Initial management of an outbreak of the HTLV-1 virus in Nunavut, Canada.

Background: HTLV-1 is a retrovirus known to be endemic in Japan, the Caribbean, and parts of Africa. HTLV-1 infection is rare in Canada. The last known cases prior to the present cluster in Nunavut occurred in 1993, when three Aboriginal patients with neurological symptoms in British Columbia were found to be infected with HTLV-1.

Sporotrichosis in childhood: clinical and therapeutic experience in 25 patients.

Sporotrichosis in an uncommon mycoses in childhood and is generally associated with injuries received as a consequence of farm work. We undertook a retrospective study of sporotrichosis in children and adolescents seen over a 10-year period, focusing on their clinical, epidemiologic, and mycologic features as well as treatment. We included 25 children with a mean age of 9.

Racial differences in skeletal calcium retention in adolescent girls with varied controlled calcium intakes.

Background: Higher bone mass in blacks than in whites has been related to greater calcium utilization efficiency. Dietary calcium requirements for maximal skeletal calcium accretion during puberty may differ between the races.

Objective: This study compared the relation between calcium intake and calcium retention in black and white adolescent girls.

Effect of medetomidine infusion on the anaesthetic requirements of desflurane in dogs.

The objective of this paper was to evaluate the effect of constant rate infusion of medetomidine on the anaesthetic requirements of desflurane in dogs. For this, six healthy dogs were studied. Measurements for baseline were taken in the awake, unsedated dogs, then each dog received intravenously (i.

Innovative approaches to cohort retention in a community-based HIV/STI prevention trial for socially marginalized Peruvian young adults.

Background: The conduct of longitudinal clinical trials must involve effective strategies to retain study participants in order to ensure internal validity, adequate statistical power and generalizability of results.

Purpose: In a large trial in Peru, we implemented various retention strategies to maintain high participation rates over time.

Methods: Novel participant retention strategies were used to follow highly marginalized populations for two years because traditional locator information, such as telephone numbers and official identification (eg, passport, driver's license, the local equivalent of a social security number) were often unreliable or unavailable.

The role of nutrients in bone health, from A to Z.

Osteoporosis is a major public health problem, affecting millions of individuals. Dietary intake is an important modifiable factor for bone health. Inadequate intake of nutrients important to bone increases the risk for bone loss and subsequent osteoporosis.

Flavopiridol induces cellular FLICE-inhibitory protein degradation by the proteasome and promotes TRAIL-induced early signaling and apoptosis in breast tumor cells.

The cyclin-dependent kinase inhibitor flavopiridol is undergoing clinical trials as an antitumor drug. We show here that pretreatment of different human breast cancer cell lines with flavopiridol facilitates tumor necrosis factor-related apoptosis-inducing ligand (TRAIL)-induced apoptosis. In breast tumor cells, apoptosis induction by TRAIL is blocked at the level of apical caspase-8 activation.

Dexmedetomidine or medetomidine premedication before propofol-desflurane anaesthesia in dogs.

The objective of this study was to evaluate dexmedetomidine as a premedicant in dogs prior to propofol-desflurane anaesthesia, and to compare it with medetomidine. Six healthy dogs were anaesthetized. Each dog received intravenously (i.

Prognostic value of minimal residual disease (MRD) in acute myeloid leukemia (AML) with favorable cytogenetics [t(8;21) and inv(16)].

Most patients with acute myeloid leukemia (AML) and t(8;21) or inv(16) have a good prognosis with current anthracycline- and cytarabine-based protocols. Tandem analysis with flow cytometry (FC) and real-time RT-PCR (RQ-PCR) was applied to 55 patients, 28 harboring a t(8;21) and 27 an inv(16), including one case with a novel CBFbeta/MYH11 transcript. A total of 31% (n=17) of CR patients relapsed: seven with t(8;21) and 10 with inv(16).

Adverse prognostic impact of CD36 and CD2 expression in adult de novo acute myeloid leukemia patients.

