Osteogenic regulation of vascular calcification.

Vascular calcification increasingly afflicts our aging and dysmetabolic population, predisposing patients to cardiovascular mortality and lower extremity amputation. Active osteogenic processes are evident in most histoanatomic variants, including elaboration of BMP2-Msx2 signals required for craniofacial bone formation. We developed an animal model of diet-induced diabetes, dyslipidemia, and vascular calcification.

Msx2 promotes cardiovascular calcification by activating paracrine Wnt signals.

In diabetic LDLR-/- mice, an ectopic BMP2-Msx2 gene regulatory program is upregulated in association with vascular calcification. We verified the procalcific actions of aortic Msx2 expression in vivo. CMV-Msx2 transgenic (CMV-Msx2Tg(+)) mice expressed 3-fold higher levels of aortic Msx2 than nontransgenic littermates.

Human metapneumovirus and lower respiratory tract disease in otherwise healthy infants and children.

Background: We sought to determine the role of human metapneumovirus in lower respiratory tract illness in previously healthy infants and children.

Methods: We tested nasal-wash specimens, obtained over a 25-year period from otherwise healthy children presenting with acute respiratory tract illness, for human metapneumovirus.

Results: A viral cause other than human metapneumovirus was determined for 279 of 687 visits for acute lower respiratory tract illness (41 percent) by 463 children in a population of 2009 infants and children prospectively seen from 1976 to 2001.