The utility of bronchoalveolar lavage beta-D-glucan testing for the diagnosis of invasive fungal infections.

Objectives: To investigate the utility of beta-D-glucan (BDG) testing in bronchoalveolar lavage (BAL) fluid for the diagnosis of invasive fungal infection (IFI), as compared to BAL galactomannan (GM).

Methods: We retrospectively reviewed medical records of 132 consecutive patients at the National Institutes of Health (NIH) in whom BAL BDG testing was performed for diagnosis of pneumonia. Using the European Organization for Research and Treatment of Cancer/Mycoses Study Group guidelines, we determined which patients had proven or probable IFI, and assessed the diagnostic performance of BAL BDG testing, relative to BAL GM.

Half- vs full-dose trivalent inactivated influenza vaccine (2004-2005): age, dose, and sex effects on immune responses.

Background: Optimal public health strategies for managing influenza vaccine shortages are not yet defined. Our objective was to determine the effects of age, sex, and dose on the immunogenicity of intramuscular trivalent inactivated vaccine (TIV).

Methods: Healthy adults aged 18 to 64 years, stratified by age (18-49 and 50-64 years) and sex, were randomized to receive full- or half-dose TIV.

Borrelia burgdorferi OspC protein required exclusively in a crucial early stage of mammalian infection.

This study demonstrates a strict temporal requirement for a virulence determinant of the Lyme disease spirochete Borrelia burgdorferi during a unique point in its natural infection cycle, which alternates between ticks and small mammals. OspC is a major surface protein produced by B. burgdorferi when infected ticks feed but whose synthesis decreases after transmission to a mammalian host.