The influence of genetic variation in surfactant protein B on severe lung injury in African American children.

Objective: To determine whether genetic variations in the gene coding for surfactant protein B are associated with lung injury in African American children with community-acquired pneumonia.

Design: A prospective cohort genetic association study of lung injury in children with community-acquired pneumonia.

Setting: Two major tertiary care children's hospitals.

Interleukin-1 receptor antagonist intron 2 variable number of tandem repeats polymorphism and respiratory failure in children with community-acquired pneumonia.

Objective: To determine whether the variable nucleotide tandem repeat polymorphism in intron 2 of the interleukin-1 receptor antagonist gene is associated with lung injury in children with community-acquired pneumonia.

Design: A prospective cohort of children diagnosed with community-acquired pneumonia.

Setting: Two pediatric hospitals.

Cardiovascular and sympathetic responses and reflex changes elicited by MDMA.

The recreational use of 3,4-methylenedioxymethamphetamine (MDMA) has increased as have the number of clinical reports linking MDMA use with cardiovascular toxicity. Nonetheless, the cardiovascular and sympathetic nerve responses elicited by MDMA have not been well characterized. The purpose of this study was to characterize the mean arterial pressure (MAP), heart rate (HR), and renal sympathetic nerve responses elicited by the acute administration of MDMA and to determine whether neurotoxic doses of MDMA change cardiovascular and/or cardiovascular reflex function.

A multicenter study of the prevalence and susceptibility patterns of isolates of Streptococcus pneumoniae with reduced susceptibility to penicillin G in Louisiana.

Because of increasing reports of multiple-antibiotic-resistant strains of Streptococcus pneumoniae and associated clinical failures, this study was performed to determine the prevalence of multiresistance among strains from nine Louisiana medical centers. Using a National Committee for Laboratory Standards broth microdilution method, 481 strains were tested. Of these, 70% were penicillin-susceptible (PS), 23% had intermediate minimum inhibitory concentration values to penicillin (I), and 7% were fully resistant to penicillin (PR).

Novel ionizing radiation-sensitive mutants of Deinococcus radiodurans.

Two new loci, irrB and irrI, have been identified in Deinococcus radiodurans. Inactivation of either locus results in a partial loss of resistance to ionizing radiation. The magnitude of this loss is locus specific and differentially affected by inactivation of the uvrA gene product.