Analysis of the degree of precision of a computer-assisted dietary survey method

A computer-assisted method for the registration of food intakes in real time according to a concise and simple procedure was subjected to a series of controls in order to assess precision. The method employs the 'portion' of a composite dish as unit of measure. The constancy of the portion was tested. The results show that the recipes of the diet of a subject may be stored and utilized in deferred time without loss of precision: data to be recorded in real time are then very limited. The length of period of analysis was also studied. The time of investigation should not be shorter than two weeks to obtain precise information on the feeding habits of an individual subject, whereas for a group of subjects the diary of a single day provides information of sufficient precision.     

lnter-rater reliability of an oral assessment guide for elderly patients residing in a rehabilitation ward

The aim of this study was to test the inter-rater reliability of a revised oral assessment guide (ROAG) for patients residing in a geriatric rehabilitation ward. A consecutive sample of 140 patients was recruited for the study. Oral assessments were performed for 133 newly admitted patients by one registered nurse (RN) during a period of six months. A dental hygienist (DH) carried out 103 oral assessments during the same half-year. For 66 patients, the RN and the DH performed independent assessments. There was an agreement between the RN and the DH in the majority of the independent assessments, except for tongue and teeth/dentures. The percentage agreement exceeded 80 percent. Inter-rater agreement measured by Cohen's Kappa coefficient ranged from moderate to very good and percentage agreement had a range of 58 to 91 percent. The agreement was highest in assessment of voice and swallowing (91%). Assessments of teeth and dentures seemed to be most difficult for the RN to evaluate. ROAG was found to be a clinically useful assessment tool. Additional education and training is needed to improve the reliability of the oral assessments and should include continuous support from a dental hygienist as well as a pictorial manual on how to use the ROAG.     

Immediate saccade amplitude disconjugacy induced by unequal images

We tested the ability of normal subjects to make changes in the conjugacy of their saccades. Subjects dichoptically viewed a grid the size of which was 10% larger in one eye. The grids were centred onto a flat screen at 57 cm or 1 m from the subject. Horizontal saccades immediately became larger in the eye viewing the larger grid. For some subjects this disconjugacy persisted even under subsequent monocular viewing. Such persistent changes occurred mainly in the field where the required disconjugacy was divergent for centrifugal saccades, convergent for centripetal saccades. Vertical saccades also developed compensatory disconjugacy; its amplitude was smaller but less variable. To explain these results we propose a fast associative learning mechanism that pairs peripheral disparity with saccades and is capable of producing saccade disconjugacy even in the absence of disparity. For horizontal saccades a secondary conditioning of monocular depth cues by the disparity would also be involved.     

Experimental investigation on histocompatibility of bovine collagen in rat tongue.

Authors injected a 1.5-2 cc Gax-Collagen into the tongue of 13 rats in order to examine the reactivity of the tissues around the graft and its attitude and duration. The research had practical purposes as the material is mainly used in E.N.T. for reconstructing the vocal cords. The animals have been sacrificed from 1 day to 9 months and the tongue subjected to the ordinary histologic methods. Our conclusions are as follows: a) a moderate inflammatory reaction following the introduction of the foreign body, then it attenuates and disappears at the third month; b) the implant is well tolerated, does not cause structural alterations in the surrounding tissues, in particular in the musculature where it is placed; c) a neovascularization appears, it lessens over the time, keeping itself only at the edge of the graft; d) in the formed fissures, fibroblasts, traces of collagen and neocollagen are present. All these conditions allow for taking root and the persistence of the implant. It is remarkable that the spherical form of the Gax-Collagen does not modify even if it has been implanted into a muscular organ and therefore subjected to severe and continuous mechanical stress.     

