Assessment of patients at intermediate cardiac risk.

The optimal approach to patients who are at intermediate risk for coronary artery disease is not clear. Various risk assessment scoring systems and imaging modalities can add diagnostic and prognostic value to cardiovascular evaluation. A better understanding of these available assessment tools can help physicians to optimize management and outcomes in patients who are initially categorized as at intermediate risk.

Exogenous IL-10 and IL-4 down-regulate IL-6 production by SLE-derived PBMC.

The elevated expression of IL-6 and IL-10 may have an important role in SLE pathogenesis. IL-6 production by normal monocytes can be inhibited by IL-10, and it has been suggested that SLE monocytes are refractory to this negative signal. To examine this possibility, the effects of regulatory factors on IL-6 expression by SLE PBMC (N = 51) were compared to effects on control PBMC (N = 21).

The US5 open reading frame of herpes simplex virus type 1 does encode a glycoprotein (gJ).

Based on sequence analysis, the protein encoded by the US5 open reading frame (ORF) of herpes simplex virus type 1 (HSV-1) was predicted to contain an N-glycosylation site and was given the designation of glycoprotein J (gJ). However, the US5 gene product has not been identified and the identity of gJ as a glycoprotein has not been confirmed. We have cloned and expressed the DNA encoding the complete sequence of the US5 ORF, using a baculovirus expression system.

MHC-II but not MHC-I responses are required for vaccine-induced protection against ocular challenge with HSV-1.

Purpose: To determine the importance of major histocompatibility complex (MHC) class-I versus MHC class-II immune responses in protecting naive versus vaccinated mice against an ocular HSV-1 challenge.

Methods: Class-II deficient A beta o/o (CD4-CD8+ T cells) knockout mice, which are effectively CD4+ T cells-negative, and class-I deficient beta(2)mo/o (CD4+CD8- T cells) knockout mice, which are effectively CD8+ T cells negative, were either vaccinated or mock-vaccinated and examined for their ability to withstand HSV-1 ocular challenge.

Results: Unvaccinated A beta o/o and beta(2)mo/o mice were both more susceptible to lethal ocular HSV-1 infection than the parental wild type C57BL/6J mice, indicating that both MHC-I and MHC-II were required for optimal protection of naive mice against ocular HSV-1 challenge.

Nonneutralizing antibody against the glycoprotein K of herpes simplex virus type-1 exacerbates herpes simplex virus type-1-induced corneal scarring in various virus-mouse strain combinations.

Purpose: To determine whether the exacerbation of herpes simplex virus type-1 (HSV-1) induced corneal scarring that the authors reported previously in HSV-1 glycoprotein K (gK) vaccinated BALB/c mice challenged with HSV-1 strain McKrae was a general phenomenon independent of virus and mouse strains. To determine the gK-induced immune response leading to exacerbation of HSV-1-induced corneal scarring.

Methods: BALB/c or C57BL/6 mice were vaccinated with gK, ocularly challenged with HSV-1 strain KOS or McKrae, and the relative amount of corneal scarring determined 28 days after challenge.

Inhibition of acute stent thrombosis under high-shear flow conditions by a nitric oxide donor, DMHD/NO. An ex vivo porcine arteriovenous shunt study.

Background: Coronary stenting is limited by subacute thrombosis, especially in smaller-diameter vessels, in which shear rates are high. The objective of the present study was to determine whether local delivery of a new type of NO donor, the NO adduct of N,N'-dimethylhexanediamine (DMHD/NO), inhibits acute stent thrombosis (ST) at high-shear flow.

Methods And Results: Effects of local infusion of DMHD/NO; intravenous aspirin, and heparin on ST were evaluated in an ex vivo porcine AV shunt model.

The UL3 open reading frame of herpes simplex virus type 1 codes for a phosphoprotein.

Based on sequence analysis, the protein encoded by the UL3 open reading frame (ORF) of herpes simplex virus type 1 (HSV-1) was predicted to contain an N glycosylation site and to be a glycoprotein. To determine if this prediction was correct, we cloned and expressed the DNA encoding the complete sequence of the UL3 ORF in a baculovirus expression system. Western blotting was done using polyclonal antibody raised against synthetic UL3 peptides.

A 371-nucleotide region between the herpes simplex virus type 1 (HSV-1) LAT promoter and the 2-kilobase LAT is not essential for efficient spontaneous reactivation of latent HSV-1.

The herpes simplex virus type 1 (HSV-1) latency-associated transcript (LAT) gene is essential for efficient spontaneous reactivation of HSV-1 from latency. However, neither the mechanism by which LAT carries out this function nor the region of LAT responsible for this function in known. LAT is transcribed as an unstable 8.

Vaccination with a cocktail of seven recombinantly expressed HSV-1 glycoproteins protects against ocular HSV-1 challenge more efficiently than vaccination with any individual glycoprotein.

