Meningococcal disease--probable transmission during an international flight.

Two cases of meningococcal disease were identified in passengers who travelled on the same international flight. Both cases were serogroup B with the same allelic profile. The public health action involved chemoprophylaxis for persons seated adjacent to, and in the rows in front and behind, each case.

Utilizing logical relationships in genomic data to decipher cellular processes.

The wealth of available genomic data has spawned a corresponding interest in computational methods that can impart biological meaning and context to these experiments. Traditional computational methods have drawn relationships between pairs of proteins or genes based on notions of equality or similarity between their patterns of occurrence or behavior. For example, two genes displaying similar variation in expression, over a number of experiments, may be predicted to be functionally related.

Effect of IVL745, a VLA-4 antagonist, on allergen-induced bronchoconstriction in patients with asthma.

Background: Very late antigen (VLA-4) antagonists have been proposed as potential therapies for diseases in which cell recruitment and accumulation are causative. Asthma, which is characterized by airway inflammation involving the accumulation of eosinophils and mononuclear cells, is one such disease.

Objective: We sought to assess the effect of IVL745, a VLA-4 antagonist, on the early and late asthmatic response (LAR) and on markers of airway inflammation after allergen inhalation.

Bronchoprotection with formoterol via dry powder and metered-dose inhalers in patients with asthma.

Background: Determination of device comparability for new inhaled medications is essential.

Objective: To evaluate the methacholine bronchoprotection afforded by formoterol, 12 microg, delivered via Clickhaler and Aerolizer dry powder inhalers and a pressurized metered-dose inhaler (pMDI) in mild-to-moderate asthmatic patients.

Methods: Two separate randomized, double-blind, double-dummy, crossover studies were performed.

The genomics of disulfide bonding and protein stabilization in thermophiles.

Thermophilic organisms flourish in varied high-temperature environmental niches that are deadly to other organisms. Recently, genomic evidence has implicated a critical role for disulfide bonds in the structural stabilization of intracellular proteins from certain of these organisms, contrary to the conventional view that structural disulfide bonds are exclusively extracellular. Here both computational and structural data are presented to explore the occurrence of disulfide bonds as a protein-stabilization method across many thermophilic prokaryotes.

Gelsolin secretion in interleukin-4-treated bronchial epithelia and in asthmatic airways.

Rationale: The airway surface liquid, the thin layer of liquid covering the airways, is essential for mucociliary clearance and as a barrier against microbial and other noxious agents. Proteins secreted into the airway surface liquid by epithelial and nonepithelial cells may be important in innate immunity and to improve the fluidity of mucous secretions.

Objectives: We aimed to identify proteins specifically secreted into the airway surface liquid by human bronchial epithelial cells, in resting conditions and after treatment with interleukin 4 (IL-4), a cytokine released in asthma.

Prevalence of male and female sexual dysfunction is high following surgery for rectal cancer.

Objective: To measure sexual function and quality of life (QOL) after rectal cancer treatment.

Summary Background Data: Previous studies on sexual function after rectal cancer treatment have focused on males and have not used validated instruments.

Methods: Patients undergoing curative rectal cancer surgery from 1980 to 2003 were administered a questionnaire, including the Female Sexual Function Index (FSFI) or International Index of Erectile Function (IIEF), and the EORTC QLQ-C30/CR-38.

Inhaled endotoxin in healthy human subjects: a dose-related study on systemic effects and peripheral CD4+ and CD8+ T cells.

Background: Inhaled endotoxin or lipopolysaccharide (LPS) is implicated in the pathogenesis of pulmonary diseases. We investigated the inhalation effects of two different doses of LPS in healthy human subjects.

Methods: Eighteen healthy non-atopic human subjects inhaled either 15 microg (n=10) or 50 microg (n=8)Escherichia coli LPS in an open study.

Some structural determinants of the antiproliferative effect of heparin-like molecules on human airway smooth muscle.

Accumulation of airway smooth muscle (ASM) and its infiltration by mast cells are key pathological features of airway remodelling in asthma. Heparin, a major component of mast cell granules, inhibits ASM proliferation by an unknown mechanism. Here, unfractionated heparins and related glycosaminoglycans having structurally heterogeneous polysaccharide side chains that varied in molecular weight, sulphation and anionic charge were used to identify features of the heparin molecule that were required for its antiproliferative activity in cultured human ASM cells.

Thymic stromal lymphopoietin expression is increased in asthmatic airways and correlates with expression of Th2-attracting chemokines and disease severity.

Thymic stromal lymphopoietin (TSLP) is said to increase expression of chemokines attracting Th2 T cells. We hypothesized that asthma is characterized by elevated bronchial mucosal expression of TSLP and Th2-attracting, but not Th1-attracting, chemokines as compared with controls, with selective accumulation of cells bearing receptors for these chemokines. We used in situ hybridization and immunohistochemistry to examine the expression and cellular provenance of TSLP, Th2-attracting (thymus and activation-regulated chemokine (TARC)/CCL17, macrophage-derived chemokine (MDC)/CCL22, I-309/CCL1) and Th1-attracting (IFN-gamma-inducible protein 10 (IP-10)/CXCL10, IFN-inducible T cell alpha-chemoattractant (I-TAC)/CXCL11) chemokines and expression of their receptors CCR4, CCR8, and CXCR3 in bronchial biopsies from 20 asthmatics and 15 normal controls.

Crohn's disease and indeterminate colitis and the ileal pouch-anal anastomosis: outcomes and patterns of failure.

Purpose: This study was designed to determine the outcome of patients with Crohn's disease and indeterminate colitis who have an ileal pouch-anal anastomosis.

