The high response rate of 85% in large joint mono-arthropathy to

The high response rate of 85% in large joint mono-arthropathy to yttrium synovectomy is an interesting finding and has not been previously reported.

It may relate to different underlying pathophysiology between arthropathies, with large joint mono-arthropathy being a condition truly localized to one joint compared to other arthropathies being associated with an underlying systemic illness which is unlikely to be successfully treated with a local therapy alone. Correlation with anti-citrinullated antibody (anti-CCP Ab) status,[11] a biochemical marker for underlying rheumatoid arthritis/polyarthropathy, would be useful; however, unfortunately this was not available in most of our patients due to the time period in which data was collected. Nonetheless, the high success rate in the large joint mono-arthropathy GSK2118436 cell line group raises the possibility that clinical assessment by experienced rheumatologists may be sufficient to direct potential Gefitinib candidates toward this therapeutic modality. Incorporation of anti-CCP Ab status may potentially broaden the use of yttrium synovectomy if it can be shown to identify cases of large joint mono-arthropathy where clinical uncertainty remains.

Future studies will be needed to answer this question. The two patients in our cohort with pigmented villonodular synovitis had a poor response to yttrium synovectomy and required subsequent surgical synovectomy, which is concordant with the literature suggesting yttrium synovectomy is only effective in the adjuvant setting following surgery for this condition.[12] A limitation of this study is its retrospective observational design. As a result, standardized radiological documentation of the severity of joint abnormalities pre-yttrium synovectomy was not available. At our institution,

the criteria for referral for yttrium synovectomy is in patients with severe arthropathy refractory to conventional therapies, hence it is likely patients had joint disease at the more severe end P-type ATPase of the spectrum. This may possibly contribute to the overall response rate of 57% being in the lower range of what has been reported in the literature, as more severely deranged joints generally respond less favorably to this technique.[8] A further limitation relates to the relatively small number of joints available for the subanalysis performed to compare response rates pre- and post-availability of newer-generation disease modifying medications and factor replacement therapy in 2005. Nonetheless, the trend seen particularly in the larger rheumatoid/psoriatic cohort toward a higher response rate post-2005 compared to pre-2005 (57% vs. 41%, respectively) suggests the availability of newer-generation disease modifying medications does not significantly reduce the efficacy of this technique in patients with refractory arthopathy.

The sublethal concentration of zoocin A determined for each strai

The sublethal concentration of zoocin A determined for each strain is given in Table 1. The growth assay proved simple and highly reproducible. Although somewhat arbitrary, setting the lag phase cut off point at initial OD+0.1 yielded highly reproducible experimental data. Determining the growth rate constant did not allow us to reliably distinguish treated from untreated cultures. Once treated cultures reached log phase, they grew as fast as untreated cultures, suggesting that once the cells have repaired their peptidoglycan and degraded any remaining intracellular PS-ODN, there were no remaining constraints to cellular growth. The addition of 0.1 μg mL−1

GSK1120212 research buy zoocin A and 10 μM of either FABM or FBA to S. MS-275 concentration mutans OMZ175 resulted in a lag phase that was significantly longer (P=0.001) than that observed for the addition of zoocin A alone (Fig. 1). The effect of zoocin A and FABM on S. mutans OMZ175 growth was dose dependent. In the absence of zoocin A, FABM (1–20 μM) had no significant

effect on S. mutans OMZ175 growth (Table 2). When combined with 0.1 μg mL−1 zoocin A, the lag phase increased proportionally (R2=0.9928) with increasing FABM concentration. Similarly, using a fixed concentration of FABM (10 μM), the increase in lag phase was proportional to the zoocin A concentration (Table 2) both in the presence (R2=0.9919) and in the absence (R2=0.9069) of the PS-ODN. Growth inhibition was target specific. Only S. mutans strains were severely inhibited in the presence of FABM, whereas all streptococcal strains except S. oralis were severely inhibited by FBA (Table 3). Streptococcus

oralis 34 does contain the FBA target sequence within its genome but is not sensitive to zoocin A. Compared with growth in the presence of zoocin A, there were large increases in the lag phase (between 25% and >134%) for all S. mutans strains Phenylethanolamine N-methyltransferase grown in the presence of zoocin A plus FABM. With the exception of S. oralis 34, compared with growth in the presence of zoocin A, there were large increases in the lag phase (between 30% and >134%) for all streptococcal strains grown in the presence of zoocin A plus FBA. Streptococcus sobrinus 6715 and S. sanguinis K11 showed no response to either FABM or FBA used at concentrations of 10 μM, but both showed significant (P=0.001) increases in lag phase in the presence of zoocin A plus 50 μM FBA. There were some strains that showed a small (<11%) but statistically significant increase in lag phase when incubated with the ATS control, suggesting a degree of nonspecific toxicity by these constructs. As a consequence of their high GC content, negative charge and or sulphur group, PS-ODN have been reported to interact with cellular proteins Brown et al., 1994), resulting in nonspecific toxicity (Chrisey et al., 1995; Stein, 1996).

