Individuals with past resolved infection have positive anti-HCV antibody tests (usually by two different assays) with repeatedly negative HCV RNA tests and would be expected to have normal liver enzymes, in the absence of other causes of liver disease. Over time, anti-HCV antibody levels decline such that it can be difficult to differentiate infection in the distant past from nonspecific false positivity [183–187]. RNA levels may be transiently undetectable during acute infection so it is particularly

important to repeat HCV RNA tests in patients if the time at which they were initially infected is unknown [183–187]. With current assays, false negative antibody tests EPZ015666 FGFR inhibitor are rare in chronic infection but may be a problem in early acute infection [183–187]. Consideration should be given to HCV RNA testing of HCV antibody-negative HIV-positive individuals where: acute infection is suspected; (For the general principles of management, liver assessment and networks see the General section.) Patients should ideally be started on anti-HIV therapy when their CD4 count falls to 350 cells/μL or less (see General section). Prior to initiation of anti-HCV therapy, potential interactions and/or overlapping toxicities with anti-HIV therapies need to be considered. Where possible, anti-HIV therapies should be adjusted to Adenosine enable optimal

administration of anti-HCV therapy, although this should never compromise anti-HIV drug efficacy. Consideration needs to be given to which antiretroviral agents should be coadministered with interferon and ribavirin therapy due to: drug interactions which may lower

antiretroviral drug levels, thereby raising concerns of reduced efficacy; The increasing availability of newer antiretroviral agents with improved safety profiles usually enables us to avoid such difficulties, but this may be less possible in heavily antiretroviral-pretreated patients. The key potential coadministration issues are summarized in Table 3. While there currently appear to be no theoretical problems with coadministration of interferon or ribavirin with the newer classes of antiretroviral drugs [integrase inhibitors, CCR5 blockers, and second-generation nonnucleoside reverse transcriptase inhibitors (NNRTIs)], clinical data to confirm this are awaited. When deciding to treat HCV, the choice of anti-HIV therapy should be agreed in association with an experienced HIV physician (IV). The main aims of therapy are to clear HCV and thereby limit liver disease progression and viral transmission. Antiviral therapy may also be helpful for those with extrahepatic manifestations of HCV such as cryoglobulinaemia [193]. An SVR is defined as a negative HCV RNA PCR test 6 months following cessation of therapy.

Individuals with past resolved infection have positive anti-HCV antibody tests (usually by two different assays) with repeatedly negative HCV RNA tests and would be expected to have normal liver enzymes, in the absence of other causes of liver disease. Over time, anti-HCV antibody levels decline such that it can be difficult to differentiate infection in the distant past from nonspecific false positivity [183–187]. RNA levels may be transiently undetectable during acute infection so it is particularly

important to repeat HCV RNA tests in patients if the time at which they were initially infected is unknown [183–187]. With current assays, false negative antibody tests Selleckchem BAY 73-4506 IWR-1 cell line are rare in chronic infection but may be a problem in early acute infection [183–187]. Consideration should be given to HCV RNA testing of HCV antibody-negative HIV-positive individuals where: acute infection is suspected; (For the general principles of management, liver assessment and networks see the General section.) Patients should ideally be started on anti-HIV therapy when their CD4 count falls to 350 cells/μL or less (see General section). Prior to initiation of anti-HCV therapy, potential interactions and/or overlapping toxicities with anti-HIV therapies need to be considered. Where possible, anti-HIV therapies should be adjusted to Endonuclease enable optimal

administration of anti-HCV therapy, although this should never compromise anti-HIV drug efficacy. Consideration needs to be given to which antiretroviral agents should be coadministered with interferon and ribavirin therapy due to: drug interactions which may lower

antiretroviral drug levels, thereby raising concerns of reduced efficacy; The increasing availability of newer antiretroviral agents with improved safety profiles usually enables us to avoid such difficulties, but this may be less possible in heavily antiretroviral-pretreated patients. The key potential coadministration issues are summarized in Table 3. While there currently appear to be no theoretical problems with coadministration of interferon or ribavirin with the newer classes of antiretroviral drugs [integrase inhibitors, CCR5 blockers, and second-generation nonnucleoside reverse transcriptase inhibitors (NNRTIs)], clinical data to confirm this are awaited. When deciding to treat HCV, the choice of anti-HIV therapy should be agreed in association with an experienced HIV physician (IV). The main aims of therapy are to clear HCV and thereby limit liver disease progression and viral transmission. Antiviral therapy may also be helpful for those with extrahepatic manifestations of HCV such as cryoglobulinaemia [193]. An SVR is defined as a negative HCV RNA PCR test 6 months following cessation of therapy.

