Cellular and humoral immune reconstitution after autologous peripheral blood stem cell transplantation (PBSCT).

Immune reconstitution after autologous peripheral blood stem cell transplantation (PBSCT) is of particular interest because of its importance for clinical outcome. Despite prolonged immunosuppression, especially of CD4(+) cells, few infections after neutrophil recovery occur. Only reactivation of varicella zoster virus (VZV) is more frequent in the first year after transplantation.

Missense mutation in a patient with X-linked dyskeratosis congenita.

We report the case of a 40-year-old male patient with dyskeratosis congenita(DKC). Sequencing of the DKC1 gene revealed an inherited missense mutation in base 1050 (GC), changing methionine to isoleucine. This is the third description of a mutation in codon 350 (exon 11), changing a very well conserved amino acid in the pseudouridine synthase (PUA) domain of dyskerin.

Kidney Na+,K(+)-ATPase is associated with moesin.

Na+,K(+)-ATPase is a ubiquitous plasmalemmal membrane protein essential for generation and maintenance of transmembrane Na+ and K+ gradients in virtually all animal cell types. Activity and polarized distribution of renal Na+,(+)-ATPase appears to depend on connection of ankyrin to the spectrin-based membrane cytoskeleton as well as on association with actin filaments. In a previous study we showed copurification and codistribution of renal Na+,K(+)-ATPase not only with ankyrin, spectrin and actin, but also with two further peripheral membrane proteins, pasin 1 and pasin 2.

Nucleoporin p62 antibodies in a case of mixed connective tissue disease.

Mixed connective tissue disease is an overlap syndrome characterized by features of different systemic autoimmune diseases and a high titer of U1-snRNP antibodies. We examine here the autoantibodies to nucleoporin p62 in a severe case of mixed connective tissue disease in a young male patient. Thus far, p62 antibodies have mainly been described in cases of primary biliary cirrhosis.

Effects of oocyte culture density on meiotic competence of canine oocytes.

This study was conducted to determine a suitable ratio of oocytes to medium for in vitro maturation (IVM) of cumulus-oocyte complexes (COCs) collected from bitches at anoestrus and dioestrus and to examine the meiotic competence of COCs cultured singly or in different group sizes. In the first experiment, different numbers of COCs (5, 10, 15 and 20 per drop) were cultured for 72 h in 100 microl drops of maturation medium. The meiotic competence of oocytes from ovaries at anoestrus was affected by the number of COCs incubated, whereas at dioestrus, the incubation number of COCs had no effect.

[Gilbert disease and type I and II Crigler-Najjar syndrome due to mutations in the same UGT1A1 gene locus].

Background: Gilbert syndrome and the Crigler-Najjar syndromes Type I and II are disorders of bilirubin conjugation with consecutive indirect hyperbilirubinemia of different severity. Morbus Gilbert is a mild hyperbilirubinemia, which is only of significance in case of drug therapy or differential diagnosis. Crigler-Najjar syndrome II leads to a more serious kind of hyperbilirubinemia.

A systematic review of the efficacy of telemedicine for making diagnostic and management decisions.

We conducted a systematic review of the literature to evaluate the efficacy of telemedicine for making diagnostic and management decisions in three classes of application: office/hospital-based, store-and-forward, and home-based telemedicine. We searched the MEDLINE, EMBASE, CINAHL and HealthSTAR databases and printed resources, and interviewed investigators in the field. We excluded studies where the service did not historically require face-to-face encounters (e.

Splenectomy in patients with mixed myelodysplastic/myeloproliferative disease.

According to the classification of the World Health Organization, the designation myelodysplastic/myeloproliferative disorder, unclassifiable may be applied to cases that have clinical, laboratory, and morphologic features that support a diagnosis of a myelodysplastic syndrome (MDS) as well as a myeloproliferative disorder (MPD), but that do not meet the criteria for any of the other entities included in the MDS/MPD category [3]. In this paper we report on two Caucasian patients with unclassifiable myelodysplastic syndromes with proliferative characteristics. Both patients were suffering from thrombocytopenia and splenomegaly and underwent splenectomy.

Human deep tissue infection with an entomopathogenic Beauveria species.

Beauveria spp. are ubiquitous fungal entomopathogens that are commercially distributed as biological insecticides worldwide. In this paper we describe the clinical manifestation, diagnosis, and therapy of the first documented human deep tissue infection with an entomopathogenic Beauveria species in a patient receiving immunosuppressive therapy and describe the morphological and molecular characterization of the mold.

Factors associated with success in searching MEDLINE and applying evidence to answer clinical questions.

