Kawasaki disease in Auckland, 1979-1988

Records of 34 children diagnosed as having Kawasaki disease in the Auckland region from 1979 to 1988 inclusive were reviewed. Diagnostic and associated features were similar to those reported from North America and Japan. The incidence (average 5.1 per year per 100,000 less than 5 years of age) was similar to that reported in Europe and North America amongst nonorientals and was similar in Polynesians and nonPolynesians. Coronary artery abnormalities were found in five cases (15%), and two cases, both of whom presented before five months of age, died. Those with abnormal coronary arteries had fever for a significantly longer period than those with normal coronary arteries.     

Ornithine decarboxylase in Pneumocystis carinii and implications for therapy.

Pneumocystis carinii pneumonia (PCP) can be treated with eflornithine (difluoromethylornithine, DFMO, Ornidyl), a competitive irreversible inhibitor of ornithine decarboxylase (ODC), a key enzyme for polyamine biosynthesis. Because ODC has been reported to be absent from P. carinii, it has been assumed that eflornithine affects P. carinii only indirectly, by affecting host polyamine biosynthesis. If this is true, then improvements in the selectivity of antipolyamine therapy for PCP would be limited. Since the presence of ODC in P. carinii is an important issue, a new search for this enzyme was made. Not only were initial assays negative, but P. carinii extract reduced the background catalytic action of pyridoxal-5'-phosphate, the coenzyme required by the enzyme. This suggested the presence of an inhibitor, which was further supported by the observation that a P. carinii extract could suppress a source of known ODC activity. The inhibitory activity could be removed by a desalting column or by dialysis, allowing detection of P. carinii ODC. Indirect evidence indicates that the inhibition is only apparent and is caused by unlabeled ornithine in the extract of P. carinii which interferes with the radiolabel-based assay system. P. carinii and host ODCs respond differently to changes in pH. P. carinii ODC is much less susceptible to inhibition by eflornithine than host ODC. The presence of ODC in P. carinii suggests that P. carinii ODC is the target of eflornithine and that P. carinii ODC may have sufficiently specific properties that inhibitors with improved selectivity against P. carinii ODC could be identified.     

Comparison of phosphoprotein isolated from mature and immature human tooth roots

Mature (average patient age = 29.5 yr, closed apical foramen) and immature (average patient age = 17.5 yr, open apical foramen) root shards were placed in dialysis tubing and demineralized to completion using either 10% disodium EDTA plus protease inhibitors or 0.6 N HCl. The demineralized shards were re-extracted (five times) with 0.05 M tris-HCl, 1.0 M NaCl and then collagenase digested. No major differences were observed in chromatograms of extracts, re-extracts or collagenase digests from root shards demineralized in either way. In contrast, chromatograms of immature and mature roots showed qualitative differences. Chromatograms of mature roots demineralized in either way showed broader protein peaks and less organic phosphorus than those from immature tooth roots. A distinct band amid degraded phosphoprotein (150 K) was found in SDS-PAGE gels (7.5%) from EDTA-extracted immature tooth roots but not from mature tooth roots. Electroelution of this band revealed a typical phosphoprotein amino-acid profile containing increased aspartic acid and serine residues. Comparison of the total phosphoprotein and amino acid composition of extracts, re-extracts and collagenase digests revealed that phosphoprotein, serine and to a lesser extent aspartic acid were recovered in greater quantities from immature roots than mature tooth roots. These data suggest that the degree of maturation is crucial to the isolation of an intact phosphoprotein and provides additional evidence that human dentine phosphoprotein undergoes amino acid compositional changes during maturation.     

The growth and development of Echinococcus granulosus of sheep origin in dogs and foxes in Britain

Four separate experiments were carried out by dosing dogs (Beagles and Border collies) and red foxes with protoscoleces obtained from hydatid cysts in sheep from mid-Wales. The dogs and foxes were killed at intervals over a period from 34-180 days after infection and the intestines were examined for Echinococcus granulosus. Border collie dogs were efficient hosts in that large numbers of worms developed, with gravid segments present by 55 days after infection; but Beagle dogs were poor hosts in that only small numbers of immature worms developed. Foxes were poor hosts in that few or no worms developed, but gravid segments were seen in three of 29 foxes. The worms showed morphological features similar to the 'sheep' rather than the 'horse' strain.