Expanding the Diagnostic Use of PCR in Leptospirosis: Improved Method for DNA Extraction from Blood Cultures

Background: Leptospirosis is a neglected zoonosis of ubiquitous distribution. Symptoms are often non-specific and may range from flu-like symptoms to multi-organ failure. Diagnosis can only be made by specific diagnostic tests like serology and PCR. In non-endemic countries, leptospirosis is often not suspected before antibiotic treatment has been initiated and consequently, relevant samples for diagnostic PCR are difficult to obtain. Blood cultures are obtained from most hospitalized patients before antibiotic therapy and incubated for at least five days, thus providing an important source of blood for PCR diagnosis. However, blood cultures contain inhibitors of PCR that are not readily removed by most DNAextraction methods, primarily sodium polyanetholesulfonate (SPS). Methodology/Principal Findings: In this study, two improved DNA extraction methods for use with blood cultures are presented and found to be superior in recovering DNA of Leptospira interrogans when compared with three previously described methods. The improved methods were easy and robust in use with all tested brands of blood culture media. Applied to 96 blood cultures obtained from 36 patients suspected of leptospirosis, all seven patients with positive convalescence serology were found positive by PCR if at least one anaerobic and one aerobic blood culture, sampled before antibiotic therapy were tested. Conclusions/Significance: This study suggests that a specific and early diagnosis can be obtained in most cases of sever

Galileo infrared imaging spectroscopy measurements at venus.

During the 1990 Galileo Venus flyby, the Near Infaied Mapping Spectrometer investigated the night-side atmosphere of Venus in the spectral range 0.7 to 5.2 micrometers. Multispectral images at high spatial resolution indicate substanmial cloud opacity variations in the lower cloud levels, centered at 50 kilometers altitude. Zonal and meridional winds were derived for this level and are consistent with motion of the upper branch of a Hadley cell. Northern and southern hemisphere clouds appear to be markedly different. Spectral profiles were used to derive lower atmosphere abundances of water vapor and other species

Deriving a Mental Health Outcome Measure Using the Pooled Index: An Application to Psychiatric Consumer–survivors in Different Housing Types

Objective: We demonstrate the combination of several source measures into a comprehensive pooled index (PI) that measures functioning at a single point in time as well as improvement or worsening in functioning over time, and illustrate how this measure can be used to compare functioning in psychiatric clients living in three different housing types. Methods: One hundred and forty-eight clients (55% women, mean age 45 yr.) were administered comprehensive interviews at two times one year apart. Four variables measured at both times were combined into a PI: three subscale scores from the Colorado Client Assessment Record, and the Quality of Life score from the Lehman interview. The PI was calculated for the initial interview, and between the two interviews to measure change in functioning over time (ΔPI). Results: The greatest improvements in ΔPI scores occurred in those living independently, very slight worsening was seen among those in subsidized housing, and considerable worsening occurred among those in shelters. Regression results showed that living in a shelter, being older, PI at Year 1, being non-compliant with medications, duration of symptoms, and having more than 1 undesirable move in the past 2 years were independently associated with worsening in overall functioning over one year. Conclusion: A pooled index change score, calculated from existing scale scores, provides a single dependent variable that quantifies the improvement or worsening of the overall functioning of psychiatric clients living in different housing types over time. A pooled index is one method of reducing multiple outcomes for analysis

HeLa cells cocultured with peripheral blood lymphocytes acquire an immuno-inhibitory phenotype through up-regulation of indoleamine 2,3-dioxygenase activity

The mechanisms by which tumour cells escape recognition by the immune system or subvert antitumour effector responses remain poorly understood. In the course of investigating the potential of costimulatory signals in anticancer immunotherapy strategies, we have observed that HeLa cells (a human cervical carcinoma cell line) cocultured with peripheral blood lymphocytes (PBL) acquire the capacity to inhibit PBL proliferation in response to interleukin-2 (IL-2). This immuno-inhibitory phenotype was further shown to result from induction of the tryptophan-catabolizing enzyme, indoleamine 2,3-dioxygenase (IDO), by interferon-γ (IFN-γ) secreted from cocultured allo-reactive PBL. This enzyme has recently been shown to be a critically important modulator of immunological responses, most notably through the capacity to protect allogeneic concepti from alloreactive maternal lymphocytes. While the cytostatic consequences of IDO activity in tumour cells has received attention, the data presented in this report support the hypothesis that IDO activity may also act to impair antitumour immune responses