Mutations in DNA repair genes are associated with the Haarlem lineage of Mycobacterium tuberculosis independently of their antibiotic resistance.

The analysis of the DNA repair genes ogt and ung was carried out in 117 Mycobacterium tuberculosis clinical isolates from Argentina and Colombia in order to explore correlation between mutations in these genes and multi-drug resistance. With the exception of two Beijing family isolates, the rest of the strains harbored either two wild-type or two mutant alleles with identical single nucleotide polymorphisms (SNPs) in each gene (ogt44 and ung501). These ogt44 and ung501 mutations were not associated with multi-drug resistance and occurred simultaneously in circulating Haarlem genotype M.

A feasibility study of a culturally tailored diabetes intervention for Mexican Americans.

Latinos, the fastest growing minority group in the United States, are among the hardest hit by diabetes. Among Latinos, Mexican Americans have the highest rate (23.9%) of diabetes.

ChIP-chip: data, model, and analysis.

ChIP-chip (or ChIP-on-chip) is a technology for isolation and identification of genomic sites occupied by specific DNA-binding proteins in living cells. The ChIP-chip signals can be obtained over the whole genome by tiling arrays, where a peak shape is generally observed around a protein-binding site. In this article, we describe the ChIP-chip process and present a probability model for ChIP-chip data.

Human splenic macrophages as a model for in vitro infection with Mycobacterium tuberculosis.

Macrophages play an important role during Mycobacterium tuberculosis (MTB) infection. In humans most of the studies on MTB-macrophage interactions have been performed using circulating monocytes and monocyte-derived macrophages. However, little research has been performed on this interaction using tissue macrophages.

First insight into Mycobacterium tuberculosis genetic diversity in Paraguay.

Background: We present a picture of the biodiversity of Mycobacterium tuberculosis in Paraguay, an inland South American country harboring 5 million inhabitants with a tuberculosis notification rate of 38/100,000.

Results: A total of 220 strains collected throughout the country in 2003 were classified by spoligotyping into 79 different patterns. Spoligopatterns of 173 strains matched 51 shared international types (SITs) already present in an updated version of SpolDB4, the global spoligotype database at Pasteur Institute, Guadeloupe.

Insulin, leptin, and adiponectin receptors in colon: regulation relative to differing body adiposity independent of diet and in response to dimethylhydrazine.

Obesity has recently become a focus of research to elucidate diet and lifestyle factors as important risk factors for colon cancer. Altered levels of insulin, leptin, and adiponectin have been identified as potential candidates increasing colon cancer risk within the prevailing obesogenic environment. There has been considerable research to characterize signaling via these hormones in the brain, liver, and adipose tissue; however, very little is known of their emerging role in peripheral signaling, particularly in epithelial tissues.

[False diagnosis of tuberculosis by culture].

A remarkable input to the epidemiology of tuberculosis was not the only benefit of the molecular tools developed in the early nineties for Mycobacterium tuberculosis intra-species differentiation. These genotyping methods served also to unveil specimen cross-contamination, which was until then overlooked in laboratories culturing mycobacteria. This error consists in the accidental carry-over of bacilli from a specimen with high bacterial load to that, or those, processed subsequently.

Susceptibility tests to second line drugs and re-treatment of tuberculosis revisiting early experiences.

The value of susceptibility tests in guiding antituberculous therapy with second-line drugs remains controversial. We reanalyzed three reports regarding the relationship between in vitro susceptibility of Mycobacterium tuberculosis and the clinical outcome of in-patients treated with these drugs at the Muñiz Hospital, Buenos Aires, during the sixties. These patients had been irregularly treated with a standard regimen consisting of isoniazid, streptomycin and PAS; they developed resistance to at least the first two drugs and persisted culture-positive.

Worldwide emergence of extensively drug-resistant tuberculosis.

Mycobacterium tuberculosis strains that are resistant to an increasing number of second-line drugs used to treat multidrug-resistant tuberculosis (MDR TB) are becoming a threat to public health worldwide. We surveyed the Network of Supranational Reference Laboratories for M. tuberculosis isolates that were resistant to second-line anti-TB drugs during 2000-2004.

[Computational prediction of the tertiary structure of the human iduronate 2-sulfate sulfatase].

Introduction: Hunter syndrome (MC KUSIK 309900) or mucopolysacharidosis type II is due to the deficiency of the enzyme iduronate 2 sulfate sulfatase (E.C. 3.

[New diagnosis tools for tuberculosis laboratory network in Latin America].

Feasibility of rapid and sustainable diagnostic methods that provide useful and timely results to guide the clinical control of tuberculosis patients was analyzed. However, policies guiding the insertion of new diagnostics in the laboratory services that support the tuberculosis control are lacking in developing countries. The introduction of these methods in developing countries laboratories requires rational policies guiding the application of these technologies.

Distinct and predictive chromatin signatures of transcriptional promoters and enhancers in the human genome.

Eukaryotic gene transcription is accompanied by acetylation and methylation of nucleosomes near promoters, but the locations and roles of histone modifications elsewhere in the genome remain unclear. We determined the chromatin modification states in high resolution along 30 Mb of the human genome and found that active promoters are marked by trimethylation of Lys4 of histone H3 (H3K4), whereas enhancers are marked by monomethylation, but not trimethylation, of H3K4. We developed computational algorithms using these distinct chromatin signatures to identify new regulatory elements, predicting over 200 promoters and 400 enhancers within the 30-Mb region.

[Colombian haplotypes of the Gaucher disease-causing N370S mutation may originate from a possible common ancestral haplotype].

