Survey of clinical isolates of diarrhoeogenic Escherichia coli: diffusely adhering E. coli strains with multiple adhesive factors.

A total of 335 Escherichia coli strains were isolated from sporadic cases of aqueous diarrhoea in patients hospitalized in Clermont-Ferrand, France, during 1991 and 1992. Many of these strains belonged to the diffusely adhering E. coli (DAEC) group, since 51 of them (15.

The value of serum carcinoembryonic antigen in predicting recurrent disease following curative resection of colorectal cancer.

Unlabelled: Carcinoembryonic antigen (CEA) estimations are used to facilitate early diagnosis of recurrent disease after treatment for colorectal cancer.

Purpose: This study was designed to determine the natural history of patients with normal and abnormal levels of CEA.

Methods: Patients undergoing potential curative resection of colorectal tumors (Dukes Stage A-C) entered a prospective, randomized trial comparing two follow-up regimens (to be reported separately) had CEA levels measured every 3 months for two years; then every 6 months for the next three years.

Six-month stability of psychiatric diagnoses in first-admission patients with psychosis.

Objective: The short-term diagnostic stability of schizophrenic and other psychotic disorders was examined in first-admission patients, with attention to the principal reasons for diagnostic change.

Method: Hospitalized first-admission patients (N = 278) participating in an epidemiologic study were interviewed at baseline and after 6 months with the Structured Clinical Interview for DSM-III-R. A best estimate diagnosis was made at both time points with the use of all available sources of information.

Self-transmissible R plasmids encoding CS31A among human Escherichia coli strains isolated from diarrheal stools.

The CS31A antigen was first described for septicemic and enterotoxigenic bovine E. coli strains. In our study, of 597 human Escherichia coli strains isolated from diarrheagenic stools of hospitalized patients, 30 (5%) hybridized with the CS31A DNA probe.

Subnanosecond pulse generation from diode-pumped acousto-optically Q-switched solid-state lasers.

Miniature diode-pumped acousto-optically Q-switched solid-state lasers deliver pulse durations as short as 600 ps at wavelengths near 1 µm. Specifically, Nd:YVO(4) lasers operating at 1.064 µm produce 600-ps/5-kW pulses at 1 kHz, 1.

Developmental regulation of aortic elastin gene expression involves disruption of an IGF-I sensitive repressor complex.

Nuclear proteins were isolated from different aged chick embryonic aorta and examined by gel mobility shift and footprint analyses using the -195 to +2 bp region of the human elastin gene. A major developmental change in DNA/protein complexes involved the loss of binding complexes present initially in the 8- to 11-day nuclear extracts. Both chemical and enzymatic footprinting demonstrated that the deprotected binding complexes corresponded to positions -167 to -137 bp within the elastin promoter fragment.

An optometric quality assurance program.

Background: To be accredited by the Joint Commission on Accreditation of Health Care Organizations (JCAHO), a health care facility must have an ongoing quality assurance program.

Methods: In accordance with JCAHO Guidelines the Optometry Section at the Cleveland Veterans Administration Medical Center developed such a program as part of the Medical Center's hospital-wide ongoing quality assurance plan.

Results: The methodology used to develop a quality assurance program is outlined.

Deferred compensation for tax-exempt entities.

Many executives in tax-exempt organizations, including healthcare executives, find their tax-advantaged savings opportunities dramatically reduced today compared to previous years. The benefit of employer-sponsored, "qualified" retirement and savings programs has been severely limited by ever-increasing tax restrictions on such plans when they are offered by tax-exempt organizations. And the opportunity for tax-sheltered personal investments has virtually disappeared.

Escherichia coli strains involved in diarrhea in France: high prevalence and heterogeneity of diffusely adhering strains.

Two hundred sixty-two strains of Escherichia coli isolated from diarrheal stool specimens from infants, children, and adults hospitalized in Clermont-Ferrand, France, were studied to classify them in the previously described pathogenic groups of E. coli involved in diarrheal diseases. A total of 1.

