The expectation was that precontemplators would benefit most from information stressing in particular pros and cons of reporting occupational diseases, i.e. “stage-matched” in newsletter A. In NCT-501 contrast, Ilomastat the self-efficacy enhancing information in Newsletter B that is aimed at contemplators would prove detrimental for precontemplators by triggering

defensive information processing, i.e. “stage-mismatched”. Contemplators are expected to benefit most from self-efficacy enhancing information on how to report, where to find information, guidelines, offer to participate in a workshop on reporting occupational diseases, i.e. “stage-matched” in newsletter B. In contrast, outcome information that is aimed this website at precontemplators would be redundant and possibly inhibit information processing, i.e. “stage-mismatched” for contemplators in newsletter A. To address OPs personally, we mentioned the name of the participant in the newsletter and stated that according to data from the national registry he or she did not report any occupational disease in 2006 and 2007 until November 27th (precontemplators) or reported occupational diseases in 2006 and 2007 until May 31st but not since then (contemplators).

All OPs in the control group received a short electronic message Lck on November 28th 2007 with an announcement of the recently published Alert Report 2007. Actioners intervention The intervention aimed at the actioners was a personalized e-mail feedback after reporting an occupational disease supplying them with extra information such as a recent and

potentially useful scientific article referring to the diagnosis notified. The actioners control group received the usual standardized feedback: an e-mail only stating that the notification was accepted. Measurements Outcome measures were the number of OPs reporting occupational diseases to the NCOD and the number of reported cases (=notifications) of occupational diseases in a 180-day period before (June 1st 2007–November 27th, 2007) and after the intervention (November 28th–May 25th 2008). These data, available at the NCOD, are an objective measure of the reporting performance of the OPs. A first comparison is made between the intervention groups (stage-matched and stage-mismatched) and the control group for precontemplators and contemplators, respectively. A second comparison is made between the precontemplators and contemplators (for both intervention groups and control groups, respectively). A third comparison is made between the intervention and control group within the group actioners.

Thus, in the case of Pr-doped HfSiO x samples, Si-ncs do not seem to be a major actor for the energy transfer. Nevertheless, due to the low amount of Si-ncs, their PL Entinostat manufacturer signal is not detectable. Thus, the second step of our investigation was to study the mechanism of Pr3+ energy transfer under the 285-nm excitation wavelength. The energy diagram of Pr3+ ions does not present such an absorption band wavelength at 285 nm (Figure 4b). In addition, the 4f to 5d transition is witted in upper energy level between 250 and 220 nm [26]. This evidences the indirect excitation of Pr3+ ions by the 285-nm wavelength and confirms an energy transfer behavior.

To investigate this behavior in detail, we take interest in the strong background PL from 350 to 550 nm for the layers annealed at 800°C to 900°C in Figure 4c. This broad band may be ascribed to more

PI3K inhibitor than one kind of defect [5, 6, 27]. For the layers annealed at higher T A such as 1,000°C, the intensity of this PL band drops deeply while the Pr3+ PL intensity increases notably. This suggests that the energy transfers from host defects to Pr3+ ions. To understand this point, PLE spectra were recorded for the ‘optimized’ sample (annealed at 1,000°C) at different detection wavelengths (400, 487, and 640 nm, corresponding almost to the background P-gp inhibitor emission for the former and to Pr3+ PL for the two latter), and they are presented in Figure 5. All the PLE spectra show a remarkable peak at about 280 nm (4.43 eV),

and this peak position is in good agreement with that observed for oxygen vacancies [28]. According to some references [6, 29], the Casein kinase 1 O vacancies in the host matrix introduce a series of defect states (at about 1.85 to 4.45 eV) in the bandgap of HfO2, which might provide recombination centers for excited e and h pairs. These excitons can effectively transfer energy to the nearby Pr3+ ions due to the overlapping with absorption levels of Pr3+ and, thus, to enhance the Pr3+ PL emission. Therefore, the Hf-related O vacancies in the host matrix serve as effective sensitizers to the adjacent Pr ions. An additional argument for this interaction is the increasing of Pr3+ PL intensity with T A (from 900°C to 1,000°C) which caused the formation of HfO2 grains, providing more Hf-related O vacancies. However, due to a decomposition process, formation of the Si-rich phase (Pr-doped SiO x and/or Pr silicate) occurs too. The decrease of the intensity of the PL band that peaked at 400 nm and the increase of corresponding Pr3+ emission are a signature of the contribution of these Si-rich phase to the Pr3+ ion excitation (Figure 4c). Figure 5 PLE spectra in logarithmic scale for 1,000°C annealed layer detected for different emission peaks. The excitation mechanism of Pr3+ ions was further explored by comparing two matrices.

