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M A Delgado

Publications and source records attributed to M A Delgado.

41 records · Page 3Linked to original sources

Genetic and biochemical study of threonine-overproducing mutants of Saccharomyces cerevisiae.

Three threonine-overproducing mutants were obtained as prototrophic revertants of a hom3 mutant strain of Saccharomyces cerevisiae. The gene HOM3 codes for aspartokinase (aspartate kinase; EC 2.7.2.4), the first enzyme of the threonine-methionine biosynthetic route, which is subjected to feedback inhibition by threonine. Enzymatic studies indicated that aspartokinase from the revertants has lost the feedback inhibition, resulting in overproduction of threonine. These revertants also bore one or two additional mutations, named tex1-1 and tex2-1, which alone or jointly made possible the excretion of the threonine accumulated. The effect of these two genes on excretion is potentiated by excess inositol in the medium.

Aspartate Kinase↗

Transplacental transmission and fetal parasitosis of Trypanosoma cruzi in outbred white Swiss mice.

Two strains of Trypanosoma cruzi, isolated from humans and assayed for their biological capacity to kill outbred white Swiss mice (HaM/CR-CD) following reticuloendothelial system blockade with thorium dioxide, were used in these experiments: the Maria Cristina strain, which killed all blocked mice at a rate following a rectangular dose-response curve, and the José Cardoso strain, which did not kill blocked mice at comparable dosages. When inoculated into pregnant HaM/CR-CD mice, the non-pathogenic José Cardoso strain did not cross the placental barrier, in either blocked or unblocked mice, to cause fetal parasitosis. The pathogenic Maria Cristina strain did not cross the barrier in non-blocked mice, but in thorium-dioxide blocked mice it produced an incidence of fetal parasitosis of 8.9% (7 of 79 fetuses). These results indicate that the transplacental transmission of T. cruzi was dependent on two restrictions: pathogenicity of the strain of T. cruzi, and blockade of phagocytic activity by thorium dioxide, suggesting that transplacental transmission of T. cruzi is related to interference with the phagocytic activity of the placenta.

Animals↗

Clinical, epidemiologic, and virologic features of dengue in the 1998 epidemic in Nicaragua.

From July to December 1998, a hospital- and health center-based surveillance system for dengue was established at selected sites in Nicaragua to better define the epidemiology of this disease. Demographic and clinical information as well as clinical laboratory results were obtained, and virus isolation, reverse transcriptase-polymerase chain reaction, and serologic assays were performed. World Health Organization criteria were used to classify disease severity; however, a number of patients presented with signs of shock in the absence of thrombocytopenia or hemoconcentration. Therefore, a new category was designated as "dengue with signs associated with shock" (DSAS). Of 1,027 patients enrolled in the study, 614 (60%) were laboratory-confirmed as positive cases; of these, 268 (44%) were classified as dengue fever (DF); 267 (43%) as DF with hemorrhagic manifestations (DFHem); 40 (7%) as dengue hemorrhagic fever (DHF); 20 (3%) as dengue shock syndrome (DSS); and 17 (3%) as DSAS. Interestingly, secondary infection was not significantly correlated with DHF/DSS, in contrast to previous studies in Southeast Asia. DEN-3 was responsible for the majority of cases, with a minority due to DEN-2; both serotypes contributed to severe disease. As evidenced by the analysis of this epidemic, the epidemiology of dengue can differ according to geographic region and viral serotype.

Adolescent↗