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B Hudspith

Publications and source records attributed to B Hudspith.

5 recordsLinked to original sources

Molecular characterization of the bacteria adherent to human colorectal mucosa.

AIMS: To study large intestinal mucosal bacterial communities by Denaturing Gradient Gel Electrophoresis (DGGE) profiling and sequencing of 16S rRNA gene polymerase chain reaction (PCR) products amplified from DNA extracted from colorectal biopsies taken from healthy individuals. The specific aims were to determine how similar the mucosa-associated bacterial communities are within and between individuals and also to characterize the phylogenetic origin of isolated DGGE bands. METHODS AND RESULTS: Human colorectal biopsies were taken at routine colonoscopy from 33 patients with normal looking mucosa. The DNA was extracted directly from single biopsies and the bacterial 16S rDNA PCR amplified. The PCR products were profiled using DGGE to generate a fingerprint of the dominant members of the bacterial community associated with the biopsy. The reproducibility of this method was high (>98%). Washed and unwashed biopsies gave similar DGGE banding patterns (Median Similarity Coefficient - MSC 96%, InterQuartile Range - IQR 3.0%, n = 5). Adjacent biopsies sampled from the same patient using different forceps gave similar DGGE profiles (MSC 94%, n = 2). Two colorectal biopsies sampled at locations 2-5 cm apart, from each of 18 patients, resulted in very similar profiles (MSC 100%, IQR 2.8%). Biopsies sampled from different locations within the large intestine of the same patient also gave similar DGGE profiles (MSC 98% IQR 3.3%n = 6). Although all patients (n = 33) gave different DGGE profiles, some similarity (c. 34%) was observed between profiles obtained from 15 patients arbitrarily selected. 35 DGGE bands were excised and sequenced. Many were found to be most closely related to uncultured bacterial sequence entries in the Genbank database. Others belonged to typical gut bacterial genera including Bacteroides, Ruminococcus, Faecalibacterium and Clostridium. CONCLUSIONS: Bacterial communities adherent to colorectal mucosa within a normal patient show little variation; in contrast, mucosal bacterial communities sampled from different patients with normal colorectal mucosa show a high degree of variation. SIGNIFICANCE AND IMPACT OF THE STUDY: This research demonstrates that DGGE profiling of 16S rRNA gene PCR products amplified from DNA extracted directly from mucosal samples offers fresh insight into the bacterial communities that are adherent to colorectal mucosa. These findings are important with respect to further studies on the gastrointestinal tract in health and disease.

Adenomatous Polyposis Coli↗

Information needs of workers.

In Britain, the law places duties on employers and suppliers to provide information to ensure health and safety of employees, so far as is reasonably practicable, and there are regulations for the appointment of employees' safety representatives which employers are required to consult. A recent survey by HSE has shown that suppliers are the most important source of information on substances. However, the flow of information is often obstructed by barriers between the suppliers and the companies, and within organisations. Safety representatives, where they exist, are often better informed than employers, and in companies with safety representatives accident rates are lower. Information from suppliers can be inappropriate for the end use, and the goal-setting approach which has dominated in recent years may not help the non-expert employer. We welcome HSE's move to more specific control guidance for chemicals.

Air Pollutants, Occupational↗

Role of interleukin-10 in the lung response to silica in mice.

There is evidence that, following exposure to crystalline silica, the release of several proinflammatory cytokines contributes to the induction of unbalanced inflammatory reaction leading to lung fibrosis. We have examined the potential contribution of interleukin-10 (IL-10), an anti-inflammatory cytokine, in the development of silicosis. In a mouse model of inflammatory lung reaction induced by intratracheal instillation of silica (0.5 mg and 5 mg DQ12/mouse), the levels of IL-10 protein (determined by ELISA) both in cells obtained after bronchoalveolar lavage (BAL) and in lung tissue homogenates were significantly increased when compared with controls. After in vitro lipopolysaccharide (LPS) stimulation (1 microg/ml), BAL cells obtained from silica-treated animals produced significantly more IL-10 protein and mRNA than cells obtained from control animals. To examine the role of IL-10 in the lung reaction induced by silica, IL-10-deficient animals were instilled with 5 mg of silica. Twenty-four hours after treatment, the amplitude of the inflammatory response (lactate dehydrogenase [LDH], protein and number of inflammatory cells in BAL) was significantly greater in IL-10-deficient animals than in the wild type. In contrast, the fibrotic response, evaluated by measuring lung hydroxyproline content and by histopathologic analysis 30 days after silica, was significantly less important in IL-10-deficient than in wild-type mice. Together, these data suggest that increased IL-10 synthesis induced by silica can limit the amplitude of the inflammatory reaction, but also contributes to amplify the lung fibrotic response.

Animals↗

Inhibition of virulent Mycobacterium tuberculosis by murine peritoneal macrophages and human alveolar lavage cells: the effects of lymphokines and recombinant gamma interferon.

Both murine peritoneal macrophages and human alveolar lavage cells inhibited growth of M. tuberculosis in a medium containing 10% foetal calf serum. However, whereas addition of recombinant gamma interferon or crude lymphokine reproducibly activated further strong anti-mycobacterial mechanisms in the murine cells, these stimuli had weak and variable effects on human alveolar cells.

Animals↗