CD spectra in the near-uv region (250–350 nm) did not produce any difference among PB, TAP, DAP, and MAP, indicating that TPase had normal tertiary structure in highly concentrated ammonium phosphate solutions. On the other hand, CD spectra in the far-uv region (200–250 nm) produced subtle but detectable differences, indicating LDN-193189 that ammonium

phosphates produced changes in the secondary structure of TPase. Theses spectra are useful for assessing the degree to which ammonium phosphates change it. Choosing λ = 220 nm as the single wavelength for monitoring specific features of the protein structure, we compared the signal at this wavelength among TAP, DAP, and MAP. When the degree of conformational change was defined as 100% unfolding in the MAP solution, it was 10% in DAP and 7% in TAP. Measurement of the CD spectra showed that a limited secondary structural change Ilomastat was required for TPase activity to appear on D-Trp. Judging from fluorescence and CD measurements, the degree of conformational change is very small. D-tryptophan is inactive in the absence of ammonium

phosphates, so it might be concluded that it does not interact with D-tryptophan. However, kinetic studies show competitive interaction between active site of tryptophanase and D-tryptophan. We can tell that D-tryptophan binds to tryptophanase without ammonium phosphates. This fact seems to offer hint of a solution of the question that D-amino acids are unilaterally excluded. It therefore becomes important to identify a binding form of D-tryptophan at the active site of tryptophanse. It is inferred based on spectrophotometric analysis in the future researches, offering insights into how tryptophanase excludes only the D form. Shimada, A. (2007). Role of ammonium phosphates in tryptophanase Vitamin B12 activity toward D-tryptophan. In Konno,

R. et al., editors, D-amino acids: A New Frontier in Amino Acid and Protein Research-Practical Methods and Protocols, pages 591–607. Nova Science Publishers, New York. E-mail: ashimada@kankyo.​envr.​tsukuba.​ac.​jp Asymmetric Synthesis and Decomposition of Amino Acids by Circularly Polarized Light from Free Electron Laser Tomoya Ogawa1, Soichiro Shima1, Takeo Kaneko1, Talazoparib manufacturer Kensei Kobayashi1,Jun-ichi Takahashi2, Hajime Mita3, Masato Hosaka4, Masahiro Kato5 1Graduate School of Engineering, Yokohama National University, Yokohama 240–8501, Japan; 2NTT Microsystem Integration Laboratories, Atsugi 243–0198, Japan; 3Faculty of Engineering, Fukuoka Institute of Technology, Fukuoka 811–0295, Japan; 4Graduate School of Engineering, Nagoya University, Nagoya 464–8601, Japan; 5UVSOR, Institute for Molecular Science, Okazaki 444–8585, Japan The origin of homochirality of biological molecules such as amino acids has remained one of the most important problems in the field of origins of life and astrobiology.

Quantitative real time RT-PCR for RNAIII demonstrated that TPS3105r produced 325-fold more RNAIII than TPS3105. Virulence was also restored and TPS3105r caused greater weight loss, skin lesion area and CFU recovery from lesions compared to the parental strain TPS3105 (p < 0.0001, Figure  5). There was no significant difference between JKD6159 and TPS3105r in all outcome measures in the mouse skin infection model (Figure  5). These experiments show that intact agr

is essential for the virulence of ST93 CA-MRSA. The agrA repaired mutant of TPS3105, TPS3105r expressed significantly greater amounts of PSMα3 (p < 0.0001) and Hla (p = 0.0019), consistent with agr control of these virulence determinants (Figure  6). Thus, despite the genetic divergence of ST93 from other S. aureus[14], the molecular IACS-10759 in vivo foundation of virulence for this MK 8931 order CA-MRSA clone is similar in this respect to USA300 [9, 26, 27] and other S. aureus strains [28, 29], where the importance of agr

has been very well established. Figure 5 The importance of agr and aryK in the virulence Selleckchem Captisol of ST93 CA-MRSA. Isogenic repaired agr mutant TPS3105r compared to TPS3105 and JKD6159, and JKD6159 compared with isogenic repaired AraC/XylS family regulator mutant (JKD6159_AraCr) in a BALB/c mouse skin infection assay. At least 10 mice were used for each bacterial strain. (A) Weight loss induced by intradermal infection with S. aureus strains is demonstrated as percentage loss of weight over 5 days. There was no difference between JKD6159 and TPS3105r in all outcome measures.

