Comparison of PCR-generated fragments of the mce gene from Mycobacterium tuberculosis, M. avium, M. intracellulare, and M. scrofulaceum.

Nineteen strains representing 13 species of mycobacteria were tested for the ability to serve as PCR templates for the production of a 293-bp fragment of the mycobacterial mce gene. The mce gene is a virulence factor recently sequenced from Mycobacterium tuberculosis. PCR products were obtained for only the species of the Mycobacterium tuberculosis complex (MTC) and the Mycobacterium avium-M. intracellulare-M. scrofulaceum complex. The fragment was sequenced from M. tuberculosis (one strain), M. avium (three strains), M. intracellulare (two strains), and M. scrofulaceum (two strains). Sequence comparisons suggest that the fragments from each of the species are regions that code for a similar product. One of the M. scrofulaceum strains yielded a sequence whose most probable reading frame was truncated by an amber stop codon caused by a single nuclei acid difference from the other sequences. The amino acid sequences from the non-MTC sequences cluster together, displaying fewer differences from each other than from the M. tuberculosis sequence and the truncated M. scrofulaceum sequence. Principal component analysis of the distance matrix displays the clustering of the M. avium and M. intracellulare sequences into single-species clusters. It is concluded that at least one open reading frame of the mce gene is found, although it is discernibly different, in pathogenic mycobacteria other than the MTC.     

Eine Bemerkung zu des Andreas Vesalius sechs anatomischen Tafeln vom Jahre 1538, wie sie M. Holl und K. Sudhoff herausgegeben haben

Ohne Zusammenfassung     

Thin-layer chromatography systems for the identification of Mycobacterium tuberculosis, M. bovis BCG, M. kansasii, M. gastri and M. marinum.

Knowledge of mycobacterial glycolipid antigens and the study of their specificity have resulted in their utilization as species markers. We describe a thin-layer chromatography method which could serve as a useful adjunct for the identification of Mycobacterium tuberculosis, M. bovis BCG, M. kansasii, M. gastri and M. marinum.     

Richard M. Goodman,M.D.

We describe 3 young children with Hallermann–Streiff syndrome, 2 with typical manifestations and 1 with the facial changes without the eye abnormalities but with a cleft palate and with complete syndactyly of fingers IV and V. The latter case represents overlap of the Hallermann–Streiff syndrome and oculodentodigital dysplasia. “Dwarfism” as a possible clinical risk marker of mental retardation is discussed. As cause, a mendelian autosomal dominant mutation seems most probable.     

Genetics and Mental Retardation Syndromes,by Elisabeth M. Dykens,Robert M. Hodapp,and Brenda M. Finucane

Convincing evidence for a genetic component in the etiology of affective disorders (AD), including bipolar affective disorder (BPAD) and unipolar affective disorder (UPAD), is supported by traditional and molecular genetic studies. Most arguments lead to the complex inheritance hypothesis, suggesting that the mode of inheritance is probably not Mendelian but most likely oligogenic (or polygenic) and that the contribution of genes could be moderate or weak. The purpose of the present European multicenter study (13 centers) was to test the potential role in BPAD and UPAD of two candidate dopaminergic markers, DRD2 and DRD3, using a case‐control association design. The following samples were analyzed for DRD2: 358 BPAD/358 control (C) and 133 UPAD/ 133 C subjects, and for DRD3: 325 BPAD/ 325 C and 136 UPAD/136 C subjects. Patients and controls were individually matched for sex, age ( ± five years) and geographical origin. Evidence for significant association between BPAD and DRD2 emerged, with an over‐representation of genotype 5‐5 (P = 0.004) and allele 5 (P = 0.002) in BPAD cases compared to controls. No association was found for DRD2 in UPAD, and for DRD3 neither in BPAD or UPAD. Our results suggest that the DRD2 microsatellite may be in linkage disequilibrium with a nearby genetic variant involved in the susceptibility to BPAD. Our large European sample allowed for replicating of some previous reported positive findings obtained in other study populations. © 2002 Wiley‐Liss, Inc.     

Rebuttal to objections by Iacono and Verschuere et al.

The arguments presented by Iacono and Verschuere et al. against the publication of the Mangan et al. field study of the Quadri-Track Zone Comparison Technique in Physiology & Behavior , are based largely on dated articles that examined control question polygraph techniques whose psychological test structures, physiological analyses, and scoring systems are significantly different than those of the Quadri-Track ZCT. Iacono and Verschuere et al. alleged that the Quadri-Track ZCT is biased against the innocent and can be defeated with the use of countermeasures without considering the technique's unique "remedial inside track" that quantifies the innocent examinee's fear of error-and the guilty examinee's hope of error-which are factored into the overall score, thus avoiding false positive and false negative errors. Their objection to the use of confessions as the criterion for ground truth presumes that the polygraph examinations conducted in this field study were conducted in a vacuum. They ignored the various methods of post-test confirmation and research studies that support the use of confessions as ground truth. Verschuere et al. cited the National Research Council's 2003 report to support their conviction that the accuracy of polygraph tests is well below perfection and errors often occur. However, they failed to mention that the accuracy range values of the seven field studies which met the National Research Council's scientific criteria were from 0.711 to 0.999 with a median value of 0.89, and that the field study with the highest accuracy (0.999) was from a published 1989 field study on the Quadri-Track Zone Comparison Technique.     

Book review: Telemedicine: Theory and Practice, edited by R. L. Bashshur, J. H. Sanders, and G. W. Shannon

PAC99: 8780-y, 8440Ua, 0130Mm     

Superoxide dismutase activity of Mycobacterium avium, M. intracellulare, and M. scrofulaceum.

Superoxide dismutase (EC 1.15.1.1) (SOD) activity has been detected in crude cell extracts of representative strains of the Mycobacterium avium, M. intracellulare, and M. scrofulaceum (MAIS) group. Polyacrylamide gel electrophoresis demonstrated a single SOD activity band for each of the MAIS strains, though there were differences in mobility. All M. avium and M. intracellulare and two of five M. scrofulaceum strains demonstrated a single activity band of identical mobility (Rf = 0.83), while the SOD activity band for the three remaining M. scrofulaceum strains migrated farther (Rf = 0.85). The differences in mobility correlated with differences in sensitivity to NaN3 and H2O2. The SOD activities of the majority of the MAIS strains which displayed the slower-migrating activity band were inhibited 22 to 81% after 15 min of exposure to 5 mM H2O2, suggesting that both iron and manganese may be present in a single enzyme. The SOD activities of the three M. scrofulaceum strains which had the faster-migrating activity band were inhibited 100% after only 5 min of exposure to 5 mM H2O2 and exhibited greater sensitivity to 5 and 10 mM NaN3, characteristics of an iron-containing SOD. A concentration of 1 mM KCN did not cause inhibition of enzyme activity in any of the MAIS strains tested. Extracellular SOD activity was detected in four of six MAIS strains and was shown to be identical in mobility to the SOD activity of the crude extracts.