Oral infections of mice with 2؉ and Mg 2؉ ion-independent. The binding avidity of Ym1 to GlcN oligosaccharides was enhanced by more than 1000-fold due to the clustering effect. Specific binding of Ym1 to heparin suggests that heparin/heparan sulfate may be its physiological ligand in vivo during inflammation and/or tissue remodeling. Although it shares ϳ30% homology with microbial chitinases, no chitinase activity was found associated with Ym1.

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SummaryBoth viral effect and immune-mediated mechanism are involved in the pathogenesis of severe acute respiratory syndrome-associated coronavirus (SARS-CoV) infection. In this study, we showed that in SARS patient sera there were autoantibodies (autoAbs) that reacted with A549 cells, the type-2 pneumocytes, and that these autoAbs were mainly IgG. The autoAbs were detectable 20 days after fever onset. Tests of non-SARS-pneumonia patients did not show the same autoAb production as in SARS patients.

We employed a genetic approach to study protein glycosylation in the procyclic form of the parasite Trypanosoma brucei. Two different mutant parasites, ConA 1-1 and ConA 4-1, were isolated from mutagenized cultures by selecting cells which resisted killing or agglutination by concanavalin A. Both mutant cells show reduced concanavalin A binding. However, the mutants have different phenotypes, as indicated by the fact that ConA 1-1 binds to wheat germ agglutinin but ConA 4-1 and wild type do not. A blot probed with concanavalin A revealed that many proteins in both mutants lost the ability to bind this lectin, and the blots resembled one of wild type membrane proteins treated with PNGase F. This finding suggested that the mutants had altered asparaginelinked glycosylation. This conclusion was confirmed by studies on a flagellar protein (Fla1) and procyclic acidic repetitive protein (PARP). Structural analysis indicated that the N-glycan of wild type PARP is exclusively Man 5 GlcNAc 2 whereas that in both mutants is predominantly a hybrid type with a terminal N-acetyllactosamine. The occupancy of the PARP glycosylation site in ConA 4-1 was much lower than that in ConA 1-1. These mutants will be useful for studying trypanosome glycosylation mechanisms and function.

IMPORTANCE How to appropriately care for patients who become PCR-negative for severe acute respiratory syndrome coronavirus 2 (SARS-CoV-2) is still not known.Patients who have recovered from coronavirus disease 2019 (COVID-19) could profoundly impact the health care system if a subset were to be PCR-positive again with reactivated SARS-CoV-2.OBJECTIVE To characterize a single center COVID-19 cohort with and without recurrence of PCR positivity, and develop an algorithm to identify patients at high risk of retest positivity after discharge to inform health care policy and case management decision-making. DESIGN, SETTING, AND PARTICIPANTSA cohort of 414 patients with confirmed SARS-CoV-2 infection, at The Second Affiliated EXPOSURES Polymerase chain reaction (PCR) and IgM-IgG antibody confirmed SARS-CoV-2 infection. MAIN OUTCOMES AND MEASURES Univariable and multivariable statistical analysis of the clinical, laboratory, radiologic image, medical treatment, and clinical course of admission/quarantine/readmission data to develop an algorithm to predict patients at risk of recurrence of PCR positivity.RESULTS 16.7% (95CI: 13.0%-20.3%) patients retest PCR positive 1 to 3 times after discharge, despite being in strict quarantine. The driving factors in the recurrence prediction model included: age, BMI; lowest levels of the blood laboratory tests

A novel one-step, closed-tube, loop-mediated isothermal amplification (LAMP) assay for detecting Entamoeba histolytica, one of the leading causes of morbidity in developing countries, was developed. The sensitivity of the LAMP assay is 1 parasite per reaction. A total of 130 clinical samples were analyzed, and the results compared with those of conventional nested PCR to validate the practicability of this assay. No DNA was amplified from other diarrheal pathogens, such as other Entamoeba species, bacteria, and viruses. These results indicate that LAMP is a rapid, simple, and valuable diagnostic tool for epidemiological studies of amebiasis.

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