Macrophages are a natural target cell for HIV-1 infection, and they contribute to the development of disease as they are important for transmission, dissemination and persistence of the virus in an infected patient. Macrophages are less well-studied than T cells and cell lines in relation to HIV-1 infection, yet macrophages are highly specialised and key aspects of the HIV-1 life cycle in these cells are already known to differ compared to other cell types. HIV-1 entry into macrophages has been suggested to occur by macropinocytosis, however the entry route in these cells has not been fully characterised. In this thesis I have tested a panel of pharmacological inhibitors of cellular proteins and uptake pathways, in order to delineate the requirements for HIV-1 entry into macrophages and to determine the nature of the entry route. My findings suggest that the following host factors are important for entry; membrane cholesterol, actin rearrangements, dynamin, sodium-hydrogen exchange, Pak1, and Rac. Other factors including clathrin, PI-3 kinase, Rho kinase and some isoforms of PKC were found to be dispensable for infection or to inhibit infection. Macrophages are a heterogeneous group of cells, and tissue macrophages from different parts of the body differ in their morphology, phenotype and function. I have used the growth factors M-CSF and GM-CSF to direct monocytes to differentiate into distinct types of macrophage. This allowed me to determine that different macrophages differ in their susceptibility to infection and in their ability to support replication. This is likely to be due to variation in HIV-1 receptor expression and the levels of key HIV-1 transcription factors, respectively. Overall this thesis contributes to existing knowledge regarding HIV-1 infection of macrophages. These findings may assist with the design of entry inhibitors, and with therapies designed to eradicate HIV-1 from infected individuals.

L’histoire de la rencontre de l’Afrique et de l’Occident a, notamment, été énoncée en termes de « choc » ou d’« évènements-traumatismes ». Quoi qu’il en fût, c’est dans le cadre de la traite esclavagiste et de la colonisation que ces deux continents se sont « heurtés ». Leur confrontation a donc procédé, dans une large mesure, d’une pensée inégalitaire basée sur le postulat raciste, impulsée par une volonté répondant à des impératifs de conquête et économiques, supportée par un mode de gouvernement produisant et légitimant la domination et l’exploitation. Partant de l’évènement de cette rencontre et de son récit, il s’agit d’établir quels sont les concepts que la pensée imagine, façonne et énonce afin de justifier et d’exercer un pouvoir de domination. Énoncer, c’est fabriquer de la domination et la rendre légitime, telle est l’affirmation que nous étudions à travers le prisme de l’évènement de la rencontre – le temps de la colonie, particulièrement – et, également, après la colonie – en situation post-coloniale.Cette étude s’inscrit dans le questionnement critique post-colonial. À l’instar de la domination coloniale, il s’agit de déterminer, en Afrique post-coloniale, les imaginaires et les énoncés qui produisent et légitiment un pouvoir hégémonique, comment et par qui l’autorité s’exerce, ce qu’est le politique – tout est-il politique ? –, sur quels critères une pratique ou un discours constituent-t-ils des modalités d’expression et de participation politique ?En spécifiant l’énonciation de l’autorité – son « effet d’oracle » – et les stratégies de la domination coloniale et post-coloniale, la question de leur efficience et de leur omniscience se pose. L’enjeu est d’analyser la convergence des histoires afin de penser le post-colonial comme un engagement de la recherche dans la construction d’une démocratie post-raciale en Afrique et en Occident. / The history of the meeting of Africa and the Western world had, notably, been enunciated in terms of “clash” or “traumatic events”. Whatever has been done, it is in the framework of the slave business and of the colonialization that these two continents collided. Their confrontation came in large part from an unequal thinking based on the racist idea which comes from a willingness answering to obligations of conquest and economics, supported by a way of government producing and legitimizing domination and exploitation. Thus, from the event of this meeting and from its results, we must establish which are the concepts that the thought imagines, makes and enunciates to justify and exercise a power of domination. Enunciate, it is to create domination and make it legitimate, so strong is the affirmation that we study the event through a prism of this meeting, colonial times, particularly – and equally, after the colony – in a postcolonial situation.This study is written in the critical postcolonial questioning. In the links of the colonial domination, it is to determine, in postcolonial Africa, the imaginations and the enounced which produce and legitimize an hegemonic power, how and by who is the authority used, that which is policy – is everything policy? On which criteria does a practice or a speech constitute a way of expression and political participation?By specifying the enunciation of authority – his “oracle effect” – and the strategies of the colonial and postcolonial domination, the question of their success and of their omniscience must be asked. The challenge is to analyse the convergence of histories to the think of postcolonial as a commitment of research in the construction of a postracial democracy in Africa and in the West.

