The strain Rhodococcus erythropolis A4 is a source of enzymes nitrilhydratase and amidase, that catalyse conversion of nitriles and amides. These enzymes are used in industrial biotransformation and bioremediation. Since it was difficult to carry out genetic manipulations aimed at increasing the production of these enzymes in the strain A4, the corresponding genes (ami and nha1 + nha2) of a related strain R. erythropolis CCM2595, in which both plasmid and chromosome manipulations can be routinely performed, were identified and analyzed in this diploma theses. The ami and nha1 + nha2 genes from the strain R. erythropolis CCM2595 were isolated and sequenced together with the flanking regions (5.5 kb in total). The organization of these genes and the expected regulatory genes was described in the strain CCM2595 and mechanisms of regulation of expression of these genes were studied. For the analysis of transcription of amidase and nitrilhydratase genes from both strains of R. erythropolis, the promoter-probe vector pEPR1 replicating in Escherichia coli and R. erythropolis was used. Transcriptional fusion of Pami promoters of the strains A4 and CCM2595 and the reporter gfp gene were constructed. The activity of the Pami promoter was measured by means of fluorescence of gfp gene product (green fluorescent...

La presente investigación busca explorar cómo la gestión de la comunicación interna, en los centros de salud privados del Perú, se utiliza como herramienta para difundir una cultura organizacional basada en el más reciente concepto de promoción de la salud propuesto por la Organización Mundial de la Salud (OMS). El modelo usado para identificar el manejo de la comunicación interna, que contribuya a una cultura de promoción de la salud, se basa en las “cinco íes” de Andrade, el cual fue adaptado posteriormente a las “seis íes” de Bustamante y al que se le ha agregado la sub-categoría de estilo de liderazgo para esta investigación. Para ello, se ha tomado al Centro Médico Doktuz como caso de estudio donde se aplicó una metodología cualitativa fenomenológica. Como resultado se obtuvo que el Centro Médico no tiene una cultura organizacional basada en la promoción de la salud institucionalizada, ya que su filosofía de salud preventiva de fácil acceso a la comunidad lo ha llevado a gestionar la comunicación interna solo desde un enfoque de salud ocupacional y de Responsabilidad Social Corporativa (RSC). / This research seeks to explore how the management of internal communication, in private health centers in Peru, is used as a tool to disseminate an organizational culture based on the most recent concept of health promotion proposed by the World Health Organization (WHO). The model used to identify the management of internal communication, which contributes to a culture of health promotion, is based on Andrade's "five ies", which was subsequently adapted to Bustamante's "six ies" and to which the leadership style subcategory has been added for this investigation. For this, the Doktuz Medical Center was taken as a case study where a qualitative phenomenological methodology was applied. As a result, it was obtained that the Medical Center does not have an organizational culture based on the promotion of institutionalized health, since its preventive health philosophy of easy access to the community has led it to manage internal communication only from an occupational health approach and Corporate Social Responsibility (RSC). / Tesis

Bilirubin is a major product of the heme catabolism in the vascular bed with substantial antioxidant properties. These importantly contribute to pathogenesis of diseases associated with increased oxidative stress, including cardiovascular or cancer diseases. In the first part of this PhD project serum bilirubin concentrations were examined in the 1 % representative sample of the general Czech population, together with determination of the prevalence of Gilbert's syndrome. Bilirubin concentrations were determined also within individual polymorphisms of the UGT1A1 gene (OMIM*191740) responsible for bilirubin biotransformation in the liver, including their association with the basic risk factors for atherosclerosis. We also assessed the activity of the standard liver enzymes (representing another significant risk factor for the development of cardiovascular diseases) with surprisingly high proportion of subjects with elevated values. Simultaneously, we determined the concentrations of serum bilirubin in a group of patients with an acute coronary syndrome, who manifested with significantly lower concentrations as compared to general population. In the second part of this research project, the relationship between plasma concentrations of bilirubin and individual variants of UGT1A1 gene polymorphisms...

