Exploring the bonding in alkaline earth halides AeX (Ae = Be-Ba, X = F-I) from Fermi hole localization and QTAIM perspectives.

A theoretical description of various [AeX] (Ae = Be-Ba, X = F-I) systems, some of which have been reported in the literature to bear an unusual quadruple bond between the metal and the halogen, is provided based on both (i) the localization of the Fermi hole and (ii) the topological analysis of the one-electron density. Insights into the bond order of various [AeX] systems are inferred on the basis of the number of electrons localized in the bond basin, the topology of the Fermi hole information computed along the bond axis, and the delocalization index. The results suggest that the [AeX] molecules present a bond with attributes closer to a classical dative bond than to a multiple one, being characterized by large stabilization due to the electrostatic interaction between the polarized metal and the halogen anion.

Prolongation of the tibialis anterior CMAP duration in chronic inflammatory demyelinating polyneuropathy.

Objective: To assess the duration of the distal compound muscle action potential (dCMAP) recording from the tibialis anterior (TA) as a supportive electrodiagnostic feature in chronic inflammatory demyelinating polyneuropathy (CIDP).

Methods: We performed peroneal motor conduction studies with recording from the TA in 35 CIDP patients, 30 normal controls, and 21 disease controls. The normal cut-off for the TA dCMAP duration was determined to be 14 ms.

Diagnostic accuracy of HMGB-1, sTREM-1, and CD64 as markers of sepsis in patients recently admitted to the emergency department.

Objectives: The objectives were to evaluate the diagnostic accuracy for sepsis in an emergency department (ED) population of the cluster of differentiation-64 (CD64) glycoprotein expression on the surface of neutrophils (nCD64), serum levels of soluble triggering receptor expressed on myeloid cells-1 (s-TREM-1), and high-mobility group box-1 protein (HMGB-1).

Methods: Patients with any of the following as admission diagnosis were enrolled: 1) suspected infection, 2) fever, 3) delirium, or 4) acute hypotension of unexplained origin within 24 hours of ED presentation. Levels of nCD64, HMGB-1, and s-TREM-1 were measured within the first 24 hours of the first ED evaluation.

Fetal-maternal HLA-A and -B discordance is associated with placental RNase expression and anti-HIV-1 activity.

The incidence of maternal-to-fetal human immunodeficiency virus type 1 (HIV-1) transmission is 25-30% in absence of antiretroviral therapy, and is inversely associated with Human leukocyte antigens (HLA) class-I discordance. Based on our earlier report that mixed lymphocyte reactions (MLR) induce a ribonuclease (RNase) that inhibits HIV-1 replication, we proposed that maternal-fetal alloantigen stimulation activates factors that protect the fetus against vertically-transmitted infections. We investigate here whether the degree of mother-infant HLA discordance associates with the ability to produce anti-HIV-1 alloantigen-stimulated factor (ASF), and affects placental RNases.

Diagnostic accuracy of bronchoalveolar lavage samples in immunosuppressed patients with suspected pneumonia: analysis of a protocol.

Background: Fast and accurate etiologic diagnosis of pneumonia in immunocompromised patients is essential for a good outcome. Utility of bronchoalveolar lavage (BAL) samples has already been established, but studies about them are scarce and limited to few countries. We aimed to evaluate the accuracy of a diagnostic protocol, emphasizing on local epidemiology, rapidity, and yield of different techniques.

Ribonucleases in HIV type 1 inhibition: effect of recombinant RNases on infection of primary T cells and immune activation-induced RNase gene and protein expression.

Ribonucleases (RNases) have therapeutic potential against cancer and viral diseases and have been reported to inhibit replication of the human immunodeficiency virus type 1 (HIV-1) in chronically infected cell lines. The ribonuclease eosinophil-derived neurotoxin (EDN) is responsible for the anti-HIV-1 activity of a soluble factor produced in response to human alloantigens (ASF). Four recombinant RNases (EDN; a four amino acid extension of the N-terminus EDN, -4EDN; RNase A; and angiogenin) were tested for inhibition of HIV-1 replication in PHA blasts.

[Presence of circulating cytomegalic cells in HIV negative immunosuppressed individuals following cytomegalovirus infection].

Objective: Immunofluorenscence methods to detect pp65 antigenemia were implemented for identifying the circulating virus-infected cells in individuals known to have cytomegalovirus infection and disease symptoms.