Background And Objectives: A consecutive series of acute myeloid leukemias (AML) patients was analyzed in conditions which reduce the inter-assay variations (the same flow cytometer, the same observers and the same panel of monoclonal antibodies) in order to investigate the prognostic information provided by flow cytometry.

Design And Methods: Two hundred and sixty-six bone marrow (BM) samples from 326 patients enrolled in the LMA-99 protocol from the CETLAM group were studied by multiparametric flow cytometry. Immunophenotyping studies were performed on erythrocyte-lysed BM samples.

Racial differences in calcium retention in response to dietary salt in adolescent girls.

Background: Sodium is an important determinant of urinary calcium excretion, and race is an important determinant of calcium retention. The effect of dietary sodium on calcium retention and the influence of race have not been studied in adolescence, the life stage during which peak bone mass is accrued.

Objective: The study reported here was undertaken to compare racial differences in calcium retention as a function of dietary salt intake.

Serial analysis of V6 ribosomal sequence tags (SARST-V6): a method for efficient, high-throughput analysis of microbial community composition.

Serial analysis of ribosomal sequence tags (SARST) is a novel technique for characterizing microbial community composition. The SARST method captures sequence information from concatemers of short 16S rDNA polymerase chain reaction (PCR) amplicons from complex populations of DNA. Here, we describe a similar method, serial analysis of V6 ribosomal sequence tags (SARST-V6), which targets the V6 hypervariable region of bacterial 16S rRNA genes.

A complete approach for recombinant protein expression training: From gene cloning to assessment of protein functionality*.

A practical course was given to undergraduate biology students enrolled in the elective course "Introduction to Genetic Engineering" at the Federal University of São Carlos (UFSCar), São Paulo, Brazil. The goal of the course was to teach current molecular biology tools applied to a real research situation that could be reported by the students themselves. The purpose was to produce a plant recombinant protein and demonstrate a heretofore unreported biological activity.

Medallion-like dermal dendrocyte hamartoma: a new clinically and histopathologically distinct lesion.

Dermal dendrocyte hamartomas are extremely rare; only two examples have been described with clinical features different from our cases and with incomplete immunohistochemical characterization. We report three female patients presenting a medallion-shaped, well-defined, slightly atrophic and asymptomatic congenital lesion. All 3 patients showed a fusiform-cell proliferation.

Sodium retention in black and white female adolescents in response to salt intake.

Increased sodium (Na(+)) retention in blacks could be related to the high prevalence of hypertension in adult blacks. Na(+) retention in response to controlled dietary Na(+) has not been rigorously compared in the different race groups. The present study assessed Na(+) retention in 22 black and 14 white girls, 11-15 yr old, during 3 wk on a low (1.

Comparison of 24 hour whole body versus patch tests for estimating body surface electrolyte losses.

Purpose: To compare dermal electrolyte loss between whole body and regional patch methods in women during 24-h.

Methods: Dermal loss was collected in 6 healthy women mean age 27 +/- 4 years, while consuming 936 mg/d sodium, 1764 mg/d potassium, 696 mg/d calcium, and 152 mg/d magnesium. Twenty-four hour whole body dermal loss was collected using cotton suits by a washdown procedure.

Genome evolution in an insect cell: distinct features of an ant-bacterial partnership.

Bacteria that live exclusively within eukaryotic host cells include not only well-known pathogens, but also obligate mutualists, many of which occur in diverse insect groups such as aphids, psyllids, tsetse flies, and the ant genus Camponotus (Buchner, 1965; Douglas, 1998; Moran and Telang, 1998; Baumann et al., 2000; Moran and Baumann, 2000). In contrast to intracellular pathogens, these primary (P) endosymbionts of insects are required for the survival and reproduction of the host, exist within specialized host cells called bacteriocytes, and undergo stable maternal transmission through host lineages (Buchner, 1965; McLean and Houk, 1973).