The mean percentage for accurate responses to malaria questions was 67.3% (range, 16.8%–90.5%). The accuracy was lowest for the two questions: (1) duration of mefloquine use as prophylaxis for malaria, and (2) the longest incubation period of malaria due to the dormant phases of Plasmodium vivax and Plasmodium ovale. The most often chosen, incorrect Doxorubicin molecular weight answer (21.2% physicians and 33.5% nurses)

regarding the duration of prophylactic mefloquine use was one week before travel and continue using until one week after leaving malarious area. The chosen answers to the question about malaria’s incubation period were distributed evenly: 1 month (23.2%), 3 months (26.7%), 6 months (16.5%), 1 year (16.5%), and not sure (16.8%). The mean percentage of accurate responses for the yellow fever questions was 65.4% (range, 39.6%–79.3%), and Table 2 demonstrates the results of the two groups. There were four questions with an accuracy between 70 and 80%, and two questions with an accuracy less than 60%. Only 39.6% of health professionals knew the revaccination interval for the yellow fever vaccine. Approximately 22% of health-care providers reported 5 years as the current suggested revaccination interval, and 24% answered not sure. Table 3 shows the items surveyed and accurate response percentages for both groups regarding knowledge about dengue fever. The mean percentage

of accurate selleck screening library responses to the dengue fever questions was 74.4% (range, 14.4%–96.5%). One item (the behavior of the vector Aedes aegypti mosquito) had a very low accuracy (14.4%). Approximately 60% of physicians and 58% of nurses selected the answer that the mosquito is only active at dusk. Figure 1 shows physicians had statistically significant, higher scores for all three diseases. The average score was highest for knowledge about dengue fever in both the physician (dengue fever vs yellow fever vs malaria = 0.83 vs 0.76 vs 0.73) and

nurse (0.71 vs 0.61 vs 0.65) groups. This study represents one of the first nationwide surveys focusing on health-care professionals’ knowledge of travel medicine and provides valuable information for the burgeoning travel medicine profession in Taiwan, as well as other countries looking to improve the quality of medical care for their traveling citizens. Understanding the behavior of disease vectors can help health-care professionals provide appropriate Cediranib (AZD2171) suggestions to travelers and help create a safe travel schedule.16 Advising travelers to protect against vector-borne diseases is a crucial component of any pre-travel consultation. This advice is especially important in situations where there are no effective vaccines or prophylactic drugs available (eg, dengue fever). Travelers may be able to modify their schedules according to peak biting activity, such as twilight periods for malaria or daylight hours for dengue fever. Knowledge regarding the Anopheles mosquito was high (82.8% accuracy), while knowledge about the A aegypti mosquito was quite low (14.4%).

In the nonmigratory GDC 0449 phase, Fos-like immunoreactive (Fos-lir) cells in the olfactory and visual subsystems were high in the day and low at night. In the migratory phase, this was reversed; Fos-lir cells were high at night and low in the day. The phase inversion of neural activity in the olfactory and visual systems in parallel with the behavioral shift suggests a functional coupling between the systems governing migratory flight (expressed as Zugunruhe) and migratory orientation and navigation. “
“Alzheimer’s disease (AD) is an age-related neurodegenerative disorder characterized by memory impairments. Brain oscillatory activity

is critical for cognitive function and is altered in AD patients. Recent evidence suggests that accumulation of soluble amyloid-beta (Aβ) induces reorganization of hippocampal networks. However,

whether fine changes in network activity might be present at very early stages, before Aβ overproduction, remains to be determined. We therefore assessed whether theta and gamma oscillations and their cross-frequency coupling, which are known to be essential for normal memory function, were precociously altered in the hippocampus. Electrophysiological field potential recordings were performed using complete hippocampal preparations in vitro from young transgenic CRND8 mice, a transgenic mouse model of AD. Our results indicate that a significant C59 wnt datasheet proportion of 1-month-old TgCRND8 mice showed robust alterations of theta–gamma cross-frequency coupling in the principal output

