Growth-deficient mycobacteria in patients with AIDS: diagnosis by analysis of DNA amplified from blood or tissue.

Amplification and sequencing of mycobacterial ribosomal RNA genes (16S rDNA) may permit the detection of growth-deficient species (i.e., those exhibiting no growth or those whose growth is delayed for more than 12 weeks).

[Primary HIV infection: an often suspected diagnosis but confirmed late].

We report the history and clinical findings in 17 patients with primary HIV infection (PHI) diagnosed in the first 6 months of 1994. 9 of these patients were infected through heterosexual contacts, 5 were women with, as the only risk factor, sexual contacts with infected men. 10 of the 17 patients were symptomatic and the diagnosis of PHI was suspected in 8 of these patients at their first medical visit.

Response of HIV RNA to didanosine as a predictive marker of survival.

Objective: To evaluate whether early changes in viraemia in response to didanosine (ddI) predict death and occurrence of new AIDS-defining events.

Methods: Forty-three patients were followed during ddI treatment with sequential determinations of serum viraemia, mutations associated with drug resistance, CD4 counts and clinical evaluation. Patients were stratified into two groups of equal size, responders and nonresponders, using the median of individual changes in viraemia 1 month after initiation of ddI therapy.

V3 sequences in primary HIV-1 infection.

Objective: To determine HIV-1 genomic RNA and proviral DNA sequences of the third hypervariable region (V3 loop) of the envelope protein in patients with primary HIV-1 infection (PHI), and to compare these sequences with sequences from patients with more advanced HIV-1 infection.

Methods: Sera and peripheral blood mononuclear cells were collected from 24 patients with PHI living in Geneva. V3 sequences were determined using direct solid-phase sequencing on polymerase chain reaction (PCR) products.

Emergence delirium in a child given oral midazolam for conscious sedation.

We report a case of emergence delirium in a 26-month-old girl after she received oral midazolam to achieve conscious sedation. This patient's clinical course is discussed. To our knowledge this is the first reported case of emergence delirium related to use of oral midazolam.

The modifier of variegation modulo gene acts downstream of dorsoventral and HOM-C genes and is required for morphogenesis in Drosophila.

Growing evidence involves chromatin structural flexibility in gene regulation during development. modulo is a dominant suppressor of position effect variegation, suggesting the participation of its product in the assembly of higher order chromatin structures. Here we report the patterns of modulo expression and regulation during embryogenesis, analyzed in correlation with phenotypical defects resulting from the amorphic mutation of the gene.

Hepatitis C virus acute exacerbation during chemotherapy and radiotherapy for oesophageal carcinoma.

Aims: We report the first case of an hepatitis C virus positive patient presenting with a solid tumor and developing an exacerbation of his hepatitis C after chemotherapy.

Case Report: A 56-year-old white male, previously infected with hepatitis C virus and treated for epidermoid carcinoma of the oesophagus, developed hepatitis (alamine aminotransferase 2376 U/l and aspartate aminotransferase 2262 U/l) after chemotherapy with cisplatin and vinblastine.

Methods: Polymerase chain reaction detected hepatitis C virus RNA in the serum during the acute phase, which returned to negative 14 weeks later.

Chronic destructive lung disease associated with a novel mycobacterium.

A woman born in 1920 has suffered from a chronic destructive lung disease since 1972, with development of a severe combined restrictive and obstructive ventilatory defect. Large quantities of acid-fast microorganisms have been repeatedly observed in her sputum. Multiple courses of antimycobacterial treatment did not stop the progression of the disease.

[Prevention of viral recurrence following liver transplantation for post-hepatitis B and B-delta cirrhosis].

The incidence of recurrence of hepatitis B virus (HBV) following orthotopic liver transplantation (OLT) is as high as 80% when no attempt at prevention has been considered. HBV reinfection is associated with the reappearance of hepatitis B surface antigen (HBsAg) and HBV DNA in serum and, in most cases, with rapid severe graft damage. Immunoprophylaxis using polyclonal anti-HBs immunoglobulins reduces the risk of recurrence but this long-term therapy remains highly expensive.

High levels of circulating RNA in patients with symptomatic HIV-1 infection.

Objective: To evaluate the concentration of circulating RNA (viraemia) in patients with symptomatic primary HIV infection and relate it to sero-immunological parameters.