The focus of experiments presented in this dissertation is to determine how signals created by exposure to environmental stimuli are integrated at the level of transcription, resulting in the generation of specific patterns of gene expression. The model system used was expression of the neurotensinl neuromedin N (NT/N) neuropeptide gene in the neuroendocrine PC12 cell line. This gene is synergistically activated in PC12 cells in response to nerve growth factor, lithium, glucocorticoids, and activators of adenylate cyclase. Several cis-regulatory elements were identified within a 200 bp regulatory region, including AP-1, CRE, and GRE-like elements. Mutational analysis confirmed the importance of these elements for responses to inducer combinations. The primary objective was to identify proteins that interact with NT/N promoter sequences and determine if they are important in mediating responses to inducer combinations. The first set of experiments was designed to investigate changes in AP-1 binding activity. Previous analysis had shown that mutation of the AP-1 site severely curtails responses to all inducer combinations indicating that AP-1 plays a pivotal role in NT/N gene activation. DNA binding studies using in vitro synthesized AP-1 proteins revealed that all heterodimeric combinations could bind both the AP-1 and JARE sites; however, these complexes displayed a higher affinity for the AP-1 site. c-Jun homodimers were also found to bind both these sites albeit with a lower affinity and with a preference for the JARE site. These studies revealed that specificity is probably not at the level of DNA binding. Therefore, it was possible that only a subset of AP-1 proteins were activated upon stimulation. DNase I footprint analysis using nuclear extracts from PC12 cells showed changes in protection at the consensus AP-1 site upon treatment with inducers suggesting changes in AP-1 binding activity. It was found that AP-1 binding activity was increased upon stimulation, with the major component being Jun B. However, substantial levels of c-Fos and c-Jun were also detected at some time points. These results coupled with transfection data demonstrating that forced expression of c-Jun and c-Fos result in potent synergistic activation of the NT/N promoter support the hypothesis that c-Jun and c-Fos are also involved in NT/N gene activation. DNase I footprinting studies using PC12 nuclear extracts also revealed substantial areas of protection surrounding the CRE element. This result, along with the high degree of conservation of these sequences between human and rat, suggested they play a role in the regulation of the NT/N gene in PC12 cells. Mutational analysis of this region showed that sequences upstream of the CRE were important for full activation of the NT/N promoter. Specific mutation of the CRE resulted in a 75% decrease in activity upon induction, a level similar to that observed previously with less precise linker scanner mutations. This site had also been shown to be critical for c-Jun mediated NT/N activation, even though c-Jun homodimers do not bind this site in vitro. Therefore, nuclear extracts from PC12 cells were tested for the presence of proteins which could bind this site. Complexes composed of both c-Jun and ATF-2 were found in extracts from both uninduced and induced PC12 cells. ATF-2 could mediate both the recruitment of c-Jun to this site as well as mediate the effect of activators of adenylate cyclase, since ATF-2 has been shown to be a target for protein kinase A in vitro. Expression of ATF-2 in PC12 cells resulted in a modest increase in NT/N promoter activation. The significant levels of endogenous ATF-2 protein in PC12 cells most likely accounts for the relatively small magnitude of this effect. Experiments with the closely related protein, ATF-a2, revealed that it potently antagonizes c-Jun activation while forced expression of ATF-2 did not affect c-Jun activation under the conditions analyzed. Therefore, ATF proteins could be involved in both activation and repression of the NT/N gene. Both c-Jun and ATF-2 have been shown to be activated by c-Jun N-terminal kinase (JNK) in response to environmental stress or cytokine activation. Therefore, the ability of inducers to activate the previously described N-terminal ATF-2 activation domain was investigated using a GAL4-ATF-2 (1-109) chimer construct. This construct was not significantly activated by inducer combinations that result in high level NT/N gene expression, indicating that activation of ATF-2 through this pathway is not involved in NT/N gene activation. Also activation of JNK, a MAPK which activates both c-Jun and ATF-2, only partially substituted for NGF indicating that NGF activates an additional pathway. The data presented here support a model involving synergistic transcriptional activation of the NT/N promoter by c-Jun/c-Fos, ATF-2, ATF-2/c-Jun and the GR. ATF-2 was found to enhance NT/N promoter activation while a splice variant (ATF-2 195) lacking a central portion of ATF-2 that is rich in Ser/Thr residues had no effect suggesting that this region could be important for ATF-2 activation in PC12 cells. The identification of the signaling pathways that mediate the effects of inducer combinations on NT/N gene activation will be an important future goal and should provide insights into the control of neuronal gene expression.