To determine phasic firing for reward-related activity, we first

To determine phasic firing for reward-related activity, we first aligned histograms to the rewarded lever presses, and then subtracted from that response the average firing pattern of that cell during unrewarded responses. Sustained (> 200 ms) residual activity within the first 5 s following a rewarded press compared with a 99% confidence interval (CI) constructed around the baseline was considered

phasic. Next, it was important to determine whether phasic activity during the cue period was selective for one cue compared with the other. To determine selectivity, the firing rate in each bin was calculated using the trial-by-trial average. Each cell was thus subjected to a three-way repeated-measures anova, with bin (± 1000 ms), cue onset SB431542 clinical trial (pre-onset vs. post-onset), and cue type (CS+, CS−) GKT137831 cost as factors. Selective cells (as demonstrated by a significant

cue × onset interaction) were significantly different between cues after onset, but not different during the baseline. It was hypothesized that as PIT modulated the vigor of lever pressing, it would be possible to see changes in the lever press-related neural activity as a function of whether Pavlovian cues were present, i.e. a PIT-encoding neuron would show firing that was significantly different around the time of press when the CS+ was presented compared with the CS− and baseline, but that the response would be similar during the CS− and baseline. To assess PIT selectivity, the response of each neuron was

sorted by whether it was made in the 60 s pre-cue onset (baseline), or the 60 s epoch containing the CS+ and the CS−. The average firing rate in each 250 ms bin across all presses was thus compared across conditions (baseline, CS+ and CS−) in a 4 s window time-locked Cyclooxygenase (COX) to the press using a two-way repeated-measures anova. It was further predicted that encoding information about cues was critical to supporting successful transfer behavior during test. Specifically, it was hypothesized that the degree to which cells developed cue selectivity would correlate with performance on the task. To assess this, a PIT selectivity index was developed, which was calculated as the difference in the lever-pressing rate between CS+ and CS− as a ratio of the average baseline lever-pressing rate, or: PIT selectivity index = (CS+ – CS−)/baseline. This index depicts the elevation of responding selective to the CS+ relative to baseline. Importantly, by incorporating the difference of the CS+ and CS−, this index will approach 0 if rates are elevated above baseline similarly in both CS+ and CS−, and increase as rats selectively increase responding during the CS+ period exclusively. As such, this index allowed us to correlate specific patterns of neural firing with behavior.

The initial year-on-year increase in overall supply reported by o

The initial year-on-year increase in overall supply reported by others[17, 24] appears to have stabilised 4 years post-reclassification while having little impact on prescription items over the entire study period. Despite a temporal relationship between OTC DAPT ophthalmic chloramphenicol supply and items dispensed on prescription the appropriateness of supplies from community pharmacies remains

unknown. The benefits and risks of having ophthalmic chloramphenicol available OTC and the impact of updated practice guidance on its prescribing OTC need to be studied further to better understand its current, high level of use. The Author(s) declare(s) that they have no conflicts of interest to disclose. This research received no specific grant from any funding agency in the public, commercial or not-for-profit sectors. We are thankful to IMS Health for supplying the pharmacy Dasatinib research buy wholesale data and we are also grateful to Dr Karen Hodson (Cardiff University) for critiquing the draft paper and providing helpful comments. Some data were presented at the 40th European Symposium of Clinical Pharmacy in Dublin on 19 October 2011.

Abstract one: Supply of ophthalmic chloramphenicol in primary care in Wales 5 years after reclassification to over-the-counter availability. Abstract two: Investigation of a correlation between over-the-counter sales and primary care prescriptions for chloramphenicol eye drops. All authors had complete access to the study data that support the publication. HD conceived the study, participated in its design, performed the statistical analysis and drafted the manuscript. DNJ participated in the design of the study and helped to draft the manuscript.

