Type I interferon suppresses type II interferon-triggered human anti-mycobacterial responses.

Type I interferons (IFN-α and IFN-β) are important for protection against many viral infections, whereas type II interferon (IFN-γ) is essential for host defense against some bacterial and parasitic pathogens. Study of IFN responses in human leprosy revealed an inverse correlation between IFN-β and IFN-γ gene expression programs. IFN-γ and its downstream vitamin D-dependent antimicrobial genes were preferentially expressed in self-healing tuberculoid lesions and mediated antimicrobial activity against the pathogen Mycobacterium leprae in vitro.

Comparison of two independent Sr optical clocks with 1×10(-17) stability at 10(3) s.

Many-particle optical lattice clocks have the potential for unprecedented measurement precision and stability due to their low quantum projection noise. However, this potential has so far never been realized because clock stability has been limited by frequency noise of optical local oscillators. By synchronously probing two ^{87}Sr lattice systems using a laser with a thermal noise floor of 1×10(-15), we remove classically correlated laser noise from the intercomparison, but this does not demonstrate independent clock performance.

Results of a two-center, before and after study of piperacillin-tazobactam versus ampicillin and gentamicin as empiric therapy for suspected sepsis at birth in neonates ≤ 1500 g.

Objective: We changed from ampicillin and gentamicin (AG) to piperacillin-tazobactam (PT) for routine treatment of suspected early-onset sepsis. The rationale for this change included ototoxic and renal toxic effects of gentamicin, resistance to gentamicin in late-onset infections and emergence of ampicillin resistant Escherichia coli. A before and after study was designed before the start of PT administration to monitor whether PT was associated with altered outcomes within the 501 to 1500 g birth weight (Very Low Birth Weight) population.

Ablative fractional resurfacing in topical drug delivery: an update and outlook.

Background: The effective delivery of therapeutic molecules to varied targets in the skin and elsewhere has been an area of ongoing research and development.

Objective: To review the structure of the skin with an emphasis on topical drug delivery and to present the rationale for the use of ablative and nonablative fractional resurfacing in assisted drug delivery.

Methods And Materials: Review of the currently available scientific literature on laser-assisted drug delivery.

Poikilodermatous mycosis fungoides.

Poikilodermatous mycosis fungoides (MF) is a variant of MF, formerly referred to as poikiloderma vasculare atrophicans. The lesions are classically characterized by large plaques of hypopigmentation and hyperpigmentation with atrophy and telangiectases. The plaques may be asymptomatic or mildly pruritic and typically involve the major flexural areas and trunk.

Summary health statistics for u.s. Children: national health interview survey, 2011.

Objectives-This report presents both age-adjusted and unadjusted statistics from the 2011 National Health Interview Survey (NHIS) on selected health measures for children under age 18 years, classified by sex, age, race, Hispanic origin, family structure, parent education, family income, poverty status, health insurance coverage, place of residence, region, and current health status. Topics included are asthma, allergies, learning disability, attention deficit hyperactivity disorder (ADHD), prescription medication use for at least 3 months, respondent-assessed health status, school days missed due to illness or injury, usual place of health care, time since last contact with a health care professional, selected measures of health care access, emergency room visits, and dental care. Data Source-NHIS is a multistage probability sample survey conducted annually by interviewers of the U.

Oral health status and access to oral health care for U.S. adults aged 18-64: National Health Interview Survey, 2008.

Objectives: This report presents statistics from the 2008 National Health Interview Survey (NHIS) on selected measures of oral health status and oral health care access for adults aged 18-64. Estimates are presented by sex, age, race and ethnicity, nativity, education, poverty status, health and dental insurance status, region, place of residence, dentition status, current smoking status, current drinking status, and diabetes status.

Data Source: NHIS is a multistage probability sample survey conducted annually by interviewers of the U.

Rethinking biosafety in research on potential pandemic pathogens.

