Use of a live chlamydial vaccine to prevent ovine enzootic abortion

A lyophilised chlamydial vaccine was prepared from the 1B temperature-sensitive strain of ovine Chlamydia psittaci. Ewes inoculated with a low titre of the live vaccine four weeks before artificial insemination were challenged on day 70 of gestation with five UK field isolates of C psittaci, including strains A22 and S26/3 previously incorporated into a commercial inactivated vaccine. There was a significantly lower chlamydial abortion rate after challenge in the vaccinated group (7.1 per cent) than in the unvaccinated group (80 per cent). All the lambs born to the vaccinated ewes were viable and of good quality. The vaccine also reduced the number of infected ewes in the group and the severity of the infection. The compatibility of the chlamydial vaccine and a toxoplasma vaccine was also tested. The abortion rate of ewes vaccinated with the two vaccines at separate injection sites (16 per cent) was less than that of ewes vaccinated with both vaccines at one site (32 per cent).     

Use of bovine myeloperoxidase as an indicator of mastitis in dairy cattle

We compared the metabolic response to peripheral intravenous nutrition (peripheral IVN) with the response to central IVN when given after major gastrointestinal surgery. Eighteen consecutive patients who had undergone upper-gastrointestinal surgery were randomly assigned to receive either peripheral IVN (75% nonprotein calories supplied as lipid, n = 9) or central IVN (n = 9). Each group received 0.50 +/- 0.03 g N.kg-1 fat-free mass.day-1 (mean +/- SD with 100:1 kcal:g N (0.42 MJ:1 g N). Metabolic studies were undertaken before IVN (2nd postoperative day) and after 10 days of IVN. Negative nitrogen balance was reversed with both treatments (p < 0.001). The significant net efflux of individual amino acids from peripheral tissue before IVN was reduced toward balance, and there were no significant differences between the groups. The postoperative response of the plasma proteins (fibronectin, prealbumin, and transferrin) was similar in both groups. Peripheral IVN decreased postoperative peripheral net uptake of glucose to a net balance. Central IVN resulted in decreased free fatty acid, glycerol, and beta-hydroxybutyrate concentration with increases in plasma insulin concentration and the net uptake of glucose and pyruvate in peripheral tissue. The effect of intravenous nutrition on the metabolic response to major surgery was similar when nonprotein calories were supplied wholly as glucose requiring a central delivery system or when 75% of nonprotein calories were given as lipid when a peripheral delivery system was used. This study supports the development of peripheral IVN feeding systems.     

Conversion of chronic staphylococcal mastitis to acute gangrenous mastitis after neutropenia in blood and bone marrow produced by an equine anti-bovine leukocyte serum

A stock strain of Staphylococcus aureus of mastitis origin, characterized by alpha-, beta-, and delta-toxins, was used to produce chronic mastitis of 20 to 300 days' duration in 6 lactating mammary quarters of 4 cows. Early acute Streptococcus agalactiae mastitis was produced in 1 additional mammary quarter of 1 cow. Equine anti-bovine leukocyte serum (EABLS) was administered to all cows by continuous intravascular drip for 12 to 32 hours. Neutropenia in blood and partial depletion of neutrophil reserve in bone marrow were produced. Chronic subclinical staphylococcal mastitis in 2 quarters of 1 cow changed to gangrenous mastitis by the 40th hour after EABLS administration and led to death of the cow. The disappearance of neutrophil leukocytes from the milk was followed by uninhibited multiplication of S aureus. Probably, staphylococcal leukocidins accelerated the destruction of neutrophils in the milk as S aureus multiplication became intensified. In another quarter of the same cow that was infected with Str agalactiae, neutrophil leukocytes were present in milk as long as 3 days after their disappearance from blood and bone marrow. This may give some indication of the extravascular life-span of the neutrophil in the udder in mastitis. The 2nd cow died at the 16th hour from the start of EABLS administration and at a time when gangrenous mastitis was in the initial stages of development. The S aureus-infected quarters of the 2 remaining cows did not become gangrenous. Administration of EABLS to these 2 cows did not significantly reduce the numbers of neutrophil leukocytes entering the milk of the 3 S aureus-infected quarters. It is concluded that continuous diapedesis of neutrophil leukocytes into the milk in chronic staphylococcal mastitis protects the gland against the development of gangrenous mastitis in the presence of a strain of S aureus capable of alpha-toxin production.     