Este estudo aborda as políticas de ocupação e exploração das minas dos sertões concomitante as reações indígenas, no século XVIII, principalmente, a partir da década de 1730. Ao analisar as fontes, contempladas nas correspondências entre autoridades, instruções, planos de catequese e civilização, se constatou que a violência, como resultado da prática consuetudinária, prevaleceu sobre as leis de integração social dos gentios. Avaliou-se as investidas dos índios, ao impedirem o êxito dos propósitos do Antigo Sistema Colonial, tornaram objetos da política de Estado incluindo o destino desses povos na pauta de diretrizes, donde derivou a série de planos de catequese. Entretanto, nada mais foram que alternativas dissimuladas de cooptação, articuladas numa seqüência estratégica de anulação das resistências indígenas, como a invenção dos aldeamentos foi um meio de confiná-los em redutos projetados para infligir os hábitos da vida sedentária e a extinção da vida nômade. Pretendia-se adaptá-los ao modelo de civilização européia, promover a convivência com os não índios e viabilizar o acesso às minas. Nesta perspectiva a colonização, inevitavelmente, esteve associada à apropriação das riquezas, condição determinante do sentido à conquista e a razão à catequese. Em contrapartida, originou uma situação permanente de tensões diretamente vinculada à desapropriação das terras indígenas, conjuntamente revelou a maior incidência das disputas nas áreas dos principais focos de lutas indígenas e identificou-se, exatamente, nelas a concentração da política indigenista. Embora aparentemente as estratégias ressoassem o intuito de apaziguar os índios mediante os instrumentos de sujeição, tutela, liberdade restrita, a guerra ofensiva foi um recurso condicionado aos agravos das reações indígenas. Contudo, a guerra, fenômeno histórico-cultural tanto indígena quanto europeu, se efetivou nos combates armados de ambos os lados. Assim, sob o artifício da fé e civilização se enunciou o dever cristão de conduzir o bárbaro selvagem à salvação. No entanto, o cumprimento do dever esteve conexo à recompensa de administrar a vida dos índios, por conseguinte, de administrar a opulência do patrimônio abrigado nas sesmarias e datas minerais localizadas nos sertões. Em função disso, foi indispensável à pesquisa apreender a concepção de sertões e reconhecer a significância do nomadismo, comum aos índios, que forneceu a imagem de espaços em movimentos, compreendendo fronteiras imprecisas que se interagiam nas dimensões étnicas, sociais e econômicas. A itinerância dos índios conferiu atributos à identidade dos ambientes naturais, à medida que se deslocavam se constituía a referência de fluidez dos espaços, mas para dominá-los dependia de fixá-los em limites. Portanto, a correlação entre mobilidade dos sertões e inconstância dos gentios configurou uma geopolítica específica do interior da América portuguesa interligado pelos caminhos trilhados das minas do ouro entre Minas-Goiases-Cuiabá, Minas e Espírito-Santo, Minas-Bahia e assim por diante. As Minas Gerais setecentista, respeitadas as peculiaridades do contexto e das diversas etnias dos povos indígenas, guardavam os metais preciosos e delas se partia para outras minas. Os sertões dos índios eram os sertões das Minas do ouro, espalhadas ao longo dos rios, distantes do litoral, se apresentaram nos focos de reações indígenas que se interpunham como desafio para atingi-las. / This study focuses in the politics of settlement and exploitation of the mines of the hinterlands (sertões) and the Indians reactions in the 17th Century Brazil, mostly in the 1730´s. In analyzing the sources the correspondence between authorities, instructions, catechism plans, we were able to verify that the violence, as a result of the consuetudinary practice, prevailed over the social integration laws of the gentiles. We evaluated that the Indians attacks - that were successful in stopping the Ancient Colonial System purposes - were subject to State policy, including the fate of these peoples in the State agenda, generating the catechism plans. However, these were dissimulated alternatives of cooptation, articulated in a strategic sequence of annulment of the Indian resistance, such as the creation of the settlements (aldeamentos), that was a means to confine them in planned locals that were able to cause the habits of a sedentary life and the end of the nomad life. The purpose was to adapt the Indians to the European civilization model, to promote the familiarity with others and to enable the access to the mines. In this perspective, the colonization was associated to the appropriation of the riches, that