A new carbon monoxide occupational dosimeter: results from a worker exposure assessment survey.

The LBNL/QGI occupational carbon monoxide (CO) dosimeter (LOCD), a new, inexpensive CO passive sampler, was field-validated in an occupational exposure assessment study in the Moscone Convention Center (MCC) in San Francisco, CA in January, 1997. The LOCD measures time-weighed-average (TWA) CO exposures from 10 to 800 parts per million hours (ppm h; accuracy +/- 20%; precision 10 ppm h). This device represents a major improvement over currently available low-cost personal CO monitors.

Possible association of retinoic acid with bone marrow transplant nephropathy.

Bone marrow transplant (BMT) nephropathy is characterized by the acute onset of nephritis more than 100 days after BMT. The renal lesion in BMT nephropathy is similar to radiation nephritis, but BMT nephropathy occurs earlier and with lower radiation doses than radiation nephritis. The combined effects of chemotherapeutic agents and nephrotoxic drugs given before and after BMT appear to sensitize or unmask radiation nephritis.

Functional characterization of equine dendritic cells propagated ex vivo using recombinant human GM-CSF and recombinant equine IL-4.

Naive T cells can be activated both in vivo and in vitro by specialized antigen presenting cells, dendritic cells (DC), with potent antigen-specific, immunostimulatory activity. Indeed, DC can provide an extremely powerful and important immunological tool by which to potentiate the immune response for specific recognition of foreign antigens. Until recently, the direct isolation of DC from PBMC required laborious procedures with extremely poor yields (<0.

Loss of receptor regulation by a phospholipase D1 mutant unresponsive to protein kinase C.

Activation of phosphatidylcholine-specific phospholipase D (PLD) constitutes an important part of the cellular response to agonist signaling. PLD1 is stimulated in vitro in a direct and synergistic manner by protein kinase C (PKC), ADP-ribosylation factor (ARF) and Rho family members. However, the direct and specific role of each of these effectors in agonist-stimulated PLD activation is poorly understood.

Pediatric pedestrian versus motor vehicle patterns of injury: debunking the myth.

Introduction: Mechanism of injury has been widely used to enhance the ability of EMS providers to recognize predictable injury patterns. One such pattern, referred to as "Waddell's triad," identifies a triad of injuries associated with pedestrian/motor vehicle collision (MVC), including trauma to the head, abdomen, and lower extremities. We questioned this choice as a common injury pattern for this mechanism.

[Fatigue in healthy and cancer patients. 1. A qualitative study on conceptual analysis].

Unlabelled: Interest in fatigue-research has grown since the finding that fatigue/tiredness is the most frequently reported symptom of cancer and its treatment. But even though several authors have tried to conceptualise fatigue, its mechanisms are still poorly understood. The aim of this study was twofold: 1) to explore fatigue in cancer patients, inductively, and 2) to compare experiences of fatigue/tiredness of healthy individuals with that of cancer patients to identify cancer-specific fatigue/tiredness and related concepts.

Evaluation of antibody parameters as potential correlates of protection or enhancement by experimental vaccines to equine infectious anemia virus.

We previously demonstrated in trials of a variety of experimental vaccines to equine infectious anemia virus (EIAV) a remarkable spectrum of efficacy ranging from sterilizing protection to severe enhancement of virus replication and disease, depending on the immunization strategy used. This range of vaccine efficacy observed in vivo offers a unique opportunity for evaluating potential in vitro immune correlates of protection and enhancement. We describe here a comprehensive analysis and comparison of EIAV envelope-specific antibody responses elicited by attenuated, inactivated whole virus and envelope subunit vaccines to EIAV, and we evaluate the potential of in vitro antibody assays as correlates of protection or enhancement.

The "stable" ruptured abdominal aortic aneurysm gives a false sense of security.

Background: Operative mortality for ruptured abdominal aortic aneurysms (rAAA) has not changed over the past 4 decades. Previous studies have attempted to identify preoperative risk factors that impact upon survival.

Method: A retrospective review of 25 patients with rAAA treated during a 2-year period was performed.

Cytologic diagnosis and grading of ductal carcinoma in situ.