If accidentally released, mammalian-transmissible influenza A/H5N1 viruses could pose a greater threat to public health than possibly any other infectious agent currently under study in laboratories, because of such viruses' likely combination of transmissibility and virulence to humans. We advocate explicit risk-benefit assessments before work on such pathogens is permitted or funded, improvement of biosafety practices and enforcement, and harmonization of criteria for permitting such experiments across government agencies, as well as internationally. Such potential pandemic pathogens, as they have been called, jeopardize not only laboratory workers and their contacts, but also the wider population, who should be involved in assessments of when such risks are acceptable in the service of scientific knowledge that may itself bear major public health benefits.

Assessment of safety and efficacy of a bipolar fractionated radiofrequency device in the treatment of photodamaged skin.

Background: A number of devices are available for skin rejuvenation and conventional devices include both ablative and non-ablative lasers. More recently, bipolar fractionated radiofrequency (RF) devices have been introduced.

Objective: To evaluate the safety and efficacy of a novel 144 pin high density tip bipolar fractionated radiofrequency (RF) device for skin rejuvenation in Fitzpatrick skin types I-IV.

Vitamin D, tuberculin skin test conversion, and latent tuberculosis in Mongolian school-age children: a randomized, double-blind, placebo-controlled feasibility trial.

Background: By modulating immune function, vitamin D might increase innate immunity and inhibit the growth of initial bacterial invasion and protect against tuberculosis infection.

Objective: We examined the effect of vitamin D supplementation on tuberculin skin test (TST) conversion.

Design: A double-blind, placebo-controlled study was conducted in 120 Mongol schoolchildren.

Evolution, safety, and highly pathogenic influenza viruses.

Experience with influenza has shown that predictions of virus phenotype or fitness from nucleotide sequence are imperfect and that predicting the timing and course of evolution is extremely difficult. Such uncertainty means that the risk of experiments with mammalian-transmissible, possibly highly virulent influenza viruses remains high even if some aspects of their laboratory biology are reassuring; it also implies limitations on the ability of laboratory observations to guide interpretation of surveillance of strains in the field. Thus, we propose that future experiments with virulent pathogens whose accidental or deliberate release could lead to extensive spread in human populations should be limited by explicit risk-benefit considerations.

Smoking and oral health in dentate adults aged 18-64.

This report shows that among dentate adults aged 18–64 there are differences in oral health status and oral health care utilization among current smokers, former smokers, and never smokers. Overall, current smokers had a poorer oral health status and more oral health problems than either former smokers or never smokers. Current smokers were also more likely to delay routine dental visits.

The absolute nucleated red blood cell (aNRBC) count at birth is not an indicator for retinopathy of prematurity (ROP).

Objective: To establish the reproducibility of a published observation by Lubetzky et al. that infants affected by retinopathy of prematurity (ROP) had higher absolute nucleated red blood cell (aNRBC) counts than those unaffected. The authors suggested that infants exposed to intrauterine hypoxia are at higher risk for ROP.

Efficacy and safety of CE-224,535, an antagonist of P2X7 receptor, in treatment of patients with rheumatoid arthritis inadequately controlled by methotrexate.

Objective: To evaluate efficacy and safety of CE-224,535, a selective P2X(7) receptor antagonist, versus placebo, in patients with active rheumatoid arthritis (RA) and inadequate response to methotrexate (MTX).

Methods: In our phase IIA study (ClinicalTrials.gov no.

Summary health statistics for U.S. children: National Health Interview Survey, 2010.

Objectives: This report presents both age-adjusted and unadjusted statistics from the 2010 National Health Interview Survey (NHIS) on selected health measures for children under age 18 years, classified by sex, age, race, Hispanic origin, family structure, parent education, family income, poverty status, health insurance coverage, place of residence, region, and current health status. The topics covered are asthma, allergies, learning disability, attention deficit hyperactivity disorder (ADHD), prescription medication use, respondent-assessed health status, school days missed due to illness or injury, usual place of health care, time since last contact with a health care professional, selected measures of health care access and utilization, and dental care.

Data Source: NHIS is a multistage probability sample survey conducted annually by interviewers of the U.

Meeting the challenges of an emerging pathogen: the Henry Schueler 41&9 Foundation International Forum on Mucormycosis.

