Distribution of Agrobacterium vitis in Grapevines and Its Relevance to Pathogen Elimination.

Agrobacterium vitis, the cause of crown gall disease on grapevine, survives internally in vines and can be spread in cuttings for propagation. The possibility of generating pathogen-free vines through tissue culture makes it essential to understand the distribution of the pathogen in grapevines. A highly sensitive magnetic capture hybridization procedure along with real-time polymerase chain reaction were used to measure the distribution of tumorigenic A.

Development of a magnetic capture hybridization real-time PCR assay for detection of tumorigenic Agrobacterium vitis in grapevines.

Agrobacterium vitis, the causal agent of grape crown gall, can have severe economic effects on grape production. The bacterium survives systemically in vines and, therefore, is disseminated in propagation material. We developed an assay for use in indexing programs that is efficient and sensitive for detecting A.

A host-specific biological control of grape crown gall by Agrobacterium vitis strain F2/5: its regulation and population dynamics.

Nontumorigenic Agrobacterium vitis strain F2/5 is able to prevent crown gall caused by tumorigenic A. vitis on grape but not on other plant species such as tobacco. Mutations in a quorum-sensing transcription factor, aviR, and in caseinolytic protease (clp) component genes clpA and clpP1 resulted in reduced or loss of biological control.

Left ventricular end-systolic stress in young adults: distribution, risk factors, and relation to cardiovascular disease events.

Background: We examined the relationship of left ventricular (LV) end-systolic meridional wall stress (LVESS), a measure of LV afterload, with race, gender, other cardiovascular risk factors and LV mass in 3,994 young adults in the Coronary Artery Risk Development in Young Adults (CARDIA) Study.

Methods: From transthoracic echocardiography, LVESS was derived from LV internal dimension and posterior wall thickness and systolic blood pressure (BP).

Results: Adjusted LVESS was significantly greater in black men versus women (59.

Prevalence and clinical correlates of isolated mitral, isolated aortic regurgitation, and both in adults aged 21 to 35 years (from the CARDIA study).

Aortic regurgitation (AR) and mitral regurgitation (MR) can result in serious clinical complications and death. The physiologic and clinical correlates of AR and MR in a free-living young adult population, however, have not been well defined. The prevalence and correlates of AR and MR were investigated in Coronary Artery Risk Development in Young Adults (CARDIA), a multicenter National Heart, Lung, and Blood Institute study of 4,352 men and women aged 21 to 35 years who had 2-dimensionally directed M-mode echocardiographic and spectral and color Doppler examinations.

Aortic valvular regurgitation: prevalence and clinical characteristics in a predominantly obese adult population not taking anorexigens.

Background: We recently reported the prevalence of aortic regurgitation (AR) by Doppler echocardiography (echo) in obese subjects to be higher than in some previous reports.

Objective: To describe the prevalence of AR in an obese population not taking anorexigens as a function of demographic characteristics, cardiovascular risk factors, and other potential predictors.

Methods: In 539 adult subjects, cardiovascular status was evaluated by medical history, physical examination, and Doppler echocardiograms performed according to a standardized imaging protocol.

Coronary artery fistula presenting as bacterial endocarditis.

Coronary artery fistula is often considered to be a benign and rare congenital anomaly. It is usually an incidental finding encountered during routine cardiac catheterization. We report a case of a patient presenting with endocarditis involving a large coronary artery fistula connecting an aneurysmal circumflex coronary artery to the coronary sinus.

Demographics and correlates of five-year change in echocardiographic left ventricular mass in young black and white adult men and women: the Coronary Artery Risk Development in Young Adults (CARDIA) study.

Objective: The goal of this study was to determine the presence and correlates of change (Delta) in left ventricular (LV) mass by echocardiography in young adults.

Background: Left ventricular mass is known to be a powerful independent predictor for cardiovascular disease events in adults. However, little is known about Delta in LV mass over time in young adults.

Reproducibility of Brachial Artery Ultrasound Measurements.

Recent findings suggest that systemic artery endothelial function is associated with the preclinical phase of vascular disease and related to traditional atherosclerosis risk factors. Brachial artery diameter changes in response to hyperemia have been proposed recently as a noninvasive tool to assess endothelial function. To evaluate the reproducibility of brachial artery diameter measurements using ultrasound, we studied 12 healthy subjects (eight men and four women, mean age 37 +/- 9 years).