was an important condition to give sense to the conquest and justify the catechism. On the other hand, it originated a scenery with permanent tensions, directly linked to the expropriation of the Indian land, that appeared in the greater incidence of the dispute in the areas where the major Indian struggles developed, that were the same areas where were concentrated the policies regarding the Indians. Although apparently these strategies showed the intention of pacifying the Indians, by subjugation, tutorship and confinement, the war was a resource that was subject to the intensification of the Indians reactions. But the war, a historical and cultural phenomena both Indian and European, was accomplished in the battles. Thus the Christian duty of bringing the salvage barbarian to salvation was implanted under the artifice of faith and civilization. Nevertheless, the fulfillment of duty was connected to the rewards of governing the Indians, and of governing the riches of the estate that was located in the sesmarias and mines of the hinterland. Thus, it was important to the research the understanding of the concept of sertão, and to recognize the significance of nomadism, that supplied the image of spaces in movement, with imprecise borders that interacted in the ethnic, social and economic levels. The Indians dislocations gave identity features to the natural environment, and demanded the research to apprehend these dimensions. To be able to dominate them it was necessary to settle them in determined limits. The correlation between the mobility of the sertões and the inconstancy of the gentiles, shaped a specific geopolitics in the Portuguese America hinterland, connected by the paths of the gold mines (Minas- Goiases Cuiabá, Minas and Espírito Santo, Minas-Bahia and so forth). The Minas Gerais of the 18th Century, respected the peculiarities of the context and the various ethnics of the Indians peoples, kept the precious metals and from there they went to other mines. The Indians sertões were the sertões of the gold mines, scattered by the rivers, faraway from the coast, and they presented themselves in the reactions of the Indians that were an obstacle to attain it.

Thesis advisor: William Gamson / Thesis advisor: Zine Magubane / This dissertation examines Internal Colonialism Theory's importance to a comprehensive understanding of the oppression of African Americans still living in USA ghettos. It briefly explores the180 year history of Black activist depictions of a "nation within a nation," the impact of the depression-era Marxist notion of a Negro nation, Latin American influences on Robert Blauner, and the pervasive effect of international anti-colonialism and the Black Power Movement upon the development of American academic Internal Colonialism Theory. This appraisal evaluates Blauner's seminal presentation, Internal Colonialism and Ghetto Revolt, and the major contributions of Robert L. Allen and Mario Barrera in analyzing African American and Chicano internal colonial experiences respectively. It re-assesses colonialism and moves beyond Eurocentric characterizations to elaborate a Continuum of Colonialism, including direct, indirect, external, internal, and "end of" colonialisms. This analysis addresses the contradiction that the American Revolution supposedly decolonized America without improving colonized conditions for African Americans or Native Americans, and defines internal colonialism as geographically based, disagreeing with the prevailing interpretation which contemplates the existence of diasporic African America as one collective colony. While summarizing the USA's course from settler colony system to today's inner cities of the colonized, this investigation explores African American class formation utilizing a variation of Marable's conception of Racial Domains as historical context through to the present. With the majority of African Americans in ghettos [internal colonies] scattered around the USA, this document outlines the positive and negative means of ending internal colonial situations within the contemporary USA. While elaborating how Internal Colonialism Theory quite practically fits harmoniously within several differing conceptualizations of American and global racial relations, this perspective offers a framework for more rigorous future discussions and debates about Internal Colonialism Theory, and previews three major international populations to which this assessment of Internal Colonialism Theory can be extended. / Thesis (PhD) — Boston College, 2009. / Submitted to: Boston College. Graduate School of Arts and Sciences. / Discipline: Sociology.