Background: Fine-needle aspiration cytology plays an important role in the preoperative diagnosis of palpable masses as well as impalpable lesions that can only be sampled by stereotactic or ultrasound techniques. A further refinement of cytologic diagnosis would be the ability to distinguish among the different types of ductal carcinoma in situ (DCIS) also between in situ and invasive malignant disease.

Methods: Sixty-six cases of histologically proven, pure DCIS (39 high grade, 12 cribriform, and 15 low/intermediate grade) with a preoperative cytology report of carcinoma were retrieved from our files.

[Fatigue in the healthy and in cancer patients. II. A qualitative study for conceptual analysis].

A qualitative study to explore the concept of fatigue/tiredness in cancer patients and in healthy individuals Interest in fatigue-research has grown since the finding that fatigue/tiredness is the most frequently reported symptom of cancer and its treatment. But even though several authors have tried to conceptualise fatigue its mechanisms are still poorly understood. The aim of this study was twofold: 1.

Exposure of U.S. workers to environmental tobacco smoke.

The concentrations of environmental tobacco smoke (ETS) to which workers are exposed have been measured, using nicotine or other tracers, in diverse workplaces. Policies restricting workplace smoking to a few designated areas have been shown to reduce concentrations of ETS, although the effectiveness of such policies varies among work sites. Policies that ban smoking in the workplace are the most effective and generally lower all nicotine concentrations to less than 1 microg/m3; by contrast, mean concentrations measured in workplaces that allow smoking generally range from 2 to 6 microg/m3 in offices, from 3 to 8 microg/m3 in restaurants, and from 1 to 6 microg/m3 in the workplaces of blue-collar workers.

Characterisation of penicillin G uptake in human small intestinal brush border membrane vesicles.

Background: Many beta lactams are well absorbed by the small intestine, although the reasons for this are poorly understood.

Aims: To characterise the uptake of penicillin G into human small intestinal brush border membrane vesicles (BBMV) and to compare the uptake characteristics to those of rabbit BBMV.

Methods And Results: Uptake of penicillin G was studied in human BBMV.

Hierarchical cluster analysis applied to workers' exposures in fiberglass insulation manufacturing.

The objectives of this study were to explore the application of cluster analysis to the characterization of multiple exposures in industrial hygiene practice and to compare exposure groupings based on the result from cluster analysis with that based on non-measurement-based approaches commonly used in epidemiology. Cluster analysis was performed for 37 workers simultaneously exposed to three agents (endotoxin, phenolic compounds and formaldehyde) in fiberglass insulation manufacturing. Different clustering algorithms, including complete-linkage (or farthest-neighbor), single-linkage (or nearest-neighbor), group-average and model-based clustering approaches, were used to construct the tree structures from which clusters can be formed.

Atypical presentation of Clostridium difficile colitis in patients with cystic fibrosis.

Objective: This report describes the unusual presentation of Clostridium difficile colitis in five patients with cystic fibrosis and the role of CT in first suggesting the correct diagnosis in this group of patients. Because of the absence of watery diarrhea and the presence of abdominal bloating and decreased stooling, cystic fibrosis patients with C. difficile colitis will be treated for stool impaction, meconium ileus equivalent, or distal intestinal obstruction syndrome.

A particulate viral protein vaccine reduces viral load and delays progression to disease in immunized ponies challenged with equine infectious anemia virus.

Immunization regimens that induce a broadly reactive cytolytic T lymphocyte (CTL) response specific for lentiviral antigens have emerged as the leading candidates in efficacy trials conducted in both animal modelshumans. To date, lentivirus vaccination strategies have overlooked one such immunization strategy, namely the use of particulate antigens. To evaluate the efficacy of targeting antigen into the phagocytic pathway to elicit a cell-mediated immune response to lentiviral antigens, we initiated the first study of a particulate-based vaccination protocol using a large animal model system.

Maturation of immune responses to lentivirus infection: implications for AIDS vaccine development.

The evaluation of attenuated vaccines in the simian immunodeficiency virus and equine infectious anemia virus animal models has demonstrated the ability of this immunization strategy to elicit broad and enduring immune protection from virus exposure. The development of protective immunity by these attenuated virus vaccines, however, has been shown to be time dependent and to be associated with a complex and lengthy maturation of immune responses over the first 6 to 8 months postinoculation. During this time period, envelope-specific antibody responses undergo an evolution in quantitative and qualitative properties that is similar, but distinct for each lentivirus system.

