Frequency of radiographic procedures in an urban 62-year-old population in relation to general health, body build, bone mineral content, locomotor discomfort, occupational work load and socio-economic factors

For 830 62-year-old residents of the city of Malmo records of radiographic examinations made over a period of 40 years at the Radiological Department of Malmo General Hospital and/or over 20-30 years at two private radiological departments in the city were reviewed. Radiographic examination had been undertaken in 92% of the residents, with on an average 16 examinations per resident. The most common examinations were of the chest in 63% of the residents followed by lower limb (58%) and spine (52%) examinations. In men the total number of radiographic examinations were negatively correlated to income, intelligence test results and social network and job satisfaction. Men with monotonous work and a more restricted latitude for decision-making at work, as well as men who were smokers had also had significantly more radiographic examinations. Single civil status and occupational work load had in men a positive correlation with the total number of radiographic examinations, as well as with serum levels of glutamyltransferase and uric acid levels. In women there was a negative correlation between radiographic examinations and teachers' rating of intelligence in childhood and bone mineral content, whereas job satisfaction, life success and triceps skinfold index (= subcutaneous fat tissue thickness) had a positive correlation with the total number of radiographic examinations. Women who took regular exercise (every week) had had significantly fewer radiographic examinations. Men and women with locomotor discomfort had a significantly higher consumption of not only musculoskeletal radiographic examinations but also other radiographic examinations

Experimental human cytomegalovirus latency in CD14+ monocytes

CD14+ monocytes are a reservoir for latent human cytomegalovirus, and virus replication is reactivated during their differentiation to macrophages or dendritic cells. It has not been clear whether the virus can establish latency upon direct infection of monocytes or whether it must first become quiescent in a progenitor cell that subsequently differentiates to generate a monocyte. We report that infection of primary human monocytes with a clinical strain of human cytomegalovirus exhibits the hallmarks of latency. We established conditions for culturing monocytes that prevent differentiation for at least 25 d, as evidenced by cell surface marker expression. Infection of these monocytes with the FIX clinical strain resulted in transient accumulation of many viral lytic RNAs and sustained expression of four previously described latency-associated transcripts. The amount of viral DNA remained constant after infection, and cell surface and total HLA-DR proteins were substantially reduced on a continuing basis after infection. When treated with cytokine mixtures that stimulate differentiation to a macrophage or dendritic cell phenotype, infected monocytes reactivated virus replication and produced infectious progeny. Treatment of infected monocytes with IL-6 alone also was sufficient for reactivation, and the particles produced after exposure to this cytokine were about fivefold more infectious than virions produced by other treatments. We propose that in vivo microenvironments influence not only the efficiency of reactivation but also the infectivity of the virions produced from latently infected monocytes