RW conceived the study, acquired data and helped to draft the manuscript. “
“Objective  The aim of the study was to explore, in the Malaysian general population: knowledge and beliefs of the characteristics in general of medication-related side effects and side effects associated with different types of medicines; behaviour related to the safe use of drugs before and after taking a medication; and behaviour in the event of a medication-related side effect. Methods  A 24-item self-administered questionnaire was developed and used to survey the general public living or working Glutamate dehydrogenase in suburban Kuala Lumpur, Malaysia. Eight hundred questionnaires were distributed, face to face, by researchers using quota sampling. Respondents’ knowledge, belief and behaviour were analysed and correlated with demographics, medical history and experience of side effects. Key findings  Six hundred and ten respondents completed the questionnaire giving a response rate of 76.3%. The mean knowledge score for the respondents was 18.4 ± 3.6 out of the maximum possible score of 26. Educational level and experience of side effect had an influence on the knowledge score obtained.

We report for the first time the isolation and identification of

We report for the first time the isolation and identification of an alkaliphile that can grow on ferulic acid as the sole carbon source. VDH activity was detected in the cell extract from ferulic acid- or vanillin-grown cells, and the enzyme was purified and characterized. The characteristics of the purified enzyme were compared with another VDH purified from a previously isolated neutrophilic strain,

Burkholderia cepacia TM1 (Tanaka & Hirokane, 2000). This report is an important contribution to the investigation of ferulic acid and vanillin metabolism because there have been only a few studies on the enzymatic characteristics of VDH (Bare et al., 2002), and it adds to the genetic information on VDH orthologs available in the bacterial genome databases. Vanillin and vanillic acid (4-hydroxy-3-methoxybenzoic acid) were purchased from Wako Chemicals (Osaka, Japan). Ferulic acid [3-(4-hydroxy-3-methoxyphenyl) Cabozantinib concentration acrylic acid] was gifted by Tsuno Food Industrial Co. Ltd (Wakayama, Japan). Oxidized NAD+ and oxidized β-NADP+ were obtained from Oriental Yeast Co. Ltd (Osaka, Japan). Burkholderia cepacia TM1 was obtained from soil as described previously (Tanaka et al., 2001). Micrococcus sp. TA1 was recently isolated from an alkaline spa in Yamaguchi, Japan. Water or soil samples (about 0.1 g) were added to the medium, which comprised K2HPO4

(1 g L−1), (NH4)2SO4 (1 g L−1), yeast extract (1 g L−1), MgSO4·7H2O (0.1 g L−1), FeCl3·6H2O (0.02 g L−1), and ferulic acid (2 g L−1) or vanillin (2 g L−1). The pH of the medium was adjusted to 10 using 10% w/v Na2CO3 solution. Cultivation was performed for 5–7 days at 28 °C with shaking and repeated several times for enrichment. The HDAC inhibitor enrichment culture was spread on the above medium solidified with agar (15 g L−1). Single colonies obtained were picked out and inoculated into the above medium. Substrates and products were quantified by HPLC using an octyldodecylsilyl-silica gel column (TSK gel ODS80TM; Tosoh, Tokyo, Japan) as described previously (Mitsui et al., 2003). Protein concentration was determined using the Bradford method (Bradford, 1976) with bovine serum albumin as the standard. The relative molecular mass

of the native enzyme was determined by gel filtration Histamine H2 receptor using an HPLC system equipped with a TSK gel G3000SW column (Tosoh). The column was washed with 50 mM potassium phosphate buffer (KPB) (pH 7) containing 0.1 M NaCl. Standard protein markers were obtained from Oriental Yeast Co. Ltd (Tokyo, Japan). Sodium dodecyl sulfate-polyacrylamide gel electrophoresis (SDS-PAGE) was performed on a 10% polyacrylamide gel (Laemmli, 1970), and Bio-Rad standard proteins (low range) were used for molecular mass measurement. The N-terminal and several internal amino acid sequences of the purified enzymes were determined using a protein sequencer (Applied Biosystems Japan, Tokyo, Japan) as described previously (Mitsui et al., 2007). Enzyme activity was measured using two methods.

