Finding "Zombies" in Your Database by Confirming Vital Status.

The Alaska Cancer Registry (ACR) conducted a study to identify and correct the vital status of certain cases in its database. These cases were reported as by the original reporting health care facility but were not identified as being deceased using routine death resources. Cases incorrectly reported as deceased are referred to here as "zombies," as they are the "living dead" in the registry database.

The capsule of Bacillus anthracis protects it from the bactericidal activity of human defensins and other cationic antimicrobial peptides.

During infection, Bacillus anthracis bacilli encounter potent antimicrobial peptides (AMPs) such as defensins. We examined the role that B. anthracis capsule plays in protecting bacilli from defensins and other cationic AMPs by comparing their effects on a fully virulent encapsulated wild type (WT) strain and an isogenic capsule-deficient capA mutant strain.

Stomach Cancer Incidence and Mortality Trends among Circumpolar Nations.

Background: Stomach cancer incidence and mortality rates are declining across circumpolar nations, but the burden may not be distributed equally across subpopulations, including Indigenous peoples. Our objective was to examine stomach cancer incidence and mortality trends across circumpolar populations.

Methods: Cancer incidence and mortality data from 1999-2016 were obtained from the Canadian Cancer Registry, Canadian Vital Statistics, CDC WONDER, NORDCAN, Northwestern Russian cancer registries, and National Cancer Reports.

Misclassification of sex in central cancer registries.

Background: Intrarecord edits on site-sex combinations are a standard tool to identify errors in the coding of sex in cancer registry data. However, the percentage of sex-specific cancers, like cervix, is low (20 percent of total invasive cases). Visual review and follow-back to improve the quality of the sex coding is labor intensive and typically only performed as a special project on subsets of data.

The role of neutrophils and monocytic cells in controlling the initiation of Clostridium perfringens gas gangrene.

Clostridium perfringens is a common cause of the fatal disease gas gangrene (myonecrosis). Established gas gangrene is notable for a profound absence of neutrophils and monocytic cells (phagocytes), and it has been suggested that the bactericidal activities of these cells play an insignificant role in controlling the progression of the infection. However, large inocula of bacteria are needed to establish an infection in experimental animals, suggesting phagocytes may play a role in inhibiting the initiation of gangrene.

Poly-gamma-glutamate capsule-degrading enzyme treatment enhances phagocytosis and killing of encapsulated Bacillus anthracis.

The poly-gamma-d-glutamic acid capsule confers antiphagocytic properties on Bacillus anthracis and is essential for virulence. In this study, we showed that CapD, a gamma-polyglutamic acid depolymerase encoded on the B. anthracis capsule plasmid, degraded purified capsule and removed the capsule from the surface of anthrax bacilli.

Type IV pili-dependent gliding motility in the Gram-positive pathogen Clostridium perfringens and other Clostridia.

Bacteria can swim in liquid media by flagellar rotation and can move on surfaces via gliding or twitching motility. One type of gliding motility involves the extension, attachment and retraction of type IV pili (TFP), which pull the bacterium towards the site of attachment. TFP-dependent gliding motility has been seen in many Gram-negative bacteria but not in Gram-positive bacteria.

Effects of Clostridium perfringens alpha-toxin (PLC) and perfringolysin O (PFO) on cytotoxicity to macrophages, on escape from the phagosomes of macrophages, and on persistence of C. perfringens in host tissues.

Clostridium perfringens is the most common cause of clostridial myonecrosis (gas gangrene). Polymorphonuclear cells (PMNs) appear to play only a minor role in preventing the onset of myonecrosis in a mouse animal model of the disease (unpublished results). However, the importance of macrophages in the host defense against C.

Multiple effects on Clostridium perfringens binding, uptake and trafficking to lysosomes by inhibitors of macrophage phagocytosis receptors.

Clostridium perfringens is a Gram-positive, anaerobic bacterium that is the most common cause of gas gangrene (clostridial myonecrosis) in humans. C. perfringens produces a variety of extracellular toxins that are thought to be the major virulence factors of the organism.