Methods: Between 1982 and 2001, 1,270 patients underwent a restorative proctocolectomy at the Mount Sinai Hospital: 1,135 had ulcerative colitis, 36 had Crohn's disease, 21 had indeterminate colitis, and 78 had another diagnosis. Perioperative data were collected prospectively.

Infection of newborn piglets with Bordetella pertussis: a new model for pertussis.

Bordetella pertussis is the causative agent of pertussis or whooping cough. This bacterium is a human pathogen that under experimental conditions also infects selected rodents and primates. Here, we show for the first time that newborn piglets can be infected with B.

Use of complementary and alternative medical therapies among racial and ethnic minority adults: results from the 2002 National Health Interview Survey.

Purpose: Complementary and alternative medicine (CAM) use among ethnic minority populations is poorly understood. We sought to examine CAM use in Hispanics, non-Hispanic blacks and non-Hispanic whites.

Methods: We analyzed data from the Alternative Health Supplement to the 2002 National Health Interview Survey (NHIS), including information on 19 different CAM therapies used in the past 12 months.

Pouch-vaginal fistula after ileal pouch-anal anastomosis: treatment and outcomes.

Purpose: Pouch-vaginal fistula is an uncommon but serious complication after ileal pouch anal anastomosis. The management of pouch-vaginal fistulas is challenging and a number of treatment options exist. The purpose of this study was to examine the outcomes after various procedures for pouch-vaginal fistula performed at our institution.

Children's sleep: an interplay between culture and biology.

Pediatricians provide a major source of knowledge for parents about children's behavior and development, although their advice is largely based on their own cultural values and beliefs in interaction with their personal and clinical experience. This review presents cross-cultural aspects of children's sleep behavior in industrialized and complex modern societies and provides a basis for understanding dimensions and mechanisms of cultural differences. We submit that it is the interaction between culture and biology that establishes behavioral and developmental norms and expectations regarding normal and problematic children's sleep.

An outbreak of sheep-associated malignant catarrhal fever in bison (Bison bison) after exposure to sheep at a public auction sale.

An outbreak of malignant catarrhal fever (MCF) among bison sold at an auction market was studied for an 18-month period. Forty-five of 163 bison submitted for sale from 8 different bison farms died on 7 other destination farms. The outbreak began on day 50 after the sale, peaked between days 60 and 70, and ended on day 220.

Longitudinal study of Salmonella species in 90 Alberta swine finishing farms.

The aim of this study was to determine the farm prevalence of Salmonella in 90 Alberta finishing swine farms over a 5-month period, to evaluate Salmonella distribution in the farm environment and to describe Salmonella serovar diversity on these farms. Ten veterinary practitioners selected 90 Alberta swine farms based on an annual production of > or =2000 market pigs per farm and the willingness of the producers to participate in the study. Between May and September 2000, twenty samples were collected from finishing swine and the environment of each farm.

Expression of prostaglandin E(2) receptor subtypes on cells in sputum from patients with asthma and controls: effect of allergen inhalational challenge.

Background: Prostaglandin (PG) E 2 binds to 4 G-protein-coupled receptors designated EP 1 through EP 4 . Although PGE 2 plays an immunomodulatory role in asthma, there is little information on the expression of PGE 2 receptors in this disease.

Objective: We hypothesized that profiles of E-prostanoid (EP) receptor expression are altered on asthmatic bronchial inflammatory cells in vivo and further altered by allergen challenge in vivo and proinflammatory mediators in vitro.

Physical exercise and experienced bodily changes: the emergence of benefits and limits on benefits.

Self-reports of levels of physical exercise, experienced bodily changes, and attitudinal and well-being variables were obtained from 407 adults, aged 26 to 95 years. The purpose was to assess the relative magnitudes of the experienced benefits of exercise across the exercise continuum. Cluster analyses identified three groups at each of four age levels: a) sedentary people who experienced negative bodily changes; b) modest exercisers who reported the most positive bodily changes; and c) high exercisers who reported only minimal bodily changes.

A search for consensus on the dimensional structure of personality disorders.

Previous attempts to elucidate the dimensional structure of personality disorders (PDs) have been based on single samples and measures. Like one-item tests, they are useful but scattered and potentially misleading glimpses at the true structure of PDs. Therefore, reanalyses of 33 previously published data sets were conducted using recommended statistical procedures to arrive at consensus structures.

Multivariate discrimination among cryptic species of the mite genus Chaetodactylus (Acari: Chaetodactylidae) associated with bees of the genus Lithurgus (Hymenoptera: Megachilidae) in North America.

Twenty-seven morphological characters from 111 heteromorphic deutonymphs of the mite genus Chaetodactylus Rondani (Acari: Chaetodactylidae) were analyzed. The mites were collected from four species of bees of the genus Lithurgus Berthold (Hymenoptera: Megachilidae) in continental North America. Principal component and canonical variates analyses on Darroch and Mosimann shape and size-and-shape variables revealed the presence of three cryptic species.

Purification, identification and characterisation of seprase from bovine serum.

The study and identification for the first time of a soluble form of a seprase activity from bovine serum is presented. To date, this activity has only been reported to be an integral membrane protease but has been known to shed from its membrane. The activity was purified 30,197-fold to homogeneity, using a combination of column chromatographies, from bovine serum.

Older persons' perceptions of the frequency and meaning of elderspeak from family, friends, and service workers.

Older persons (N = 159) were surveyed for their impressions of and experiences with elderspeak from friends, same-age family members, younger family members, familiar service workers, and unfamiliar service workers. Two dimensions, "warmth" and "superiority," emerged in the judgments of elderspeak from all five speaker types. Respondents perceived more warmth and less superiority in elderspeak from friends than they did in elderspeak from unfamiliar service workers.