Methods: Semiquantitation of circulating HIV RNA and proviral HIV DNA was performed using the polymerase chain reaction. Circulating HIV RNA concentrations were expressed as virus equivalent (RNA copies/2) per ml serum.

Symptomatic primary infection due to human immunodeficiency virus type 1: review of 31 cases.

In this series of 31 patients with acute infection due to human immunodeficiency virus (HIV) type 1, the male-to-female ratio was 3.4:1 and the mean age was 31.3 years.

Asthma and neuropeptides.

Non-adrenergic non-cholinergic nerves, first described in the gut, were identified in the lung about twenty years ago. These fibers constitute in the airways an extensive network of nerve endings containing a great amount of neuropeptides which can influence bronchi smooth muscle tone and control airway calibre. These mediators can also modulate immune function and cellular responses characteristic of inflammation in the bronchi.

Human immunodeficiency virus type 1 nucleic acids detected before p24 antigenemia in a blood donor.

A blood donation from a 46-year-old homosexual man was discarded because of elevated alanine aminotransferase levels. Thirteen days later, the patient presented with symptomatic primary human immunodeficiency virus type 1 (HIV-1) infection. Virologic investigations were performed retrospectively on blood samples (including the donated blood) obtained before the symptoms.

Relationship of H-ras-1, L-myc, and p53 polymorphisms with lung cancer risk and prognosis.

Proto-oncogenes (H-ras-1 and L-myc) and tumor-suppressor gene (p53) loci have been implicated in lung carcinogenesis. DNA restriction fragment length polymorphisms at these gene loci are being evaluated in a case-control study as markers predictive of risk for cancer or of prognosis when cancer is present. The cases and controls had a cigarette-smoking history of 40 or more pack years or other abnormalities in pulmonary function tests, their ages were closely matched (64 years for cases and 61 years for controls) and the ratio of Caucasians to African Americans was close to unity (cases, 0.

Identification and purification of glucose phosphate isomerase of Plasmodium falciparum.

The multiplication of malaria parasites within red blood cells is energy dependent. Since these parasites lack a functional tricarboxylic acid cycle, the energy needs of the parasite are met by anaerobic glycolysis of exogenous glucose. High levels of glycolytic enzymes such as fructose-1,6-diphosphate aldolase, phosphoglycerate kinase and pyruvate kinase have been detected in infected erythrocytes.

Hepatitis C: a possible etiology for cryoglobulinaemia type II.

Out of 15 successive patients with mixed essential cryoglobulinaemia type II (monoclonal IgM kappa/IgG), 13 had serological evidence for hepatitis C infection as shown by specific enzyme immunoassays and immunoblot. RNA was purified from the serum of seven patients and hepatitis C sequences were identified in five following reverse transcription and DNA amplification. The liver histology showed chronic active hepatitis with or without cirrhosis in the 12 patients with hepatitis C who had a liver biopsy.

Allelic frequency of a p53 polymorphism in human lung cancer.

p53 is a tumor suppressor gene that is mutated in diverse tumor types. Here we report the frequencies of common polymorphic variants at codon 72 of the p53 gene in germline DNA of lung cancer cases and controls as determined by a polymerase chain reaction strategy. The observed allelic distribution was found to be significantly different between African-Americans and Caucasians in this U.

Plasmodium falciparum: identification and purification of the phosphoglycerate kinase of the malaria parasite.

Multiplication of the human malaria parasite Plasmodium falciparum within red blood cells is an energy-dependent process and glucose consumption increases dramatically in infected red blood cells (IRBC) versus normal red blood cells (NRBC). The major pathway for glucose metabolism in P. falciparum IRBC is anaerobic glycolysis.

Quantitation of human immunodeficiency virus provirus and circulating virus: relationship with immunologic parameters.

Virologic and seroimmunologic parameters were determined in 56 persons infected with human immunodeficiency virus (HIV). The provirus level varied from 10 to 100,000/10(6) CD4+ lymphocytes, and genomic HIV RNA was detectable in 39 of 56 patients at a relative concentration varying from 10 to greater than 250 copies/mL of serum. Provirus expressed as copies per 10(6) CD4+ lymphocytes and as circulating virus per milliliter of serum increased with disease progression and decrease of CD4+ cell concentration.