Material And Methods: Between December-2002 and July-2003, 110 peripheral blood samples were obtained from 46 immunosuppressed patients. pp65 antigenemia and the presence of circulating cells were determined by indirect immunofluorescence using a commercial kit to detect CMV pp65 antigen in peripheral blood leukocytes.

Ribonuclease is partly responsible for the HIV-1 inhibitory effect activated by HLA alloantigen recognition.

Objective: This study was performed to determine whether ribonucleases (RNases) contribute to the soluble HIV-1 inhibitory activity that results from the recognition of HLA alloantigens.

Design And Methods: Supernatants from mixed lymphocyte reactions of peripheral blood mononuclear cells from healthy HLA-discordant individuals exhibited HIV-1 inhibitory activity (alloantigen-stimulated factors; ASF). These supernatants were tested for their sensitivity to heating (90 degrees C for 3 min), and for the presence of three RNases belonging to the RNase A superfamily: eosinophil-derived neurotoxin (EDN); RNase A; and angiogenin.

Molecular characterization of the CCR 5 gene in seronegative individuals exposed to human immunodeficiency virus (HIV).

Background: Both clinical and laboratory evidence in exposed seronegative (ESN) individuals to human HIV-1 has suggested the existence of mechanisms of natural resistance to the infection. A 32 base-pair deletion in the gene that codes for the CCR5, which is the main coreceptor for HIV-1, confers a high degree of resistance to HIV-1 infection. However, the genotype Delta32/Delta32 is present only in 2-4% of Caucasoid ESN individuals suggesting the existence of other mechanisms of protection.

Environmental pollution and malignant lymphomas: a tentative contribution to geographic pathology.

The present study reports of the geographic distribution of 2,878 cases of uniformly classified malignant lymphomas and of 2,349 similar cases from the literature. Data on histological entities are compared with the geographic and socio-economic characteristics of the regions where they preferentially occur. The results provide three patterns in lymphoma distribution: small cell lymphocytic lymphomas are frequent among populations of European extraction and in farming rather than industrial regions.

Experimental murine paracoccidiodomycosis induced by the inhalation of conidia.

Adult BALB/c mice of both sexes were infected intranasally with 10(6) viable P. brasiliensis conidia. Animals were sacrificed at intervals up to 6 months and studied by histopathology and organ cultures.

Pathogenesis of paracoccidioidomycosis: a histopathological study of the experimental murine infection.

The pathogenesis of primary pulmonary P. brasiliensis infection, the systemic dissemination which followed, and the histopathology of the main organs involved was studied in a murine model of chronic paracoccidioidomycosis. Adult male BALB/C mice, were challenged intranasally with 26 X 10(-6) viable P.

A new working formulation of non-Hodgkin's lymphomas. A retrospective study of the new NCI classification proposal in comparison to the Rappaport and Kiel classifications.

Two hundred thirty cases of malignant non-Hodgkin's lymphomas were reclassified in a retrospective study according to the New Working Formulation for Clinical Usage of the NCI as compared to the Rappaport and Kiel classifications. The reproducibility for the individual schemes this study was 81% (Rappaport), 79% (Kiel), and 85% (New Working Formulation). In keeping with the results of the NCI international study, all lymphomas were subdivided into 3 prognostic groups: (1) low-grade malignancy (6.

Recovery of Paracoccidioides brasiliensis from a partially calcified lymph node lesion by microaerophilic incubation of liquid media.

Surgical specimens were obtained from a patient who had had life-threatening paracoccidioidomycosis 5 years previously. Residual lesions were found in the mesenteric lymph nodes; there were areas of caseous necrosis separated from the surrounding tissue by a fibrous capsule made of connective tissue. Abundant P.

Ultrastructural studies on hydantoin induced lymphomas in mice.

Ultrastructural studies were done on cells from original tumors and from short time cultures of mouse thymic lymphomas experimentally induced by chronic exposure to diphenyl-hydantoin. The tumors appeared in mouse strains with low (C57Bl) and high (SJL/J) susceptibility to spontaneous lymphoma development and were not observed in a resistant strain (C3Hf). Thymic lymphoma development was usually preceded by increasing lymphoreticular atrophy followed by progressive reticulohistiocytic hyperplasia, and subsequently spread to other tissues.

Hodgkin's disease in Medellin, Colombia.

Four hundred and fifty two cases of Hodgkin's disease (H.D.) were studied in Medellin, Colombia, following the Rye histological classification: The relative frequency of H.