24; 95% CI 0.34–4.52]. Median VL on HAART was <50 HIV RNA copies/mL (IQR 50–184). MTCT was 0.1% (three transmissions) in 2117 women on HAART with a delivery

VL <50 HIV RNA copies/mL. Two of the three infants were born by elective (pre-labour) CS (0.2%, two of 1135) and one by planned vaginal delivery (0.2%, one of 417); two of the three had evidence of in utero transmission (being HIV DNA PCR positive at birth). In this study there were no MTCT data for specific VL thresholds small molecule library screening or strata >50 HIV RNA copies/mL plasma, but in the multivariate analysis, controlling for ART, mode of delivery, gestational age and sex, there was a 2.4-fold increased risk of transmission for every log10 increase in VL, with lack of ART and mode of delivery Smoothened antagonist strongly associated with transmission [4]. Data from the ANRS French Perinatal cohort reported on 5271 women delivering between 1997 and 2004 of whom 48% were on HAART.

In women on HAART with a delivery VL of <400 copies/mL there was no significant difference in MTCT rates according to mode of delivery, with three of 747 (0.4%) transmission in the ECS group compared with three of 574 (0.5%) transmissions in the vaginal delivery group (P = 0.35). The effect of mode of delivery was also analysed for women delivering with a VL >10 000 HIV RNA copies/mL and no significant protective effect of elective CS was seen (OR 1.46; 0.37–5.80). MTCT was low at 0.4% in women delivering with a VL <50 HIV RNA copies/mL but mode of delivery data for this subset were not provided [23]. In contrast, data from the ECS of 5238 women delivering between 1985 and December 2007 showed that in 960 women delivering with a VL <400 HIV RNA copies/mL, elective CS was associated with an 80% decreased Fossariinae risk of MTCT (AOR 0.2; 95% CI 0.05–0.65) adjusting for HAART and prematurity. There were only two transmissions among 599 women delivering with VLs <50 HIV RNA copies/mL (MTCT 0.4%) with one delivering vaginally at <34 weeks and one by ECS at 37 weeks, but further analysis was not possible [221]. A potential explanation for the differing conclusions of the effect of mode of delivery on MTCT in women with delivery plasma

VLs <400 HIV RNA copies/mL in these two studies is that the true value of the plasma VL in studies that use assays with a lower limit of detection of 400 copies/mL, is not known. It is conceivable that there may exist a significant difference in the VL distribution <400 copies/mL between different cohorts, which could account for the contrasting findings. This highlights the fact that it is not possible to infer that MTCT rates from studies using a VL assay with cut-off <400 HIV RNA copies/mL can necessarily be applied to patients with plasma VLs of 50–399 HIV RNA copies/mL using current assays with lower limits of detection of 50 HIV RNA copies/mL or less. There are no published data on the impact of mode of delivery on MTCT rates for women with plasma VLs between 50 and 399 HIV RNA copies/mL.

The mixture was centrifuged at 4000 g for 10 min. The solutions were filtered and evaporated to dryness. Quantification of aflatoxin was performed by HPLC according to the methodology proposed by Trucksess selleck compound library et al. (1994). The extract was redissolved with 200 μL mobile phase and was derivatized with 700 μL of a mixture of trifluoroacetic acid/acetic acid/water (20 : 10 : 70, v/v). Chromatographic separations were performed on a reversed-phase column (Silica Gel, 150 × 4.6 mm i.d., 5-μm particle size; Varian, Inc., Palo Alto, CA). Acetonitrile/water/methanol (17 : 66 : 17 v/v) was used as mobile phase at a flow rate of 1.5 mL min−1.

Fluorescence of aflatoxin derivatives was recorded at λ 360 nm excitation and λ 460 nm emission. Calibration curves were constructed using different concentrations of AFB1 (Sigma, St. Louis, MO; purity > 99%) standard solutions. Aflatoxin was quantified by correlating sample peak areas with those of standard solutions. The detection limit of the analytical method was 0.4 ng g−1. The recovery of the toxin from MRS agar was 89.2 ± 9.7%. All analyses were carried out in triplicate and the results are presented as mean values. Data were analysed by analysis of variance (anova) using the software InfoStat versión 2011 (InfoStat Group, FCA, National University of Córdoba, Argentina). The results were considered to be statistically