Até poucas décadas atrás reinava a idéia de que o bandeirismo paulista tinha sido o resultado natural de uma raça de gigantes que foi obrigada, devido ao suposto abandono da metrópole, a adentrar o sertão para buscar o remédio para sua pobreza. Essa definição colocava tal fenômeno histórico num patamar de influências exclusivamente locais, considerando-o atípico e isolado de qualquer relação com a empresa colonial portuguesa. Porém, a historiografia atual, ao revisitar esse tema, vem propondo novos caminhos analíticos diferentes daqueles que até então vigoravam. Seguindo a atual tendência, a presente pesquisa teve por objetivo analisar pontualmente o bandeirismo taubateano, entre os anos de 1645 e 1720, como um fenômeno histórico, fruto de um processo econômico, social e político, tanto de caráter local, como também, colonial. Verificou-se que a segunda metade do século XVII assistiu a uma reorientação nas incursões sertanistas, tanto de caça ao índio como de pesquisa mineral. Essas atividades, se por um lado eram financiadas pelo capital privado, que podia, ou não, ser do próprio grupo social bandeirante, por outro lado recebiam o incentivo oficial vindo da metrópole por meio da correspondência entre os agentes oficiais da administração portuguesa. O bandeirante, visando a dominação do poder local, desejava não só enriquecer, mas também enobrecer; já a coroa desejava a injeção de novas riquezas e, para isso, precisava do colono para aprofundar a exploração de suas terras na América, daí incentivar tais incursões com a promessa de honras, mercês e títulos. No jogo de interesses, a relação era simbiótica, ou seja, era uma empresa em conjunto. Enfim, tanto o grupo bandeirante local quanto a monarquia lusitana desejavam a mesma coisa: a manutenção do poder. / Until a few decades ago the idea that prevailed was that the bandeirismo paulista was the natural outcome of a race of giants that was forced, due to the supposed abandonment of the metropolis, to penetrate the wilderness to seek remedy for their poverty. This definition would put such a historical phenomenon in a purely local level influences, considering atypical and isolated from any relationship with the Portuguese colonial enterprise. However, the current historiography, to revisit the issue, has been proposing new analytical paths other than those previously prevailing. Following current trends, this research aimed to analyze the bandeirismo taubateano punctually, between the years 1645 and 1720, as a historical phenomenon, the result of an economic process, social and political character of both local as well as colonial. It was found that the second half of the seventeenth century witnessed a shift in raids frontiersmen, both of Indian hunting and mineral exploration. Such activities, if one part were financed by private capital, which could, or may not be the group\'s own social bandeirante, on the other side received the official encouragement coming from the metropolis through the correspondence between the official agents of the Portuguese administration. The bandeirante, seeking the domination of local government, wanted not only to be rich but also ennobling, even the crown wanted to inject new wealth and for this, the settler needed to further exploitation of their lands in America hence encouraging such incursions with the promise of honors, titles and favors. In the game of interests, the relationship was symbiotic, it was \"a company together.\" Finally, both the local bandeirante group as the Lusitanian monarchy wanted the same thing: keeping the power.

A dissertação de mestrado intitulada A busca da adequação entre formas literárias e momento histórico: um estudo comparativo entre O guarani de José de Alencar e O escravo de José Evaristo de Almeida tem o objetivo de fazer um estudo comparativo dos romances em questão, apontando os elementos do gênero épico presentes em O guarani, e os elementos do gênero trágico presentes em O escravo. Para tanto, reportaremos o leitor ao momento histórico pelo qual passava o Brasil e Cabo Verde, porque a representação da realidade política e social desses países demandava um diálogo com esses gêneros clássicos, os quais, sem dúvida, deram uma maior legitimidade e verossimilhança aos romances. / The dissertation entitled \'A busca da adequação entre formas literárias e momento histórico: um estudo comparativo entre O guarani de José de Alencar e O escravo de José Evaristo de Almeida\' has the purpose of presenting a comparative study of the romances in question, underlying the elements of the epic genre present in O guarani, and the elements of the tragic genre present in O escravo. For this, we will lead the reader to the historical moment of Brazil and Cabo-Verde, because the representation of the political and social reality of these countries demand a dialog with these classical genres, that certainly, gave a greater legitimacy and verosimilitude to the romances.