region of the hippocampus, the subiculum. In addition we showed that, compared to controls, these mice Selleck Ribociclib expressed negligible levels of Aβ. Finally, these network alterations were not due to genetic factors as 15-day-old animals did not exhibit theta–gamma coupling alterations. Thus, initial alterations in hippocampal network activity arise before Aβ accumulation and may represent an early biomarker for AD. “
“The measurement of spontaneous ongoing pain in rodents is a multiplex issue and a subject of extensive and longstanding debate. Considering the need to align available rodent models with clinically relevant forms of pain, it is of prime importance to thoroughly characterize behavioral outcomes in rodents using a portfolio of measurements that are not only stimulus-dependent but also encompass voluntary behavior in unrestrained animals. Moreover, the temporal course and duration of behavioral tests should be taken into consideration when we plan our studies to measure explicit chronic pain, with a particular emphasis on performing longitudinal studies in rodents.

Correlates of unsigned prediction error when the US was unexpectedly presented or omitted were observed in both centromedial amygdala and substantia nigra/ventral tegmental areas, whereas the basolateral amygdala blood oxygen level-dependent response during the CSs was negatively correlated with subsequent prediction error, and hence was related to prediction accuracy. The work nicely demonstrates convergence of human and animal research concerning fundamental issues of learning in the questions posed (what are the consequences of the confirmation

and violation of learned expectancies for information processing), the approaches taken (quantitative modeling based on well-documented theories of learning), and the behavioral and neural processing results obtained, despite differences in species, behavioral measures, and measures of brain activity. IDH tumor The use of common approaches and theoretical perspectives across human and animal studies, each with their Selleckchem BTK inhibitor own strengths and shortcomings, may provide a unified approach to understanding

relations between cognitive and affective processing. “
“Cover Illustration: Mouse optic nerve remodeling after trauma. Triple immunostaining for GFAP (green) in astrocytes, β3Tubulin (red) in axons, and Dapi (blue) in cell nuclei revealed apparent Montelukast Sodium retraction of astrocytic processes from the

lesion site on EphA4 KO optic nerve sections. For details see the article of Joly et al. (The Ephrin receptor EphA4 restricts axonal sprouting and enhances branching in the injured mouse optic nerve. Eur. J. Neurosci., 40, 3021–3031). “
“In the published paper of Cotrufo et al. (2012 ), in the Acknowledgement section, the grant 2010/149 (Ministerio de Sanidad, Plan nacional de Drogas) should be included. “
“This Corrigendum corrects a disassembly of Figure 1D in the published paper of Liu et al. (2013). “
“The acquisition of mature neuronal phenotypes by progenitors residing in different germinal sites along the neuraxis is thought to be regulated by the expression of region-specific combinations of transcription factors or proneural genes. Nevertheless, heterotopic transplantation experiments suggest that fate choices of uncommitted cells can be changed after exposure to a novel neurogenic environment. However, whether progenitors taken from one region of the CNS can switch their fate to acquire features typical of a foreign site has remained controversial. This issue has been recently addressed by James Goldman’s group, by transplanting progenitors isolated from the forebrain subventricular zone to the prospective white matter (PWM) of the postnatal cerebellum (Milosevic et al., 2008).

The lipopolysaccharide bands were visualized by a fast periodic acid silver-staining method of Fomsgaard et al. (1990). For Western immunoblotting, the lipopolysaccharide was transferred to a nitrocellulose membrane via standard techniques. Blots were probed with mouse monoclonal antibodies (mAbs) specific for either lipopolysaccharide inner core region (mAb

5c-7-4), outer core region (mAb 5c-101) or lipid A (mAb 5c-177) (de Kievit & Lam, 1994). Alkaline phosphatase-conjugated goat anti-mouse immunoglobulin G (Jackson Immunoresearch) was used as the secondary antibody and membranes were developed using the standard 5-bromo-4-chloro-3-indolyl phosphate/nitro blue tetrazolium colorimetric detection (de Kievit & Lam, 1994). To prepare exopolysaccharide, cells were streaked on agar plate containing King’s B medium (King et al., 1954) with gentamicin ERK inhibitor and incubated at 30 °C for 3 days. At the end of the incubation period, cells were scraped from the agar surface, suspended in saline, vortexed and subjected

