Unexpected hypozincaemia in a patient with discharging empyema that proved resistant to replacement therapy.

A 45-year-old man was admitted with a massive discharging empyema. He had severe chronic malnutrition and was noted to be zinc and selenium deficient. A high-calorie oral diet supplemented with iron, zinc and selenium was started, together with antibiotic therapy and continued prescription of the patient's regular medication, including a PPI (proton pump inhibitor).

Evaluation of selected-ion flow-tube mass spectrometry for the measurement of ethanol, methanol and isopropanol in physiological fluids: effect of osmolality and sample volume.

Selected-ion flow-tube mass spectrometry (SIFT-MS) is particularly suited for the analysis of volatile low molecular weight compounds. We have evaluated this technique for the assay of different alcohols in aqueous solutions, including blood plasma, and in particular whether the osmolality or sample volume affected vapourisation. Solutions of three different alcohols (methanol, ethanol and isopropanol) ranging from 0.

Down-regulation of the cytoglobin gene, located on 17q25, in tylosis with oesophageal cancer (TOC): evidence for trans-allele repression.

Tylosis (focal non-epidermolytic palmoplantar keratoderma) is an autosomal dominant skin disorder that is associated with the early onset of squamous cell oesophageal cancer (SCOC) in three families. Our previous linkage and haplotype analyses have mapped the tylosis with oesophageal cancer (TOC) locus to a 42.5 kb region on chromosome 17q25 that has also been implicated in the aetiology of sporadically occurring SCOC from a number of different geographical populations.

Candida albicans mutants in the BNI4 gene have reduced cell-wall chitin and alterations in morphogenesis.

The Candida albicans BNI4 gene was identified by homology to the Saccharomyces cerevisiae orthologue and encodes a predicted 1655 amino acid protein. In S. cerevisiae most cell-wall chitin is associated with primary septum formation and Bni4p is involved in tethering the Chs3p chitin synthase enzyme to the mother-bud neck by forming a bridge between a regulatory protein Chs4p and the septin Cdc10p.

Novel microsatellite markers and single nucleotide polymorphisms refine the tylosis with oesophageal cancer (TOC) minimal region on 17q25 to 42.5 kb: sequencing does not identify the causative gene.

Tylosis (focal non-epidermolytic palmoplantar keratoderma) is associated with the early onset of squamous cell oesophageal cancer in three families. Linkage and haplotype analyses have previously mapped the tylosis with oesophageal cancer ( TOC) locus to a 500-kb region on chromosome 17q25 that has also been implicated in sporadically occurring squamous cell oesophageal cancer. In the current study, 17 additional putative microsatellite markers were identified within this 500-kb region by using sequence data and seven of these were shown to be polymorphic in the UK and US families.