Both are active only against HCV genotype 1 and when combined with pegylated interferon and ribavirin have led to higher rates of success in the monoinfected population. Small clinical trials have reported

similar success rates with both boceprevir and telaprevir in the coinfected population [71–74]. Data in HCV/HIV-infected cirrhotics or in individuals who have previously failed interferon and ribavirin therapy are very limited, although small series of case reports and the early results of two ANRS studies in individuals previously failing therapy with interferon and ribavirin have been reported [75–76]. Several new agents are being studied Torin 1 mouse both in the monoinfection and coinfection setting [77]. Early reports of two alternative protease inhibitors, faldaprevir and simeprevir in combination

with PEG-IF/RBV have 3-MA solubility dmso shown high rates of RVR and EVR, comparable to monoinfection studies where these agents have been associated with higher rates of SVR than presently available PIs [78–79]. Studies of interferon-sparing approaches have commenced in the setting of HIV. Results of interferon-sparing approaches have, in the monoinfected population, shown very high rates of response with relatively short periods of treatment [80]. Treatment with boceprevir and telaprevir have the disadvantages Casein kinase 1 of requiring

co-prescribing of PEG-IFN and ribavirin, difficult dosing schedules as both must be administered three times a day (although TPV has been shown to be equally effective in monoinfection when administered twice per day); difficult toxicity profiles (anaemia, neutropenia and dysgeusia with boceprevir; and anaemia, skin rash [including the rare occurrence of Stevens–Johnson syndrome] and anal discomfort with telaprevir); multiple drug interactions (including with components of ART); and cost. Comorbidities should also be taken into account when considering the need for initiation of therapy (see Table 8.2). These include those that may be worsened by the agents being considered, for example pre-existing psychiatric conditions and blood dyscrasias, and the expected benefits associated with triple therapy should be balanced with the risks of severe adverse events in cirrhotic patients, particularly in prior null responders [81]. In such individuals expert opinion from related health care professionals should be sought and maintained throughout the treatment programme. Other comorbidities should also be taken into account as they may be influenced by the presence of HCV, for example the risks of developing cardiovascular, renal and bone disease. Not in mild, moderate or severe hepatitis.

5 U/L selleck chemicals (<40), alanine transaminase (ALT) 58.4 U/L (<41), gamma-glutamyltransferase (γGT) 81.9 U/L (11–50), and alkaline phosphatase (AP) 237 U/L (<270)]. Under the tentative diagnosis of an acute systemic allergic reaction, we initiated symptomatic treatment with oral prednisolone (1.5 mg/kg body weight OD) and inhaled budesonide/formoterol (200/6 µg BID). Under this treatment the respiratory symptoms improved, the laboratory parameters normalized, and it was possible

to taper down and finally discontinue oral prednisolone on August 29. Inhaled budesonide/formoterol was stopped on September 12 when the patient indicated complete resolution of all symptoms. A follow-up spirometry on October 11 was normal. of PZQ Since the advent of PZQ in the late 1970s, the drug has become the treatment of

choice against OTX015 purchase all species of Schistosoma.[2] As the drug is largely ineffective on young (7- to 28-d-old) stages of the parasite (schistosomula), delivery of treatment will only be effective upon maturation of the parasite and once the chronic stage of the infection has been reached.[3] In addition, the administration of PZQ during the acute phase may be associated (in 40–50% of cases) with paradoxical reactions (Jarish Herxheimer-like reactions) due to the drug’s partial effect on juvenile parasite stages.[3, 4] Hence it is generally advised to wait at least 3 months after exposure (marked by presence of eggs in stool or urine) before initiating PZQ treatment.[4, 5] On the other hand, delaying Metalloexopeptidase treatment increases the risk of severe ectopic manifestations (eg, neuroschistosomiasis). To reduce the immunological reactions, and to avoid or attenuate paradoxical reactions in patients with acute schistosomiasis (AS), co-administration of corticosteroids with PZQ is occasionally

considered. This approach, however, has the drawback that co-administration with corticosteroids decreases the plasma level of PZQ by approximately 50%.[6] Symptomatic AS (as a treatment-independent phenomenon during the early natural course of infection) and treatment-induced paradoxical reactions can manifest with identical symptoms: namely, fever, fatigue, and pulmonary symptoms (dry cough, shortness of breath, wheezing) as well as neurological signs.[3, 7, 8] Both are considered to constitute allergic reactions after exposure of a naive host to a high level of parasite antigens. These are evoked either by larval maturation and early oviposition in symptomatic AS or by parasite destruction in treatment-induced paradoxical reactions. In both cases eosinophil-mediated toxicity leading to vasculitis is considered to be the most likely pathophysiological correlate of the clinical manifestations (eg, pulmonary, cardiac, cerebral).[8, 9] The pulmonary symptoms in AS (S haematobium and S mansoni) have frequently been reported to persist for weeks (or even months) and may present without radiological findings.