A prophylactic and therapeutic AIDS vaccine containing as a component the innocuous Tat toxoid

Extracellular Tat can act as a viral toxin on uninfected cells of different tissues, including the CNS and the immune system, thus in order to immunize humans against Tat we have prepared a biologically inactivated but immunogenic Tat (Tat Toxoid). Tat Toxoid is not toxic in mice even at high doses. It triggers high levels of specific Tat Abs in the mouse and rabbit. Furthermore, in humans Tat Toxoid immunization was safe and induced in seronegatives persistent high levels of Tat Abs and in immunodeficient patients a significant rise of these specific Abs. Facing acute HIV-1 infection, the presence of high level of circulating Tat Abs promoted by Tat Toxoid vaccine should prevent Tat-induced immunosuppression and allow anti-HIV-1 cellular response to develop. As a consequence, early release of beta-chemokines could enhance host resistance towards HIV-1, and, in infected people, inhibit viral replication and evolution towards AIDS.     

Further studies on the efficacy of a live vaccine against mastitis caused by Streptococcus uberis

Three groups of dairy cows were immunized by subcutaneous (s.c.) administration of a preparation of live Streptococcus uberis (strain 0140J) and an intramammary infusion of a soluble surface extract derived from same the bacteria. Animals in Groups 1 and 2 received two s.c. vaccinations plus an intramammary inoculation. Animals in Group 3 received two s.c. vaccinations but did not receive the intramammary infusion. In addition to the vaccinated animals, each group also contained two non-vaccinated (control) animals. All animals were challenged experimentally by intramammary infusion (in two quarters per animal) of ca 100 c.f.u. of S. uberis (strain 0140J or C221) and monitored for clinical signs of disease, bacterial numbers in milk, somatic cell count in milk, and daily milk yield for the following 10 days. Animals in Group I were challenged with strain 0140J. Only one out of six challenged quarters of three vaccinated cows developed clinical disease compared to all (four out of four) quarters of non-vaccinated cows. Animals in Group 2 were challenged with strain C221. All challenged quarters of three vaccinated (six out of six) and two non-vaccinated (four out of four) cows developed clinical mastitis. Animals in Group 3 were challenged with strain 0140J. Five out of eight quarters on four vaccinated cows developed clinical mastitis but the onset was delayed in comparison with that in both non-vaccinated cows in which four out of four challenged quarters developed clinical mastitis. These results indicated that vaccination with live S. uberis protects against challenge with the homologous strain but was less effective against a heterologous strain. Reduced protection was also seen when the intramammary booster was omitted.     

Structure of an acidic exopolysaccharide of Burkholderia pseudomallei

A recently described water-soluble exopolysaccharide of Burkholderia pseudomallei recognized by the IgG 1 monoclonal antibody 3015 [Steinmetz, I., Rohde, M. & Brenneke, B. (1995) Infect. Immun. 63, 3959-3965] was isolated by repetitive ethanol-precipitation steps and by anion-exchange chromatography. The structure of the polysaccharide was determined by a combination of chemical-derivatization and mass-spectrometric techniques (compositional and methylation analysis, GC/MS, and electrospray-ionization-MS/MS of reduced and permethylated hydrolytic fragments), and two-dimensional 1H-NMR methods (COSY, TOCSY and NOESY) and confirmed by isolation and structural characterization of the depolymerized repeating unit of the polysaccharide. The combined structural data established a linear tetrasaccharide repeating unit consisting of three galactose residues, one bearing a 2-linked O-acetyl group, and a 3-deoxy-D-manno-2-octulosonic acid residue. [-->3)-beta-D-Galp2Ac-(1-->4)-alpha-D-Galp-(1-->3)-beta-D-Galp-(1- ->5)-beta-Kdo-(2-->]n     

Efficacy of a bovine Staphylococcus aureus vaccine using interleukin-2 as an adjuvant

