A simplified method for detecting cytomegalovirus by polymerase chain reaction from histologic sections of small biopsies.

Using a simplified procedure, we have extracted DNA from unstained paraffin sections of needle biopsies of kidney and liver transplants and identified the presence of CMV using the polymerase chain reaction. This method utilizes oligonucleotide primers for two genes shown to be specific for cytomegalovirus (CMV) as well as an internal control gene (hemoglobin) in a single reaction. Utilizing nested PCR amplification with agarose gel electrophoresis, CMV can be detected without radioisotopes to a level of sensitivity equivalent to one one-hundredth of a cytomegalic virocyte per cm2 of a 3-microM paraffin section. This method is applicable to situations where only scarce paraffin-embedded tissue is available.     

Health effects of passive smoking. 1. Parental smoking and lower respiratory illness in infancy and early childhood

BACKGROUND: A systematic quantitative review was conducted of evidence relating parental smoking to acute lower respiratory illness in the first three years of life. METHODS: Fifty relevant publications were identified after consideration of 692 articles selected by electronic search of the Embase and Medline databases using keywords relevant to passive smoking in children. The search, completed in April 1997, identified 24 studies ascertaining illnesses in a community setting, including five surveys of schoolchildren with retrospective ascertainment of early chest illness, and 17 studies of admissions to hospital for lower respiratory illness in early life. Thirty eight studies were included in a quantitative overview using random effects modelling to derive pooled odds ratios. RESULTS: The results of community and hospital studies are broadly consistent, with only one publication reporting a reduced risk among children of smokers. The pooled odds ratios were 1.57 (95% CI 1.42 to 1.74) for smoking by either parent and 1.72 (95% CI 1.55 to 1.91) for maternal smoking. There is a significantly increased risk of early chest illness associated with smoking by other household members in families where the mother does not smoke (1.29, 95% CI 1.16 to 1.44). The associations with parental smoking are robust to adjustment for confounding factors, and show evidence of a dose-response relationship in most studies in which this has been investigated. CONCLUSIONS: The relationship between parental smoking and acute lower respiratory illness in infancy is very likely to be causal. Although it is impossible to distinguish the independent contributions of prenatal and postnatal maternal smoking, the increased risk associated with smoking by other household members suggests that exposure to environmental tobacco smoke after birth is a cause of acute chest illness in young children.


     

Passive smoking and sudden infant death syndrome: review of the epidemiological evidence

BACKGROUND: This paper provides a systematic, quantitative review of the epidemiological evidence relating parental smoking and sudden infant death. METHODS: Thirty two relevant publications were identified after consideration of 692 articles selected by electronic search of the Embase and Medline databases using keywords and Mesh headings relevant to passive smoking in children. Eleven further articles were identified from reviews and by talking to authors. The search was completed in April 1997 and identified 39 studies. RESULTS: The unadjusted pooled odds ratio for prenatal maternal smoking was 2.77 (95% CI 2.45 to 3.13). After adjustment for a variety of confounders the pooled odds ratio was reduced to 2.08 (95% CI 1.83 to 2.38) and was similar in cohort and case-control studies. Four studies reported on maternal postnatal smoking after controlling for prenatal maternal smoking (pooled odds ratio 1.94 (95% CI 1.55 to 2.43)). Of three studies reporting on the risk of paternal smoking where the mother was a non-smoker, two found significant effects while one found no effect. Dose-response relationships with both prenatal and postnatal maternal smoking were present in most studies which provided data. CONCLUSIONS: Maternal smoking doubles the risk of sudden infant death syndrome. The relationship is almost certainly causal. There is good evidence that postnatal exposure to environmental tobacco smoke from both mother and father are important. Because prenatal smoking is almost invariably associated with postnatal smoking, the role of prenatal smoking per se will be difficult to resolve using epidemiological studies.


