A20 is critical for the induction of Pam3CSK4-tolerance in monocytic THP-1 cells.

A20 functions to terminate Toll-like receptor (TLR)-induced immune response, and play important roles in the induction of lipopolysacchride (LPS)-tolerance. However, the molecular mechanism for Pam3CSK4-tolerance is uncertain. Here we report that TLR1/2 ligand Pam3CSK4 induced tolerance in monocytic THP-1 cells.

Fitness costs of rifampicin resistance in Mycobacterium tuberculosis are amplified under conditions of nutrient starvation and compensated by mutation in the β' subunit of RNA polymerase.

Rifampicin resistance, a defining attribute of multidrug-resistant tuberculosis, is conferred by mutations in the β subunit of RNA polymerase. Sequencing of rifampicin-resistant (RIF-R) clinical isolates of Mycobacterium tuberculosis revealed, in addition to RIF-R mutations, enrichment of potential compensatory mutations around the double-psi β-barrel domain of the β' subunit comprising the catalytic site and the exit tunnel for newly synthesized RNA. Sequential introduction of the resistance allele followed by the compensatory allele in isogenic Mycobacterium smegmatis showed that these mutations respectively caused and compensated a starvation enhanced growth defect by altering RNA polymerase activity.

Immune activation is associated with increased gut microbial translocation in treatment-naive, HIV-infected children in a resource-limited setting.

Background: Gut damage resulting in microbial translocation (MT) is considered a major cause of immune activation (IA) in HIV infection, but data in children are limited, particularly in the absence of antiretroviral therapy.

Methods: Sixty perinatally HIV-infected, antiretroviral therapy-naive children, aged 2-12 years, were evaluated for plasma levels of lipopolysaccharide, DNA sequences encoding bacterial 16 second ribosomal DNA (16S rDNA) and soluble CD14 concurrently with markers of CD4 and CD8 T-cell IA and immune exhaustion (IE), CD4 counts, and plasma viral load. At study entry, participants were classified into immune categories (ICs): IC1 (CD4% > 25), IC2 (CD4% 15-25), and IC3 (CD4% < 15).

Neonatal bacillus Calmette-Guerin vaccination and environmental mycobacteria in sensitizing antimycobacterial activity of macrophages.

An immunoepidemiological study was performed to evaluate the effect of neonatal bacillus Calmette-Guérin (BCG) vaccination and tuberculin response on macrophage killing profile against Mycobacterium tuberculosis. In this epidemiological field work, the study subjects were drawn from in and around Chennai city, South India. The descriptive epidemiological pattern of neonatal BCG vaccination and its impact on tuberculin skin test were studied.

Utility of the REBA MTB-Rifa® assay for rapid detection of rifampicin resistant Mycobacterium tuberculosis.

Background: Drug-resistant tuberculosis (TB), including resistance to both rifampicin (RIF) and isoniazid (INH) referred to as multidrug-resistant tuberculosis (MDR-TB), has become an increasing global threat in recent years. Effective management of patients infected with MDR-TB strains requires identifying such patients by performing conventional drug-susceptibility testing (DST) on bacteria isolated from sputum, a process that can take up to 2 months. This delay in diagnosis can result in worsening and continued transmission of MDR-TB.

Sensititre MYCOTB MIC plate for testing Mycobacterium tuberculosis susceptibility to first- and second-line drugs.

For Mycobacterium tuberculosis, phenotypic methods for drug susceptibility testing of second-line drugs are poorly standardized and technically challenging. The Sensititre MYCOTB MIC plate (MYCOTB) is a microtiter plate containing lyophilized antibiotics and configured for determination of MICs to first- and second-line antituberculosis drugs. To evaluate the performance of MYCOTB for M.

The effect of smoking by family members and friends on the incidence of smoking among high school students.

Objective: Smoking is the most important preventable cause of death. According to the global youth tobacco survey (GYTS) presented by WHO, 25% of smokers smoked their first cigarette before the age of 10; hence, it is of great importance to investigate the effect of smoking of family members and friends on smoking incidence of adolescents.

Materials And Methods: This analytic cross-sectional study was conducted on the basis of GYTS questionnaire.

Linezolid for treatment of chronic extensively drug-resistant tuberculosis.

Background: Linezolid has antimycobacterial activity in vitro and is increasingly used for patients with highly drug-resistant tuberculosis.

Methods: We enrolled 41 patients who had sputum-culture-positive extensively drug-resistant (XDR) tuberculosis and who had not had a response to any available chemotherapeutic option during the previous 6 months. Patients were randomly assigned to linezolid therapy that started immediately or after 2 months, at a dose of 600 mg per day, without a change in their background regimen.