Our previous studies have shown that of seven HSV-1 glycoproteins (gB, gC, gD, gE, gG, gH and gI) individually expressed in baculovirus, vaccination with gD provides the best protection against HSV-1 challenge. To establish whether vaccination with a mixture of these seven expressed glycoproteins would provide better protection against HSV-1 challenge than vaccination with gD alone, we determined the level of protection afforded by vaccination with a cocktail of the seven expressed glycoproteins. The amount of each of the seven expressed glycoproteins in the mixture was equivalent to one-seventh the amount of gD used in the gD alone vaccination.

The spontaneous reactivation function of the herpes simplex virus type 1 LAT gene resides completely within the first 1.5 kilobases of the 8.3-kilobase primary transcript.

The herpes simplex virus type 1 (HSV-1) latency-associated transcript (LAT) gene is essential for efficient spontaneous reactivation of HSV-1 from latency. We report here that although the LAT gene is 8.3 kb in length, the first 1.

A greater variability in the 3' flanking region of the IL-6 gene in patients with systemic lupus erythematosus (SLE).

The causes of the aberrant constitutive expression of cytokines in SLE have not been elucidated yet, but alterations in cytokine gene structure could be a contributing factor. By RFLP (Restriction Fragment Length Polymorphism) analysis of genomic DNA, we found a higher incidence of allelic, higher MW XbaI bands in the IL-6 genes of 9/57 SLE patients vs 1/36 unrelated controls (p = 0.05) HLA DR/DQ typing of the polymorphic patients revealed they were all DQ beta 6.

The region of the herpes simplex virus type 1 LAT gene that is colinear with the ICP34.5 gene is not involved in spontaneous reactivation.

The goal of this report was to determine if the region of the LAT gene that is colinear with ICP34.5 (kb 6.2 to 7.

Peripherally inserted central catheters in the intensive care unit.

We report the success rate and complications of peripherally inserted central catheters (PICCs) in patients hospitalized in an intensive care unit (ICU). We performed a cohort study in the ICU of a large tertiary care, university-affiliated community hospital. All ICU patients for whom their attending physicians requested a PICC service consultation were included.

Infections in patients with chronic adult T-cell leukemia/lymphoma: case report and review.

Adult T-cell leukemia/lymphoma (ATLL) is caused by the human T-cell lymphotropic virus type I (HTLV-I). ATLL is classified into the smoldering, chronic, lymphoma, and acute subtypes. We describe a North American woman with chronic ATLL who presented with pneumonia caused by Pneumocystis carinii, Cryptococcus neoformans, Mycoplasma pneumoniae, and Mycobacterium avium complex.

Vaccination of mice with herpes simplex virus type 1 glycoprotein D DNA produces low levels of protection against lethal HSV-1 challenge.

The herpes simplex virus type 1 (HSV-1) glycoprotein D (gD) gene was inserted into vectors pSVL or pRc/CMV under control of the SV40 late promoter or the human cytomegalovirus major immediate-early promoter, respectively. Intramuscular injection of mice with these gD-containing plasmids appeared to induce low levels of serum anti-gD antibody, as judged by the appearance of low levels of anti-HSV-1-neutralizing antibody and anti-gD ELISA responses in the serum of gD-DNA-vaccinated mice. As previously reported in other virus systems, vaccination with vector DNA also induced ELISA and neutralizing antibody titers.

Protection against herpes simplex virus-induced eye disease after vaccination with seven individually expressed herpes simplex virus 1 glycoproteins.

Purpose: To compare the efficacy of each of seven expressed herpes simplex virus 1 (HSV-1) glycoproteins as vaccines to protect against ocular disease after primary ocular HSV-1 infection.

Methods: Mice were vaccinated three times with equal amounts of each of seven individually expressed HSV-1 glycoproteins (gB, gC, gD, gE, gG, gH, and gI) and then ocularly challenged with McKrae, a corneal disease-producing strain of HSV-1. Viral clearance from the eye, blepharitis, keratitis, and neovascularization were determined at various times after infection.

An avirulent ICP34.5 deletion mutant of herpes simplex virus type 1 is capable of in vivo spontaneous reactivation.

The herpes simplex virus type 1 (HSV-1) ICP34.5 gene is a neurovirulence gene in mice. In addition, some ICP34.

Characterization of baculovirus-expressed herpes simplex virus type 1 glycoprotein K.

The DNA region encoding the complete herpes simplex virus type 1 (HSV-1) glycoprotein K (gK) was inserted into a baculovirus transfer vector, and recombinant viruses expressing gK were isolated. Four gK-related recombinant baculovirus-expressed peptides of 29, 35, 38, and 40 kDa were detected with polyclonal antibody to gK. The 35-, 38-, and 40-kDa species were susceptible to tunicamycin treatment, suggesting that they were glycosylated.