     

Fine T-Cell Subsets in Alcoholics as Determined by the Expression of l-Selectin, Leukocyte Common Antigen, and β-Integrin

Alcoholics admitted to the hospital solely for detoxication have been studied by flow cytometry to evaluate changes in the surface markers of peripheral blood leukocytes. As we have shown previously, such patients have an elevated percentage of CD8^hl lymphocytes that are HLA DR⁺; we now demonstrate that they also have striking alterations in the quantitative relationships of the fine T-cell subsets. Both CD4⁺ and CD8^hl lymphocytes have a sharply reduced percentage of the l -selectin⁺ CD45RA⁺ subset, increased percentages of the CD45RA-subsets, and several other fine subset alterations. The fine subset profile suggests, according to current correlations of phenotype and function, that both CD4⁺ suppressor inducer and CD4-dependent CD8⁺ suppressor effector cells are reduced, whereas other subsets, including CD8⁺ CTL or their precursors, are increased in relative percentages. Some of the phenotypic changes are reversible over the several days following withdrawal. In other results, the percentage of CD8^hl lymphocytes expressing CD11b (β-integrin) is shown to be reciprocal with the percentage expressing l -selectin both in normals and alcoholics. However, the regression function of CD11b vs. l -selectin on CD8^hl cells is different for the alcoholics than for the normals, indicating an abnormality in the regulation of the expression of these two adhesion markers. Taken together, this abnormality of adhesion molecules and the fine subset alterations previously described indicate widespread changes in the peripheral lymphocytes of currently drinking alcoholics. These changes suggest functional deficiencies that may include alterations of lymphocyte traffic and other adhesion-dependent functions, and a shift in the balance of regulatory interactions.     

Job ending among youth and adults with severe mental illness

This study examined job leaving over a 36-month period among 326 persons (74 youth and 252 adults) with severe mental illness who were participating in an urban vocational rehabilitation program. Data from 627 job endings indicated that younger clients displayed job-ending patterns that were different in some aspects from such patterns for nondisabled youth (such as displaying a lower average job tenure) yet similar to job-ending patterns for nonhandicapped youth in other ways (such as displaying a high frequency of job changing). Youth and their adult counterparts with mental illness displayed similar tenure on agency-sponsored placements but significantly different tenure on independent jobs. While adults held their independent jobs for an average of seven months, youth averaged only three months at competitive employment. Youth also were significantly more likely than adults to be fired from both placements and independent jobs. These findings and others are discussed in terms of their implications for development of public policy and service delivery models for providing on-going job support to youth and adults with severe psychiatric disabilities.     

Differences in leisure-time physical activity levels between blacks and whites in population-based samples: The Minnesota heart survey

Energy expenditure in leisure-time physical activity (LTPA) was measured using the Minnesota LTPA Questionnaire in 35- to 74-year-old black and white residents of Minneapolis-St. Paul, Minnesota. Estimates of the geometric mean LTPA energy expenditure were 129 and 204 kcal per day for black and white men (p<.05) and 91 and 123 kcal per day for black and white women (p<.05). The percentage of individuals expending 2000 kcal or more per week in LTPA was significantly lower in black men than white men (25 vs. 35%; p=.01) but was not different in black versus white women (18 vs. 17%). Although black men and women reported greater occupational physical activity than their white counterparts, LTPA and job activity were unrelated in all race and sex groups. In both races, LTPA energy expenditure declined with age. LTPA increased with level of formal education, and the largest LTPA difference between blacks and whites was observed in those who had a high-school diploma or less. Blacks had lower participation rates than whites in most of the individually assessed physical activities. Additional research is needed on the determinants and promoters of LTPA in population subgroups.The research was funded by National Heart, Lung, and Blood Institute Research Grant R01 HL 23727 and National Research Award T32 HL 07328-10.     

Bilateral transpedicular decompression and Harrington rod stabilization in the management of severe thoracolumbar burst fractures.

