Association between cag-pathogenicity island in Helicobacter pylori isolates from peptic ulcer,gastric carcinoma,and non-ulcer dyspepsia subjects with histological changes

AIM: To investigate the presence of the cay-pathogenicity island and the associated histological damage caused by strains with complete cay-PAI and with partial deletions in correlation to the disease status.METHODS: We analyzed the complete cag-PAI of 174representative Helicobacter pylori (H pylori ) clinical isolates obtained from patients with duodenal ulcer,gastric ulcer, gastric cancer, and non-ulcer dyspepsia using eight different oligonucleotide primers viz cagA1,cagA2, cagAP1, cagAP2, cagE, cagT, LEC-1, LEC-2spanning five different loci of the whole cag-PAI by polymerase chain reaction (PCR).RESULTS: The complete screening of the genes comprising the cag-PAI showed that larger proportions of subjects with gastric ulcer (97.8%) inhabited strains with complete cag-PAI, followed by gastric cancer (85.7%),non-ulcer dyspepsia (7.1%), and duodenal ulcer (6.9%),significant differences were found in the percentagedistribution of the genes in all the clinical groups studied.It was found that strains with complete cag-PAI were able to cause severe histological damage than with the partially deleted ones.CONCLUSION: The cay-PAI is a strong virulent marker in the disease pathogenesis as it is shown that a large number of those infected with strain with complete cag-PAI had one or the other of the irreversible gastric pathologies and interestingly 18.5% of them developed gastric carcinoma. The presence of an intact cayPAI correlates with the development of more severe pathology, and such strains were found more frequently in patients with severe gastroduodenal disease. Partial deletions of the cag-PAI appear to be sufficient to render the organism less pathogenic.

Relationship between Crohn’s disease, infection with Mycobacterium avium subspecies paratuberculosis and SLC11A1 gene polymorphisms in Sardinian patients

AIM: To study the association between Crohn’s disease (CD), Mycobacterium avium subspecies paratubercu- losis (MAP), and genetic factors by examining the role of natural resistance-associated macrophage protein 1 (NRAMP1) gene polymorphisms (now SLC11A1) in Sar dinian patients with CD and controls. METHODS: Thirty-seven CD patients and 34 controls with no inflammatory bowel disease (IBD) were recruited at the University of Sassari after giving written con sent. Six SCL11A1 polymorphisms previously reported to be the most significantly associated with IBD were searched. M. paratuberculosis was identified by IS900 PCR and sequencing. Logistic regression was used to cal culate odds ratios (OR) for the associations among CD presence of MAP, and 6 loci described above. RESULTS: For the first time, a strong association was observed between polymorphisms at NRAMP1 locus 823C/T and CD. While CD was strongly associated withboth NRAMP1 and MAP, NRAMP1 polymorphisms and MAP themselves were not correlated. CONCLUSION: Combined with previous work on the NOD2/CARD15 gene, it is clear that the interplay of ge- netic, infectious, and immunologic factors in the etiology of CD is complex.

Mycobacterium avium subspecies paratuberculosis infects and multiplies in enteric glial cells

AIM: To establish the role of enteric glial cells during infection with Mycobacterium avium subspecies paratuberculosis (MAP) in Crohn's disease. METHODS: In order to establish the role of enteric glial cells during infection with M. avium subspecies paratuberculosis (MAP) in Crohn's disease, Map adhesion experiments on enteric glial cells were performed as well as expression analysis of Map sigma factors during infection. RESULTS: In this study, for the first time, we found a high affinity of MAP to enteric glial cells and we analyzed the expression of MAP sigma factors under different conditions of growth. CONCLUSION: The fact that Map showed a high affinity to the glial cells raises concerns about the complicated etiology of the Crohn's disease. Elucidation of the mechanisms whereby inflammation alters enteric neural control of gut functions may lead to novel treatments for Crohn's disease.

Application of LC–MS/MS for quantitative analysis of glucocorticoids and stimulants in biological fuids

Liquid chromatography tandem mass chromatography （LC-MS/MS） is an important hyphenated technique for quantitative analysis of drugs in biological fluids. Because of high sensitivity and selectivity, LC-MS/MS has been used for pharmacokinetic studies, metabolites identification in the plasma and urine. This manuscript gives comprehensive analytical review, focusing on chromatographic separation approaches （column packing materials, column length and mobile phase） as well as different acquisition modes （SIM, MRM） for quantitative analysis of glucocorticoids and stimulants. This review is not meant to be exhaustive but rather to provide a general overview for detection and confirmation of target drugs using LC-MS/MS and thus useful in the doping analysis, toxicological studies as well as in pharmaceutical analysis.