L’immunologie de la reproduction englobe les principes de l’immunologie générale et les aspects spécifiques de la reproduction et du développement. Les Colony Stimulating Factors (CSFs) sont une illustration de l'application médicale de ce domaine. Dans la famille des CSFs, le Granulocyte-Colony Stimulating Factor (G-CSF) apparaît aujourd'hui comme une thérapie innovante dans divers cas d'échec de la reproduction, bien que ses cibles et ses effets ne soient pas encore clairement établis. Dans ce travail, à travers une revue sur les CSFs dans la reproduction, une étude consacrée aux gènes cibles du G-CSF dans l'endomètre humain, et une étude consacrée aux effets de la supplémentation systémique en G-CSF sur l’implantation embryonnaire murine, nous avons essayé d'approcher certains mécanismes d'action possibles pour cette cytokine. Dans les modèles murins fertiles et pro-abortifs, la supplémentation systémique en G-CSF, ciblant spécifiquement l’endomètre préimplantatoire, modifie les taux d’implantation embryonnaire. Dans l’endomètre humain, certaines dérégulations préimplantatoires de gènes cibles du G-CSF ont également été observées chez les patients infertiles. L'influence du G-CSF sur ces gènes cibles a été également illustrée dans un modèle ex-vivo de culture endométriale. Ces cibles dont l’expression est influencée par le G-CSF sont décrites comme des molécules clés dans le processus implantatoire, intervenant sur l’adhésion embryonnaire, la migration cellulaire, le remodelage des tissus et l'angiogenèse locale. Ces données suggèrent des possibilités de diagnostic préventif et pré-conceptionnel de certains échecs de reproduction, considérés jusqu’à maintenant comme idiopathiques, et de thérapies innovantes orientées, afin d’optimiser la réceptivité du biosenseur endométrial afin de permettre une implantation embryonnaire harmonieuse et une grossesse évolutive. / Reproductive Immunology involves general immunology principles and special aspects of reproduction and development. Colony Stimulating Factors (CSFs) are an illustration of the medical application of this domain. In the CSF family, Granulocyte-Colony Stimulating Factor (G-CSF) appears today as a promising therapy in various cases of reproductive failure although its targets and effects are not clearly established. In this work, through a review on CSFs in reproduction, a study dedicated to human endometrial targets of G-CSF, and a study dedicated to systemic G-CSF supplementation effects on murine embryo implantation, we tried to approach some possible mechanisms of action of this cytokine. In the considered non-abortive and abortion-prone murine models, the timed systemic G-CSF supplementation, targeting specifically the pre implantation endometrium, influenced the embryo implantation process. Some pre conceptual human endometrial dysregulations of G-CSF target genes were also observed in infertile patients. The endometrial influence of G-CSF on these target genes was also illustrated in an ex-vivo model. These molecules under G-CSF influence are described as critically involved in embryo implantation process, by influencing embryo adhesion, cell migration, tissue remodelling and angiogenesis. These data suggest possible pre-conceptual preventive diagnosis of such reproductive failures and future orientated therapies to optimise the endometrial biosensor and the further embryo implantation and ongoing pregnancy.

Pre-clinical studies suggest that granulocyte-colony stimulating factor (GCSF) holds promise for the treatment of ischaemic heart disease (IHD). However, its safety and efficacy in this setting, and in particular in patients with chronic refractory 'no-option' IHD, is unclear. Therefore, a clinical study was initiated in 20 such 'no-option' patients, with the aim of assessing the safety and efficacy of both G-CSF administration, and also, that of an intracoronary infusion of G-CSF mobilised CD133+ cells. The study involved initial baseline cardiac ischaemia assessment (symptom based questionnaire, exercise stress test (EST), nuclear Sestamibi (MIBI) and dobutamine stress echocardiographic (DSE) imaging). Stable 'no-option' IHD patients then received open-label G-CSF commencing at 10μg/kg s/c for five days, with an EST on days four and six (to facilitate myocardial cytokine generation and stem cell trafficking). After three months, cardiac ischaemia assessment and the same regimen of G-CSF and ESTs were repeated, but in addition, leukapheresis and then a randomised double-blinded intracoronary infusion of CD133+ or unselected cells were performed. Final cardiac ischaemia assessment was three months thereafter. Eighteen male and two female subjects (mean age 62.4) were enrolled. Eight events occurred that fulfilled pre-specified 'adverse event' criteria: four ischaemic (troponin positive) episodes, two episodes of transient thrombocytopaenia (one profound), one episode of gout and one unscheduled hospitalisation for exhaustion. Troponin was positive on 17 further occasions (all CK-MB negative), however, at these instances angina severity was identical to baseline. Importantly, no adverse event(s) resulted in any detectable long-term adverse sequelae for any subject. From baseline to final follow-up, the administration of two cycles of G-CSF was associated with statistically significant improvements in a range of subjective outcomes, including anginal symptoms, quality of life and EST performance (all p < 0.005). However, the objective MIBI and DSE scans showed only trends towards improvement (all p > 0.1). Compared to unselected cells, an intracoronary infusion of CD133+ cells did not improve either subjective or objective outcomes. In conclusion, administering G-CSF to patients with refractory 'no-option' IHD warrants careful monitoring, but may be performed with safety. A larger, randomised double-blind placebo-controlled trial of G-CSF in these patients appears warranted.