Tumor necrosis factor alpha and high sensitivity C-reactive protein in diagnosis of exudative pleural effusion.

Background: Differentiation between exudative and transudative pleural effusions is the initial step in assessment of pleural effusion. The aim of this study was to determine whether high sensitivity C-reactive protein (hsCRP) and tumor necrosis factor α (TNFα) are diagnostic utilities for exudative pleural effusion.

Methods: This experimental study assessed 79 patients with pleural effusion who underwent diagnostic evaluations at Imam Reza hospital, Mashhad, Iran in 2009-2010.

In vivo characteristics of Korean Beijing Mycobacterium tuberculosis strain K1 in an aerosol challenge model and in the Cornell latent tuberculosis model.

The Beijing Mycobacterium tuberculosis family is widely distributed and is the most common M. tuberculosis strain in East Asia. The highly transmissible and predominant Beijing M.

Frequency of adverse reactions to first- and second-line anti-tuberculosis chemotherapy in a Korean cohort.

Objective: To determine the frequency of and risk factors for major adverse drug reactions (MADRs) associated with anti-tuberculosis treatment at a tuberculosis (TB) referral hospital in the Republic of Korea.

Methods: Data from an ongoing natural history cohort study were analyzed for permanent regimen changes due to adverse drug reactions and confirmed by chart review.

Results: Among 655 subjects, there were 132 MADRs in 112 (17%) subjects.

The management of bronchus intermedius complications after lung transplantation: a retrospective study.

Background: Airway complications following lung transplantation remain a significant cause of morbidity and mortality. The management of bronchial complications in Bronchus Intermedius (BI) is challenging due to the location of right upper bronchus. The aim of this study was to analyze the results of BI Montgomery T-tube stent in a consecutive patients with lung transplantations.

Malignant pleural mesothelioma: clinicopathologic and survival characteristic in a consecutive series of 40 patients.

Introduction: Pleural malignant mesothelioma is an uncommon but extremely invasive tumor which originates from mesothelial cells and usually occurs after prolonged exposure to asbestos. Different types of surgical and oncological therapeutic methods have been used resulting in various outcomes. The aim of this study was to evaluate, clinicopathologically, 40 patients with pleural malignant mesothelioma and the main factors influencing their prognosis.

Improved rapid molecular diagnosis of multidrug-resistant tuberculosis using a new reverse hybridization assay, REBA MTB-MDR.

Rapid diagnosis of multidrug-resistant tuberculosis (MDR-TB) is essential for the prompt initiation of effective second-line therapy to improve treatment outcome and limit transmission of this obstinate disease. A variety of molecular methods that enable the rapid detection of mutations implicated in MDR-TB have been developed. The sensitivity of the methods is dependent, in principle, on the repertoire of mutations being detected, which is typically limited to mutations in the genes rpoB, katG and the promoter region of inhA.

Interleukin-6 and airflow limitation in chemical warfare patients with chronic obstructive pulmonary disease.

Objectives: Chronic obstructive pulmonary disease (COPD) is one of the main late complications of sulfur mustard poisoning. The aim of this study was to evaluate serum levels of interleukin (IL)-6 in war veterans with pulmonary complications of sulfur mustard poisoning and their correlation with severity of airways disease.

Methods: Fifty consecutive patients with sulfur mustard poisoning and stable COPD, and of mean age 46.

Care seeking behavior of chest symptomatics: a community based study done in South India after the implementation of the RNTCP.

Introduction: With the creation of the Revised National TB Control Programme (RNTCP), tuberculosis services have become decentralized and more accessible. A 1997 study prior to RNTCP implementation reported that most chest symptomatics accessed first private health care facilities and a general dissatisfaction with government health facilities. The study was repeated post-RNTCP implementation to gain insight into the current care seeking behavior of chest symptomatics.

Cytotoxicity responses to selected ESAT-6 and CFP-10 peptides in tuberculosis.

Cytotoxicity responses were studied for the ESAT-6 peptides Esp1, Esp6, Esp7, Esp8, and CFP-10 peptides, Cfp6, Cfp7, Cfp8, Cfp9 (synthetic 20-mer peptides) and the recombinant ESAT-6, CFP-10 proteins. Cytolytic molecules perforin, granzymes A and B, granulysin responses in healthy household contacts (HHC) and pulmonary tuberculosis patients (PTB), were studied by intracellular flow cytometry. Functional cytotoxicity was studied in both the groups for the peptides Esp6 and Cfp8 by an enzyme (lactate dehydrogenase) based assay.