TPS3105r infected mice had significantly increased weight loss compared to TPS3105 (p < 0.0001). There was a small increase in weight loss in mice infected with JKD6159_AraCr compared to JKD6159 (p = 0.0311). Data shown are mean weight loss and SEM. (B) Skin lesion area (mm2) at 5 days after infection in TPS3105r infected mice was significantly increased compared to TPS3105 (p < 0.0001). Mice infected with JKD6159_AraCr had increased lesion area compared with JKD6159 (p < 0.0001). Data shown are mean area and SEM. Interleukin-3 receptor (C) Recovery of S. aureus (log CFU) from infected tissues at 5 days after infection from TPS3105r was significantly greater than from TPS 3105 infected mice (p < 0.0001). There was no difference in S. aureus recovered from mice infected with JKD6159 and JKD6159_AraCr. Data shown are mean CFU and SEM. Note, *** p < 0.001, * p < 0.05. Figure 6 In vitro PSMα3 and Hla expression of mutant S. aureus isolates. JKD6159 compared with JKD6159_AraCr. TPS3105 compared with TPS3105r. (A) PSMα3 expression measured by HPLC. JKD6159_AraCr expressed more PSMα3 than JKD6159 (p = 0.0325). TPS3105r expressed more PSMα3 than TPS3105 (p < 0.0001). Data shown are mean concentration (μg/ml), presented as vertical stacked bars and SEM. Deformylated PSMα3 is shown in grey bars.

The story about the GJ 876 goes on as the extensive observations of this system led to a discovery of a Uranus-mass see more fourth planetary companion (Rivera et al. 2010). The new planet is in Laplace resonance with the giant planets b and c, and the system marks the first example of a three-body resonance among extrasolar planets. The resonances 2:1 (involving planets e and c) and 4:1 (involving planets e and b) are not so strong as the resonance 2:1 between planets b and c, but they are necessary for a long term stability of the system. This statement is based on the existing observational data. The situation may change when new data will be available. In the context of the newly suggested Laplace resonance

(Rivera et al. 2010), it is worth mentioning a new mechanism for stopping the inward migration of a selleck products Low-Mass planet embedded in a gaseous protoplanetary disc found by Podlewska-Gaca

et al. (2012). The mechanism operates when a low-mass planet encounters outgoing density waves excited by another source in the disc. This source could be a gas giant in an orbit interior to that of the low-mass planet. As the low mass planet passes through the wave field, angular momentum is transferred first to the disc matter and then communicated back to the planet through co-orbital dynamics. The consequence of this interchange of angular momentum is that the inward migration of the affected planet can be halted or even reversed.

It has been found in ubiquitin-Proteasome system this way that a planet with mass in the super-Earth range cannot approach a Jupiter-mass planet close enough in order to form first- order mean-motion resonances with it. In fact, the migration was found to halt when the semi-major axis was ranging between 1.6 crotamiton and 2.0 times that of the giant. Only when the low-mass planet exceeded 40 m  ⊕  it was able to attain a 2:1 commensurability. For that reason, the formation of the 2:1 commensurability in GJ 876 between planets e and c through planet interaction with the gaseous disc alone would be problematic. This may indicate that the migration induced by planetesimals after the clearance of the gas disc may have been significant in the formation of GJ 876. Low-Mass Planets in Laminar Discs Low mass planets can undergo convergent migration too and form in this way a resonant structure (Papaloizou and Szuszkiewicz 2005). The pulsar planets around PSR B1257+12 might be an outcome of such scenario. Papaloizou and Szuszkiewicz (2005) performed an analytic and numerical study of the formation of first order commensurabilities in a system of two planets in the earth mass range migrating in a laminar disc. In Papaloizou and Szuszkiewicz (2010) the authors have extended their study to a larger range of migration rates and commensurabilities and compared the numerical work to the conditions for particular commensurabilities to form derived analytically.