www.selleckchem.com/products/LBH-589.html different at P < 0.05. Tukey's test was used for comparing treatment means. Lactobacillus rhamnosus L60 and L. fermentum L23 were able to inhibit the growth and AFB1 production by Aspergillus section Flavi species in vitro. Table 1 shows the inhibition Amino acid of growth of 10 Aspergillus section Flavi strains by L. rhamnosus L60 and L. fermentum L23 via the agar overlay method. Compared with control, both strains showed highest inhibition of fungal growth. Lactobacillus rhamnosus L60 was able to reduce the growth of all Aspergillus section Flavi strains

assayed whereas L. fermentum L23 inhibited the growth of 90% of fungal strains. Six toxigenic Aspergillus strains (60%) were totally inhibited by either lactobacilli strain. Lactobacillus fermentum L23 did not show inhibitory activity on A. flavus strain RC 2061. Other results showed that L60 and L23 were able to inhibit the sporulation and reduce esclerotia production on fungal strains compared with controls in both methodologies used. The agar block technique produced similar results on Aspergillus strains by both lactobacilli (Fig. 1). Table 2 shows the effect of lactobacilli strains on lag phase prior to growth of four Aspergillus section Flavi strains. These fungal strains were selected by their ability to produce higher levels of AFB1. In relation to the control treatment, a decrease in the lag phase of all fungal strains co-cultured with L60 and L23 was observed (P < 0.05). The lag phase ranged between 9.

One year after AZD2281 d-drug switching, 13C-exhalation had recovered and almost reached normal values (6.09±2.5 vs. 6.30±1.4 in pooled HIV-negative controls; difference not

significant). Our results also support the hypothesis that mitochondrial function, at least in hepatic cells, is a dynamic process with a high regenerative capacity, particularly in the absence of other hepatotoxic factors. This is illustrated in two patients in our study who had acute HCV coinfection and who experienced a sharp decline in 13C-exhalation from baseline values that was completely reversible after HCV elimination. It is noteworthy that individuals receiving ART regimens without d-drugs (d4T or ddI) did not show any differences at the second MeBT measurement compared with baseline, irrespective of whether they switched the PI or NNRTI component or remained on stable baseline treatment. Overall, the breath test performance in this group was also indistinguishable from that of pooled HIV-negative controls, suggesting that modern (thymidine-analogue- and/or d-drug-sparing) ART per se has no negative impact on hepatic mitochondrial integrity, at least over 12 months. Moreover, the results of our study indicate that uncontrolled

selleck inhibitor viral replication might affect hepatic mitochondrial function in a much more deleterious way than ART does. Although the small size of the STI subgroup does not allow a definitive conclusion to be drawn, it is clear from this study

that 13C-exhalation decreased in all subgroups without ART at follow-up measurement. The 13C-methionine breath test is still lacking validation with an accepted Dapagliflozin ‘gold’ standard diagnostic test of (hepatic) mitochondrial function. What is more, we are not certain that such a standard exists. Histological data from other patient groups with ‘mitochondrial’ liver diseases (nonalcoholic steatohepatitis and chronic hepatitis C infection) indicate a good correlation of individual breath test outcome with histomorphological characteristics (degree of steatosis, inflammation grade, etc.) in nonalcoholic steatohepatitis but not in chronic HCV infection [18,19]. In the latter cohort, baseline HCV viral load was the only parameter with a tendency to correlate with MeBT results. This finding may also support the ‘oxidative stress hypothesis’ of uncontrolled viral replication, which may also account for possible HIV-associated mitochondrial damage in the present study. Before recommending the MeBT as a standard diagnostic of hepatic mitochondrial function it would be necessary to further explore these subcellular changes using more suitable techniques providing insights into hepatic mitochondrial morphology and function by measuring variables such as oxygen consumption and mitochondrial DNA content directly in liver tissue.