Infection rates in Dipetalogaster maximus (Reduviidae: Triatominae) by Trypanosoma cruzi in the Cape Region, Baja California Sur, México.

Infection rates of Trypanosoma cruzi Chagas (in the blood-sucking bug Dipetalogaster maximus [Uhler]) were determined from specimens collected at 12 localities in the Cape Region of Baja California Sur, Mexico. Eight collection sites were located in the tropical dry forest, two in desert shrub, and two in the ecotone between these two communities. Of the 245 D.

Inhibition of glucose metabolism sensitizes tumor cells to death receptor-triggered apoptosis through enhancement of death-inducing signaling complex formation and apical procaspase-8 processing.

Tumors display a high rate of glucose uptake and glycolysis. We investigated how inhibition of glucose metabolism could affect death receptor-mediated apoptosis in human tumor cells of diverse origin. We show that both substitution of glucose for pyruvate and treatment with 2-deoxyglucose enhanced apoptosis induced by tumor necrosis factor (TNF)-alpha, CD95 agonistic antibody, and TNF-related apoptosis-inducing ligand (TRAIL).

Reductive genome evolution in Buchnera aphidicola.

We have sequenced the genome of the intracellular symbiont Buchnera aphidicola from the aphid Baizongia pistacea. This strain diverged 80-150 million years ago from the common ancestor of two previously sequenced Buchnera strains. Here, a field-collected, nonclonal sample of insects was used as source material for laboratory procedures.

A strong effect of AT mutational bias on amino acid usage in Buchnera is mitigated at high-expression genes.

The advent of full genome sequences provides exceptionally rich data sets to explore molecular and evolutionary mechanisms that shape divergence among and within genomes. In this study, we use multivariate analysis to determine the processes driving genome-wide patterns of amino usage in the obligate endosymbiont Buchnera and its close free-living relative Escherichia coli. In the AT-rich Buchnera genome, the primary source of variation in amino acid usage differentiates high- and low-expression genes.

Lauryl gallate inhibits the activity of protein tyrosine kinase c-Src purified from human platelets.

The inhibitory effect of gallic acid (3,4,5-trihydroxybenzoic acid), and its ester derivatives methyl, propyl, octyl and lauryl has been tested on the tyrosine kinase activity of affinity purified c-Src from human platelets, using the artificial substrate Poly (Glu,Na,Tyr) 4:1. When tested as inhibitor of the autophosphorylation of the enzyme and the phosphorylation of the protein tyrosine phosphatase SHP-1 by c-Src, lauryl gallate was found to be a more potent inhibitor than other widely used protein tyrosine kinase (PTK) inhibitors such as genistein and herbimycin A. However, lauryl gallate did not inhibit the activity of the serine threonine kinases protein kinase A (PKA) and casein kinase II (CKII) from rat brain.

The JNK phosphatase M3/6 is inhibited by protein-damaging stress.

Cells respond to stresses such as osmotic shock and heat shock by activating stress-activated protein kinases (SAPKs), including c-Jun N-terminal kinase (JNK) [1]. Activation of JNK requires phosphorylation of threonine and tyrosine residues in the TPY activation loop motif [2, 3] and can be reversed by the removal of either phosphate group. Numerous JNK phosphatases including dual-specificity phosphatases [4, 5], have been identified.

Mechanistic aspects of the induction of apoptosis by lauryl gallate in the murine B-cell lymphoma line Wehi 231.

The effect of lauryl gallate (antioxidant E-312) has been studied on the mouse B-cell lymphoma line Wehi 231. This compound is able to inhibit protein tyrosine kinases (PTKs) in whole cells and in crude extracts with a better efficiency than other well-known PTK inhibitors such as herbimycin or genistein. Initial events triggered upon the incubation of cells with lauryl gallate in phosphate-buffered saline (up to 1 h) include the inhibition of tyrosine phosphorylation, discharge of the mitochondrial transmembrane potential, and induction of mRNA for Bcl-2.