Objectives: This study sought to assess the ability of medical and nurse practitioner students to use MEDLINE to obtain evidence for answering clinical questions and to identify factors associated with the successful answering of questions.

Methods: A convenience sample of medical and nurse practitioner students was recruited. After completing instruments measuring demographic variables, computer and searching attitudes and experience, and cognitive traits, the subjects were given a brief orientation to MEDLINE searching and the techniques of evidence-based medicine.

Chemotherapeutic dose intensification for treatment of malignant brain tumors: recent developments and future directions.

Despite a large amount of research on malignant brain tumors over the past 70 years, the prognosis for most tumor types is poor. One current focus of research is increasing dose intensity of chemotherapeutic agents. Various ways to increase dose intensity include high-dose chemotherapy followed by stem cell rescue (eg, bone marrow transplant), blood-brain barrier disruption or use of RMP7 to increase transvascular drug delivery, local delivery of chemotherapeutic agents (convection enhancement or clysis, antibody conjugates, and biodegradable polymers), chemoprotective agents, and tumor sensitizers.

Serum and CSF glutamine levels in valproate-related hyperammonemic encephalopathy.

Purpose: To investigate ammonia and glutamine levels in valproate (VPA)-related hyperammonemic encephalopathy (VHE).

Methods: We reviewed the medical records and EEG recordings of seven adults diagnosed with VHE.

Results: Venous ammonia levels were elevated in five (71%) of the seven patients.

Regenerated bovine fetal fibroblasts support high blastocyst development following nuclear transfer.

Regenerated bovine fetal fibroblast cells were derived from a fetus cloned from an adult cow and passaged every 2-3 days. Serum starvation was performed by culturing cells in DMEM/F-12 supplemented with 0.5% FCS for 1-3 days.

A cat cloned by nuclear transplantation.

Sheep, mice, cattle, goats and pigs have all been cloned by transfer of a donor cell nucleus into an enucleated ovum, and now we add the successful cloning of a cat (Felis domesticus) to this list. However, this cloning technology may not be readily extendable to other mammalian species if our understanding of their reproductive processes is limited or if there are species-specific obstacles.

Mrnp41 (Rae 1p) associates with microtubules in HeLa cells and in neurons.

Mrnp41 (hRae1p) is an evolutionarily highly conserved protein, which is a potential component of mRNP particles and plays a role in nuclear mRNA export. The protein is mainly localized at the nuclear pore complex, but is also associated with distinct nuclear domains and with a meshwork of numerous small particles in the cytoplasm (Kraemer and Blobel (1997): Proc. Natl.

Potential for cloning dogs.

The aim of this study was to determine whether nuclear transplantation could be used to clone a dog using donor nucleus cells collected from an adult female. Fibroblasts obtained from skin biopsies were fused with enucleated bovine or canine oocytes. The resulting cloned embryos were cultured in vitro to monitor embryonic development.

Clinical outcomes resulting from telemedicine interventions: a systematic review.

Background: The use of telemedicine is growing, but its efficacy for achieving comparable or improved clinical outcomes has not been established in many medical specialties. The objective of this systematic review was to evaluate the efficacy of telemedicine interventions for health outcomes in two classes of application: home-based and office/hospital-based.

Methods: Data sources for the study included deports of studies from the MEDLINE, EMBASE, CINAHL, and HealthSTAR databases; searching of bibliographies of review and other articles; and consultation of printed resources as well as investigators in the field.

Telemedicine for the Medicare population: pediatric, obstetric, and clinician-indirect home interventions.

Background: This report is a supplement to an earlier evidence report, Telemedicine for the Medicare Population, which was intended to help policymakers weigh the evidence relevant to coverage of telemedicine services under Medicare. That report focused on telemedicine programs and clinical settings that had been used with or were likely to be applied to Medicare beneficiaries. While we prepared that report, it became apparent that there are also telemedicine studies among non-Medicare beneficiaries--e.

[99mTc]oxotechnetium(V) complexes amine-amide-dithiol chelates with dialkylaminoalkyl substituents as potential diagnostic probes for malignant melanoma.

[99mTc]oxotechnetium(V) complexes of amine-amide-dithiol (AADT) chelates containing tertiary amine substituents were synthesized and shown to have affinity for melanoma. For complexation the AADT-CH2[CH2]nNR2 (n = 1, 2; R = Et, n-Bu) ligand was mixed with a [99mTc]oxotechnetium(V)-glucoheptonate precursor to make the AADT-[99mTc]oxotechnetium(V) complexes in nearly quantitative yield. Structurally analogous nonradioactive oxorhenium(V) complexes were also synthesized and characterized.