Rapid identification of Salmonella typhimurium, S. enteritidis and S. virchow isolates by polymerase chain reaction based fingerprinting methods.

In this study we used and evaluated three rapid molecular typing methods for the identification of three frequent, clinically significant Salmonella serovars on the basis of the ease, simplicity and reproducibility of the chosen methods. We determined the genetic diversity among several isolates of Salmonella enteritidis, S. typhimiurium and S.

Mucocutaneous leishmaniasis due to Leishmania (Leishmania) infantum: biochemical characterization.

A vegetative mass in the right nasal cavity of a 62-year-old man from Palma de Mallorca, Spain, was found to be due to Leishmania. The organism was isolated in culture and characterized by in situ hybridization, Southern blot hybridization, and isoenzyme analysis; it was thus demonstrated to be the most common enzyme variant 1 (MON 1) of Leishmania (Leishmania) infantum.

Normal level of thyroglobulin messenger ribonucleic acid in a human congenital goiter with thyroglobulin deficiency.

Two siblings with congenital goiter were investigated from clinical, biochemical, and molecular biology standpoints. The association of clinical and biological hypothyroidism with undetectable levels of serum thyroglobulin (Tg) and the presence of iodohistidines in the urine suggested the diagnosis of defective Tg gene expression. This conclusion was confirmed by analysis of proteins present in goiter extracts.

An unusually long poly(purine)-poly(pyrimidine) sequence is located upstream from the human thyroglobulin gene.

A region of human genomic DNA encompassing the 5' end of the thyroglobulin gene has been sequenced and the position of the transcriptional start site has been determined. The 5' non-translated portion of the mRNA displays a quasi-palindromic sequence which could allow this region to adopt a hairpin structure. The first exon of the gene encodes a 19 amino-acids signal peptide and the 3 first amino acids of the mature protein.

Structural organization of the 5' region of the human thyroglobulin gene.

Sequence analyses of bovine and human thyroglobulin (Tg) cDNA have demonstrated that the 5' region of the mRNA encodes a domain responsible for thyroid hormone synthesis and exhibits striking internal repetition. Knowledge of the organization of the corresponding chromosomal DNA region would provide insight as to how such a structure has evolved. A human genomic DNA library was screened by hybridization in situ, using a bovine Tg cDNA probe corresponding to 2.

[Tuberculous pleural effusion and pleural effusion secondary to non-specific bacterial infection: biochemical differential diagnosis (author's transl)].

The authors study 14 different analytical parameters in the pleural fluid in order to recognize differential biological criteria, helping to establish an etiologic diagnosis in patients with suggestive clinical symptoms and biological data of an infectious process. In a group of 38 patients with bacterial exudative pleural effusion (22 of tuberculous origin and 16 secondary to non-specific bacterial infection), the following parameters were analyzed: total proteins, acid glucoprotein, X1, antytripsin, CDH, acid phosphatase, amylase, cholinest, copper, iron, pCO2, pO2 pH, glucose, and cholesterol. The results of amylase, copper, pCO2, pO2 and pH determinations in the pleural fluid show statistical significant differences between the tuberculous cases and the patients with non-specific infections.

[Congenital hepatorenal polycystic disease with unusual long survival (author's transl)].

The authors report a case of hepatorenal polycystic disease discovered in the course of a routine physical examination. The patient was asymptomatic and the progression of the disease was extremely low. The existence of the disorder, however, was confirmed in the autopsy.

[Value of the measurement of gases in the diagnosis of pleural effusion (author's transl)].

Determination of pH and measurement of pCO2 and pO2 have been systematically included in the study of 183 patients with pleural effusion. According to selective etiologic criteria the effusions were divided into four categories: those of cardiac origin (42), non-specific infectious (14), tuberculous (22) and neoplastic (20). A pH inferior to 6.

Structural characteristics of interferons from mouse Ehrlich ascites tumor cells.

An improved procedure for the isolation of interferons produced by mouse Ehrlich ascites tumor cells infected with Newcastle disease virus provides interferons of three size classes (33,000, 26,000, and 20,000 daltons) with specific activities between 2 and 3 x 10(9) units/mg of protein and a yield of 11 to 20%. The tryptic peptide maps of the two larger species are very similar; that of the smallest species is different, at least in part. The amino acid compositions of the three species are very close.

[Liver disease associated with hypernephroma. A case report (author's transl)].

The observation of a non-metastatic reactive hepatopathy associated with a hypernephroma in a 39-year-old man who had had fever for 4 months led to a review of the literature and an analysis of basically three aspects of the disorder: a) The various manifestations of carcinoma of the kidney, which include a large number of paraneoplastic clinical symptoms (polycythemia, anemia, prolonged fever, hypercalcemia, hypertension, nefropathy, loss of salt, peripheral neuropathy, and amyloidosis); b) an alteracion of hepatic function known since 1961 which is characterized by an abnormal retention of sulfobromophthalein, increase of alkaline phosphatase, prothrombin decrease, dysproteinemia with hypoalbuminemia, and alpha2-globulin increase. It may or may not be accompanied by enlargement of the liver. c) Criteria of operability of the primary tumor.

Purification of interferon from mouse Ehrlich ascites tumor cells.

Interferon production was induced in mouse Ehrlich ascites tumor cells by infection with Newcastle disease virus. The interferon produced was purified by precipitation with ammonium sulfate, chromatography on carboxymethyl-Sephadex, treatment with blue dextran and polyethylene glycol, gel filtration on Bio-Gel P-60 and Bio-Gel P-200, chromatography on phosphocellulose, isoelectric focusing, and chromatography on octyl-Sepharose. The specific activity of the product was 1.

Messenger RNA methylation, translation and degradation in extracts of interferon-treated cells.

Extracts from interferon-treated, not virus infected EAT cells differ in several biochemical characteristics from extracts of untreated cells. Some of these differences are manifested only if the extracts are supplemented with ds RNA and ATP. Thus, in the extracts from interferon-treated cells these supplements activate a protein kinase and an endonuclease activity as well as an inhibitor of the translation of messenger RNA.

Interferon, double-stranded RNA, and protein phosphorylation.

We reported earlier that the addition of double-stranded RNA and ATP increases the endonuclease activity more in an extract of Ehrlich ascites tumor cells which have been treated with an interferon preparation than in a comparable extract from control cells. We report here that the addition of double-stranded RNA to an extract from Ehrlich ascites tumor cells which have been treated with an interferon preparation [or with the interferon inducer poly(I)-poly(C)] promotes the phosphorylation by [gamma-32P]ATP of at least two proteins: P1 (molecular weight of 64,000) and P2 (molecular weight of 37,000). Double-stranded RNA also promotes the phosphorylation of at least one (i.