The wettability of electrospun poly(epsilon-caprolactone) (PCL) mats was improved by co-electrospinning with poly(vinyl alcohol) (PVA), by double-spinneret electrospinning method. The improved hydrophilicity of the hybrid PCL/PVA mats was confirmed by water contact angle measurement. The in vitro cell attachment on the hydrophobic PCL and hydrophilically modified PCL/PVA mats was compared by culture studies using human prostate epithelial cells (HPECs). The stability of water-soluble PVA component in the electrospun PCL/PVA mats was checked by thermogravimetric analysis and intensity of fluorescence material after immersion in water for 7 days. The images from scanning electron microscopy, field emission scanning electron microscopy, and optical microscopy showed that the attachment and proliferation rate of HPECs were improved by introducing PVA into the electrospun PCL mats.

A Gram-stain-negative, rod-shaped, non-motile and yellow-pigmented bacterial strain, designated strain JJ013 T , was isolated from an artificial lake in Jeollabuk-do, South Korea, and characterized using a polyphasic approach. The 16S rRNA gene sequence of strain JJ013T indicated that the isolate belonged to the family Flavobacteriaceae and exhibited similarity levels of 96.6 % to the type strains of Flavobacterium cheonanense and Flavobacterium koreense and 96.5 % to the type strain of Flavobacterium chungnamense. Growth was observed at 20-30 6C and pH 5.0-7.0. The major cellular fatty acids of the novel strain were iso-C 15 : 0 (27.5 %), iso-C 15 : 1 G (17.8 %), iso-C 17 : 0 3-OH (9.4 %) and iso-C 15 : 0 3-OH (9.2 %). Flexirubin-type pigments were present. The DNA G+C content of strain JJ013 T was 33.9 mol%, the major respiratory quinone was menaquinone-6 (MK-6) and the major polyamine was sym-homospermidine. The polar lipid profile of the strain JJ013 T consisted of a phosphatidylethanolamine (PE), two unknown aminolipids (AL1-2), three unidentified lipid (L1-3) and an unknown glycolipid (GL). On the basis of the morphological and physiological properties and biochemical evidence presented, it is concluded that strain JJ013 T represents a novel species of the genus Flavobacterium, for which the name Flavobacterium aciduliphilum sp. nov. is proposed; the type strain is JJ013 T (5KACC 16594). Since C 15 : 0 , which is known as a predominant fatty acid of the genus Flavobacterium was not detected in the novel strain and other reference strains, we propose an emended description of the genus Flavobacterium.The genus Flavobacterium accommodates Gram-negative, aerobic, rod-shaped and yellow-pigmented bacteria and belongs to the phylum Bacteroidetes. The strains of species of the genus Flavobacterium are found in a variety of environments such as soil, freshwater, seawater, wastewater, Antarctic lakes, gut of earthworm and fish tissues. Most species of the Flavobacterium are sensitive to salts and several species are known to cause diseases in freshwater fish (Bernardet & Bowman, 2006;Wakabayashi et al., 1989). A bacterial strain JJ013T was isolated from the Lake Yongdam in Jinan, Jeollabuk-do, South Korea. The strain appeared as yellow colonies after 4 days cultivation at 25 u C on R2A agar (Difco) and was selected for characterization and sequence analysis of the 16S rRNA gene. For 16S rRNA gene sequencing and G+C content, chromosomal DNA was extracted by using a bacteria genomic DNA isolation kit (RBC). The 16S rRNA gene was amplified from the DNA by PCR (Marchesi et al., 1998) using universal bacterial primers 27F and 1492R. Because the similarity between selected strain and most related strains was lower than 96.6 %, it was studied further. The novel strain was routinely grown on R2A agar at 25 u C for 3 days and preserved at 270 u C as a suspension in R2A broth supplemented with glycerol [20 % (v/v)].The closest phylogenetic neighbours were identified using the EzTaxon database (Kim et al., 2012). Phylogenetic...

Naturally occurring mycotoxins are responsible for a wide array of adverse health effects. The measurement of urinary mycotoxin levels is a useful means of assessing an individual's exposure, but the development of sensitive and accurate analytical methods for detecting mycotoxins and their metabolites in urine samples is challenging. Urinary mycotoxins are present in low pg ml⁻¹ concentrations, and the chromatographic identification of their metabolites can be obscured by other endogenous metabolites. We developed an analytical method focused on the selection of two appropriate multiple-reaction monitoring transition for unambiguous identification and quantification of carcinogenic aflatoxin M₁ (AFM₁), ochratoxin A (OTA) and fumonisin B₁, B₂ (FB₁, FB₂) in urine samples from a small volunteer group in a pilot study. AFM₁, OTA, FB₁ and FB₂ were concentrated selectively, interfering substances were removed using an immunoaffinity column (IAC), and mycotoxins were measured using liquid chromatography-tandem mass spectrometry (LC-MS/MS) in combination with a stable-isotope standard-dilution assay (SIDA). The method was sensitive enough to measure mycotoxins and their metabolites at pg ml⁻¹ levels in urine. The combination of LC-MS/MS and SIDA was critical to distinguishing pseudo-OTα interference from genuine OTα. Twelve urine samples contained OTA ranging from 0.013 to 0.093 ng ml⁻¹ (mean = 0.031 ng ml⁻¹). AFM₁ were detected in one sample at a 0.002 ng ml⁻¹ level, while FB₁ and FB₂ were undetectable in all 12 samples. None of the samples in this pilot study contained a detectable level of OTα, despite the presence of OTA, and this may suggest the need for further epidemiological investigation of OTA exposure in the Korean population.

The antimicrobial killing activity toward methicillin-resistant Staphylococcus aureus (MRSA) has been a serious emerging global issue. In a continuing search for compounds with antibacterial activity against several microorganisms including S. aureus and MRSA, an n-hexane extract of Magnolia officinalis was found to contain magnolol. This compound exhibited potent activity against S. aureus, standard methicillin-susceptible S. aureus (MSSA), and MRSA as well as clinical MRSA isolates. When combined with oxacillin, the antibacterial activities of magnolol and honokiol against the MRSA strain were increased compared to single treatment without antibiotics at 10 µg/mL and 25 µg/mL, respectively. These activities of magnolol and honokiol were dose dependent. Also, magnolol showed synergistic effects with oxacillin against 13 clinical isolates of MRSA. It was determined that magnolol and honokiol had a synergistic effect with oxacillin against MRSA strain. Furthermore, the magnolol inhibited the expression of the resistant genes, mecA, mecI, femA, and femB, in mRNA. We concluded that the antibacterial activity of magnolol against MRSA strain is more related to the mecI's pathway and components of the cell wall than mecR1. Therefore, the results obtained in this study suggest that the combination of magnolol and antibiotics could lead to the development of new combination antibiotics against MRSA infection.