The purpose of this study was to examine the efficacy of a vaccination protocol using recombinant bovine interleukin-2 (rBoIL-2) as an adjuvant with a Staphylococcus aureus vaccine. Holstein dairy cows were immunized with a S. aureus vaccine in conjunction with either saline solution (n = 3), Freund's incomplete adjuvant (FIA; n = 3) or rBoIL-2 (n = 3). Whey and serum were analysed for antibody titer to specific S. aureus antigens. Isolated blood mononuclear cells (BMC) were examined for their ability to proliferate and to produce interleukin-2 (IL-2) and interferon (IFN) after either mitogenic or antigenic stimulation in vitro. Efficacy of the vaccination protocols was assessed by challenging experimental animals intramammarily with 100 colony forming units of S. aureus. Regardless of treatment, all cows exhibited similar serum antibody titers to S. aureus pseudocapsule. Cows treated with saline exhibited a significant increase in serum alpha-toxin antibody titer when compared to levels observed in FIA and rBoIL-2-treated cows. However, cows receiving rBoIL-2 treatment exhibited significantly higher lacteal pseudocapsule antibody titer compared to the other adjuvant groups. Administration of rBoIL-2 did not enhance BMC proliferative responses to the mitogens concanavalin A (ConA), phytohemagglutinin (PHA), pokeweed mitogen (PWM) or interleukin-2 (IL-2) when compared to FIA or saline treated cows. Although cows receiving rBoIL-2 treatment exhibited enhanced cytokine production upon antigenic stimulation, efficacy of the vaccination protocol was inferior compared to the protection offered by saline treatment.     

Biodegradable microparticles with an entrapped branched octameric peptide as a controlled-release HIV-1 vaccine

Polyactide-co-glycolide microparticles, with an entrapped branched octameric peptide from human immunodeficiency virus (HIV-1), were prepared by a solvent evaporation method. The microparticles were characterized for size distribution, antigen loading level, and integrity. Mice in one group were each immunized with a single dose of a controlled-release microparticle formulation containing 300 micrograms of peptide and the serum IgG responses to the antigen were compared with those of mice from a second group that were immunized at 0, 4, and 26 weeks with 100-microgram doses of the same peptide immunogen adsorbed to alum. The controlled-release microparticles induced an antibody response comparable to that from the alum-immunized group. The subcutaneous and the intramuscular routes of administration were compared in additional groups of mice for the microparticles, and both routes induced similar responses. A suspending vehicle for the microparticles was also evaluated and did not affect the immunogenicity of the controlled-release formulation containing both small and large microparticles, although the immunogenicity of smaller microparticles immunized alone was affected.     

Hyperforin as a possible antidepressant component of hypericum extracts

We demonstrate that the phloroglucinol derivative hyperforin is not only the major lipophilic chemical constituent of the medicinal plant Hypericum perforatum (St. John's wort) but also a potent uptake inhibitor of serotonin (5-HT), dopamine (DA), noradrenaline (NA), GABA and L-Glutamate with IC50 values of about 0.05-0.10 microg/ml (5-HT, NA, DA, GABA) and about 0.5 microg/ml (L-glutamate) in synaptosomal preparations. Furthermore, potencies of two different hypericum extracts in two conventional pharmacological paradigms useful for the detection of antidepressants (behavioral despair, learned helplessness), closely correlate with their hyperforin contents. In addition, most till now known neuropharmacological properties of the clinically used hypericum extracts can also be demonstrated with pure hyperforin. It appears, therefore, that this non-nitrogenous constituent is a possible major active principle responsible for the observed clinical efficacies of the extract as an antidepressant and that it could also be a starting point for drug discovery projects engaged in the search of psychoactive drugs with novel mode of action.     

Hyperleptinemia as a component of a metabolic syndrome of cardiovascular risk

OBJECTIVES: The authors explored the role of casemix adjustment when profiling outcomes of ambulatory care. METHODS: The authors reviewed the medical records of 656 patients with hypertension, diabetes, or chronic obstructive pulmonary disease (COPD) receiving care at one of three Department of Veterans Affairs medical centers. Outcomes included measures of physiological control for hypertension and diabetes, and of exacerbations for COPD. Predictors of poor outcomes, including physical examination findings, symptoms, and comorbidities, were identified and entered into regression models. Observed minus expected performance was described for each site, both before and after casemix adjustment. RESULTS: Risk-adjustment models were developed that were clinically plausible and had good performance properties. Differences existed among the three sites in the severity of the patients being cared for. For example, the percentage of patients expected to have poor blood pressure control were 35% at site 1, 37% at site 2, and 44% at site 3 (P < 0.01). Casemix-adjusted measures of performance were different from unadjusted measures. Sites that were outliers (P < 0.05) with one approach had observed performance no different from expected with another approach. CONCLUSIONS: Casemix adjustment models can be developed for outpatient medical conditions. Sites differ in the severity of patients they treat, and adjusting for these differences can alter judgments of site performance. Casemix adjustment is necessary when profiling outpatient medical conditions.     

