Recent journal publications

The clinical importance of early diagnosis of congenital neonatal infections and initiation of early therapy was recognized more than half a century ago. As a result, a serology screening panel was established for Toxoplasma gondii, rubella virus, cytomegalovirus, and herpes simplex virus ("TORCH") that is still widely used in many institutions. Although it no longer is possible to diagnose all recognized congenital infections with one panel, the original TORCH diseases continue to be of clinical importance, and advances in medicine and new findings in epidemiology, preventive medicine, developmental biology, and immunology have brought optimistic changes and intriguing insights to the field. We summarize information from recent studies to provide updates about the diagnostic and therapeut...

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Naturally occurring heterophilic antibodies such as those that occur in infectious mononucleosis are known to cause interference in assays in the chemistry laboratory. (Source: NewsPath - Pathology News for the Medical Community)

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Naturally occurring heterophilic antibodies such as those that occur in infectious mononucleosis are known to cause interference in assays in the chemistry laboratory. (Source: NewsPath - Pathology News for the Medical Community)

(Journal of Clinical Investigation) This release contains summaries, links to PDFs, and contact information for the following newsworthy papers to be published online, August 2, 2010, in the JCI: "Boosting the efficacy of anticancer vaccines"; "Genetic mutations determine breast cancer subtype"; "Keeping blood pressure down with the TRPM4 protein"; "New way to control TB?"; "The real deal: genetically intact human cytomegalovirus can now be studied"; and others. (Source: EurekAlert! - Medicine and Health)

Authors: Moss P Cytomegalovirus infection is very common and leads to the generation of a very strong humoral and cellular immune response that is maintained for life and appears necessary to control viral replication. This leads to marked alterations in the composition of the immune cell repertoire and epidemiological evidence shows that this can be associated with increased levels of morbidity and mortality in the elderly. The immune response appears to be triggered by frequent episodes of subclinical viral reactivation and the predominant effect is of the accumulation of large numbers of cytotoxic cells. These observations suggest that mechanisms that could serve to control the expansion of this immune response could have significant potential in improving the health of elderly dono...

Desensitization protocols reduce donor-specific anti-HLA antibodies (DSA) and enable renal transplantation in patients with a positive complement-dependent cytotoxic cross-match (CDC-CXM). The effect of this treatment on protective antibody and immunoglobulin levels is unknown. Thirteen patients with end-stage renal disease, DSA and positive CDC-CXM underwent desensitization. Sera collected pre- and post-transplantation were analysed for anti-tetanus and anti-pneumococcal antibodies, total immunoglobulin (Ig) levels and IgG subclasses and were compared to healthy controls and contemporaneous renal transplant recipients treated with standard immunosuppression alone. Ten patients developed negative CDC-CXM and enzyme-linked immunosorbent assay (ELISA) and underwent successful transplantation...

(Source: Reactions)

(Source: Transplant Infectious Disease)

SUMMARY (Source: Diseases of the Esophagus)

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A. Krishnan, W. Zhou, S.F. Lacey, A.P. Limaye, D.J. Diamond, C. La Rosa. Programmed death‐1 receptor and interleukin‐10 in liver transplant recipients at high risk for late cytomegalovirus disease.
Transpl Infect Dis 2010: 12: (Source: Transplant Infectious Disease)

Abstract (Source: Pediatrics International)

(Source: Pediatrics International)

(Source: Pediatrics International)

(Source: Clinical Otolaryngology)

Watcharananan SP, Kiertiburanakul S, Piyatuctsanawong W, Anurathapan U, Sungkanuparph S, Pakakasama S, Chantratita W, Hongeng S. Cytomegalovirus, adenovirus, and polyomavirus co‐infection among pediatric recipients of allogeneic stem cell transplantation: Characteristics and outcome.
Pediatr Transplantation 2010: 14:675–681. © 2010 John Wiley & Sons A/S. (Source: Pediatric Transplantation)

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ABSTRACT (Source: Microbiology and Immunology)

Abstract  Sox9 belongs to the family of Sry-related high-mobility group box transcription factors controlling cell fate, cell proliferation and differentiation in various tissues, including cartilage, testis, the central nervous system, kidney, and gastrointestine. Mice conditionally lacking Sox9 have revealed essential roles for Sox9 in these tissues. To gain further insight into the role of Sox9 in different tissues and at different stages of development, we have generated a transgenic mouse line to express Sox9 in a Cre recombinase-dependent manner. The construct contained the human cytomegalovirus enhancer and chicken β-actin promoter, and a floxed monomeric red fluorescence protein 1 (mRFP1) cassette to direct ubiquitous expression of mRFP1. Cre expression removed the m...

Authors: Gombos RB, Hemmings DG Chronic cytomegalovirus (CMV) infections are implicated in vascular diseases. Recently, we showed that an active mouse CMV (mCMV) infection in non-pregnant mice increased endothelial-dependent vasodilation in isolated mesenteric and uterine arteries. In late pregnancy, while increased vasodilation was found in mesenteric arteries from infected mice, there was a dramatic decrease in uterine arteries. Understanding the mechanisms for these vascular changes during CMV infections is important for pregnancy outcomes and long-term consequences of this chronic infection. Increased nitric oxide (NO) is implicated in CMV-associated atherosclerosis and CMV replication is dependent on prostaglandin H synthase (PGHS) activity. Alternatively, CMV infections decrease ...

Mucopolysaccharidosis (MPS) IVA is an autosomal recessive disorder caused by deficiency of the lysosomal enzyme N-acetylgalatosamine-6-sulfate sulfatase (GALNS), which leads to the accumulation of keratan sulfate and chondroitin 6-sulfate, mainly in bone. To explore the possibility of gene therapy for Morquio A disease, we transduced the GALNS gene into HEK293 cells, human MPS IVA fibroblasts and murine MPS IVA chondrocytes by using adeno-associated virus (AAV)-based vectors, which carry human GALNS cDNA. The effects of the promoter and the cotransduction with the sulfatase-modifying factor 1 gene (SUMF1) on GALNS activity levels was evaluated. Downregulation of the cytomegalovirus (CMV) immediate early enhancer/promoter was not observed for 10 days post-transduction. The eukaryotic promot...

CONCLUSION:: Beta-lactam antibiotics for group B Streptococcus intrapartum prophylaxis can trigger the Jarisch-Herxhemer reaction in patients with undiagnosed syphilis resulting in unanticipated changes in maternal and fetal well-being. PMID: 20664452 [PubMed - in process] (Source: Obstetrics and Gynecology)