GE Healthcare) according to the manufacturer’s instructions. The purity of the recombinant M protein was evaluated by means of conventional SDS-PAGE. Purified recombinant M protein was then sent to Takara Bio, where a rabbit polyclonal antibody for it was produced. Temozolomide A recombinant M4 protein was prepared using a primer set consisting of emm–c3Sal, emm-n7Sal and pGEX4T-2, as described for

the recombinant M protein. Figure 1 shows the amino acid alignment of the recombinant see more M4 and M proteins prepared in this study. Streptococcus pyogenes strains were cultured in BHIY medium containing 10 μg/mL of E-64 (Sigma-Aldrich Japan, Tokyo, Japan). Cultures were grown at 37°C for 18 hr without agitation. M protein was extracted by means of the hot HCL method after standardization according to justification of the OD600 value of the culture to 1.0. Briefly, a 1 mL aliquot of each bacterial culture was centrifuged (8000 ×g, 10 min) and washed once with PBS, pH 7.4, after removal of the supernatant. The pellet was suspended in 0.2 mL of 1M HCl and then incubated for 10 min at 100°C. After neutralization with 0.2 mL of 1 M NaOH, the suspension was centrifuged (8000 ×g, 10 min) and the resultant supernatant, 0.4 mL in volume, was transferred to a new microtube. Trichloroacetic acid (Sigma-Aldrich) was added to a final concentration of 10%. After 10 min on ice, the solution was subjected to centrifugation (8000 ×g, 10 min) and washed once with

Chorioepithelioma ice-cold acetone after removal of the supernatant. A 0.02-mL aliquot of distilled water was added and the whole solution suspended in a microtube. Each such solution was then used as a sample of the strain it contained for dot blot analysis. Cultures were grown at 37°C for 18 hr without agitation. A 1 mL aliquot of each bacterial culture was centrifuged (8000 ×g, 10 min) after standardization, and the supernatant was then filtrated through MILLEX GP (Millipore, Bedford, MA, USA). Trichloroacetic acid was added to a final concentration of 10%. After 10 min on ice, the solution was subjected to centrifugation (8000 ×g, 10 min) and washed once with ice-cold acetone after removal of the supernatant. A 0.02 mL aliquot of distilled water was added to dissolve the sediment. The sample was two-fold serially diluted from 21 to 211 with PBS. A 1 μl sample of each strain and samples of its dilutions were applied to nitrocellulose membranes.