to centrifugation (35 000 g for 30 min). Exopolysaccharide in the cell-free supernatant was precipitated by addition of 2 volumes of isopropyl alcohol, and recovered by centrifugation. The samples were subsequently freeze-dried for storage. The sugar composition of the exopolysaccharide was analyzed with trifluoroacetic acid hydrolysates by a high-performance anion-exchange chromatography (HPAEC) with a Pulsed Amperometric Detection system (Dionex, Sunnyvale, CA) using a CarboPac™ PA-1 column as described previously (Veeranagouda AZD2281 molecular weight et al., 2009). Because colony morphology has been known to influence MRIP ecological adaptation

of bacteria (Chantratita et al., 2007; Choi et al., 2007; Hansen et al., 2007; Yun et al., 2007), transposon mutants of strain KL28 were screened for changes in colony morphology as compared with that of the wild type, which forms a slightly wrinkled colony on LB agar at 30 °C. Transposon mutant C23 exhibited smooth colony morphology under the same growth conditions. Genetic analysis revealed that the transposon insertion was localized to a gene homologous to that encoding a hypothetical protein (PA5001) found in the lipopolysaccharide core-oligosaccharide (OS) assembly gene cluster in Pseudomonas aeruginosa PAO1 (Poon et al., 2008) (Fig. 1). blastp query using the NCBI database showed that the mutated gene product of C23 contains a highly conserved glycosyltransferase_GTB_type superfamily protein domain. Members of this family catalyze the transfer of sugar moieties from activated donor molecules to specific acceptor molecules, forming glycosidic bonds. The deduced amino acid sequence of the mutated gene in C23 shares 76.5% identity with PA5001 and 51.8% identity with a putative glycosyltransferase (GenBank accession number ABP81457.1) in Pseudomonas stutzeri A1501.

2010-0020775) to S.P. “
“A bacterial strain, designated as TSB-6, was isolated from the sediments of a Tantloi (India) hot spring at 65 °C. The strain showed 98% 16S rRNA gene sequence similarity

with Anoxybacillus kualawohkensis strain KW12 and was found to grow optimally at 37 °C. However, growing cells, cell suspensions, and cell-free extracts from 65 °C cultures showed higher Cr(VI) reduction activities when assayed at either 37 or 65 °C than those obtained from 37 °C cultures. On fractionation of extracts from cells grown at 65 °C, the chromate reductase activity assayed at 65 °C was found mostly in the soluble fraction. When log-phase cells growing at 37 °C were shifted to 65 °C, the stressed cells produced larger quantities of reactive oxygen species. Consequently, growth of the cells was retarded,

but specific Cr(VI) reduction activity increased. 2D gel electrophoresis FK228 price followed by MALDI-TOF MS/MS identified the proteins whose expression level changed as a result of heat stress. The upregulated set included proteins involved in cellular metabolism of sugar, nucleotide, amino acids, lipids and vitamins, oxidoreductase activity, and protein folding. The downregulated proteins are also involved in cellular metabolism, DNA binding, and environmental signal processing. Bacterial cells attempt to counter chromate-mediated oxidative stress by inducing antioxidant proteins (Ackerley et al., 2006). It was observed that when either pre-adapted or nonadapted Escherichia coli K-12 cells were exposed to chromate, the levels of proteins such as SodB and CysK, which can counter oxidative stress, were increased (Ackerley et al., 2006). Also, VX-765 clinical trial exposure to Cr(VI) upregulated, in Pseudomonas aeruginosa, at least 21 proteins most of which were associated with general stress response (Kiliç et al., 2010). Some of the proteins that constitute antioxidant defense mechanisms in bacterial cells are also able to reduce Cr(VI) (Cervantes & Campos-García,

2007). ChrR of Pseudomonas putida and YieF of E. coli both reduce Cr(VI) to Cr(III) (Ackerley et al., 2004). At the same time, the mechanisms by which these two flavoproteins function can keep reactive oxygen species (ROS) generation minimal (Ackerley et al., Reverse transcriptase 2004; Ramírez-Díaz et al., 2008). In fact it has been suggested that Cr(VI) reduction is not the primary function of known chromate reductases (Gonzalez et al., 2005; Ramírez-Díaz et al., 2008). A variety of microorganisms live at high temperatures under stressed conditions. Heat stress has been shown to produce ROS in yeast (Kim et al., 2006). Heat exposure also causes oxidative stress in Bacillus cereus and induces a variety of stress response proteins (Periago et al., 2002). By means of enrichment culture, we have isolated a bacterial strain highly resistant to chromate from the sediments of a hot spring in Tantloi, Jharkhand, India, which contains undetectable levels of Cr(VI).

