Rapid screening method for detecting highly pathogenic Streptococcus intermedius strains carrying a mutation in the lacR gene

Streptococcus intermedius is a member of the normal human commensal flora and secretes a human-specific cytolysin intermedilysin (ILY) as a major virulence factor. Expression of ily is repressed by LacR and loss-of-function mutations of LacR are observed in many ILY high-producing strains isolated from deep-seated abscesses, suggesting that high ILY production is necessary for increased virulence. However, because ILY exhibits no β-hemolysis on animal blood agar plates, differentiating ILY high- and low-producing strains using conventional laboratory methods is not possible. Interestingly, S. intermedius also produces glycosidases, including MsgA and NanA, which exhibit N-acetyl-β-D-glucosaminidase and neuraminidase activities, respectively. Moreover, MsgA expression, but not NanA, is negatively regulated by LacR. Here we measured the activities of MsgA, NanA and ILY in strains isolated from clinical specimens and dental plaque to determine the correlation between these glycosidase activities and ILY hemolytic activity. Hemolytic activity showed a strong positive correlation with MsgA and a weak negative correlation with NanA activities. Therefore, we calculated the ratio of MsgA and NanA activity (M/N ratio). This value showed a stronger positive correlation (r = 0.81) with ILY hemolytic activity and many strains with high M/N ratios (> 2) were ILY high-producers with loss-of-function mutations in LacR.Rapid screening method for highly pathogenic S. intermedius strains based on the ratio of activities of MsgA and NanA resulting from lacR mutations

A Pediatric Case of Acute Generalized Pustular Eruption without Streptococcal Infection

Generalized pustular lesions characterized by acute onset with fever occur in pustulosis acuta generalisata, acute generalized exanthematous pustulosis, and generalized pustular psoriasis. In the present report, we describe a pediatric case of generalized pustular eruption that was not completely consistent with clinical features. Our patient had no evidence of a post-streptococcal infection. We observed scattered symmetric eruption of discrete pustules with an inflammatory halo on normal skin. The eruption was absent on her palms and soles of the feet. To the best of our knowledge, there are no reports in the English literature of cases with clinical features similar to those of our patient

Juvenile Localized Scleroderma with Hyaline Deposits in the Renal Arteriole

We report a 10-year-old boy with localized scleroderma of the linear and plaque type, who showed proteinuria and hematuria. In this patient, skin, articular, and renal manifestations appeared successively and then began to resolve in the same order. A renal biopsy specimen demonstrated mild mesangial cell proliferation, exudate of immunoglobulin in the glomerular capillary, and large electron-dense deposits in the afferent arteriole. We consider that there were some transient factors that had caused the skin and articular manifestations, which also induced renal vascular inflammatory responses

Angioimmunoblastic T-cell lymphoma with elevated serum IgA and infiltration of IgA-positive plasma cells into a skin lesion

Angioimmunoblastic T-cell lymphoma (AITL) is one of the most common types of peripheral T-cell lymphoma. Laboratory examination exhibits immunological abnormalities, such as polyclonal hypergammaglobulinemia and hemolytic anemia. Skin lesions are also observed in approximately half of AITL cases. However, the relationship of skin involvement with the clinical course and prognosis is unknown. Herein, we report the case of a patient with AITL with elevated serum immunoglobulin A (IgA) level, which was a predictive element of poor prognosis, and infiltration of IgA-positive plasma cells into the skin lesions. Based on this case, we believe that skin manifestations could be used to identify the characteristics of immune disorders and prognosis of AITL

More then 40,000 transcripts including novel and noncoding transcripts in mouse embryonic stem cells

To study the transcriptome of embryonic stem cells,we used a new gene expression profiling meethod which can measure the expression levels of unknown and rarely expressed transcripts precisely.We detected a total of 33,136 signal peaks representing transcripts in E14 mouse embryonic stem cells.Subsequent random cloning of the peaks suggests that mouse embryonic stem cells express at least 40,000 transcripts,of which about 2,000 are still unknown.In addition,we identified 1,022 non-coding transcripts,several of which change depending on differentiation in gene expression.Our database provides a high-resolution expression profile of E14 cells and is applicable to other mouse ES cell analyses.It includes most transcription regulation-encoding genes and a significant number of unknown and non-coding transcripts