Treatment Failure in a UK Malaria Patient Harboring Genetically Variant Plasmodium falciparum From Uganda With Reduced In Vitro Susceptibility to Artemisinin and Lumefantrine.

Background: Recent cases of clinical failure in malaria patients in the United Kingdom (UK) treated with artemether-lumefantrine have implications for malaria chemotherapy worldwide.

Methods: Parasites were isolated from an index case of confirmed Plasmodium falciparum treatment failure after standard treatment, and from comparable travel-acquired UK malaria cases. Drug susceptibility in vitro and genotypes at 6 resistance-associated loci were determined for all parasite isolates and compared with clinical outcomes for each parasite donor.

NMR diffusion analysis of surfactant-humic substance interactions.

Surfactants can be introduced into the environment through wastewater or by direct contamination. Understanding the fate and transport of surfactants in the environment is important in assessing their role as pollutants. Humic substances are complex heterogeneous mixtures of decomposition products of natural organic materials.

An improved colorimetric PCR-based method for detection and differentiation of Entamoeba histolytica and Entamoeba dispar in feces.

The epidemiological implications of the recent separation of "Entamoeba histolytica" into two separate species, pathogenic E. histolytica sensu stricto and commensal E. dispar, will not become apparent without methods of distinguishing between them which are applicable to large numbers of specimens.

Sublingual allergen administration. I. Selective suppression of IgE production in rats by high allergen doses.

Sublingual administration of a protein allergen to immunologically naïve rats suppressed subsequent allergen-specific IgE responses. Susceptibility to this form of immunotherapy was genetically determined, with some inbred rat strains displaying immunological tolerance in the IgE antibody class alone, whilst others developed concomitant suppression of IgG. Parallel gastric intubation experiments established that the development of tolerance by sublingual allergen administration proceeded independently of events occurring in the gut resulting from swallowing the allergen.

Suppression of IgE responses by antigen inhalation: failure of tolerance mechanism(s) in newborn rats.

The natural response of immunocompetent adult animals to antigen inhalation is the development of T-lymphocyte mediated tolerance, particularly in the IgE-antibody class (Holt & Sedgwick, 1987). It has been suggested that this process functions as a protective mechanism to limit sensitization to aeroallergens. In the present report, it is shown that the inhalation tolerance process does not function during the early postnatal period, and the lack of this protective mechanism may contribute to the increased risk of allergic sensitization during infancy.

Suppression of IgE responses by passive antigen inhalation: dissociation of local (mucosal) and systemic immunity.

Animals from high- and low-IgE-responder rat strains were preexposed to antigen-containing aerosols of different droplet sizes, prior to parenteral antigenic challenge. Depending upon the type of aerosol employed, systemic immunological tolerance developed in high-IgE-responder animals in the IgE antibody class either with or without concomitant production of salivary IgA, indicating that the two antibody isotypes were under independent control, and further that IgA-mediated immune exclusion was not central to the development of tolerance in the IgE class. Low-IgE-responder rats exhibited biphasic salivary IgA responses during exposure, which could not be recalled by subsequent parenteral challenge, suggesting that secretory immunity in the respiratory tract may also be down regulated by repeated exposure to airborne antigens.

Suppression of IgE responses by antigen inhalation: studies on the role of genetic and environmental factors.

Repeated inhalation of low levels of ovalbumin (OVA) by mice or rats preferentially induces tolerance in the IgE antibody class, and this process may represent an important protective mechanism that normally prevents allergic sensitization to air-borne antigens. Dose-response experiments involving exposure of a number of inbred rat strains to graded doses of aerosolized OVA confirmed the inverse relationship between sensitivity to tolerogenesis and IgE-responder phenotype. These experiments additionally demonstrated that F1 hybrids derived from low X high responder crosses co-inherited high sensitivity to tolerance induction, together with the low IgE-responder phenotype.

[Risks of operative treatment of prostatic adenoma in terminal renal failure].

Three patients in terminal renal failure who developed strictures in the operative area after the operative removal of a prostate adenoma are presented. These typical complications, as described in the literature, are not only a result of transurethral resections. According to our investigations they also develop after open prostate operations.

A physiotherapist's views on low back pain.

It is a matter for regret that patients sometimes are sent by doctors for physiotherapy before their condition has been assessed fully. In this article a manipulative therapist describes his management, preceded always by thorough and careful examination. He emphasises that most physiotherapists work in close association with referring practitioners.

A preliminary investigation of the ecology of arboviruses in the Derby area of the Kimberley region, Western Australia.

A survey of mosquito populations in the Derby area of the Kimberley region, Western Australia, in March/April of 1977 yielded a total of 3,318 adult female mosquitoes. Fifteen taxa were represented, seven being new locality records for this area. Culex annulirostris was the dominant species, comprising 85.

Isolation of Murray Valley encephalitis virus and other arboviruses in the Ord River Valley 1972-1976.

This paper summarizes the isolation of arboviruses from mosquitoes collected in the Ord Valley between 1972 and 1976. A total of one hundred and ninety five strains of at least fifteen antigenically distinct viruses have been isolated. Seven of these isolates appear to be "new' antigenic types, and several are undergoing further testing.