, 2004, 2006; Klee et al, 2006; Luna et al, 2006; Peak et al,

, 2004, 2006; Klee et al., 2006; Luna et al., 2006; Peak et al., 2007). Over a 3-year period (2005–2007), the Rhode Island Department of Health check details (RI DOH) Laboratory received 56 clinical isolates for B. anthracis testing from multiple Laboratory Response Network (LRN) sentinel laboratories within the state. All

were initially referred to RI DOH Laboratory as ‘Bacillus spp., unable to rule-out B. anthracis,’ based on the LRN sentinel laboratory protocol and RI DOH Laboratory’s request that all isolates that are nonhemolytic, nonmotile, gram-positive rods, regardless of the colony morphology, be immediately sent for further testing. The RI DOH Laboratory determined that 49 of the 56 isolates submitted were truly nonhemolytic and nonmotile (one hemolytic, six motile), and ruled out B. anthracis for those 49 isolates based on their resistance to gamma phage, lack of amplification of the B. anthracis chromosomal and plasmid PCR targets (Hoffmaster et al., 2002), and negative reactions for the CW-DFA assay. A total of 18 of these isolates did, however, produce positive reactions to the CAP-DFA assay, indicating the production of a B. anthracis-like capsule, likely containing d-PGA capsular antigens. These isolates were forwarded

Dasatinib ic50 on to the CDC for further phenotypic and molecular characterization. Further characterization of these strains increases our understanding of the genotypic and antigenic diversity of Bacillus

and how it affects our ability to identify B. anthracis and other Bacillus spp. Eighteen clinical Protein tyrosine phosphatase Bacillus spp. isolates that were originally sent to RI DOH Laboratory were included in this study (Table 1). Each isolate was assigned an identification number, subcultured onto trypticase soy agar (TSA) plates containing 5% SBA (BBL Microbiology Systems, Cockeysville, MD), and incubated overnight at 37 °C. Isolates were stored at −70 °C as spore suspensions in deionized water containing 25% glycerol. The positive and negative control strains used for the CAP-DFA assay included B. anthracis Pasteur (ATCC 4229) (pX01−, pX02+) and B. cereus (ATCC 14579), respectively. For capsule staining using India ink (Remel, Lenexa, KS), B. cereus G9241 was used for an additional, non-B. anthracis capsule-producing (non-d-PGA) positive control (Hoffmaster et al., 2004). For the PCR reactions, DNA in cell lysates of B. anthracis New Hampshire strain (pX01+, pX02+) and B. cereus (ATCC 14579) was used as positive and negative controls, respectively (Plotkin et al., 1960). The two type strains –B. megaterium ATCC 14581T and Brevibacterium frigoritolerans DSM 8801T– were ordered from their respective culture collections [American Type Culture Collection, Manassas, VA, and the German Collection of Microorganisms and Cell Cultures (Deutsche Sammlung von Mikroorganismen und Zellkulturen) (DSMZ), Germany].

Given that no ARV drug is licensed for use in

pregnancy a

Given that no ARV drug is licensed for use in

pregnancy apart from ZDV in the third trimester, a discussion regarding the potential unknown long- and short-term effects on an unborn child should be had with any woman of childbearing potential who commences any ARV drug regimen. Further details can be found in the BHIVA pregnancy guidelines [210]. Significant pharmacokinetic and pharmacodynamic interactions have been reported between ARV drugs and hormonal agents. Inducers of hepatic enzymes by ARVs may result in increased breakdown of ethinyl oestradiol and progestogens that can compromise contraceptive and hormone replacement therapy efficacy. Additional contraceptive measures or different ARV RNA Synthesis inhibitor regimens may be required in these circumstances. Potential DDIs should be checked using various resources, including specialist HIV pharmacists, web-based LEE011 in vitro tools such as the University of Liverpool website on HIV drug interactions and medical information departments in pharmaceutical companies. There is no significant interaction between ETV and the combined oral contraceptive pill, and no interaction is anticipated with RAL. Hormonal contraceptive agents, which have been shown not to have a significant interaction or where there is no anticipated interaction

include depot medroxyprogesterone acetate, and the levonorgestrol IUS (Mirena coil). There is very little evidence to guide prescribing ART in HIV-positive women experiencing virological failure on ART, with most studies recruiting approximately 10% of women. One study investigating DRV/r in ART-experienced patients recruited a large proportion of women and was powered to show a difference in virological efficacy between men and women; this showed higher discontinuation rates among women than men, with nausea being cited

