Eczema Herpeticum and Clinical Criteria for Investigating Smallpox

Eczema herpeticum can clinically resemble smallpox. On the basis of the algorithm for rapid evaluation of patients with an acute generalized vesiculopustular rash illness, our patient met criteria for high risk for smallpox. The Tzanck preparation was critical for rapid diagnosis of herpetic infection and exclusion of smallpox

Reference genes for gene expression studies in wheat flag leaves grown under different farming conditions

<p>Abstract</p> <p>Background</p> <p>Internal control genes with highly uniform expression throughout the experimental conditions are required for accurate gene expression analysis as no universal reference genes exists. In this study, the expression stability of 24 candidate genes from <it>Triticum aestivum </it>cv. Cubus flag leaves grown under organic and conventional farming systems was evaluated in two locations in order to select suitable genes that can be used for normalization of real-time quantitative reverse-transcription PCR (RT-qPCR) reactions. The genes were selected among the most common used reference genes as well as genes encoding proteins involved in several metabolic pathways.</p> <p>Findings</p> <p>Individual genes displayed different expression rates across all samples assayed. Applying geNorm, a set of three potential reference genes were suitable for normalization of RT-qPCR reactions in winter wheat flag leaves cv. Cubus: <it>TaFNRII </it>(ferredoxin-NADP(H) oxidoreductase; AJ457980.1), <it>ACT2 </it>(actin 2; TC234027), and <it>rrn26 </it>(a putative homologue to RNA 26S gene; AL827977.1). In addition of these three genes that were also top-ranked by NormFinder, two extra genes: <it>CYP18-2 </it>(Cyclophilin A, AY456122.1) and <it>TaWIN1 </it>(14-3-3 like protein, AB042193) were most consistently stably expressed.</p> <p>Furthermore, we showed that <it>TaFNRII, ACT2</it>, and <it>CYP18-2 </it>are suitable for gene expression normalization in other two winter wheat varieties (Tommi and Centenaire) grown under three treatments (organic, conventional and no nitrogen) and a different environment than the one tested with cv. Cubus.</p> <p>Conclusions</p> <p>This study provides a new set of reference genes which should improve the accuracy of gene expression analyses when using wheat flag leaves as those related to the improvement of nitrogen use efficiency for cereal production.</p

Clinical review: Allocating ventilators during large-scale disasters – problems, planning, and process

Catastrophic disasters, particularly a pandemic of influenza, may force difficult allocation decisions when demand for mechanical ventilation greatly exceeds available resources. These situations demand integrated incident management responses on the part of the health care facility and community, including resource management, provider liability protection, community education and information, and health care facility decision-making processes designed to allocate resources as justly as possible. If inadequate resources are available despite optimal incident management, a process that is evidence-based and as objective as possible should be used to allocate ventilators. The process and decision tools should be codified pre-event by the local and regional healthcare entities, public health agencies, and the community. A proposed decision tool uses predictive scoring systems, disease-specific prognostic factors, response to current mechanical ventilation, duration of current and expected therapies, and underlying disease states to guide decisions about which patients will receive mechanical ventilation. Although research in the specifics of the decision tools remains nascent, critical care physicians are urged to work with their health care facilities, public health agencies, and communities to ensure that a just and clinically sound systematic approach to these situations is in place prior to their occurrence

Organ dysfunction scores

info:eu-repo/semantics/publishe