The use of a new strain of Vibrio cholerae O139 as a producer of an enteric chemical vaccine

Amalgam remains unchallenged as a posterior restorative material. But its inability to bond to the teeth leads to some amount of microleakage at the restoration-tooth interface with associated problems such as post operative sensitivity, pulpal complications etc. Also a broken amalgam restoration requires replacement which will further weaken the tooth structure. Recently, 4-META has been introduced which can graft amalgam and composite to enamel, dentin and old amalgam restorations. In this study, the bonding and marginal sealing abilities of 4-META was assessed both at the tooth-amalgam interface and old amalgam fresh amalgam interface.     

Use of Dissolved Helium as an Environmental Water Tracer

This study deals with the development, calibration, and testing of an automated technology for using helium as a water tracer in continuous real-time monitoring. The instrument combines a gas extraction system and a helium mass spectrometer. The technology was tested in laboratory pipe, open-water, and porous- media experiments, and the results were used to test helium breakthrough curves against those for salinity expressed by electrical conductivity. The instrument promptly responds to concentration changes. In general, accurate results were obtained for first arrival times and peaks of solutes, as well as for the dispersive characteristics of the breakthrough curves. The accuracy of the elution curves needs some improvement due to limitations of the helium extraction system. In addition, the developed method is sensitive to the water flow rate and nitrogen pressure used in extracting helium from the solution. These issues can be addressed through calibration. Potential improvements are possible through the use of more precise helium concentration quantification equipment and through enhancement of the extraction method. The success of the methodology makes helium an attractive tracer for use near drinking water sources, in environmentally sensitive areas such as wetlands and fish farms, and near recreational or other areas where a esthetics are a concern.     

Use of hepatitis A vaccine in a community-wide outbreak of hepatitis A

Hepatitis A outbreaks in communities are often difficult to control. From July 1994 through June 1995, 676 cases of hepatitis A were reported in Shelby County, Tennessee. With the licensure of a hepatitis A vaccine in February 1995, a new tool for outbreak control became available. During August-October 1995, a mass vaccination campaign was conducted. A total of 34,054 children received the first dose of hepatitis A vaccine. From December 1995 through December 1996, the number of hepatitis A cases reported inside the intervention area declined by 64%; outside the intervention area, the number of cases declined by 40%. The precise contribution of the vaccine campaign to the decline in the number of outbreak cases is difficult to quantify because community outbreaks often wane over time. The vaccine campaign may have hastened the decline of the number of outbreak cases. Future interventions should consider an earlier campaign with greater vaccine coverage.     

Heart-rate change as a component of the orienting response.

Both Sokolov and the Laceys have proposed that autonomic feedback to central neural structures amplifies or reduces the effects of stimulation. Lacey and Lacey distinguished between the effects of feedback from the cardiovascular system and from other autonomic systems and suggested, specifically, that heart-rate (HR) acceleration should be associated with stimulus "rejection" and HR deceleration with stimulus enhancement. This appeared to be contradicted by evidence that HR increased with the orienting reflex whose function, according to Sokolov, is the enhancement of stimulus reception. However, when studies using simple "nonsignal" stimuli were reviewed, it was found that the criteria identifying an orienting reflex were satisfied by responses of HR deceleration and that instances of HR acceleration probably reflected a "defense," "startle," or "acoustic-cardiac" response. (2 p. ref.) (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2010 APA, all rights reserved)     

Serum ferritin as a component of the insulin resistance syndrome

Six human cancer cell lines exhibiting a large range of sensitivity to 5-fluorouracil (5-FU) were evaluated for thymidylate synthase (TS) and p53 gene expression, TS and dihydropyrimidine dehydrogenase (DPD) activity, as well as cell cycle parameters, S-phase fraction (SPF), bromodeoxyuridine labelling index (LI) and S-phase duration (SPD). All these parameters were investigated for 7 days in asynchronously growing cell populations and compared with the cell sensitivity to 5-FU. No significant correlation was found between S-phase parameters and TS gene expression and/or activity. TS activity was higher in proliferating cells; however, it was not significantly higher in rapidly growing cell lines with short SPD. Neither TS gene expression nor activity was found to correlate with 5-FU sensitivity. On the another hand, a statistically significant correlation (P < 0.0001) was observed between LI and SPD and 5-FU sensitivity. The present results suggest that cell cycle parameters such as SPD and/or LI could be better parameters for 5-FU sensitivity prediction than TS gene expression and/or activity. This could be especially informative in cases of concomitant radio-chemotherapy as S-phase parameters are already proposed for hyperfractionated radiotherapy planning.