To examine the role of 5-HT6 receptors in the acquisition and persistence of habitual behavior, we manipulated 5-HT6 receptor expression in the DLS with herpes simplex virus vectors in combination with different behavioral procedures; control rats received a vector expressing enhanced green fluorescent

protein. In one set of experiments, rats were tested under conditions that favor the acquisition of either discrete action–outcome responding or repetitive responding; increased 5-HT6 receptor expression in selleck screening library DLS did not alter learning in either paradigm. In the next experiment, rats were over-trained on fixed- then variable-interval schedules, resulting in an escalation of lever pressing over sessions far in excess of that selleckchem necessary to receive sucrose pellets. After training, rats received viral vector infusion into the DLS. Subsequently, half of each group underwent an omission contingency training session in which they received reinforcement for refraining from pressing the lever, while the other half served as yoked controls. A probe session under extinction conditions was performed the following

day. Only rats that received both the 5-HT6 vector and omission contingency training showed reduced lever pressing during the probe session. These results suggest that increasing 5-HT6 receptor signaling in the DLS facilitates behavioral flexibility in the face of changing contingencies. “
“Music is a cultural universal and a rich part of the human experience.

However, little is known about common brain systems that support the processing and integration of extended, naturalistic ‘real-world’ music stimuli. We examined this question by presenting extended excerpts of symphonic music, and two pseudomusical stimuli in which the Non-specific serine/threonine protein kinase temporal and spectral structure of the Natural Music condition were disrupted, to non-musician participants undergoing functional brain imaging and analysing synchronized spatiotemporal activity patterns between listeners. We found that music synchronizes brain responses across listeners in bilateral auditory midbrain and thalamus, primary auditory and auditory association cortex, right-lateralized structures in frontal and parietal cortex, and motor planning regions of the brain. These effects were greater for natural music compared to the pseudo-musical control conditions. Remarkably, inter-subject synchronization in the inferior colliculus and medial geniculate nucleus was also greater for the natural music condition, indicating that synchronization at these early stages of auditory processing is not simply driven by spectro-temporal features of the stimulus. Increased synchronization during music listening was also evident in a right-hemisphere fronto-parietal attention network and bilateral cortical regions involved in motor planning.

01) and positively with HRCT Warrick score (P = 0.03). IL-23 concentration XL765 chemical structure negatively correlated with DLCO (P = 0.04), total lung capacity (TLC) (P = 0.01) and the 6-min walk test distance (P = 0.03). No associations were found

between the cytokine levels and the average extent of the disease on HRCT. While the relationship between Th17-associated cytokines and ILD-SSc needs to be verified in a larger cohort of patients, the changes in concentrations of IL-17, IL-21 and IL-23 support the hypothesis that these cytokines may play a role in the pathogenesis of SSc. “
“The effect of disease-modifying antirheumatic drugs (DMARDs) in ankylosing spondylitis (AS) is still controversial. We aimed to evaluate the efficacy of sulphasalazine (SSZ) mono- or combination therapy with methotrexate (MTX) in AS patients naive to anti-tumor necrosis factor alpha (TNFα) agents. Patients with AS (n = 87, male : female, 46 : 41) treated with SSZ (n = 61) or SSZ + MTX (n = 26) combination and a documented 6-month follow-up were evaluated retrospectively. Disease activity was assessed by

the Bath Ankylosing Spondylitis Disease Activity Index (BASDAI), C-reactive protein and erythrocyte sedimentation Protein Tyrosine Kinase inhibitor rate. Requirement for anti-TNFα therapy was assessed after 6 months. Mean (SD) age was 43.0 (11.0) versus 40.2 (11.1) and disease duration was 11.0 (8.6) versus 8.2 (5.2) years, in the SSZ and SSZ + MTX groups, respectively. Initially, 59% (34/61) of the patients in SSZ monotherapy and 68% (17/26) in the combination arm had BASDAI > 4. At the end of the study, BASDAI scores decreased similarly in both groups (mono: 1.4 [–7–6] versus combination: 0.7 [–3–6] P = 0.2). BASDAI was > 4 in 32.8% (20/61) of patients in the SSZ monotherapy and in 44% (11/26) in the combination arm. Only 4 (6.6%) patients in the SSZ group and 2 (7.7%) in the ombination arm were switched to anti-TNFα therapies. A significant subset of our AS patients responded to SSZ mono or SSZ + MTX combination therapies at 6 months follow-up. Using BASDAI, the requirement for biological