Two polymorphisms in the promoter region of macrophage migration inhibitory factor (MIF)—rs755622 and rs5844572—exhibit prognostic relevance in inflammatory diseases. The aim of this study was to investigate a correlation between these MIF promoter polymorphisms and the severity of hepatitis C virus (HCV)-induced liver fibrosis. Our analysis included two independent patient cohorts with HCV-induced liver fibrosis (504 and 443 patients, respectively). The genotype of the single nucleotide polymorphism (SNP) -173 G/C and the repeat number of the microsatellite polymorphism -794 CATT5–8 were determined in DNA samples and correlated with fibrosis severity. In the first cohort, homozygous carriers of the C allele in the rs755622 had lower fibrosis stages compared to heterozygous carriers or wild types (1.25 vs. 2.0 vs. 2.0; p = 0.03). Additionally, 7 microsatellite repeats were associated with lower fibrosis stages (<F2) (p = 0.04). Comparable tendencies were observed in the second independent cohort, where fibrosis was assessed using transient elastography. However, once cirrhosis had been established, the C/C genotype and higher microsatellite repeats correlated with impaired liver function and a higher prevalence of hepatocellular carcinoma. Our study demonstrates that specific MIF polymorphisms are associated with disease severity and complications of HCV-induced fibrosis in a stage- and context-dependent manner.

I samarbete med Sherwin-Williams AB, utvecklades en metod med kontaktvinkelmätning för att teoretiskt uppskatta vätbarhet och vidhäftningsförmåga av industriella färger på stålsubstrat. Optisk tensiometer och Youngs ekvation kombinerat med OWRK beräkningsmodell användes för att bestämma ytenergier. Det föreslogs att kontaktvinkelmätning bör inkludera bestämning av ytenergi av det fasta substratet, ytspänning av färgen samt beräkning av polaritet och gränssnittsenergi mellan de två bindande ytorna, för att stämma bra överens med färgens praktiskt uppskattade vidhäftningsförmåga. Det konstaterades att kontaktvinkel är en nödvändig faktor för att få information om teoretisk bindningsstyrka mellan två bindande ytor, men stämde någorlunda bra med praktiskt uppskattad vidhäftningsförmåga från mekanisk testmetod. Vidare studier utfördes för att identifiera styrkor och svagheter med kontaktvinkelmätningen och förstå inverkan av olika huvudegenskaper av färger på dess vidhäftning. Fem olika lösningsmedelsbaserade färger av typen två-komponentsystem tillverkades i syfte att studera effekter från två olika vidhäftningsfrämjande additiv, ett epoxysilan och ett aminosilan samt två olika fyllnadsmedel, kieseldioxid (SiO2) pulver och CaCO3/BaSO4 pulverblandning. Det konstaterades att silan inte förbättrade vidhäftning av färgerna på metallsubstraten, på grund av den snabba exoteriska reaktion som sker mellan silan och isocyanat härdare komponent B, när det blandas med färgen (komponent A). Till följd fås hastig viskositets- och temperaturökning som ökade avdunstning av lösningsmedlet och orsakade försämrad utplaning och flöde av färgen på metallytan. Det konstaterades även att fyllnadsmedlet CaCO3/BaSO4 var bättre än kiseldioxid (SiO2), delvis på grund av lägre oljeabsorptionsvärde som resulterar i lägre viskositetökning och bättre flöde av färgen. Rekommendationer för framtida studier är att analysera effekter av silan i ett en-komponentsystem för att eliminera effekter av snabb avdunstning av lösningsmedel och härdningskinetik mellan färg (komponent A) och härdare (komponent B). Reologi studier med reometer kan användas för att få mer information om varför CaCO3/BaSO4 visades vara ett bättre fyllnadsmedel än kiseldioxid. / In collaboration with Sherwin-Williams AB, a method with contact angle technique was developed to theoretically predict wettability and adhesive bonding between industrial paint coatings and steel substrates. The technique used was optical tensiometer and Young’s equation combined with OWRK calculation model was used to determine surface and interfacial energetics. It was suggested that the contact angle measurements must include measurements of the surface energy of the solid, surface tension of the liquid paint and calculation of polarity and interfacial tension between the bonding surfaces, to best correlate with practically estimated adhesion property of the paint coatings. It was stated that though contact angle proved to be a prerequisite factor to acquire information about adhesive bonds between two bonding surfaces, it did not entirely correlate with the findings from practically estimated adhesion performance from pull-off investigations. Work was dedicated to identifying strengths and weaknesses with the contact angle measurements and understanding the impact of other key properties of the paint coatings on adhesion performance. Five different solvent-based, two-component paint systems were manufactured to be able to see the effects on adhesion performance from two adhesion promoting additives, an epoxysilane and an aminosilane, as well as two different filler packages: silicon dioxide SiO2 (silica) filler package and CaCO3/BaSO4 filler package, respectively. It was concluded that the silanes did not improve adhesion performance of the paint coatings because of fast exothermic reaction that takes place between silane and isocyanate hardener component B when added to the liquid paint component A. Rapid viscosity rise and temperature rise was observed, which increased the evaporation rate of the solvent and impaired the leveling and flowing of the paint coating to the steel substrates. It was also unexpectedly observed that the CaCO3/BaSO4 filler package outperformed the silica filler package, partly because of its lower oil absorbance, which resulted in lower viscosity rise and better flowing of the paint coating. For future studies, it was recommended to analyze effects of the silanes in a one-component paint system to eliminate unfavored effects from evaporation of the solvent and cure kinetics of paint component A and isocyanate hardener component B. The superior paint quality contributed from the CaCO3/BaSO4 filler package could be better understood by rheology investigations with rheometer.