[19] Therefore, information on stool consistency alone was also calculated (a higher number indicated a looser stool). (3) Upper respiratory symptoms: recorded using a modified Jackson system, which detailed the severity of seven items (malaise, chilliness, sneezing, sore throat, runny nose, blocked nose, and cough) each on a 0 to 3 Likert scale (the headache score was removed).[20] As there are no sufficiently

sensitive and specific clinical definitions of presence or absence of upper respiratory infections,[20, 21] the Niemen method of defining presence of upper respiratory symptoms as any score NVP-AUY922 in vitro above 1 was used.[22] (4) Anxiety: recorded using the short form state-trait anxiety scale, which recorded the severity of six items on a 0 to 3 Likert scale (adapted from the usual 1–4 scale to ensure consistency with the other self-report measures).[23] Alpha coefficients for the anxiety scale in the present study ranged from 0.83 to 0.92 (above the recommended value for psychological measures of 0.70). (5) Fluid intake: determined daily by using drink bottles of known volume and bead counters to record refills. Total fluid intake was also determined from 24-hour food and fluid

diaries on day 3 (1,100 m) and day 13 (4,700 m), with food and fluid composition determined by computer software (Dietmaster; SAHA HDAC research buy Lifestyles Technologies Inc, Phoenix, AZ, USA). Arterial oxygen saturation and resting heart rate: by finger tip pulse oximeter (9500, Onyx; Nonin, Plymouth, MN, USA), recorded when participants were sheltered from the wind, after wearing gloves and blinded to their results. The lowest and highest values observed over a 1-minute period were recorded and the mean calculated. To achieve the study’s first aim, for each illness, the individual symptom score and the total symptom score were calculated to provide daily expedition mean scores. Statistical Amylase differences between days were determined by repeated measures analysis of variance. Significant differences

were followed up by Holm–Bonferroni procedures[24] using 1,435 m as the baseline for comparison (the last day of the baseline period that exhibited normal arterial oxygen saturations). Also, for each illness, the expedition’s daily sum of symptom scores (a marker of expedition symptom burden), daily and total expedition incidence (the number of individuals achieving criteria, when available, for clinical diagnosis), and event rates (expressed per 100 person days) were calculated. Participants with missing data were removed from these analyses. To achieve the study’s second aim, longitudinal linear regression analyses were performed using generalized estimation equations.[25] The predictor variables were day of expedition, height gain, upper respiratory symptoms, stool consistency, anxiety symptoms, arterial oxygen saturation, heart rate, and fluid intake.

1). Therefore, a 166-bp fragment was chosen for the design of the primer pair. A panel of closely related micro-organisms as well as the Listeria species (53 Listeria species and 45 non-Listeria species) listed in Tables 1 and 2 were analyzed through Q-PCR to further evaluate the specificity of the primer set (Fig. 2a). The results showed that the assay specifically displayed only positive amplification curves

when Listeria species were present, and there were no cross-reactions with any of the other find more species tested. We also used the blast program for evaluating the specificity of the primer set by comparing other bacterial DNA. Based upon the earlier results, the primer set was chosen and performed well for Q-PCR amplification and specific detection of the ssrA gene fragment in Listeria species. As shown in Fig. 1, there were ≥ 1 different bases in the amplified products between the forward and reverse primer in each Listeria species, inducing differences in GC content and melting temperature

(Tm) values. There was more variability in the L. welshimeri sequence than in the others, and therefore, it was supposed that this species should be more easily distinguished from the other members. HRM analysis was then employed for identification of the differences in MS-275 nmr the ssrA gene. The specificity of the Q-PCR and HRM analysis was evaluated by testing the Listeria isolates and reference strains and other organisms listed in Tables 1 and 2. Positive Q-PCR amplification and HRM curves were obtained for the following: 25 isolates and eight standard strains of L. monocytogenes (n = 33) including serotypes 1/2a, 1/2b, 1/2c, 3a, 3c, 4a, 4b and 4e; nine isolates and two standard strains of L. innocua (n = 11) including serotypes 6a and 6b; L. welshimeri strains (n = 3) including serotypes 1/2a and 6a; L. seeligeri