therapies decreased by 21–24%. In AS patients, including those with axial involvement only, DMARD therapy may CHIR-99021 be a reasonable first alternative to anti-TNFα therapy and may delay the switch to biologic agents. “
“To identify the frequency of immunoglobulin G4 (IgG4)-related aortitis in patients who undergo aorta surgery and are diagnosed by pathology as having chronic aortic inflammation and to compare IgG4-related aortitis with other non-infectious aortitises in terms of clinical characteristics. The aorta specimen pathological reports of 1418 patients who underwent aortic aneurysm or dissection surgery were reviewed. In total, 41 had chronic aortic inflammation without atherosclerosis, cancer or infection. Their aorta biopsy specimens were subjected to IgG4 immunostaining.

The active fractions were concentrated by ultrafiltration using polyether sulfon membranes (NWCO 10 kDa) and analysed by sodium dodecyl sulphate polyacrylamide gel electrophoresis (SDS-PAGE).

The protein content after each purification step was determined using the bicinchoninic acid (BCA) protein assay (Pierce) with BSA as the standard. ENGase purification was monitored qualitatively using RNAse B, yeast invertase NVP-LDE225 or Cel7A as a substrate. Electrophoretic band shifting on an SDS polyacrylamide gel was indicative of deglycosylating activity. Ten-microlitre enzyme fractions were incubated with 10 μL glycoprotein (10 mg mL−1 dissolved in 100 mM sodium acetate buffer, pH 5) and overnight reactions were analysed by SDS-PAGE. A Rapamycin chemical structure quantitative assay was developed for kinetic analyses. To convert its high-mannose N-glycans to Man5GlcNAc2, RNAse B was pretreated with α(12)-mannosidase from T. reesei (Maras et al., 2000). To monitor ENGase, 100 μL (1 mg) of this pretreated RNAse B substrate was mixed with a 10 μL enzyme sample. Incubation was performed at 25 °C. At different time intervals, the reaction was stopped by adding 20 μL sample to 10 μL of 0.1 M NaOH. A 20 μL sample of this mixture was analysed by HPAEC-PAD (Dionex Corp.) equipped with an ED40 electrochemical detector. The product (Man5GlcNAc) was separated on a CarboPac PA-100 column (40 °C) using a 0–60 mM sodium acetate (J.T. Baker) gradient

in 100 mM sodium hydroxide (Riedel-deHaën) for 35 min (1 mL min−1). Chromatographic data were analysed using Dionex peaknet software. Initial velocities (maximum 10% product formation) were obtained at 270 μM RNAse B (substrate concentration determined on the basis of complete deglycosylation). Calibration was performed with known concentrations of Man5GlcNAc2Asn (Glyco-asparagine, Sigma) completely hydrolysed Dipeptidyl peptidase with Endo H. One unit of activity is defined as the amount of enzyme necessary to generate 1 μmol Man5GlcNAc min−1 at 25 °C under the reaction conditions mentioned above. Cellulase (cellobiohydrolase I and endoglucanase I), α-mannosidase and β-N-acetylglucosaminidase activities were measured with chromogenic substrates, respectively, 2′-chloro-4′-nitrophenyl

β-lactoside (Van Tilbeurgh et al., 1988), 4-nitrophenyl α-d mannoside and 4-nitrophenyl-β-dN-acetyl-d-glucosaminide. Release of the chromophores was measured at 405 nm with 2 mM substrate concentrations in 100 mM Sørensen phosphate buffer, pH 5.7 (CNP-Lac), and 100 mM sodium acetate buffer, pH 5 (PNP-Man and PNP-GlcNAc). Celluclast® (Novozymes, Denmark), used as a positive control, was from Sigma. Chitinase activity was measured with powdered chitin from shrimp shells (Sigma) using the BCA assay measuring total reducing sugar (Mopper & Gindler, 1973). Using 4-methylumbelliferyl-β-d-N,N′,N″-triacetylchitotriose [4MU-(GlcNAc)3], the release of the fluorophore was measured, and alternatively, the hydrolysis products were separated by HPLC on a Bio-Sil polyol 90-10 column (250 × 4.