Insulin-like growth factor-I regulates transcription of the elastin gene.

Neonatal rat aortic smooth muscle cell cultures were used to investigate the mechanisms by which insulin-like growth factor-I (IGF-I) up-regulates aortic elastogenesis. The addition of IGF-I (50 ng/ml) to quiescent smooth muscle cell cultures resulted in a 5-fold increase in the steady-state levels of tropoelastin mRNA beginning between 2 and 4 h and reaching maximal levels at 8 h. Addition of cycloheximide blocked the effect of IGF-I.

An unusual cause of cerebral venous thrombosis in a four-year-old child.

Background And Purpose: Inherited protein S deficiency has been associated with an increased risk of thromboembolic disease. It is possible that such a coagulopathy could predispose children to the development of strokes by permitting clot formation in response to stimuli that ordinarily would be insufficient to cause thrombus formation.

Case Description: We evaluated a previously well 4-year-old boy who developed cerebral venous thrombosis after suffering minor head trauma.

Characterization and developmental expression of chick aortic lysyl oxidase.

The complete primary structure of chick lysyl oxidase was determined by recombinant DNA techniques. The nucleotide sequence of contiguous chick lysyl oxidase cDNA clones contained an open reading frame of 1260 bases which encodes a predicted protein of 420 amino acid residues (48,150 Da). In comparison to the deduced primary structure of rat lysyl oxidase, the chick enzyme is larger in size and exhibits a strong conservation of sequence within the latter two thirds of the molecule (92% identity) and a high degree of divergence in the first 150 amino acid residues (60% identity allowing for several insertions in both sequences).

IGF-I regulation of elastogenesis: comparison of aortic and lung cells.

Rat neonatal aortic smooth muscle and pulmonary fibroblast cell cultures were exposed to different amounts of insulin-like growth factor-I (IGF-I, 1-100 ng/ml of medium) for 24 h. Aortic smooth muscle cells exhibited an increase in both steady-state levels of tropoelastin mRNA and soluble elastin with increasing amounts of IGF-I, suggesting that the growth factor is acting by increasing transcription or transcript stability. In contrast, pulmonary fibroblast cultures did not exhibit an elastogenic response to IGF-I because neither the steady-state levels of tropoelastin mRNA nor soluble elastin were affected.

Characterization of an associated microfibril protein through recombinant DNA techniques.

The complete primary structure of a new extracellular protein associated with elastic fiber microfibrils was determined by recombinant DNA techniques. Antiserum to insoluble bovine ocular zonule protein was used to screen a lambda gt11 cDNA expression library constructed from whole chick embryo poly(A)+ RNA. The cDNAs encoding immunoreactive fusion polypeptides were then used to rescreen the library by plaque hybridization.

R-plasmid-encoded adhesive factor in Klebsiella pneumoniae strains responsible for human nosocomial infections.

Klebsiella pneumoniae strains involved in hospital outbreaks of nosocomial infections, such as suppurative lesions, bacteremia, and septicemia, were resistant to multiple antibiotics including broad-spectrum cephalosporins. Epidemiologic investigations revealed that the reservoir for these K. pneumoniae strains was the gastrointestinal tracts of the patients.

The effect of beta-aminopropionitrile on elastin gene expression in smooth muscle cell cultures.

When beta-aminopropionitrile (BAPN) is added to neonatal rat aortic smooth muscle cell cultures there is a decrease in insoluble elastin accumulation with a concomitant increase in tropoelastin and tropoelastin fragments in the culture medium. The experiments described here examine the biological significance of this fragmentation. BAPN, as well as purified tropoelastin fragments isolated from spent medium of cells grown in the presence of BAPN, were added to cultures.

[Factors intervening in the variations of in vitro adhesion power of enterotoxinogenic colibacillus (ETEC) to human enterocytes].

Human enterotoxigenic Escherichia coli adhere to the brush border of human enterocytes. The mean number of bacteria adhering to one enterocyte (adhesion index) varied from 0.5 to 3.