strains (n = 2) including serotype 1/2b; L. ivanovii strains (n = 2); and L. grayi strains (n = 2). However, when all the non-Listeria (n = 45) and blank control were identified, no amplification curve appeared and no melting curve in a certain range was produced. All the 53 Listeria species in Tables 1 and 2 had been sequenced directly, and there were no nucleotide differences from the sequences obtained these from GenBank. The earlier results demonstrated that the sequence variations observed in the ssrA gene were species specific. HRM curves were analyzed, and the species-specific dissociation profiles are displayed in Fig. 2b. The results indicated that each species had a unique melting profile, and that L. innocua possessed a lower melting temperature than that of other Listeria species. Furthermore, L. welshimeri had a distinctive HRM curve attributed to a greater number of different sequences than the others. We tested all target Listeria species and calculated the Tm values from each experiment, and the value corresponding to each Listeria species was stable. The Tm values for the six Listeria spp. of interest were L.

In the genome of Rhodococcus erythropolis NRRL B-16531, two CYP153 homologues

were recently detected (van Beilen et al., 2006), and the presence of CYP153 alkane hydroxylase was also proved in Dietzia sp. E1 (Bihari et al., 2010). The complementation study not only proved the physiological significance of the expressed alkane hydroxylases, but the presence of the presumed fusion forms of AlkB-Rubs could be investigated simultaneously. Use of the FLAG-tagged AlkB-Rubs in phenotypic tests allowed direct detection of the putative fusion of AlkB and http://www.selleckchem.com/products/PF-2341066.html Rub domains by immunoblotting. Although the FLAG sequences were fused to the C-termini of the approximately 6-kDa Rub domains, only large, 59–68-kDa proteins were detected in cell lines carrying the plasmids pNV18Sm-E1BRF, pNV18Sm-DpBRF, pNV18Sm-DmBRF, pNV18Sm-DcBRF and pNV18Sm-DnBRF (Fig. 3b). While a nonspecific signal also appeared in the blot, it did not complicate the interpretation. The FLAG-tagged proteins were clearly expressed in all desired cell lines, and their size verified the natural fusion of AlkB and Rub domains in five Dietzia spp. In most cases, the observed differences in the mobilities of AlkB-Rubs were in good correlation with the expected protein sizes; however, further analysis is necessary for the exact identification of N-terminal regions (Fig. 4). Available DNA sequence data suggest the presence of AlkB-Rubs in other actinomycetes strains as well. Alkane hydroxylase

activity encoded by alkB-rub has been described only for Prauserella rugosa NRRL B-2295 selleck screening library (Smits et al., 2002),

although it is also likely in Nocardioides sp. CF8 (Hamamura et al., 2001). Nonetheless, the authors only annotated the alkB-rub genes, but the putative natural fusion proteins were not investigated at a translational level. Therefore, to our best knowledge, the data of the present report provide the first direct in vivo evidence for the existence of AlkB-Rub fusion proteins, which play a major role in long-chain n-alkane degradation. Concerning the genetic arrangement of the alkB region, Dietzia sp. E1 displays high similarity to that of the two strains Interleukin-2 receptor mentioned above. A single alkB homologue and a downstream ORF encoding its putative TetR-type regulator were detected in the chromosome of all three strains. In spite of the similarities, there are marked differences in substrate preference. While putative AlkB-Rubs of P. rugosa NRRL B-2295 and Nocardioides sp. CF8 are responsible for the initial hydroxylation of n-C10–n-C16 and n-C6–n-C8 alkanes, respectively, the AlkB-Rub of Dietzia spp. E1 acts on the n-C20 alkane. In contrast to P. rugosa NRRL B-2295 and Nocardioides sp. CF8, the examined five Dietzia spp. and R. erythropolis NRRL B-16531 (van Beilen et al., 2002b) can deplete >n-C16 alkanes (Table 2). Nevertheless, strain NRRL B-16531 harbours four alkB and rub homologues in the chromosome, which hinders a clear-cut identification of the genes responsible for alkane degradation.