Introduction: Gaucher disease is a pan-ethnic condition characterised by glucosylceramide accumulation in macrophages due to glucocerebrosidase deficiency. Its gene, GBA, has been mapped to 1q21 and mutation N370S is the main cause of the disease in western populations, including Colombia.

Objective: To asses the degree of association between N370S mutation and the alleles of five microsatellites near the mutation site in the GBA locus in nine Colombian Gaucher patients, from the Cundinamarca-Boyacá region.

Early postoperative response of cytokines in liver transplant recipients.

We evaluated the early postoperative response of several cytokines (IL-2, IL-4, IL-6, IL-10, TNF-alpha, IFN-gamma) prior to liver transplantation (T(0)) as well as 1, 6, and 12 hours and 1, 2, 3, 5, and 7 days afterward. Cytokine concentrations were correlated with serum levels of bilirubin as a predictor of postoperative complications. Cytokine levels were determined in plasma samples from 16 liver transplant recipients (13 men, 3 women) aged 43 to 61 years.

Morbidity and mortality in liver retransplantation.

Introduction: The incidence of orthotopic liver retransplantation (re-OLT) ranges from 6% to 11%. The most frequent causes of early re-OLT are allograft failure, uncontrolled acute rejection, and vascular complications.

Materials And Methods: A retrospective study of 512 orthotopic liver transplants (OLTs) in 482 patients over 15 years.

Complex regulation of mucosal pentraxin (Mptx) revealed by discrete micro-anatomical locations in colon.

Recently a mucosal pentraxin, Mptx, regulated by heme and calcium was reported in rat gut mucosal scrapings using microarray strategies. Considering the heterogeneity of gut mucosa scrapings and the widespread use of the rat as a model to study colon pathologies this study was undertaken to generate detailed mapping of micro-anatomical locations of Mptx and gain further insight into potential functions of this mucosal pentraxin in rat colon. Differential regulation was also examined in colon from different rat strains and rat models of oxidative stress and in pre-cancerous colon tissue.

Functional and phenotypic changes in monocytes from patients with tuberculosis are reversed with treatment.

Alterations of monocyte/macrophages have been reported in patients with tuberculosis (TB), but their significance is poorly understood. Blood mononuclear cells from patients with different clinical forms of TB, at various times of anti-TB treatment, and healthy tuberculin positive individuals, were double-stained for CD14 plus CD206, TLR-2, IFN-gammaR1, CD40, HLA-DR, CD36 and CD163, and analyzed by flow cytometry. Monocytes were infected with Mycobacterium tuberculosis H37Rv and 24h later the phenotype, induction of necrosis and apoptosis and production of tumor necrosis factor TNFalpha, interleukin (IL)-10 and IL-12p40 were determined.

Acidic fibroblast growth factor decreases alpha-smooth muscle actin expression and induces apoptosis in human normal lung fibroblasts.

Fibroblast/myofibroblast expansion is critical in the pathogenesis of pulmonary fibrosis. To date, most research has focused on profibrotic mediators, whereas studies on antifibrotic factors are scanty. In this study, we explored the effects of acidic fibroblast growth factor (FGF-1) and FGF-1 plus heparin (FGF-1+H) on fibroblast growth rate, apoptosis, and myofibroblast differentiation.

The transcriptional regulatory code of eukaryotic cells--insights from genome-wide analysis of chromatin organization and transcription factor binding.

Control of eukaryotic gene expression involves combinatorial interactions between transcription factors and regulatory sequences in the genome. In addition, chromatin structure and modification states play key roles in determining the competence of transcription. The term 'transcriptional regulatory code' has been used to describe the interplay of these events in the complex control of transcription.

Cotinine levels and green tobacco sickness among shade-tobacco workers.

Study Objective: Symptoms consistent with Green Tobacco Sickness (GTS) were found in 4% (13/331) to 15% (45/303) of the migrant, mostly Latino, shade-tobacco workers who sought medical care at a Connecticut clinic. The objective of this study was to determine whether or not shade-tobacco farm workers absorb nicotine from the tobacco leaves and have a corresponding increase in both salivary cotinine levels (a breakdown product of nicotine) and symptoms consistent with GTS.

Methods: The study utilized a prospective cohort design to evaluate salivary cotinine and symptoms consistent with GTS in a population of shade tobacco farm workers compared to a control group of nursery workers.

Gaucher disease in Colombia: mutation identification and comparison to other Hispanic populations.

Gaucher disease is the most common of the lysosomal storage disorders, affecting all ethnic groups. The pathology of this recessively inherited disease arises from the accumulation of glucocerebroside in tissues due to deficient activity of the enzyme glucocerebrosidase (E.C.

Gene expression profiles distinguish idiopathic pulmonary fibrosis from hypersensitivity pneumonitis.

Rationale: Many of the interstitial lung diseases represent a diagnostic and therapeutic challenge because their clinical and even histologic features are often nonspecific. Likewise, the transcriptional signatures of most of them are unknown.

Objective: To compare the gene expression patterns from patients with idiopathic pulmonary fibrosis (IPF) hypersensitivity pneumonitis (HP), and nonspecific interstitial pneumonia (NSIP) using custom oligonucleotide microarrays.

Heparan sulfate levels in mucopolysaccharidoses and mucolipidoses.

Glycosaminoglycans are accumulated in both mucopolysaccharidoses (MPS) and mucolipidoses (ML). MPS I, II, III and VII and ML II and ML III patients cannot properly degrade heparan sulphate (HS). In spite of the importance of HS storage in the metabolic pathway in these diseases, blood and urine HS levels have not been determined systematically using a simple and economical method.