Adverse outcomes in pregnancies of asthmatic women: results from a Canadian population.

Purpose: There has been little attention paid to asthma complicating pregnancy. This study is among the few studies that investigated this issue in a large Canadian population (more than two millions of Canadian pregnant women).

Methods: We carried out a historical cohort study using hospital discharge data collected by the Canadian Institute for Health Information for fiscal years 1989/90 to 1995/96.

Placenta praevia and male sex at birth: results from a population-based study.

This study examined the relationship between male sex at birth and placenta praevia in 433031 mother/infant dyads (linked by a common institutional code and hospital admission number) in the Canadian province of Quebec, during the fiscal years of 1991/92-1995/96. The male-to-female ratio among pregnancies with and without placenta praevia was calculated and compared. The male-to-female ratio at birth was higher in pregnancies complicated by a placenta praevia (1.

Differentiation of clinical Helicobacter pullorum isolates from related Helicobacter and Campylobacter species.

Background: Helicobacter pullorum, first detected in the liver and intestinal contents of poultry, was defined as a new species in 1994. This organism has since been isolated from humans with gastroenteritis. Phenotypic as well as genotypic methods have been used to identify H.

Direct detection of respiratory syncytial virus, parainfluenza virus, and adenovirus in clinical respiratory specimens by a multiplex reverse transcription-PCR assay.

Diagnosis of respiratory virus infections currently involves detection by isolation or antigen detection, which usually identifies only a single suspected agent. To permit identification of more than one respiratory virus in clinical specimens, a rapid detection method involving a single-step, multiplex reverse transcription-PCR (RT-PCR) assay was developed. The assay included five primer sets that amplified the RNA of respiratory syncytial virus subtypes A and B, parainfluenza virus types 1, 2, and 3, and adenovirus types 1 to 7.

Tuberculosis bacteriology laboratory services and incremental protocols for developing countries.

Tuberculosis causes more deaths worldwide than any other single infectious disease. Most new cases occur in developing countries, where the emergence of HIV/AIDS-associated multidrug-resistant Mycobacterium tuberculosis could disrupt the effective delivery of chemotherapy. Diagnosis, one of the cornerstones of the modern national tuberculosis control programs in developing countries, is based on sputum smear microscopy, which can be delivered effectively only through a national laboratory network.

A random sample survey of initial drug resistance among tuberculosis cases in Latin America.

A random sample survey of initial drug resistance among cases of tuberculosis in Latin America was carried out during the second half of the 1980s and the early 1990s. A total of 948 cultures of Mycobacterium tuberculosis isolated from patients presumed never before to have been treated for tuberculosis were collected from 30 randomly selected clusters in Latin America and tested for resistance to isoniazid, streptomycin, rifampicin, ethambutol, and thioacetazone. Initial drug resistance, although unevenly distributed, was detected in all the clusters tested and characterized one out of every six tuberculosis cases.

Monoclonal anti-idiotypes induce neutralizing antibodies to enterovirus 70 conformational epitopes.

Monoclonal antibodies (MAbs) directed against the prototype enterovirus 70 (EV-70) strain J670/71 were generated and characterized in order to produce anti-idiotypic MAbs (MAb2s) for use as surrogate immunogens. Western immunoblot and radioimmunoprecipitation assays suggested that all the MAbs recognize conformational epitopes on the virion surface. An EV-70-neutralizing antibody, MAb/ev-12 (MAb1), was selected for the production of MAb2s.

Comparison of bis-di-octadecylamide of trehalose dicarboxylic acid (BDA.TDA) with glycolipid SL-IV as ELISA antigens for the serodiagnosis of leprosy.

Two glycolipids--one synthetic and non-natural (BDA.TDA), the other natural and Mycobacterium tuberculosis species-specific (SL-IV)--were tested to determine their serological activity in sera obtained from leprosy patients, and to determine their discriminating ability in the detection of disease. The ELISA results obtained in the IgG antibody class show that both were useful substances capable of detecting multibacillary and paucibacillary disease in about 2 out of 3 leprosy patients.

Increasing incidence of primary malignant brain tumors: influence of diagnostic methods.

Background: The incidence of brain cancer has increased dramatically over the last decades in most developed countries. Whether these trends can be attributed to improved diagnosis is not clear.

Purpose: To determine the effect of new imaging technology on increased rates of brain cancer, we assessed the level of detection for neurological disorders when computed tomography (CT) and magnetic resonance imaging (MRI) results were not available.

New monoclonal antibodies for the detection of immediate early antigens of cytomegalovirus.

Two new monoclonal antibodies, CIE-1 and CIE-2, were developed for the rapid detection of human cytomegalovirus (HCMV) infection. They were found to be reactive with immediate early protein of HCMV in the nuclei of infected fibroblasts, as early as 3 hours post-infection. By radioimmunoprecipitation, CIE-1 was found to react with a protein with an apparent molecular weight of 70,000, whereas CIE-2 precipitated 2 proteins of 70,000 and 72,000 daltons, respectively.

Neutralizing monoclonal antibody against enterovirus-70 reacts with viral proteins 1C and 1D.

A library of murine monoclonal antibodies against the prototype Enterovirus-70 (EV-70) strain, J670/71, was made for the purpose of studying the immunologically reactive determinants of the virus. Each of the monoclonal antibodies reacted with several other strains of Enterovirus-70 when tested by immunofluorescence. However, none of these monoclonal antibodies reacted with any other picornavirus tested.