Presence of Rickettsia conorii subsp. israelensis, the causative agent of Israeli spotted fever, in Sicily, Italy, ascertained in a retrospective study

A retrospective analysis by molecular-sequence-based techniques was performed to correctly identify the etiological agent of 24 Mediterranean spotted fever cases occurring in Western Sicily, Italy, from 1987 to 2001. Restriction analysis of a 632-bp PCR-amplified portion of the ompA gene allowed presumptive identification of five clinical isolates as belonging to Rickettsia conorii subsp. israelensis, the etiological agent of Israeli spotted fever (ISF). The remaining 19 rickettsial isolates were Rickettsia conorii subsp. conorii, the only pathogenic rickettsia of the spotted fever group reported in Italy until the present. Sequence analysis of the ompA gene confirmed the identification of all the R. conorii subsp. israelensis isolates and demonstrated that rickettsiosis caused by R. conorii subsp. israelensis can be traced back to 1991 in Sicily. The recorded clinical data of the five ISF patients support the idea that these strains could correlate to more-severe forms of human disease. Three of five patients experienced severe disease, and one of them died.     

Nonstimulatory peptides contribute to antigen-induced CD8-T cell receptor interaction at the immunological synapse

It is unclear if the interaction between CD8 and the T cell receptor (TCR)-CD3 complex is constitutive or antigen induced. Here, fluorescence resonance energy transfer microscopy between fluorescent chimeras of CD3zeta and CD8beta showed that this interaction was induced by antigen recognition in the immunological synapse. Nonstimulatory endogenous or exogenous peptides presented simultaneously with antigenic peptides increased the CD8-TCR interaction. This finding indicates that the interaction between the intracellular regions of a TCR-CD3 complex recognizing its cognate peptide-major histocompatibility complex (MHC) antigen, and CD8 (plus the kinase Lck), is enhanced by a noncognate CD8-MHC interaction. Thus, the interaction of CD8 with a nonstimulatory peptide-MHC complex helps mediate T cell recognition of antigen, improving the coreceptor function of CD8.     

CD23 and CD21 function as adhesion molecules in homotypic aggregation of human B lymphocytes

We have previously found that interleukin-4 and CD40 monoclonal antibodies (mAb) are strong potentiatiors of homotypic B cell aggregation which is dependent on LFA-1. We show here that CD23 mAb were also able to inhibit aggregation to a similar extent as LFA-1 antibodies. This inhibition was restricted to the MHM6 epitope of CD23 and antibodies to other epitopes [Epstein-Barr virus (EBV) CS-1, EBV CS-2, EBV CS-5 and mAb 25] or occupation of the Fc-binding site by IgE had no or a slightly enhancing effect on aggregation. When testing two antibodies to CD21, the recently defined ligand for CD23, one of these (BU32) was found to be inhibitory whereas the other (THB5) had no effect. By combining antibodies to LFA-1 and CD23, aggregation was often completely inhibited. These data suggest that LFA-1/ICAM-1 and CD23/CD21 are the major molecules involved in homotypic aggregation of human B cells.     

DGGE-based whole-gene mutation scanning of the dystrophin gene in Duchenne and Becker muscular dystrophy patients

Duchenne and Becker muscular dystrophy (DMD and BMD) are caused by mutations in the dystrophin gene. Large rearrangements in the gene are found in about two-thirds of DMD patients, with approximately 60% carrying deletions and 5-10% carrying duplications. Most of the remaining 30-35% of patients are expected to have small nucleotide substitutions, insertions, or deletions. To detect these subtle changes within the coding and splice site determining sequences of the dystrophin gene, we established a semiautomated denaturing gradient gel electrophoresis (DGGE) mutation scanning system. The DGGE scan covers the dystrophin gene with 95 amplicons, PCRed either individually or in a multiplex setup. PCR and pooling were performed semiautomatically, using a pipetting robot and 384-well plates, enabling concurrent amplification of DNA of four patients in one run. Amplification of individual fragments was performed using one PCR program. The products were pooled just before gel loading; DGGE requires only a single gel condition. Validation was performed using DNA samples harboring 39 known DMD variants, all of which could be readily detected. DGGE mutation scanning was applied to analyze 135 DMD/BMD patients and potential DMD carriers without large deletions or duplications. In DNA from 25 out of 44 DMD patients (57%) and from 5 out of 39 BMD patients (13%), we identified clear pathogenic changes. All mutations were different, with the exception of one DMD mutation, which occurred twice. In DNA from 10 out of 44 potential DMD carriers, including four obligate carriers, we detected causative changes, including one pathogenic change in every obligate carrier. In addition to these pathogenic changes, we detected 15 unique unclassified variants, i.e., changes for which a pathogenic nature is uncertain.