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disease pathophysiology in rat model. Hum Exp GS-1101 cost Toxicol 2013, 32:721–735.PubMedCrossRef 21. Kim T, Davis J, Zhang AJ, He X, Mathews ST: Curcumin activates AMPK and suppresses gluconeogenic NSC 683864 in vivo gene expression in Levetiracetam hepatoma cells. BBRC 2009, 388:377–382.PubMed 22. Menon VP, Sudheer AR: Antioxidant and anti-inflammatory properties of curcumin. Adv Exp Med Biol 2007, 595:105–125.PubMedCrossRef 23. Bloomer RJ, Goldfarb AH, McKenzie MJ, You T, Nguyen L: Effects of antioxidant therapy in women exposed to eccentric exercise. Int J Sport Nutr Exerc Metab 2004, 14:377–388.PubMed 24. Close GL, Ashton T, Cable T, Doran D, Holloway C, McArdle F, MacLaren DP: Ascorbic acid supplementation does not attenuate post-exercise muscle soreness following muscle-damaging exercise but may delay the recovery process. Br J Nutr 2006, 95:976–981.PubMedCrossRef 25. Gomez-Cabrera MC, Ristow M, Vina J: Antioxidant supplements in exercise: worse than useless? Am J Physiol Endocrinol Metab 2012, 302:E476-E477. author reply E478–479 author reply E478-479PubMedCrossRef 26. Gomez-Cabrera MC, Domenech E, Romagnoli M, Arduini A, Borras C, Pallardo FV, Sastre J, Vina J: Oral administration of vitamin C decreases muscle mitochondrial biogenesis and hampers training-induced adaptations in endurance performance. Am J Clin Nutr 2008, 87:142–149.PubMed Competing interests The authors declare that they have no competing interests.

sphaeroides protein in each duplicate protein-pair,

FK228 the tree type (Type-A or Type-B) for the protein-pair, and the E7080 order Bootstrap values for each tree. Of the total 234 protein-pairs, ~77% of the protein-pairs (180 pairs) exhibited a Type-A relationship and ~23% of the protein-pairs (54 pairs) showed a Type-B relationship. Figure 6 The phylogenetic relationship of duplicate protein pairs and their highest matching ortholog sequences. Maximum likelihood trees representing four of these relationships are shown above for hisD I and hisD II , sdhB and frdB, sac1 and a hypothetical protein, and traI and a hypothetical protein. Each of these unrooted trees displayed a bootstrap value of 100. The offshoots represent branches and their lengths are given (trees are not to scale). The relationships depict two types of topology – Type A or Type B. The strength of the tree topology was analyzed using bootstrap

values, information concerning which is also shown in Additional file 2. Bootstrap values for 8 trees could not be determined due to the lack of one or more orthologs. CP673451 ic50 Bootstrap values not only signify the significance of a tree topology (Type-A and Type-B), but also provide an insight into the relative origin of a given gene duplication. Gene duplication events that occurred significantly before organism speciation would display Type-A relationships with high bootstrap values. Gene duplication events that occurred significantly after organism speciation would display Type-B relationships with similarly high bootstrap values. Of the 226 trees for which bootstrap values were obtained, 209 (92.5%) Ketotifen had bootstrap values ≥ 95. The bootstrap values remained significant within both Type-A and Type-B phylogenetic trees.

Of the 180 Type-A trees, 172 (95.56%) exhibited ≥ 95 bootstrap values while of the 46 Type-B trees, 37 (80.43%) exhibited ≥ 95 bootstrap values. Thus, the majority of these trees demonstrated correct and significant trees topologies, which support the relative timings of the origins of these gene duplications. These results clearly show that a majority of gene duplications in R. sphaeroides originated prior to the formation of the R. sphaeroides lineage as also shown in Table 1. Of the Type-A gene duplications, 58.33% (105 pairs) were found only on CI, 26.67% (48 pairs) were found between CI and CII, and 6.11% (11 pairs) were found only on CII. Since about 91% of the duplications exhibiting a Type-A relationship were distributed on the two chromosomes, these results submit that the origin of multiple chromosomes in R. sphaeroides predates the origin of this species. 13 proteins had indiscernible matches to any orthologs in the current microbial database. Moreover, although a vast majority of the genes (312 of 360 genes, 86.