125, selleck chemicals SD = 0.079) compared with attend-face trials trials (M = 0.485, SD = 0.248), t6 = −4.84,

P = 0.0028. This shows that category-specific voxels responded strongly to the preferred category than to the non-preferred category. Anatomical grouping of voxels used by the decoder showed that the selected voxels were distributed across 31 distinct brain regions across the subjects (see Fig. S4 for a list of all these regions). Regions not activated in at least three subjects were excluded from further analysis. This left only nine brain regions, as shown in Fig. 4F. These included bilateral fusiform and lingual gyri, right parahippocampal gyrus, left and right inferior occipital lobes, and right middle and superior temporal lobes. Right fusiform gyrus, left and right inferior occipital lobes, and right middle and superior temporal lobes were assigned positive weights and responded

strongly to faces during the localizer task (Fig. 5A). Hence, these were labeled as face-selective regions. Left fusiform gyrus, bilateral lingual gyri and right parahippocampal gyrus were assigned negative weights HSP phosphorylation and were more responsive to place stimuli in the localizer task (Fig. 5B), and therefore labeled as place-selective regions. The classifier weights summed across all subjects for all these regions are shown in Fig. 4G. The MVA-G model not only gave decoding performance similar to that of MVA-W, but also recruited voxels from the same regions as were used in the MVA-W model. While nine regions were used in the MVA-W decoding model,

10 regions were recruited in the MVA-G model (Fig. 6), out of which six were the same as that in the MVA-W decoder. Percent signal change across these regions is shown in Fig. 7. The fact that MVA-G identified a number of different regions compared with MVA-W may be explained by the fact that these regions contain redundant information that is ignored by MVA-W due to the sparseness constraint imposed by the elastic net classifier. ADP ribosylation factor MVA-T also gave above-chance classification performance, though the observed trend was that it was generally lower than MVA-G. Thirty-four distinct clusters were found across the group in the individual GLM. Those clusters that were not activated in three or more subjects were removed from further analysis. Decoding performance for the remaining 12 clusters is summarized in Fig. 8. As stated earlier, the average decoding performance for MVA-C was found to be significantly lower than MVA-W and MVA-G. These results suggest that within each small cluster not much discriminable information is present about the attended category. However, if decoding is extended to multiple brain regions such as that in MVA-W or MVA-G, then distributed patterns of cortical activation can help increase the decoding performance dramatically.

Levels of interleukin-17 and vitamin-D binding protein (VDBP) by enzyme-linked immunosorbent assay could distinctly demarcate active disease Selleck Staurosporine versus remission. Our study provides potential protein markers of active disease versus remission in GPA. “
“Consideration of the safety of liver transaminases monitoring every 12 weeks in patients with inflammatory connective tissue disorders who are treated with methotrexate (MTX). In a retrospective study, the data from rheumatic patients receiving MTX were analyzed. Alanine aminotransferase (ALT) and aspartate aminotransferase (AST) were measured every 12 weeks. Based

on the physician’s final decision about the continuation of MTX, the patients were classified into one of the following groups: continuation of MTX without MTX dose reduction, MTX dose reduction, MTX discontinuation Selleckchem Roxadustat due to liver complication and MTX discontinuation due to other reasons. A total of 809 patients who

were on MTX were included in the study. The mean follow-up duration and the mean duration of treatment with MTX were 31.22 and 19.76 months, respectively. The mean accumulation dose of MTX was 865.85 mg. Due to the increase in the level of transaminases in 3.2% of the patients, MTX dose was reduced; and in 1.1% of the cases it was temporarily discontinued. In the follow-up of the patients with elevated transaminases, they returned to normal limits in 99.5% of patients; and only in four cases (0.5%) they remained elevated and MTX was discontinued. The probability of the patients remaining on MTX for 5 years without discontinuation for liver complications was 98.5% Liver transaminase monitoring every 12 weeks for MTX-treated patients is safe. “
“To evaluates the pregnancy outcomes in systemic lupus erythematosus (SLE) patients in South Korea and determine the predictive factors for adverse fetal and

maternal outcomes. All pregnancies in SLE patients who were seen at the Samsung Medical Center between November 1994 and December 2010 were included and retrospectively analyzed. Protein tyrosine phosphatase SLE flares were determined by the Lupus Activity Index-Pregnancy (LAI-P) score. Sixty-two pregnancies were observed in 50 patients. Fifty-one (82.3%) live births and 11 (17.7%) fetal losses were observed. Thirty-eight of the live births (74.5%) were full-term and 13 (25.5%) were preterm births. Fetal losses included three spontaneous abortions, two stillbirths and six therapeutic abortions. Proteinuria during pregnancy was a predictive factor for adverse fetal outcomes (adjusted odds ratio [OR] 12.50; P = 0.032). An LAI-P score was obtained in 36 pregnancies, and SLE flares occurred in 12 pregnancies (33.3%), primarily during the second trimester (46.2%). Renal involvement (69.2%) was the most common SLE flare during pregnancy.

