Abstract: Novel immunoregulatory utilities of Escherichi coli heat-labile enterotoxin (LT) are disclosed. This enterotoxin can be used in combination with an unrelated antigen to achieve a higher immune response to said antigen when administered as part of an oral vaccine preparation. By way of example, the efficacy of oral adjuvant therapy of LT in the development of immunological protection against herpes simplex virus was examined. In addition, the ability of LT to influence the induction and maintenance of tolerance in animals primed orally with two unrelated protein antigens administered simultaneously, OVA and BSA was examined. Simultaneous administration of LT with OVA was shown to prevent the induction of tolerance to OVA and to increase the serum anti-OVA IgG response to 30-90 fold over PBS primed and OVA primed animals, respectively.

Abstract: A first embodiment is a specific plasmid vector, pDIP/PyCSP.1, into which nucleotides encoding the targets of specific immune responses are inserted. These targets include, but are not limited to proteins and peptides. These plasmid constructs are incorporated in a composition comprising a suitable and acceptable art recognized pharmaceutical reagent that is benign (non-reactive with) to the plasmid construct. The plasmid construct provides protective immune responses to the disease associated with the selected targets. A second embodiment is a construct having, at a minimum, the nucleotide sequences encoding one or more Plasmodium species proteins in a pharmaceutically acceptable vector. a third embodiment is a method of controlling malaria in mammals comprising injecting a polynucleotide delivery vector into a mammal.

Abstract: An assay method and kit for detecting specific oral cariogenic bacteria, ., mutans streptococci, Lactobacillus sp. and Actinomyces sp., separately or in combination, comprising gathering a sample suspected of containing cariogenic bacteria; treating the sample with a stripping buffer to remove host antibodies from bacteria present in the sample; retaining the treated bacteria on a blocked solid phase substrate; reacting the retained bacteria with a primary antibody specific for the desired cariogenic bacteria; reacting the primary antibody with a conjugated label producing a detectable signal; and detecting the signal whereby the presence of the desired cariogenic bacteria is determined in the sample. The device for conducting these assays is a frame or support which holds a solid substrate capable of retaining the bacteria of interest while permitting drainage of other materials or fluids away from the retained bacteria.

Abstract: A method for ameliorating the effects of hemorrhagic shock in a subject consists of locally administering to the gut of the subject, at a selected time during the period of from about 5 hours before blood loss to about 5 hours after blood loss, a therapeutic amount of a cytokine.

Abstract: A dental waste collection method and system in which a slurry of water and olid waste particles, including amalgam containing mercury and soluble and suspended mercury and other heavy metals is fed into a settling tank in which particles of insoluble solid waste material settle by gravity for later extraction, disposal, or reclamation. The liquid wastes and suspended metal particulates also can be co-precipitated to remove small size insoluble particles entrained in the slurry and soluble mercury and other metals. The supernatant remaining in the tank is removed and passed through a treatment stage including at least one filter and, if needed ion exchange media, and is in a form clarified of the mercury such as to be able to be conveyed into a public sewer system.

Abstract: Fluorescent-labeled substrates are provided for fluorescence polarization says of enzymes. These substrates are proteins labeled with derivatives of BODIPY.RTM., 4,4-difluoro-5,7-dimethyl-4-bora-3a,4a-diaza-s-indacene. The BODIPY.RTM. fluorescent tag of the present invention is pH independent, and can be used over a pH range of from about 2 to about 11. Thus one can assay, in real time, enzymes with pH maxima at pH below 7 using fluorescence polarization methodology, which could not be done with fluorescein derivatives. Different enzymes can be compared using the same BODIPY.RTM. conjugate by merely changing the buffer system which changes the pH conditions.Fluorescence polarization assays of enzyme activity can be performed in the presence of whole bacteria and other finely suspended particles, such as might be present in tissue homogenates or cellular material. This is particularly useful for chairside assays on dental plaque or clinical assays on bacteria or tissue or exudates.

Abstract: A method and apparatus to treat dental waste water has been developed in ch a slurry of water and solid waste particles, including mercury-containing amalgam and soluble and suspended mercury and other heavy metals, is collected under vacuum into an main chamber. The particulate-containing liquid slurry settles into a main chamber and into the central collection well of a removable filter while the vacuumed air exits the main chamber and continues toward a vacuum source. The liquid slurry is drawn by vacuum through a removable filter making the effluent substantially free of mercury-containing particulate material. The resulting filtered effluent is ready for further treatment of soluble and suspended mercury, if necessary, before being conveyed into a public sewer system. When a certain level of particulate material has been collected, the removable filter can be sealed and the particulate contents disposed or reclaimed.

Abstract: An assay for detecting microbial protease activity in clinical and laboray samples is described which comprises gathering a sample suspected of containing certain microorganisms having the desired protease activity; immobilizing the microorganisms in the sample on a solid phase substrate; contacting the immobilized microorganisms with an enzymatic substrate producing an enzymatic substrate end-product; contacting the enzymatic substrate end-product with a chemical enhancing reagent producing a detectable chromogenic reaction which varies in intensity with the level of protease activity in the sample; and detecting the chromogenic reaction whereby the semi-quantitative presence of the protease activity in the sample is determined.

Abstract: A self-contained personal microwave and RF detector, which includes, inter alia, the housing and associated electronics of a standard hearing aid, is configured to produce an audible indication to a wearer thereof in response to electromagnetic fields of dangerously high levels within predetermined frequency ranges.