Fifty-eight patients with severe thoracolumbar burst fractures were treated with bilateral transpedicular decompression, Harrington rod instrumentation, and spine fusion. Spinal realignment and stabilization was achieved by contoured dual Harrington distraction rods supplemented by segmental sublaminal wiring. Posterior element fractures were noted in 25 patients, 9 of whom had associated dural tears. Computed tomography was performed to assess the cross-sectional area of the spinal canal before surgery and after decompression. Patients at initial evaluation averaged greater than 67% spinal canal compromise. After surgery, successful decompression was accomplished in 57 patients. One patient required staged, anterior thoracoabdominal decompression and fibula strut grafting. At follow-up (average, 43 months; range, 25-70 months), neurologic improvement was found in 77% of the patients who initially presented with neurologic deficits. Thirty-four of 40 patients with incomplete paraplegia improved one or more subgroups on the Frankel scale. A solid fusion was attained in all 58 patients. No patient had a significant residual kyphotic deformity. Single-stage bilateral transpedicular decompression and dual Harrington rod instrumentation reliably provides decompression of the spinal canal and restores spinal alignment. The procedure allows early mobilization and provides an environment for solid fusion and maximum neurologic return.     

Identifying incident cases of parkinsonism among veterans using a tertiary medical center.

To better understand the impact of incident Parkinson's disease (PD) on the Veteran's Health Administration (VHA) and to develop methods applicable to future epidemiological research, we performed a medical record review study at a tertiary referral VHA medical center. Searching the local data base, we identified 782 veterans with diagnostic codes for PD or secondary parkinsonism (SP) between 1998 and 2000. Based on structured medical record review, a movement disorders specialist confirmed diagnoses for incident parkinsonism cases. Among the 782, 191 incident parkinsonism cases were identified (100 PD, 75 SP, and 16 Parkinson's Plus). Incident PD cases were older at diagnosis (74.5 vs. 70.4 yr; P < 0.05) and more likely to be white (81% vs. 62; P < 0.07) than incident SP cases. Diagnostic codes were insufficient to distinguish between incident PD and SP (positive predictive value, 57% and 39%, respectively), and VHA sources failed to identify 21% of confirmed deaths among the incident PD cohort by November 2004. Although the large number of incident cases identified suggests PD is an important cause of disability among elderly VHA users, observed limitations of VHA sources for identifying incident PD cases and determining their vital status should be considered when designing future studies.     

Morbidity among employees engaged in the manufacture or formulation of chlorpyrifos.

The prevalence of selected illnesses and symptoms during 1977-85 was compared between 175 employees potentially exposed to the organophosphate insecticide chlorpyrifos and 335 matched controls with no history of exposure to organophosphates. Subjects were subdivided into three exposure intensity groups on the basis of job title and air monitoring data for dose response testing. This classification scheme was shown roughly to correlate with plasma cholinesterase inhibition in the workers. No statistically significant differences in illness or prevalence of symptoms were observed between the exposed and unexposed groups or among the three exposure subgroups. Potentially exposed employees did report symptoms of dizziness and of malaise and fatigue relatively more often than subjects from the comparison group; however, further analyses by exposure level, process area, or time did not support a relation with exposure. No cases of peripheral neuropathy were seen among the exposed workers. Although the sample size was small and the statistical power limited, the cumulative exposures likely to have been experienced by this workforce exceed those to be expected for individuals using the product as recommended. The absence of exposure related adverse effects, including neurological impairment, is reassuring.     

Specific binding of acidic isoferritins to erythroleukemia K562 cells

An investigation of ferritin binding by human erythroleukemia K562 cells was prompted by recent studies suggesting that acidic isoferritins may act as regulators of granulopoiesis and hemopoiesis. Purified human heart and liver ferritins were labeled with iodine 125 and incubated with K562 cells at 37 degrees C. Specific uptake was calculated from the reduction in labeled ferritin binding in the presence of a 1000-fold excess of unlabeled ferritin. Specific uptake of 125I-labeled heart ferritin increased progressively, reaching a maximum after 2 to 3 hours' incubation, although nonspecific binding was too high to derive an affinity constant. There was no specific binding with 125I-labeled liver ferritin, and K562 cells bound neither 125I-labeled human serum albumin nor free 125I. Uptake of heart ferritin was negligible at 4 degrees C and was sharply reduced in the presence of 10% human plasma or fetal calf serum. There was no apparent relationship between the number of days of subculture and the level of uptake of acidic isoferritins by whole cells. These studies demonstrate a selective binding mechanism for acidic isoferritins on erythroleukemia cells and imply that these isoferritins have additional functions besides the storage of iron.