In the genome of Rhodococcus erythropolis NRRL B-16531, two CYP153 homologues

were recently detected (van Beilen et al., 2006), and the presence of CYP153 alkane hydroxylase was also proved in Dietzia sp. E1 (Bihari et al., 2010). The complementation study not only proved the physiological significance of the expressed alkane hydroxylases, but the presence of the presumed fusion forms of AlkB-Rubs could be investigated simultaneously. Use of the FLAG-tagged AlkB-Rubs in phenotypic tests allowed direct detection of the putative fusion of AlkB and PLX4032 ic50 Rub domains by immunoblotting. Although the FLAG sequences were fused to the C-termini of the approximately 6-kDa Rub domains, only large, 59–68-kDa proteins were detected in cell lines carrying the plasmids pNV18Sm-E1BRF, pNV18Sm-DpBRF, pNV18Sm-DmBRF, pNV18Sm-DcBRF and pNV18Sm-DnBRF (Fig. 3b). While a nonspecific signal also appeared in the blot, it did not complicate the interpretation. The FLAG-tagged proteins were clearly expressed in all desired cell lines, and their size verified the natural fusion of AlkB and Rub domains in five Dietzia spp. In most cases, the observed differences in the mobilities of AlkB-Rubs were in good correlation with the expected protein sizes; however, further analysis is necessary for the exact identification of N-terminal regions (Fig. 4). Available DNA sequence data suggest the presence of AlkB-Rubs in other actinomycetes strains as well. Alkane hydroxylase

activity encoded by alkB-rub has been described only for Prauserella rugosa NRRL B-2295 CAL-101 mw (Smits et al., 2002),

although it is also likely in Nocardioides sp. CF8 (Hamamura et al., 2001). Nonetheless, the authors only annotated the alkB-rub genes, but the putative natural fusion proteins were not investigated at a translational level. Therefore, to our best knowledge, the data of the present report provide the first direct in vivo evidence for the existence of AlkB-Rub fusion proteins, which play a major role in long-chain n-alkane degradation. Concerning the genetic arrangement of the alkB region, Dietzia sp. E1 displays high similarity to that of the two strains Parvulin mentioned above. A single alkB homologue and a downstream ORF encoding its putative TetR-type regulator were detected in the chromosome of all three strains. In spite of the similarities, there are marked differences in substrate preference. While putative AlkB-Rubs of P. rugosa NRRL B-2295 and Nocardioides sp. CF8 are responsible for the initial hydroxylation of n-C10–n-C16 and n-C6–n-C8 alkanes, respectively, the AlkB-Rub of Dietzia spp. E1 acts on the n-C20 alkane. In contrast to P. rugosa NRRL B-2295 and Nocardioides sp. CF8, the examined five Dietzia spp. and R. erythropolis NRRL B-16531 (van Beilen et al., 2002b) can deplete >n-C16 alkanes (Table 2). Nevertheless, strain NRRL B-16531 harbours four alkB and rub homologues in the chromosome, which hinders a clear-cut identification of the genes responsible for alkane degradation.

Immediate administration of PEP is especially important where the mother has not received any ART. 8.1.5 Neonatal PEP should be given for 4 weeks. Grading: 1C In the original ACTG 076 study, zidovudine was administered for 6 weeks after birth and this subsequently became standard of care [4]. Simplification to zidovudine twice daily for 4 weeks has become common practice in the UK

and data from the NSHPC Epacadostat suggest that regimens adopting this strategy remain highly effective [1]. Recent cohort studies from Ireland [46] and Spain [47] have demonstrated efficacy and reduced haematological side effects with 4 vs. 6 weeks of neonatal zidovudine. In a Thai study, where a short course of 3 days of neonatal monotherapy zidovudine PEP was compared with 6 weeks, there was no significantly increased HIV transmission

where the mother received zidovudine monotherapy from 28 weeks’ gestation [48]. Whether 4 weeks of zidovudine is necessary for infants born to mothers on HAART with fully suppressed HIV is not known, shorter courses may be considered in the future. 8.2.1 PCP prophylaxis, with co-trimoxazole, should be initiated from age 4 weeks in: All HIV-positive infants. Grading: 1C In infants with an initial positive HIV DNA/RNA selleck inhibitor test result (and continued until HIV infection has been excluded). Grading: 1C Infants whose mother’s VL at 36 weeks’ gestational age or at delivery is >1000 HIV RNA copies/mL despite HAART or unknown (and continued until HIV infection has been excluded). Grading: 2D Primary PCP in infants with HIV remains a disease with a high mortality and morbidity. However, as the risk of neonatal HIV infection has fallen to <1% where mothers have taken up interventions, the necessity for PCP prophylaxis has declined and in most European countries

it is no longer prescribed routinely. However, co-trimoxazole, Ureohydrolase as PCP prophylaxis, should still be prescribed for infants born to viraemic mothers at high risk of transmission. The infant’s birth HIV molecular diagnostic test (see below) and maternal delivery VL should be reviewed before the infant is aged 3 weeks. If the HIV molecular diagnostic test taken in the first 24 h is positive, the infant should be reviewed before 4 weeks for an early repeat test and to be started on co-trimoxazole prophylaxis, which should be continued if the HIV infection is confirmed, and stopped if infection is excluded (see section on diagnosis below). Infants with a first positive HIV molecular diagnostic test at age 6 or 12 weeks should be started on co-trimoxazole prophylaxis until HIV infection is confirmed or excluded (see Table 1 for dose).