Levels of interleukin-17 and vitamin-D binding protein (VDBP) by enzyme-linked immunosorbent assay could distinctly demarcate active disease 5-FU cell line versus remission. Our study provides potential protein markers of active disease versus remission in GPA. “
“Consideration of the safety of liver transaminases monitoring every 12 weeks in patients with inflammatory connective tissue disorders who are treated with methotrexate (MTX). In a retrospective study, the data from rheumatic patients receiving MTX were analyzed. Alanine aminotransferase (ALT) and aspartate aminotransferase (AST) were measured every 12 weeks. Based

on the physician’s final decision about the continuation of MTX, the patients were classified into one of the following groups: continuation of MTX without MTX dose reduction, MTX dose reduction, MTX discontinuation High Content Screening due to liver complication and MTX discontinuation due to other reasons. A total of 809 patients who

were on MTX were included in the study. The mean follow-up duration and the mean duration of treatment with MTX were 31.22 and 19.76 months, respectively. The mean accumulation dose of MTX was 865.85 mg. Due to the increase in the level of transaminases in 3.2% of the patients, MTX dose was reduced; and in 1.1% of the cases it was temporarily discontinued. In the follow-up of the patients with elevated transaminases, they returned to normal limits in 99.5% of patients; and only in four cases (0.5%) they remained elevated and MTX was discontinued. The probability of the patients remaining on MTX for 5 years without discontinuation for liver complications was 98.5% Liver transaminase monitoring every 12 weeks for MTX-treated patients is safe. “
“To evaluates the pregnancy outcomes in systemic lupus erythematosus (SLE) patients in South Korea and determine the predictive factors for adverse fetal and

maternal outcomes. All pregnancies in SLE patients who were seen at the Samsung Medical Center between November 1994 and December 2010 were included and retrospectively analyzed. SPTBN5 SLE flares were determined by the Lupus Activity Index-Pregnancy (LAI-P) score. Sixty-two pregnancies were observed in 50 patients. Fifty-one (82.3%) live births and 11 (17.7%) fetal losses were observed. Thirty-eight of the live births (74.5%) were full-term and 13 (25.5%) were preterm births. Fetal losses included three spontaneous abortions, two stillbirths and six therapeutic abortions. Proteinuria during pregnancy was a predictive factor for adverse fetal outcomes (adjusted odds ratio [OR] 12.50; P = 0.032). An LAI-P score was obtained in 36 pregnancies, and SLE flares occurred in 12 pregnancies (33.3%), primarily during the second trimester (46.2%). Renal involvement (69.2%) was the most common SLE flare during pregnancy.

Both AcfB and TcpI are transmembrane Nivolumab concentration proteins, and the homology with MCPs has been noted previously (Everiss et al., 1994; Harkey et al., 1994). The tcpI and acfB genes were originally identified through TnphoA mutagenesis, and in this study a tcpI:TnphoA V. cholerae strain was found to exhibit wild-type levels of intestinal colonization, while an acfB∷TnphoA V. cholerae strain was approximately 10-fold defective for intestinal colonization (Peterson & Mekalanos, 1988). AcfB and TcpI share 26% amino acid identity over their entire

length, and the segments from aa 463 to 530 in AcfB and aa 453 to 520 in TcpI share 77% identity (Fig. 1 and Supporting Information, Fig. S1). Both proteins are predicted to have signal

peptides, and the N-terminal periplasmic portions contain a Cache motif (Anantharaman & Aravind, 2000), a signaling domain found in chemotaxis receptors. The transmembrane segments are predicted to be located at aa 278–292 in TcpI and aa 286–300 in AcfB (Cserzo et al., selleck chemical 1997), and the cytoplasmic portions contain a HAMP motif (Aravind & Ponting, 1999) and an MCP signaling domain (PF00015), both typically found in MCPs (Fig. 1). The Cache domain is predicted to be involved in small molecule recognition, while the HAMP domain has been shown to modulate conformation of MCP oligomers in response to ligand binding in the Cache domain and methylation of the MCP domain (Khursigara et al., 2008). To determine the roles of AcfB and TcpI in intestinal colonization, V. cholerae strains containing chromosomal mutations in acfB and tcpI were constructed. The tcpI gene is in a single gene operon, and so a deletion/insertion mutation (ΔtcpI∷Cm) was constructed; however, due to the location of acfB within a multigene operon, an in-frame deletion was constructed (ΔacfB) to prevent deleterious effects on downstream gene expression. We additionally constructed a V. cholerae strain with a