Materials Quartz Quartz of highest purity was obtained from the Jagielowa mine (near Strzelin, Poland), crushed and sieved, in order to obtain a fraction, named large quartz (LQ), with grains of diameter size between 0.1 and 2 mm. Quartz purity was evaluated using FTIR-ATR spectroscopy (an infrared spectrum is

shown in Online Resource 1, S.M. 1) Only bands attributable to quartz can be seen, which, along with band intensity proportions, prove the crystallographic structure and relatively low contribution of defects (Apopei et al. 2011; Saikian et al. 2008; Shneider 1978; Bobrowski and Holtzer 2010; Shoval 1991; Hlavay et al. 1978.) Amino Acids Both alanine and glycine of 96 % purity were purchased from Sigma Aldrich. For evaluation of structural changes, both amino acids were dissolved and diluted Target Selective Inhibitor Library in vivo in distilled

water to 0.019 M and 0.011 M concentrations, respectively. For free radicals’ detection, glycine solution of 0.015 M concentration was prepared. DPPH Free radical generation and kinetics under influence of electric discharge and piezoelectric quartz were assessed using 2, 2-diphenyl-1-picrylhydrazyl (DPPH Sigma Aldrich, molar mass 394.32 g/mol) as a scavenger. DPPH was dissolved in methanol (J.T. Baker, 1112231002, 99.99 % purity) and diluted with water to concentration of 3*10−5 M (abbreviated DPPHs throughout the article). Methods Electric Discharge Apparatus An especially designed, custom-made, electric discharge device was used (Fig. 1). The apparatus was previously used by one of the Transferase inhibitor authors selleck screening library (Pawlikowski 2012). The instrument is equipped with an electrode connected to

a high voltage (approx. 50 kV) generator. The sample is put in the rotating reaction container (with a base made out of copper plate, used to create the proper electrical potential Megestrol Acetate difference) and exposed to an electric discharge at the rate of two strikes per second. Fig. 1 Scheme of the electric discharge apparatus Detection and Kinetics of Free Radical Generation The experiments were based on methods proposed by Damm and Peukert (2009), using DPHH as a free radical scavenger. DPPH is a highly stable free radical, which, after dissolving in alcohol, forms a purple mixture, exhibiting two bands of maximum absorption at 511 and 325 nm. The reaction with free radicals results in bleaching and can be easily monitored using a UV–VIS spectrometer. Rate of DPPH bleaching depends on the rate and the amount of generated free radicals. All UV–VIS measurements were performed using a Perkin Elmer spectrometer, model Lambda 35. Spectral range was set to 200–1,000 nm. Disposable, 1.5–3 ml PMMA (Poly methyl methacrylate) cuvettes were used. In order to evaluate free radical generation under the experimental conditions, four separate tests, using four different combinations of compounds were conducted: a) 1.5 ml of DPPHs and 6 ml of water;   b) 1.25 ml of DPPHs and 5 ml of glycine solution   c) 1.

Only inserts from

colonies that grew in QDO were cloned and sequenced. Two different inserts were identified as belonging to a homologue of HSP90. The sequence obtained by PCR from one of these inserts showed a 778 bp product and a derived amino acid sequence of 164 amino acids of the C-terminal domain of this protein. The other insert contained 477 bp and encoded the last 64 amino acids of the protein. Figure 4 shows the conserved click here domains detected in this protein using the NCBI Conserved Domain Database. Sequence analysis identified a HATPase_c and the HSP90 domains. Using the RACE technique, we obtained an open reading frame of 2121 nucleotides encoding a HSP90 homologue of 707 amino acids with an estimated molecular weight of 80.17 kDa. Pfam identified this sequence as belonging to heat shock protein 90 with an E value of 5.8 e-255. The GenBank accession buy OICR-9429 numbers are JF412349.3 and AEA51002.2 for the cDNA and amino acid sequence, respectively. check details Figure 4 Protein domains analysis of S. schenckii HSP90 homologue. This figure shows the domains that characterize the HSP90 homologue of S. schenckii. The domains were identified

using the NCBI Conserved Domain Database. The domains in the 707 amino acid protein were: HATPase_c (histidine kinase ATPase domain) and the HSP90 domains. The complete coding cDNA sequence of SSHSP90 is shown in Additional File 4. In this figure, amino acid residues involved in the interaction with tetratricopeptide repeat proteins are shown in red letters and the HATPase domain is shaded in yellow. Additional file 5 shows the multiple sequence alignment of various fungal HSP90 and the human HSP90 isoform 2. This figure shows the high degree of conservation of HSP90 fungal homologues, including SSHSP90. The HATPase or N terminal domain region is