No description available.

No description available.

Whole cell biosensors have been extensively used for monitoring toxicity and contamination of compounds in environmental biology and microbial ecology. However, their application in the pharmaceutical and cosmetics industries for preservative efficacy testing (PET) has been limited. According to several pharmacopoeias, preservatives should be tested for microbial activity using traditional viable count techniques; the use of whole cell microbial biosensors potentially provides an alternative, fast, and efficient method. The aim of the study was to construct and develop whole cell microbial biosensors with Pseudomonas aeruginosa ATCC 9027. Constitutive promoters: PlysS, Pspc, Ptat, Plpp and PldcC and the lux-cassette were inserted into plasmid pME4510 and transformed into P. aeruginosa ATCC 9027 cells to produce bioluminescent strains. Plasmids were found to be maintained stably (~50 copies per cell) throughout the growth and death cycle. The novel bioluminescent strains were validated in accordance with the pharmacopoeia using bioluminescence detection and quantification followed by comparison with the traditional plate counting method. The bioluminescent method was found to be accurate, precise and equivalent at a range of 103 – 107 CFU/mL, as compared with plate counting. Recovery of bacterial cells was quantified using bioluminescence; this method proved to be accurate with percentage recoveries between 70-130% for all bioluminescent strains. The method was also more precise (relative standard deviation less than 15%) than the traditional plate counting method or the ATP bioluminescent method. Therefore, the bioluminescent constructs passed/exceeded pharmacopoeial specified criteria for range, limit of detection, accuracy, precision and equivalence. Physiology of the validated bioluminescent strains was studied by assessing the growth and death patterns using constitutive gene expression linked with bacterial replication. Promoter strengths were evaluated at various stages of the growth and death pattern and related to promoter sequences. PlysS, Ptat and Plpp were relatively strong promoters whilst PldcC and Pspc were relatively weak promoters. Relative promoter strength decreased in the order of Plpp>Ptat>PlysS>PldcC>Pspc during the exponential phase whilst Ptat was stronger than Plpp during the stationary phase of growth. Plpp had its highest level of expression during the exponential phase, while Ptat had relatively stable lux expression during the stationary phase. Correlations between relative bioluminescence and CFU at 24 hours were greater than 0.9 indicating a strong relationship for all bioluminescent strains. Reduction in correlation coefficients to approximately 0.6 between relative bioluminescence and CFU and between relative fluorescence and CFU beyond 24 hours indicated that a certain proportion of cells were viable but non-culturable. Tat-pME-lux showed steady bioluminescence compared to CFU count (R>0.9) throughout 28 days of growth. Equivalence analysis showed no significant difference between the bioluminescence and plate count method throughout 28 days of growth for all five bioluminescent strains. Applicability of these novel bioluminescent strains was evaluated for preservative efficacy tests (PET) using bacterial replication and bioluminescence as a measure of constitutive gene expression. PET using benzalkonium chloride and benzyl alcohol showed no significant difference between the bioluminescent method and the plate count method. Good correlations between bioluminescence, CFU count and fluorescence were obtained for benzalkonium chloride (BKC) concentrations (R>0.9) between 0.0003% and 0.0025% against strains lysR25, lppR4 and tatH5. Similarly, good correlations (R>0.9) between the three parameters were obtained for benzyl alcohol (BA) concentrations between 0.125% and 2% against strains lysR25, lppR4 and tatH5. The bioluminescent method and traditional plate counting method were equivalent for concentrations of BKC (0.0003 - 0.02%) and BA (0.25 - 2%) during preservative efficacy tests. These bioluminescent constructs therefore are good candidates for selection for preservative efficacy testing. The bioluminescent method and traditional plate counting method were also found to be equivalent for construct tatH5 at a concentration of 0.125% BA. PET testing with BKC and BA showed that tatH5-pMElux (R>0.9) had consistently high correlation coefficients between CFU and relative bioluminescence. Together with the results from growth and death kinetics, where tatH5 showed the greatest constitutive expression, it can be concluded that P. aeruginosa ATCC 9027 tatH5-pMElux is the best construct for testing various antimicrobial agents. This study has shown that according to the pharmacopoeial requirements, the bioluminescent method is more accurate, precise and equivalent to the traditional plate counting method and therefore can be utilised instead of the traditional plate counting method for the purpose of preservative efficacy testing.

