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Background S. aureus is a major medical pathogen contributing to healthcare-associated costs and mortality. Metastatic S. aureus infection is commonly associated with skin and soft-tissue infections. Macrophages as resident tissue phagocytes are essential for bacterial clearance and effectively phagocytose and kill S. aureus at low inocula. Formation of an intracellular reservoir develops when the capacity for macrophages to eradicate S. aureus is overwhelmed at increased inocula. Phagosomal maturation after bacterial ingestion involves sequential fusion with endosomes and lysosomes, reducing luminal pH, facilitating bacterial degradation. In the context of intracellular S. aureus, incomplete phagosomal maturation is demonstrable with impaired acidification and failure of lysosome fusion. Inhibition of phagosomal maturation is dependent upon bacterial factors as it is reversed in heat-killed bacteria. Intracellular survival of S. aureus is associated with reduced antimicrobial effectivity and increased complications. Within the intracellular environment, persistence of S. aureus is associated with adaptation of gene expression which confers greater resistance to antimicrobial effector mechanisms. Methods An ordered mutant library of S. aureus provides the opportunity to give a comprehensive evaluation of gene function. The Nebraska transposon (Tn) mutant library contains 1952 sequence-defined Tn insertion mutants derivative of USA300 LAC S. aureus, each with a single non-essential gene deletion. The mutants were labeled with a fluorescent stain activated at pH < 6 and challenged against differentiated human monocyte-derived macrophages for 4 hours. A high-content microscopy screen was developed to identify the bacterial genes associated with impairment of phagosomal acidification. Results The results of the high-throughput screen indicate the global regulators agr and saeR, hemolysin A and catalase are associated with the inhibition of phagosomal acidification. Conclusion The burden of S. aureus bacteremia and metastatic disease makes the targeting of intracellular S. aureus essential. Identification of bacterial factors associated with impaired phagosomal acidification and maturation offers targets to limit S. aureus infections. Disclosures All authors: No reported disclosures.

ABSTRACI The quantitative measurement ofdietary fiber does not recognize its diverse actions on nutrient absorption, sterol metabolism, fermentation in the colon, and stool weight. These differences in action are more likely due to differences in physical characteristics along the gastrointestinal tract. This paper explores such physical characteristics and attempts to classify dietary fiber in a more physical manner. This approach recognizes the diverse and variant action of each dietary fiber, which may be modified as a result of processing and cooking without changing in any way the quantitative measurement of dietary fiber. The general principles developed in this paper could also be applied to other polymeric materials passing along the gastrointestinal tract. Am J C/in Nutr 1992;55:436-42.

Serum IgG antibodies to ovalbumin, gliadin and β-lactoglobulin were determined in a group of 18 atopic adults, and compared to the concentrations observed in an age/sex matched group of non-atopic subjects. Anti-ovalbumin IgG concentrations were significantly higher (mean ± s.e.m., 369 ± 93 μg/ml) in the atopic group compared with the non-atopic group (169 ± 31 μg/ml; P < 0.05). Anti-gliadin and anti-β-lactoglobulin IgG concentrations snowed no differences between the atopic and non-atopic subjects. Anti-ovalbumin IgG concentrations in both groups were significantly higher than the concentrations of IgG antibodies to gliadin and pMactoglobulin. The concentrations of the three same specific food antibodies were determined in five atopic and five non-atopic subjects at six week intervals over the period of 12 months. No significant changes in specific antibody titres were noted over this period of time in either atopic or non-atopic subjects.

Physical studies and conformational analysis of human glycophorin A suggest a revised model for its molecular organization, self-association, and interactions with the erythrocyte membrane. Intrinsic viscosity has been used to study, under more physiological conditions, the monomer–dimer equilibrium demonstrated previously by polyacrylamide–SDS gel electrophoresis. The results show that the equilibrium persists in the absence of detergent and support earlier indications that the dimer is probably the physiologically relevant form and that it is promoted by salt, inhibited by conventional denaturants, and abolished by carboxymethylation. Combined application of CD, fitted to the poly-(L-lysine) model spectra of Greenfield and Fasman, and conformational prediction, by the statistical method of Chou and Fasman and the stereochemical approach of Lim, suggests five helical sequences in glycophorin A: Arg-39 to Tyr-52 (A); Gln-63 to Glu-70 (B); Glu-72 to Leu-89 (C); Ile-95 to Lys-101 (D); and Leu-118 to Asn-125 (E). Sequence A occurs only at low pH and may be stabilized by favorable noncovalent interactions of O-linked tetrasaccharide side chains. The other four helices all occur in the dimeric form of glycophorin A at physiological pH and ionic strength. Sequence D is destroyed by trypsin, and is also lost on conversion to the monomeric form of the glycoprotein at low ionic strength. Sequence E is denatured by 6M guanidine hydrochloride/4M urea. Sequences B and C, which are separated by a single proline residue, are stable under all these conditions. Dimerization of the major, hydrophobic helical sequence, (C) may be promoted and directed by an adjacent short sequence of intermolecular parallel β-sheet (Leu-90 to Tyr-93). It is proposed that these two structures span the lipid bilayer in vivo, and that helices B and D lie, respectively, along the outer and inner surfaces of the membrane. Molecular organization in the N- and C-terminal regions of the molecule is discussed in terms of evidence from the present work and from other recent investigations.

Relative bioavailability of two iron fortificants, electrolytic Fe and ferric orthophosphate, was related to that of the reference ferrous sulfate with in vitro and rat model depletion-repletion methods in four laboratories to compare values directly with those obtained in a parallel human study. In vitro testing was performed on Fe compounds with both solubility and dialysis in a simulated in vitro gastrointestinal digestion system. Two depletion-repletion techniques, hemoglobin-regeneration efficiency (HRE) and an official method of the Association of Official Analytical Chemists (AOAC), were examined. AOAC relative biological values (RBV) of electrolytic Fe were 0.66 and 0.78 and of FePO4 were 0.25 and 0.34. HRE values were 0.78 and 0.58 for electrolytic Fe and FePO4, respectively. When compared with FeSO4 in a radiolabeled farina-based meal fed to humans, the RBV of FePO4 was 0.25 and electrolytic Fe 0.75. Results obtained with the AOAC method serve as the most reliable prediction of Fe bioavailability in the human although in vitro dialysis is a promising screening technique.