Metaplastic ossification in the cartilage of the bronchus of a patient with chronic multi-drug resistant tuberculosis: a case report.

Introduction: Pulmonary ossification has been rarely observed in pulmonary fibrosis and in some chronic respiratory diseases such as chronic obstructive pulmonary disease. We report here a metaplastic ossification in the bronchial cartilage of a patient with multi-drug resistant tuberculosis.

Case Presentation: We report the case of a 41-year-old Asian man from Korea with chronic multi-drug resistant tuberculosis with a rare focus of bone formation from the cartilage of a bronchus subtending an active cavity.

Association of antigen-stimulated release of tumor necrosis factor-alpha in whole blood with response to chemotherapy in patients with pulmonary multidrug-resistant tuberculosis.

Background: We have previously reported that TNF-α levels correlate to total mycobacterial burden in tuberculosis (TB) patients.

Objective: To characterize the dynamics of cytokine responses in TB patients during chemotherapy to identify potential surrogate markers for effective treatment.

Methods: Following induction by culture filtrate proteins in whole blood, production patterns of TNF-α, IL-10, IFN-γ and IL-12 were measured in 23 non-multidrug-resistant (MDR)-TB and 16 MDR-TB patients and in 31 healthy controls.

Efficacy of a 6-month versus 9-month intermittent treatment regimen in HIV-infected patients with tuberculosis: a randomized clinical trial.

Rationale: The outcome of fully intermittent thrice-weekly antituberculosis treatment of various durations in HIV-associated tuberculosis is unclear.

Objectives: To compare the efficacy of an intermittent 6-month regimen (Reg6M: 2EHRZ(3)/4HR(3) [ethambutol, 1,200 mg; isoniazid, 600 mg; rifampicin, 450 or 600 mg depending on body weight <60 or > or =60 kg; and pyrazinamide, 1,500 mg for 2 mo; followed by 4 mo of isoniazid and rifampicin at the same doses]) versus a 9-month regimen (Reg9M: 2EHRZ(3)/7HR(3)) in HIV/tuberculosis (TB).

Methods: HIV-infected patients with newly diagnosed pulmonary or extrapulmonary TB were randomly assigned to Reg6M (n = 167) or Reg9M (n = 160) and monitored by determination of clinical, immunological, and bacteriological parameters for 36 months.

Highly sensitive C-reactive protein levels in Iranian patients with pulmonary complication of sulfur mustard poisoning and its correlation with severity of airway diseases.

Background: Sulfur mustard (SM) is a chemical warfare agent that can cause serious pulmonary complications. This study was designed to determine serum highly sensitive C-reactive protein (hs-CRP) and evaluate its correlation with lung function parameters in patients with chronic obstructive pulmonary disease (COPD) due to SM poisoning.

Methods: Fifty consecutive SM patients with stable COPD and a mean age 46.

HIV prevention interventions in Chennai, India: are men who have sex with men being reached?

India has the greatest number of HIV infections in Asia and the third highest total number of infected persons globally. Men who have sex with men (MSM) are considered by the Government of India's National AIDS Control Organization (NACO) a "core risk group" for HIV in need of HIV prevention efforts. However there is a dearth of information on the frequency of participation in HIV prevention interventions and subsequent HIV risk and other correlates among MSM in India.

Neutrophils are the predominant infected phagocytic cells in the airways of patients with active pulmonary TB.

Background: The exact role of neutrophils in the pathogenesis of TB is poorly understood. Recent evidence suggests that neutrophils are not simply scavenging phagocytes in Mycobacterium tuberculosis (Mtb) infection.

Methods: Three different types of clinical specimens from patients with active pulmonary TB who underwent lung surgery were examined: sputum, BAL fluid, and cavity contents.

Unseen and unheard: predictors of sexual risk behavior and HIV infection among men who have sex with men in Chennai, India.

In India men who have sex with men (MSM) are stigmatized, understudied, and at high risk for HIV. Understanding the impact of psychosocial issues on HIV risk behavior and HIV infection can help shape culturally relevant HIV prevention interventions. Peer outreach workers recruited 210 MSM in Chennai who completed an interviewer-administered psychosocial assessment battery and underwent HIV testing and counseling.

Survival and predictors of outcomes in non-HIV-infected patients with extensively drug-resistant tuberculosis.

Setting: A tuberculosis (TB) referral hospital in South Korea.

Objective: To evaluate predictors of treatment outcomes and survival among non-human immunodeficiency virus (HIV) infected patients with extensively drug-resistant TB (XDR-TB).

Design: Patients who were diagnosed with XDR-TB at the National Masan Tuberculosis Hospital from January 2001 to December 2005 were included in this study.