The JSMBE supported the development of perinatal medical devices for fetal surveillance, particularly electric safety standards for fetal electrocardiograph (fECG) and fetal heart rate monitors with direct fECG, in the joint Committee of the JSOG and JSMBE. The JSUM has an important role in ensuring the safety and accuracy of obstetric and gynecological ultrasound diagnoses,

particularly the prenatal diagnosis of anomalous fetuses. In the 1970s, as part of the discussion regarding the fetal safety of diagnostic ultrasound, the JSUM authorized the experimental MDV3100 ic50 threshold of ultrasound output intensity investigated by the author in a national study group on the safety of diagnostic ultrasound, which was supervised by ultrasound specialist, Professor M. Ide. Consequently, a diagnostic ultrasound output intensity of less than 10 mW/cm2 was imposed by the Japan Industrial Standard to ensure the safety of diagnostic ultrasound. Global safety was guaranteed by the thermal index and the mechanical index. Established ultrasound safety promoted its use in perinatal medicine in the ultrasound imaging and ultrasound fetal monitor. The course of the Japan branch was established in 1998 and 13 courses were held (Table 12). The Japan branch of the Ian Donald School has also organized five advanced seminars in this

field. Advanced seminars are composed of up-to-date advanced topics of perinatal ultrasound and the prenatal diagnosis. Perinatal societies in the Asia–Oceania region, including Australia, Bangladesh, ABT-199 solubility dmso Hong Kong, India, Japan, Korea, Malaysia, Mongolia, Nepal, New Zealand, Pakistan, the Philippines, Singapore, Sri Lanka, Taipei and Thailand established the FAOPS, with Associate Member countries being Egypt and Saudi Arabia, in 1979. The first FAOPS Congress was held in Singapore in 1979[5] under the auspices of President S. Ratnam PJ34 HCl (Singapore). FAOPS Congresses are held every 2 years (Table 14). Perinatal medicine is the main focus of the AFSUMB. The author expresses

sincere gratitude to Professors K. Baba, T. T. Hsieh, T. Ikenoue, I. Kawabata, R. K. Pooh, H. Togari, V. Yu, Mr Sakurada of JSOG, Aono of JAOG, and Takahashi of the JSPNM offices for their contributions to this article. Conflict of interest: No conflict was declared. Disclosure: No disclosure is present. “
“We present the Patient Annual Report in 2011 and the Treatment Annual Report in 2005 that were collected and analyzed by the Japan Society of Obstetrics and Gynecology. Data on 15 698 patients with cervical cancer, 7713 with endometrial cancer and 4672 with ovarian cancer in whom treatment was started in 2011 and data on the prognosis of 2985 patients with cervical cancer, 2812 with endometrial cancer, and 1839 with ovarian cancer who were started on treatment in 2005 were analyzed and summarized. Patient Annual Report in 2011: Stage 0 accounted for 58%, stage I for 24%, stage II for 9%, stage III for 5%, and stage IV for 4% of all the patients with cervical cancer.

Koike et al. (2003) reported that the majority (77%) of fiber-associated bacterial community in the rumen had < 97% similarity with 16S rRNA gene sequences of known bacteria. These results indicate that there is limited knowledge about ruminal fibrolytic species and the possible involvement of uncultured bacteria in ruminal fiber digestion. Through phylogenetic analysis of the fiber-associated community in the rumen, several bacterial groups consisting only of uncultured bacteria Dabrafenib have been detected (Koike et al., 2003; Shinkai et al., 2010).