The effects of a health promotion-health protection intervention on behavior change: the WellWorks Study.

Objectives: This study assessed the effects of a 2-year integrated health promotion-health protection work-site intervention on changes in dietary habits and cigarette smoking.

Methods: A randomized, controlled intervention study used the work site as the unit of intervention and analysis; it included 24 predominantly manufacturing work sites in Massachusetts (250-2500 workers per site). Behaviors were assessed in self-administered surveys (n = 2386; completion rates = 61% at baseline, 62% at final).

Tryptophan substitutions surrounding the nucleotide in catalytic sites of F1-ATPase.

Novel tryptophan substitutions, surrounding the nucleotide bound in catalytic sites, were introduced into Escherichia coli F1-ATPase. The mutant enzymes were purified and studied by fluorescence spectroscopy. One cluster of Trp substitutions, consisting of beta-Trp-404, beta-Trp-410, beta-Asp-158 (lining the adenine-binding pocket), and beta-Trp-153 (close to the alpha/beta-phosphates), showed the same fluorescence responses to MgADP, MgAMPPNP, and MgATP and the same nucleotide binding pattern with MgADP and MgAMPPNP, with one site of higher and two sites of lower affinity.

Developing a brief measure of smoking in the home: description and preliminary evaluation.

We describe a self-report measure of household smoking exposure and its relationship to ambient nicotine levels as measured by a passive nicotine monitor. Thirty-nine participants placed a passive nicotine monitor in their home for a 7-day period and completed a retrospective household smoking questionnaire. The composite index from the household smoking questionnaire was strongly correlated with air nicotine concentration (r = .

Nonteratomatous germ cell tumors in children.

Background/purpose: Totipotential germ cells may give rise to a broad range of tumors. The teratomatous variety of germ cell tumors has been the subject of several large studies. The goal of the current study was to describe the clinical features of nonteratomatous germ cell tumors (NTGCT) by reviewing a large series of patients.

General method for the detection and in vitro expansion of equine cytolytic T lymphocytes.

Equine immunological research is hindered by the lack of a simple yet reliable general protocol by which to assay CTL activity specific for viral or parasitic antigens. We present here the first comprehensive analysis of the parameters necessary to reliably culture equine T cells and to analyze the antigen specific cytolytic activity of T lymphocytes utilizing the equine infectious anemia virus (EIAV) infection of outbred ponies as a source for in vivo primed T lymphocytes. Effective long-term in vitro culture of equine T cells was determined to require minimally 200 U/ml of recombinant human IL-2.

Using "stages of behavioral change" constructs to measure the short-term effects of a worksite-based intervention to increase moderate physical activity.

We evaluated a three-level incentive program to promote regular, moderate physical activity among employees working in a federal agency. The objective was to assess the short-term effects of the intervention by examining the stages people go through as they attempt to make permanent changes in physical activity. Indicators of the process by which changes in physical activity take place were based on a modified version of the Transtheoretical Model of Behavior.

Mortality studies of metalworking fluid exposure in the automobile industry: VI. A case-control study of esophageal cancer.

Background: Results are reported from a nested case-control study of 60 esophageal cancer deaths among 46,384 automobile manufacturing workers potentially exposed to metalworking fluids (MWF) in machining and grinding operations.

Methods: By using incidence-density sampling, controls were selected with a sampling ratio of 20:1 from among co-workers who remained at risk by the age of death of the case, matched on race, gender, plant, and year of birth. Conditional logistic regression was used to evaluate the risk associated with cumulative exposure (mg/m3-years) to each of three types of metalworking fluid (straight, soluble, and synthetic MWF), as well as with years of exposure to selected components of MWF, including nitrosamines, sulfur, biocides, and several metals.

Lethal factor active-site mutations affect catalytic activity in vitro.

The lethal factor (LF) protein of Bacillus anthracis lethal toxin contains the thermolysin-like active-site and zinc-binding consensus motif HEXXH (K. R. Klimpel, N.