Invasive mucormycosis comprises a group of uncommon but emerging life-threatening pulmonary, sinal, rhinocerebral, and disseminated infections, which cause debilitating morbidity and severe mortality in our most vulnerable pediatric and adult immunocompromised patients. While important advances are being achieved in understanding the epidemiology, molecular taxonomy, pathogenesis, pharmacology, host defenses, and microbiology of these infections, there are critical needs for improving these approaches for diagnosis, treatment, and prevention. This supplement is dedicated to the memory and courage of Hank Schueler, who fought valiantly against this infection.

Randomized placebo-controlled trial of the bradykinin B₂ receptor antagonist icatibant for the treatment of acute attacks of hereditary angioedema: the FAST-3 trial.

Background: The For Angioedema Subcutaneous Treatment (FAST)-3 study was a phase III, randomized, double-blind, placebo-controlled study of icatibant (bradykinin B(2) receptor antagonist) in subjects with hereditary angioedema (HAE) resulting from C1-INH deficiency or dysfunction (type I/II).

Objective: To investigate icatibant efficacy and safety in subjects with acute HAE attacks.

Methods: Subjects with moderate to very severe cutaneous or abdominal symptoms received icatibant (n = 43) or placebo (n = 45).

Risk factors for persistent candidemia infection in a neonatal intensive care unit and its effect on mortality and length of hospitalization.

Objective: Candida infections cause substantial morbidity and mortality in neonates. Persistent candidemia has not been associated with increased risk of mortality compared with candidemia of shorter duration. This study sought to determine whether persistent candidemia was associated with increased length of hospitalization or mortality in neonates.

Vitamin D is required for IFN-gamma-mediated antimicrobial activity of human macrophages.

Control of tuberculosis worldwide depends on our understanding of human immune mechanisms, which combat the infection. Acquired T cell responses are critical for host defense against microbial pathogens, yet the mechanisms by which they act in humans remain unclear. We report that T cells, by the release of interferon-γ (IFN-γ), induce autophagy, phagosomal maturation, the production of antimicrobial peptides such as cathelicidin, and antimicrobial activity against Mycobacterium tuberculosis in human macrophages via a vitamin D-dependent pathway.

Measurement of optical Feshbach resonances in an ideal gas.

Using a narrow intercombination line in alkaline earth atoms to mitigate large inelastic losses, we explore the optical Feshbach resonance effect in an ultracold gas of bosonic (88)Sr. A systematic measurement of three resonances allows precise determinations of the optical Feshbach resonance strength and scaling law, in agreement with coupled-channel theory. Resonant enhancement of the complex scattering length leads to thermalization mediated by elastic and inelastic collisions in an otherwise ideal gas.

The introduction of extracorporeal membrane oxygenation to aeromedical evacuation.

Objective: To review the principles of extracorporeal membrane oxygenation (ECMO) and to describe the recent advancements in ECMO technology that permit use of this rescue therapy for severe lung injury in combat casualties.

Methods/results: Lung protective ventilation has defined the state-of-the-art treatment for acute lung injury for more than a decade. Despite the benefits provided by a low tidal volume strategy, lung injury patients may experience deterioration in gas exchange to the point that other rescue interventions are needed or the patient succumbs to progressive respiratory failure.

Dosing celecoxib in pediatric patients with juvenile rheumatoid arthritis.

The objective was to derive dosing recommendations for the use of celecoxib in patients with juvenile rheumatoid arthritis (JRA) using pharmacokinetic (PK) and exposure-response data. PK and efficacy data from a randomized, double-blind, 12-week study of celecoxib dosed at 3 and 6 mg/kg twice a day (bid) as an investigational suspension formulation in 152 JRA patients aged 2 to 17 years, PK data from 36 adult RA patients, and relative bioavailability data in healthy adults comparing suspension or capsule sprinkles with the commercial capsule were analyzed. Typical oral clearance (L/h) values were 40% and 24% lower in patients weighing 10 and 25 kg, respectively, compared with a 70-kg patient.