Pyrromethene–BF2 complexes (P–BF2) 7 were obtained from α‐unsubstituted pyrroles 5 by acylation and condensation to give intermediate pyrromethene hydrohalides 6 followed by treatment with boron trifluoride etherate. Conversion of ethyl α‐pyrrolecarboxylates 4 to α‐unsubstituted pyrroles 5 was brought about by thermolysis in phosphoric acid at 160°C, or by saponification followed by decarboxylation in ethanolamine at 180°C, or as unisolated intermediates in the conversion of esters 4 to pyrromethene hydrobromides 6 by heating in a mixture of formic and hydrobromic acids. Addition of hydrogen cyanide followed by dehydrogenation by treatment with bromine converted 3,5,3′,5′‐tetramethyl‐4,4′‐diethylpyrromethene hydrobromide 9 to 3,5,‐3′,5′‐tetramethyl‐4,4′‐diethyl‐6‐cyanopyrromethene hydrobromide 6bb, confirmed by the further conversion to 1,3,5,7‐tetramethyl‐2,6‐diethyl‐8‐cyanopyrromethene–BF2 complex 7bb on treatment with boron trifluoride etherate. An alternation effect in the relative efficiency (RE) of laser activity in 1,3,5,7,8‐pentamethyl‐2,6‐di‐n‐alkylpyrromethene–BF2 dyes depended on the number of methylene units in the n‐alkyl substituent, ‐(CH2)nH, to give RE ≥ 100 when n = 0,2,4 and RE 65, 85 when n = 1,3. (The RE 100 was arbitrarily assigned to the dye rhodamine 6G). The absence of fluorescence and laser activity in 1,3,5,7‐tetramethyl‐2,6‐diethyl‐8‐isopropylpyrromethene–BF2 complex 7p and a markedly diminished fluorescence quantum yield (Φ 0.23) and lack of laser activity in 1,3,5,7‐tetramethyl‐2,6‐diethyl‐8‐cyclohexylpyrromethene–BF2 complex 7q were attributed to molecular nonplanarity brought about by the steric interference between each of the two bulky 8‐substituents with the 1,7‐dimethyl substituents. An atypically low RE 20 for a peralkylated dye without steric interference was observed for 1,2,6,7‐bistrimethylene‐3,5,8‐trimethylpyrromethene–BF2 complex 7j. Comparisons with peralkylated dyes revealed a major reduction in RE 0–40 for the six dyes 7u–z lacking substitution at the 8‐position. Low laser activity RE was brought about by functional group (polar) substitution in the 2,6‐diphenyl derivative 7I, RE 20, and the 2,6‐diacetamido derivative 7m, RE 5, of 1,3,5,7,8‐pentamethylpyrromethene–BF2 complex (PMP–BF2) 7a and in 1,7‐dimethoxy‐2,3,5,6,8‐pentamethylpyrromethene–BF2 complex 7n, RE 30. Diethyl 1,3,5,7‐tetramethyl‐8‐cyanopyrromethene‐2,6‐dicarboxylate–BF2 complex, 7aa, and 1,3,5,7‐tetramethyl‐2,6‐diethyl‐8‐cyanopyrromethene–BF2 complex, 7bb, offered examples of P–BF2 dyes with electron withdrawing substituents at the 8‐position. The dye 7aa, λlas 617 nm, showed nearly twice the power efficiency that was obtained from rhodamine B, λlas 611 nm.

