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Objectives: We treated men with gonococcal urethritis with a single-dose regimen of 1 g of ceftriaxone, which is recommended as the first-line treatment for gonorrhoea in Japan, to determine its microbiological outcomes and tolerability.Methods: We enrolled 255 men with gonococcal urethritis and treated them with a single-dose regimen of 1 g of ceftriaxone. We evaluated its microbiological outcomes and tolerability. We also determined ceftriaxone MICs for pretreatment isolates of Neisseria gonorrhoeae collected from the patients.Results: The microbiological efficacy of the ceftriaxone regimen, which was determined between 5 and 9 days after treatment in 111 men based on the Japanese guideline for clinical research on antimicrobial agents in urogenital infections, was 100%. In the 194 men who returned to the clinic between 2 and 41 days after treatment, 191 (98.5%; 95% CI 96.8%-100%) were negative for N. gonorrhoeae after treatment. Ceftriaxone MICs determined for 136 pretreatment isolates obtained from these 194 men ranged from 0.001 to 0.25 mg/L. One isolate persisting after treatment exhibited a ceftriaxone MIC of 0.008 mg/L. For two isolates persisting after treatment, ceftriaxone MICs were not determined. Seven adverse events were observed in 7 (3.2%) of the 220 men treated with the ceftriaxone regimen. Four men had diarrhoea classified as grade 1. Three had urticaria during ceftriaxone administration, with one event classified as grade 1 and two events classified as grade 3.Conclusions: A single-dose regimen of 1 g of ceftriaxone was microbiologically effective against gonococcal urethritis and was safe and tolerable. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Autolysosomes accumulate in tobacco cells cultured under sucrose starvation conditions in the presence of a cysteine protease inhibitor. We characterized these plant autolysosomes using fluorescent dyes and green fluorescent protein (GFP). Observation using the endocytosis markers, FM4-64 and Lucifer Yellow CH, suggested that there is a membrane flow from the plasma membrane to autolysosomes. Using these dyes as well as GFP-AtVam3p, sporamin-GFP and gamma-VM23-GFP fusion proteins as markers of the central vacuole, we found transport of components of the central vacuole to autolysosomes. Thus endocytosis and the supply from the central vacuole may contribute to the formation of autolysosomes. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

A major membrane intrinsic protein (VM23) in vacuoles of radish (Raphanus) tap root was investigated. The cDNAs for two isoforms of VM23, γ- and δ-VM23, encode polypeptides of 253 and 248 amino acids, respectively, γ-and δ-VM23 correspond to the γ- and δ-TIP (tonoplast intrinsic protein) of Arabidopsis. The deduced amino acid sequences of the two VM23 isoforms were 60% identical. The ammo-terminal sequence of γ-VM23 showed agreement with the direct sequence of the purified VM23, suggesting that γ-VM23 is the most abundant molecule among the VM23 isoforms. When mRNAs of γ- and δ-VM23 were injected into Xenopus oocytes, the osmotic water permeability of oocytes increased 6-fold (60 to 200 μM s1) of the control oocytes. The transcripts of both isoforms were detected in a high level in growing hypocotyls and young leaves, but δ-VM23 was not detected in seedling roots. Light illumination enhanced the transcription of two genes of VM23 in cotyledons and roots but suppressed their expression in hypocotyls the growth of which was inhibited by light. These findings suggest that the expression of VM23 is tightly related to cell elongation [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]