as a particular problem, but overall there was no difference in virological efficacy [236]. A further study has reported similar efficacy and tolerability of RAL in ART-experienced HIV-positive women [217]. In HIV-positive women experiencing virological failure on ART, the same principles Dichloromethane dehalogenase of management and recommendations apply as per HIV-positive men experiencing virological failure (see Section 7: Management of virological failure). “
“Current British HIV Association (BHIVA) guidelines recommend that all patients with a CD4 count <350 cells/μL are offered highly active antiretroviral therapy (HAART). We identified risk factors for delayed initiation of HAART following a CD4 count <350 cells/μL. All adults under follow-up in 2008 who had a first confirmed CD4 count <350 cells/μL from 2004 to 2008, who had not initiated treatment and who had >6 months of follow-up were included in the study. Characteristics at the time of the low CD4 cell count and over follow-up were compared to identify factors associated with delayed HAART uptake.

23 Da (data not shown) The main focus of this work was to charac

23 Da (data not shown). The main focus of this work was to characterize the antimicrobial peptide microcin N. Microcins are

produced mainly in the stationary growth phase (Riley & Wertz, 2002), with the exception of microcin E492, which is produced during the exponential selleck kinase inhibitor growth phase (de Lorenzo, 1984). Our results indicate that microcin N displays a behavior similar to that of microcin E492 in the exponential growth phase. However, its total activity does not diminish in the stationary phase (data not shown), showing a profile different from that of other bacteriocins, whose activities are expressed in the exponential or the stationary growth phase. Instead, the corrected microcin N activity has peaks in the exponential phase. The decrease in microcin N corrected activity observed in the late exponential phase could be http://www.selleckchem.com/products/Thiazovivin.html related to a lower rate of translation or secretion, given that there was no difference between transcript levels in the two phases, using reverse transcription-PCR (data not shown). This could also explain the increase in corrected activity in the late stationary phase, owing to the continual accumulation of microcin N in the culture batch. Taking into consideration that all known microcins are soluble in organic solvents (Kolter & Moreno, 1992), hydrophobic reverse-phase columns (Sep-Pak C18) were utilized to concentrate and purify the microcin N from the supernatant

of the microcin N producer strain cultures. Microcin N was eluted using increasing concentrations

of methanol. As could be expected with a highly hydrophobic peptide, the microcin began to elute only from the fraction corresponding to 70% methanol. The high hydrophobicity of microcin N suggests a high propensity to form aggregates in aqueous solutions. Indeed, when microcin N was eluted with a more volatile solvent, such as acetonitrile, a tendency toward core aggregation was observed when the solvent evaporated (unpublished data). This property was also reported with extracts of microcin 6-phosphogluconolactonase E492, which forms amyloid-like aggregates with cytotoxic properties on HeLa human tumor cells (Hetz et al., 2002). It remains unknown whether microcin N is capable of forming amyloid aggregates with cytotoxic properties, and so it would be interesting to study this effect on human cell lines. Tricine–SDS-PAGE performed on the fraction eluted from the Sep-Pak C18 column shows that a peptide of about 7 kDa was present in the fraction with microcin N activity (Fig. 3). The same results were observed when a second repurification step by HPLC was performed: a peptide of about 7 kDa was present in the fraction with microcin N activity (fraction between 15 and 21 min) (Fig. 4). The MS analysis of these fractions shows only one compound with a mass of 7274 Da, similar to the mass of other class II microcins, in agreement with mass determination by Tricine–SDS-PAGE.

In this study, the pH of sediments representative of the Sellafie

In this study, the pH of sediments representative of the Sellafield nuclear facility was increased via extensive reduction of nitrate, a common contaminant at nuclear sites, from c. pH 6.8 to 9.3, and Fe(III) reduction was observed to occur thereafter (Thorpe et al., in press). Here, a gradual increase in pH resulted in adaptation of the moderately acidotolerant microbial community to a moderately alkaline environment where the dominance of alkali-tolerant bacteria would be expected. PCR-based 16S rRNA gene analyses

of an enrichment culture C646 purchase taken from a pH c. 9.3 Fe(III)-reducing sediment stimulated with acetate as the electron donor identified a close relative (99% sequence homology) of the known alkaliphilic bacterium Alkaliphilus crotonatoxidans (41% of 16S rRNA genes in a clone library prepared from the enriched community) and a close relative (99% sequence GDC-0980 homology) of Serratia liquefaciens (56% of the clone library). Surprisingly, over successive enrichment cultures at pH c. 9, the known alkaliphilic