ΔcheY-3 mutation in this genetic background; cheY-3 is essential for V. cholerae chemotaxis (Butler & Camilli, 2004). The acfB, tcpI, and acfB tcpI V. cholerae strains were monitored for swimming behavior Morin Hydrate utilizing soft agar plates (Fig. 2). In this assay, the ΔcheY-3 mutant, despite being motile, demonstrates no net movement away from the point of inoculation, and productive movement could be complemented back to wild-type levels by providing cheY-3 in trans, as has been demonstrated previously (Butler & Camilli, 2004). The acfB and tcpI (single) mutants displayed motility patterns that were slightly greater than the wild-type strain, the acfB strain more so than the tcpI strain (Fig. 2); strains containing Tn-phoA fusion insertions in these genes were previously shown to similarly display enhanced motility patterns (Everiss et al., 1994; Harkey et al., 1994). In contrast, the acfB tcpI (double) mutant displayed a slightly smaller motility pattern than the wild-type strain.

Sixty-four percent of rheumatoid arthritis patients in Qatar were in remission or had low disease activity while the remaining 36% had active disease and among these patients 29% were on biologics. Rheumatoid arthritis (RA) is a chronic inflammatory disorder affecting primarily cartilage and bone of small and middle-sized joints. In addition, larger joints and several organs such as lungs, blood vessels and the hematopoietic system may be involved.[1] The disease distribution involves Crenolanib cell line all racial and ethnic groups. However, variations in the clinical expression, severity and outcome of the

disease among different ethnic groups have been reported. Few studies have reported prevalence and characteristics of the disease in an Arab population. Studies from Iraq,[2] Kingdom of Saudi Arabia,[3] Kuwait[4] and Lebanon[5] have suggested RA in Arab patients to be mild and nondestructive. These studies were descriptive and did not include disease activity score (DAS) measurement, However. a study from the United Arab of Emirates (UAE) shows that patients had very active disease with mean DAS28 (28 joints) scores of 5.2.[6] Information about disease activity, treatment and outcomes will help for decision-making in health care. The characteristics of RA in Qatar have not been studied before; we aimed in this outpatient hospital-based study to gather information about RA clinical, radiological and serological characteristics and disease activity, and treatment selleck screening library in

Qatar. This cross-sectional study was conducted at Hamad General Hospital (HGH), in Dohar, Qatar; HGH is a tertiary care referral center offering free health care services to Qatari patients and for non-Qatari expatriates at a significantly reduced cost with total exemption of payment for some of the costly drugs. Two-third of the 1.5

million population of Qatar are expatriate. We enrolled 100 consecutive patients who met 1987 American College of Rheumatology classification criteria for the diagnosis of RA. These patients were followed up in a rheumatology Fossariinae outpatient clinic. Consent forms were signed by the patients. Demographic data (sex, nationality and age), number of swollen and tender joints, X-ray findings (which were reported electronically by a radiologist), current and past medications were recorded. DAS 28 was calculated and classified as follows: score of < 2.6 was defined as clinical remission, score from 2.6 to 3.2 corresponded to low disease activity and > 3.2 was consistent with active disease. The disease was considered as severe functional disability if the Health Assessment Questionnaires (HAQ) score was > 1.5. Statistical analysis was performed using SPSS software (SPSS Inc, Chicago, IL, USA). Descriptive analysis was undertaken for all variables. In this study, 100 consecutive patients were collected from September 1, 2011 to March 31, 2012. Among these patients 23% were Qatari and 77% were non-Qatari (59% Asian, 16% African and 2% Western: Table 1).

The aim of the current AZD4547 nmr study is to further investigate the possible interactions between antipsychotic treatment, estrogen and the dopaminergic system in a rodent

model, by using female, D-amphetamine sulphate (AMPH)-sensitized rats. Behaviors elicited by AMPH sensitization are thought to reflect some of the positive and cognitive symptoms of schizophrenia (Tenn et al., 2003; Featherstone et al., 2007). These changes are further thought to correspond to nucleus accumbens (NAcc) DA transmission changes in both rodents and non-human primates (Tenn et al., 2003; Castner et al., 2005; Peleg-Raibstein et al., 2008). In a previous study, locomotor activity was recorded in response to an acute injection of AMPH in male rats receiving chronic antipsychotic treatment over a period of 12 days (Samaha et al., 2007). Chronic continuous antipsychotic treatment became progressively ineffective at blocking AMPH-induced locomotion, with the higher doses resulting in a potentiated response to AMPH 5 days after treatment cessation. In the current study, we administered the typical antipsychotic haloperidol (HAL), at the lower concentration of the chronic regimen used by Samaha et al. (2007) which is still shown to reflect effective doses in humans (Kapur et al., 2000; Samaha et al., 2007, 2008) to either AMPH-sensitized or

