Moving beyond "sticks and stones": chronic psychological trauma predicts posttraumatic stress symptoms.

To date, trauma research has focused on the impact of physical trauma on posttraumatic stress (PTS) symptoms. Sometimes psychological trauma is measured with instances of physical trauma; however, less is known about solely psychological trauma. The current study addresses this by examining psychological trauma and PTS symptoms using the chronic relational trauma (CRT) model.

Diagnostic performance of the equine IgM capture ELISA for serodiagnosis of West Nile virus infection.

The objectives of these studies were to assess the diagnostic performance (sensitivity and specificity) of the IgM capture enzyme-linked immunosorbent assay (ELISA; MAC) for diagnosis of West Nile (WN) virus in horses and to examine the performance of this test by using different criteria for seropositivity. A total of 36 horses classified as WN virus infected (group 1) and 383 horses from 4 subpopulations of hoses classified as noninfected (groups 2, 3, 4, and 5) were used in the study. The sensitivity (proportion of infected horses that tested positive for WN virus IgM antibodies) and specificity (proportion of noninfected horses that tested negative) were calculated at different cutoff points by using receiver operating curve (ROC) analysis.

Surveillance results from the first West Nile virus transmission season in Florida, 2001.

After West Nile virus (WNV) was first detected in Florida in July 2001, intensive surveillance efforts over the following five months uncovered virus activity in 65 of the state's 67 counties with 1,106 wild birds, 492 horses, 194 sentinel chickens, and 12 people found infected with the virus. Thirteen of 28 mosquito isolations came from Culex mosquitoes. As seen in the northeastern United States, wild bird mortality was the most sensitive surveillance method.

Preparation of a new antivenin by affinity chromatography.

Polyacrylamide gel affinity chromatography was employed to isolate and purify antibodies to the antigens of the venoms of four rattlesnakes. The antivenins were studied for their neutralizing properties on a number of pharmacologic preparations. It was found that the purified antibodies (IgG) were more efficacious than the commercially prepared antivenin in neutralizing the lethal, cytolytic, hemorrhagic, platelet aggregating, and other deleterious effects of the venoms.

A case report of the successful treatment of recurrent aphthous stomatitis with some preparations of orally administered transfer factor.

A patient with severe disabling recurrent aphthous stomatitis (RAS) was treated with four different preparations of oral human transfer factor (TF), as well as placebo, following a double-blind protocol. Two of the TF preparations had a significant effect upon the course of the patient's illness by prolonging the interval between attacks and decreasing the severity of attacks. No side effects attributable to any of the preparations were noted by the patient.