By the beginning of the nineteenth century a wide cross-section of British society had strongly correlated the notions of ‘civilization’ and ‘true religion’ with the accurate measurement and profitable use of time. Their specific experience of time, however, was not a human universal but a cultural construct, deeply embedded within the clock-governed milieu of industrial-capitalist and Christian society. Consequently, in the British colonies, the portrayal of indigenous societies as being ‘time-less’ (i.e.: culturally lacking regularity, order and uniformity) came to operate as a means of constructing an inferior, ‘irregular other’. By way of two case-studies – located in the 19th-century British settler-colonies of Victoria (Australia) and the Cape Colony (South Africa) – this thesis documents the manner in which nineteenth-century British missionary and settler-colonial discourse constructed the notion of ‘time-less’ indigenous cultures. Such apparent inferiority, this thesis argues, bolstered the depiction of indigenous societies as culturally inadequate – a representation that helped to rationalize and justify settler-colonialism’s claims upon indigenous land. / The negative portrayals of ‘Aboriginal time’ and ‘African time’ also helped to cast these societies as particularly in need of temporal reform. Indeed the latter were considered to be not only out of place but also ‘out of time’ within the timescape of Christian/capitalist rituals and routines. This study highlights some of the everyday means by which British settler-colonists and Protestant missionaries sought to reform the time-orientation and rhythms of indigenous societies. The evidence provided suggests that cultural colonization in the British settler-colonies was configured – to a greater extent than previous understandings allow – by an attack on non-capitalist and non-Christian attitudes to time. Christianizing and ‘civilizing’ meant imposing – coercively and ideologically – the temporal rituals and routines of British middle-class society. / Although the universalizing will of nineteenth-century European cultural expansion was reflected in its attempt to impose a specifically western view of time upon the world, the process of temporal colonization was neither homogeneous throughout the colonies, nor uncontested by indigenous societies. On the one hand, settler-colonialism’s diverging economic objectives in the Cape and Victoria – shaped as they were by economic land/labour requirements, demographics, and localized visions of race – defined the various manners in which Europeans viewed, and sought to colonize ‘indigenous time’. On the other hand, indigenous people in both settings often successfully managed either to defy the imposition of clock-governed culture, to establish compromises between the new and old rhythms, or to exploit the temporal discourses of their self-styled reformers. This suggests that time in the colonial context may be seen as a two-edged sword: not only as an instrument of colonial power, but also as a medium for anti-colonial resistance. / By analysing the discursive constructions of a temporal other, and by documenting the everyday struggles over the dominant tempo of society, this thesis highlights time’s central role in the colonial encounter and seeks to further our understandings of the process and implications of settler-colonization and Christianization.

<p>ABSTRACT</p><p>Nontypable Haemophilus influenzae is a common cause of otitis, sinusitis and conjunctivitis. It is the most common bacterial pathogen associated with chronic obstructive pulmonary disease (COPD). Studies have shown that nonpathogenic Haemophilus haemolyticus are often mistaken for Haemophilus influenzae due to an absent hemolytic reaction on blood agar. Distinguishing H. haemolyticus from H. influenzae is important to prevent unnecessary antibiotic use, and to understand the role of H. influenzae in clinical infections. In this study, PCR-primers for amplifying 16S rDNA sequences were used to set up a method for distinguishing H. haemolyticus from H. influenzae. The aim was to use the method for analyzing apparent H. influenzae strains, to investigate if some strains were in fact H. haemolyticus. However, because of problems with unspecific primerannealing,no conclusions could be drawn regarding misclassification of H. haemolyticus.</p><p>Moraxella catarrhalis is the second most common bacterial pathogen associated with COPD. It also causes otitis and sinusitis. An important virulence factor of M. catarrhalis is the outer membrane protein Moraxella catarrhalis IgD-binding protein (MID). One part of the protein; MID764-913 , has been shown to function as an adhesin, and this part has been fragmented to further investigate its adhesive properties. The aim of this second, independent study, was to express some of these proteinfragments by cloning in E. coli. The time spent on this project was too short, and no proteins could be expressed duing this period.</p>