species A. crotonatoxidans was outcompeted by the Serratia species not previously reported as alkali-tolerant. Interestingly, previous work suggests that members of the genus Serratia favour low pH with strains reported as acidotolerant with an optimum growth pH of c. 6.5 and a growth range pH as low as 3 (Adams et al., 2007). Enrichment for, isolation of and characterization of this new Serratia species are described. Sediments representative of the quaternary unconsolidated alluvial flood-plain deposits that underlie the Sellafield site were collected from the Calder Valley, Cumbria (Law et al., 2010). Sampling was conducted TCL c. 2 km from the site at Lat 54°26′30N, Long 03°28′09W. Sediment samples from bioreduced pH c. 9.5 sediment were used to inoculate enrichment cultures (10 % inoculum) with acetate as the electron donor (10 mM) and Fe(III)-citrate as the electron acceptor (20 mM). The enrichment medium

was based on the recipe of Lovley et al. (1991) and comprised (in grams per litre of deionized water) NaHCO3, 2.5; NH4Cl, 0.25; NaH2PO4·H2O, 0.6; and KCl, 0.1. In addition, stock solutions of vitamins and minerals were added (Lovley & Phillips, 1988). The medium was adjusted to c. 9.3 with the addition of NaOH, sparged with N2/CO2 (80 : 20) gas mix and filter-sterilized (0.2 μm) before dispensing into autoclaved 30-mL serum bottles and sealing with sterile butyl rubber stoppers and aluminium crimp caps. Inoculated bottles were kept in the dark at 20 °C. Standard anaerobic sampling techniques were used throughout for monitoring the cultures. The sediment enrichment culture grown in Fe(III)-citrate medium was transferred seven times at pH c. 9.3, and 16S rRNA gene analysis was then performed.

, 2008) This value is significantly lower than the values typica

, 2008). This value is significantly lower than the values typically found for other bacteria (−180 to −200 mV). Compounds interfering with the proton motive force,

such as uncouplers or ionophores, proved Apitolisib strongly bactericidal on dormant M. tuberculosis in vitro (Rao et al., 2008), demonstrating that the proton motive force is an essential element of life under dormant conditions. It is an open question as to which enzyme is mainly responsible for the maintenance of the proton motive force during dormancy. Conceivable candidates for this task are nitrate reductase, whose activity is upregulated in the dormant state, or succinate dehydrogenase operating in reverse as a fumarate reductase (Schnorpfeil et al., 2001; Wayne & Sohaskey, 2001; Cox & Cook, 2007; Rao et al., 2008). In contrast, NDH-2, the predominant route for oxidation of NADH and for fueling of electrons into the respiratory chain in the dormant state (Rao et

al., 2008), does not translocate protons. The role of this enzyme may instead be to provide redox balance, as phenothiazine inhibition EPZ015666 chemical structure of NDH-2 resulted in elevated cellular NADH concentrations (Rao et al., 2008). Furthermore, in contrast to the situation found in most bacteria, mycobacterial ATP synthase apparently cannot efficiently invert its function to pump protons across the membrane: ATP synthase from Mycobacterium phlei showed only a very low activity in ATP hydrolysis (Higashi et al., 1975), specific inhibition of ATP synthase in replicating and dormant M. smegmatis did not decrease the proton motive force (Koul et al., 2008) and membrane vesicles of Mycobacterium

bovis BCG were not able to establish a proton motive force Montelukast Sodium using ATP (A.C. Haagsma & D. Bald, unpublished data). These results indicate that in dormant mycobacteria, ATP synthase is active in the production of ATP, which may provide the energy required for residual biosynthesis activity. ATP synthesis activity may also facilitate a continuous electron flow through the respiratory chain, and in this way, contribute to redox balance. Inhibition of either NADH oxidation or ATP synthesis or collapse of the proton motive force leads to killing of M. tuberculosis (Rao et al., 2008, see also Fig. 1). The respiratory chain of M. tuberculosis may show special adaptations for survival under dormant conditions and/or low proton motive forces. The activity of ATP synthase significantly depends on the proton motive force, with considerable variation between different organisms (Kaim & Dimroth, 1999). ATP synthase of M. tuberculosis may turn out to be active at lower membrane potential as compared with most bacteria or mitochondria. The molecular basis for this variation between species is obscure, although a role for the intrinsic inhibitory subunit ɛ and for the oligomeric, proton-translocating subunit c has been implied (Turina et al., 2006, see also Fig. 2). In the alkaliphilic Bacillus sp.