non AMPH-sensitized female rats. Ruxolitinib These ovariectomized (OVX) rats received either chronic low alone, or chronic low plus phasic high 17β-estradiol (E2) replacement to simulate two different estrogen levels during different phases of the estrous cycle in young females (Quinlan et al., 2008). Following an AMPH challenge, locomotor activity was recorded and NAcc DA and its metabolites were measured using in vivo microdialysis. It has been suggested that

antipsychotic administration may lead to DA receptor supersensitivity, which could lead to a Liothyronine Sodium rebound effect when drug administration is discontinued (Antelman et al., 1986; Samaha et al., 2008); such a rebound was observed in male rats following discontinuation of continuous HAL at a higher concentration than used here (Samaha et al., 2007). To examine this phenomenon in females, HAL administration was discontinued for 1 week, after which locomotor activity in response to an additional AMPH challenge was examined. Sixty-four female Sprague–Dawley rats (Charles River Laboratories, Montreal, QC, Canada) weighing 220–250 g were pair-housed and were the original N of this study. Cages were located in a 21 °C room with a 12-h reverse light–dark cycle (lights off at 09.00 h), with ad libitum access to food and water. Bedding consisted of a 50 : 50 mixture of corncob and beta-chip. All testing and surgical procedures were performed during the dark phase of the diurnal cycle.

4). The LacZ activity levels of cells recovered between 12 and 48 h were low, but increased markedly after 4 days, indicating that a certain incubation period was required for the induction. This delayed expression of LacZ activities was not observed by the constitutively lacZ-expressing

strain, 17616cox::lacZ (Nishiyama et al., 2010), which showed similar levels of LacZ activities at 12 h and 14 days after inoculation in the soil (data not shown). To determine whether the andA operon is essential to survive or grow in soil, the 17616ΔandAc was tested for its ability to proliferate and survive in the soil. The 17616ΔandAc and 17616cox::lacZ cells form white and blue colonies, respectively, on X-gal-containing agar plate. The 1 : 1 mixture of the Entinostat in vitro two kinds of cells was inoculated into the soil sample, the cells Bleomycin clinical trial were recovered after various intervals, the CFUs of each type of cells g−1 of soil were counted (Fig. 5a), and the proportion of white colonies to the total (i.e. white plus blue) ones was also calculated (Fig. 5b). During the first 15 days, the CFUs of 17616ΔandAc remained at a low level, whereas the CFUs of 17616cox::lacZ increased. In Fig. 5b, the mutant cell ratio declined during the first week and reached a

steady low level, clearly showing that andA is necessary in the soil environment. We also tested two deletion mutants of ATCC 17616, 17616ΔpdyP and 17616Δsdh. Each mutant carried a chromosomal deletion of a genomic locus that was induced in the soil environment (Nishiyama et al., 2010). Although these mutants were originally included to investigate the

role of the deleted genomic locus in the soil, they showed no decreased CFUs and fitness, and they are controls here (as the results for the two mutants are essentially the same, the result for 17616Δsdh is not shown). Our present study clarified that the andAcAdAbAa gene cluster, predicted to encode anthranilate dioxygenase in B. multivorans ATCC 17616, is indeed involved in the catabolism of tryptophan and anthranilate, and that this gene cluster is under the control of two transcriptional regulators, AndR and Fur, in both the laboratory and soil environments. We Phosphoprotein phosphatase also showed that this cluster plays a pivotal role in the proliferation in the soil environment. We showed that the andA operon is regulated by Fur, which is an iron-responsive transcriptional regulator. The anthranilate dioxygenase belongs to a class of dioxygenases, which require a [2Fe-2S] cluster in its active site (Batie et al., 1991), and it is not surprising that the iron-regulatory scheme operates on the andA operon. However, the effects of the iron-chelating agent and the disruption of fur gene on the transcriptional activity of andA operon were not remarkable (only at the level of twofold change) in B.