boxed in blue while the HSP90 domain region is boxed in red. A blue line marks the C terminal domain. Figure 5 shows the confirmation of the interaction of SSCMK1 with the HSP90 homologue using co-immunoprecipitation (Co-IP) and Western Cytidine deaminase blot. The Co-IP’s result for SSCMK1 shows a band of 71 kDa. The calculated theoretical value, considering that SSCMK1 was expressed fused to the GAL-4 binding domain is 68 kDa. The lower band observed in Lane 1 corresponds to the heavy chain of the antibody used for Co-IP. Lane 2 shows the results obtained in the Western blot when the primary anti-cMyc antibody was not added (negative control). Lane 3 shows the band obtained using anti-HA antibody that recognizes the SSHSP90 fragment. The observed molecular weight of this band is 33.0 kDa. This molecular weight is within the expected value considering that this fragment is fused to the GAL-4 activation domain (the theoretical value is 36 kDa). Lane 4 shows the results obtained in the Western blot when the primary anti-HA antibody was not added (negative control).

(A and B) Dental plaque from caries-free patients selleck chemicals llc (n=24). (B) Histone Demethylase inhibitor carious dentin from patients with dental caries (n=21). All data were calculated three times for CFU, PMA-qPCR, and qPCR, and the mean values were plotted. X = log10x, where x is the cell number calculated by PMA-qPCR (A and C) or qPCR (B and D). Y = log10y, where y is CFU. Quantitative discrimination of live/dead cariogenic bacterial cells in oral specimens The numbers of S. mutans and S. sobrinus cells in carious dentin and saliva were quantified in patients with dental caries. As

shown in Figure 5A, the mean totals of S. mutans cells (±S.D.) calculated by qPCR without PMA were 1.47 × 106 (±6.88 × 105) per 1 mg dental plaque (wet weight) from caries-free donors (n=24) and 1.48 × 106 (±7.80 × 105) per 1 mg carious dentin (wet weight) (n=21); viable cell numbers calculated

by qPCR with PMA were 3.98 × 105 (±1.27 × 105) per 1 mg carious dentin (wet weight) and 3.86 × 105 (±1.33 × 105) per 1 mg dental plaque (wet weight), representing 26.9% and 29.5% of the total cells, respectively (Figure 5A). There was no significant difference in viable cell number or total cell number between caries dentin and plaque (Mann–Whitney test). Figure 5 Comparison of the total (qPCR) and viable (PMA-qPCR) S. mutans cell numbers in oral specimens. (A) Dental Compound Library concentration plaque from caries-free patients (n=24) and carious dentin (n=21). (B) Saliva from caries-free children (n=24) and patients with dental caries Quinapyramine (n=21). *; p < 0.05 Next, we compared the number of cells in saliva from patients with and without dental caries. The mean totals of S. mutans cells (± S.D.) calculated by qPCR were 4.24 × 108 (±2.38×108) per 1 ml of saliva from patients with dental caries (n=21) and 1.02 × 108 (±5.07×107) per 1 ml of saliva from caries-free donors (n=24); viable cell numbers calculated by qPCR with PMA were 1.68 × 108 (±1.06×108) per 1 ml of

saliva from patients with dental caries (n=21) and 4.45 × 107 (±3.31×107) per 1 ml of saliva from caries-free donors (n=24), representing 39.6% and 43.6% of the total cells, respectively (Figure 5B). Total cell number and viable cell number differed significantly between caries-positive and -negative saliva (p < 0.05 for each; Mann–Whitney test). Streptococcus sobrinus was detected in only one patient with dental caries (data not shown). The total numbers of S. sobrinus cells calculated by qPCR without PMA were 8.14 × 107 CFU per 1 ml of saliva (32.5% were live cells) and 1.58 × 109 CFU per 1 mg carious dentin (7.84% were live cells). Correlation of viable S. mutans cell number among oral specimens The correlations of viable cell number between saliva and caries-free plaque and/or carious dentin were examined. Among caries-free patients, the number of viable S. mutans cells in saliva was significantly correlated with the number in plaque (n=24, Figure 6A). No correlation was observed between saliva and carious dentin (n=21, Figure 6B). Figure 6 Correlation of viable S.