Among these uncultured groups, our research group has been focusing on unknown group 2 (U2) that belongs to the phylum Firmicutes (Koike et al., 2003, 2010; Koike & Kobayashi, 2009). Group U2 has been detected as a large phylogenetic group with > 200 clones showing more than 97% similarity to the 16S rRNA gene sequence. The population

size of U2 in the rumen was significantly higher in the solid fraction compared with liquid fraction. Strong fluorescent signals from U2 cells attached to plant fibers were observed by fluorescence in situ hybridization in the rumen (Koike et al., 2010). Therefore, U2 seems to occupy a significant metabolically active niche in the fiber-associated bacterial community in the rumen. In a previous study, we successfully isolated two strains belonging to U2 (strains R-25 and B76) and found that several of their hemicellulolytic enzyme activities were higher than those of xylanolytic Butyrivibrio fibrisolvens H17c (Koike et al., 2010). Group U2 was phylogenetically distant check details from representative rumen isolates and formed a cluster with nonruminal, fibrolytic strains (Fig. 1). However, U2 strains could not utilize insoluble substrates, such as cellulose or xylan, and grew only on soluble sugars (Koike & Kobayashi, 2009). On the basis of these ecological and physiological findings, U2 members are expected to play a supporting

role in the rumen plant fiber digestion. The involvement of nonfibrolytic bacteria in rumen fiber digestion has been observed in coculture studies (Dehority & Scott, 3-oxoacyl-(acyl-carrier-protein) reductase 1967; Kudo et al., 1987; Osborne & Dehority, 1989; Fondevila & Dehority, 1996; Sawanon & Kobayashi, 2006; Sawanon et al., 2011). In these trials, digestion was enhanced by coexistence of fibrolytics and nonfibrolytics. Contribution of nonfibrolytics to fiber digestion is likely to be in an indirect manner, such as by hydrogen transfer or by cross-feeding of degradation and/or fermentation products derived from plant fiber (Flint, 1997). In this study, we investigated the role of a recently cultured bacterium belonging to group U2 in ruminal fiber digestion. Of the two strains from group U2, we used strain R-25 for coculture experiments with a representative ruminal fibrolytic bacterium, Fibrobacter succinogenes S85.

2a–d). In BEZ235 supplier addition, L. paraplantarum I71 (lane 10) showed a band profile similar to that of L. curvatus LAB10 (lane 3) and L. sakei JCM 1157T (lane 15) and grouped into the same cluster with them (Fig. 2e, cluster BR). These results suggest that the OPL primers are unsuitable for discriminating L. paraplantarum.

ERIC analysis divided the L. paraplantarum strains into two major groups (Fig. 1b): group AE1 (JCM 12533T, FBA1, C75, I71, and 2-51; Fig. 1a, lanes 7–11) and group AE2 (5-67 and 6-01; lanes 12, 13). Although C75 and I71 were obtained from different sources, they showed highly similar band profiles (lanes 9, 10). Besides ERIC, REP-PCR, and TAP-PCR yielded indistinguishable band profiles (data not shown). In contrast, in RAPD analysis, they showed entirely different band profiles (Fig. 2, lanes 9, 10), suggesting that RAPD-PCR aids discrimination of L. paraplantarum strains. The phylogenetic tree based on RAPD-PCR showed a main

cluster, AR, consisting exclusively of L. paraplantarum strains with a similarity level of 43.3% (Fig. 2e), while cluster AE of ERIC-PCR had a similarity level of 57.0% (Fig. 1b), illustrating the discriminatory Bortezomib ability of RAPD-PCR. Thus, the combination of ERIC and RAPD is effective for the molecular identification of L. paraplantarum strains. Besides discriminating a species, it is very important to distinguish a particular industrial or probiotic strain from others to investigate the dynamics of the strain in certain products or in the gastrointestinal tract when ingested. Several strain-specific PCR products were obtained

by ERIC or RAPD analysis (Figs 1 and 2, diagonal arrows). The band patterns themselves could be strain-specific DNA markers, but strain-specific PCR primers to amplify a specific product would be more useful. We applied the ERIC-PCR profile to develop an L. paraplantarum FBA1 strain-specific marker to provide a more powerful tool for the discrimination GNA12 of individual L. paraplantarum strains; we focused on strain FBA1 and a 2.2-kb FBA1-specific product, LpF1, by ERIC-PCR (Fig. 3). We cloned and sequenced LpF1. The fragment was 2265 bp long and, contrary to our expectation, had the ERIC-2 primer sequence at both ends (Fig. 3a, arrows), suggesting that LpF1 was amplified by the ERIC-2 primer. In fact, PCR reaction with a single ERIC-2 primer generated four DNA bands, including LpF1 (data not shown). The DNA sequence of LpF1 had no significant similarity to any sequences in the EMBL/GenBank/DDBJ database. The sequence contained three ORFs 831, 864, and 453 bp long, encoding putative proteins of 277, 288, and 151 amino acid residues, respectively; the third ORF is truncated and does not end with a stop codon.