Several species of the genus Haemophilus are well known etiological agents of pneumonia, meningitis, conjunctivitis, epiglottitis and chancroid. However, identification and speciation of Haemophilus is both time consuming and labor intensive. Matrix‐assisted laser desorption/ionization time‐of‐flight mass spectrometry (MALDI/TOF‐MS) has been used by several investigators to profile proteins from intact and disrupted bacteria; consequently, MALDI/TOF‐MS has emerged as a powerful tool in diagnostic bacteriology. This paper reports the use of MALDI/TOF‐MS as a technique for the rapid identification and speciation of Haemophilus. This technique was used to not only identify the pathogen, H. ducreyi, but also to determine strain differences from different isolates. Mass spectral ‘fingerprints’ were obtained which permitted the rapid speciation of not only pathogenic forms of Haemophilus, but also those bacteria which are normally regarded as non‐pathogenic and members of the normal flora. MALDI/TOF mass spectra can be acquired in 10 min, allowing the identification of Haemophilus spp. within 24 h rather than the 48 h or more needed for traditional bacteriological methods. In addition, these are the first mass spectral fingerprints available in the literature for many of these organisms. © 1998 John Wiley & Sons, Ltd.

The pneumovirus respiratory syncytial virus (RSV) is a leading cause of epidemic respiratory tract infection. Upon entry, RSV replicates in the epithelial cytoplasm, initiating compensatory changes in cellular gene expression. In this study, we have investigated RSV-induced changes in the nuclear proteome of A549 alveolar type II-like epithelial cells by high-resolution two-dimensional gel electrophoresis (2DE). Replicate 2D gels from uninfected and RSV-infected nuclei were compared for changes in protein expression. We identified 24 different proteins by peptide mass fingerprinting after matrix-assisted laser desorption ionization-time of flight mass spectrometry (MS), whose average normalized spot intensity was statistically significant and differed by ؎2-fold. Notable among the proteins identified were the cytoskeletal cytokeratins, RNA helicases, oxidant-antioxidant enzymes, the TAR DNA binding protein (a protein that associates with nuclear domain 10 [ND10] structures), and heat shock protein 70-and 60-kDa isoforms (Hsp70 and Hsp60, respectively). The identification of Hsp70 was also validated by liquid chromatography quadropole-TOF tandem MS (LC-MS/ MS). Separate experiments using immunofluorescence microscopy revealed that RSV induced cytoplasmic Hsp70 aggregation and nuclear accumulation. Data mining of a genomic database showed that RSV replication induced coordinate changes in Hsp family proteins, including the 70, 70-2, 90, 40, and 40-3 isoforms. Because the TAR DNA binding protein associates with ND10s, we examined the effect of RSV infection on ND10 organization. RSV induced a striking dissolution of ND10 structures with redistribution of the component promyelocytic leukemia (PML) and speckled 100-kDa (Sp100) proteins into the cytoplasm, as well as inducing their synthesis. Our findings suggest that cytoplasmic RSV replication induces a nuclear heat shock response, causes ND10 disruption, and redistributes PML and Sp100 to the cytoplasm. Thus, a high-resolution proteomics approach, combined with immunofluorescence localization and coupled with genomic response data, yielded unexpected novel insights into compensatory nuclear responses to RSV infection. The paramyxovirus respiratory syncytial virus (RSV) is the primary etiologic agent of epidemic lower respiratory tract infections in infants and young children (29). In the UnitedStates, almost all children by the age of 3 years will have been infected by RSV (25), manifesting a clinical spectrum ranging from otitis media (34) to upper respiratory tract infections and severe lower respiratory tract (LRT) infection, including pneumonitis and bronchiolitis (29,30). Although numerically LRT infection is the least common clinical manifestation of RSV infection, RSV-induced LRT infections are an increasing cause of morbidity, as the proportion of hospitalizations associated with bronchiolitis in infants rose from 22 to 47% from 1980 to 1996 (65). Strikingly, Ͼ70% of children with RSV LRT infections have impaired pulmonary function for up to 10 years afterw...

In patients with advanced cirrhosis on lactulose and rifaximin, FMT restored antibiotic-associated disruption in microbial diversity and function. (Hepatology 2018; 00:000-000).

By using gnotobiotic mice, and mouse and human intestinal enteroids, we found that Bifidobacterium dentium-produced acetate stimulates 5-hydroxytryptamine production from enterochromaffin cells. In addition, we show that B dentium modulates 5-hydroxytryptamine-receptor expression in the gut and brain and modifies behavior.