Catharanthus roseus produces a large array of terpenoid indole alkaloids (TIAs) that are an important source of natural or semi-synthetic anticancer drugs. Biosynthesis of TIAs is tissue-specific and induced by certain phytohormones and fungal elicitors, indicating the involvement of a complex transcriptional control network. However, the transcriptional regulation of the TIA pathway is poorly understood. This study reports the isolation and characterization of the G10H promoter and two WRKY transcription factors regulating TIA biosynthesis. Geraniol 10-hydroxylase (G10H) controls the first committed step in the biosynthesis of terpenoid indole alkaloids (TIA). The C. roseus G10H promoter sequence was isolated by a PCR-based genome walking method. Sequence analysis revealed that the G10H promoter contains several potential eukaryotic regulatory elements involved in regulation of gene expression. For functional characterization, fusion constructs of G10H promoter fragments with the GUS reporter gene were generated and expression was analyzed in a tobacco protoplast transient expression assay. Gain-of-function experiments revealed the presence of three potential transcriptional enhancers located in regions between -191 and -147, -266 and -188, and -318 and -266, respectively. The G10H promoter was capable of conferring stable GUS expression in transgenic tobacco plants and C. roseus hairy roots. In transgenic tobacco seedlings, GUS expression was tissue-specific, restricted to the leaf and actively growing cells around the root tip. GUS expression was not detected in the hypocotyls, root cap and older developing areas of the root. The GUS expression in both transgenic C. roseus hairy roots and tobacco seedlings were responsive to fungal elicitors and methyljasmonate. Compared to other known promoters of TIA pathway genes, the G10H promoter contains unique binding sites for several transcription factors, suggesting that the G10H promoter may be regulated by a different transcriptional cascade. The majority of TIA pathway gene promoters contain typical W-box elements, which are frequently found to be the binding sites of WRKY transcription factors. CrWRKY1 and CrWRKY2 transcription factors were isolated using a degenerate PCR method. The C. roseus WRKY transcription factor, CrWRKY1 is preferentially expressed in roots and induced by phytohormones, jasmonate, gibberellic acid and ethylene. Overexpression of CrWRKY1 in C. roseus hairy roots up-regulated several key TIA pathway genes, especially tryptophan decarboxylase (TDC), as well as transcriptional repressors ZCT1, ZCT2 and ZCT3. In contrast, CrWRKY1 overexpression repressed the transcriptional activators ORCA2, ORCA3 and CrMYC2. Overexpression of a dominant-repressive form of CrWRKY1, created by fusing the SRDX-repressor domain to CrWRKY1, resulted in down-regulation of TDC and ZCTs but up-regulation of ORCA3 and CrMYC2. CrWRKY1 bound to the W-box elements of the TDC promoter in electrophoretic mobility shift, yeast one-hybrid and C. roseus protoplast assays. In CrWRKY1 hairy roots, up-regulation of TDC increased TDC activity, tryptamine concentration and resistance to 4-methyl tryptophan inhibition. Compared to control roots, CrWRKY1 hairy roots accumulated up to 3-fold higher levels of serpentine. The preferential expression of CrWRKY1 in roots and its interaction with transcription factors, including ORCA3, CrMYC2 and ZCTs, may play a key role in determining the root-specific accumulation of serpentine in C. roseus plants. CrWRKY2 is induced by methyljasmonate induction. In plant, CrWRKY2 expression is mainly found in young leaves and the stem. The stable transformation of CrWRKY2 in C. roseus hairy roots up-regulated many pathway genes, especially the genes in vindoline biosynthesis. The accumulation of vindoline was observed in CrWRKY2 hairy roots.