Reservoir competence of native North American birds for the lyme disease spirochete, Borrelia burgdorfieri

Reservoir competence for the Lyme disease spirochete, Borrelia burgdorferi, was tested for six species of native North American birds: American robin, gray catbird, brown thrasher, eastern towhee, song sparrow, and northern cardinal. Wild birds collected by mist netting on Fire Island, NY, were held in a field laboratory in cages over water and locally collected larval ticks were placed on the birds, harvested from the water after engorgement, and tested for infection by direct fluorescentantibody staining after molting to the nymphal stage. American robins were competent reservoirs, infecting 16.1% of larvae applied to wild-caught birds, compared with 0% of control ticks placed on uninfected laboratory mice. Robins that were previously infected in the laboratory by nymphal feeding infected 81.8% of applied larvae. Wild-caught song sparrows infected 4.8% of applied larvae and 21.1% when infected by nymphal feeding. Results suggest moderate levels of reservoir competence for northern cardinals, lower levels for gray catbirds, and little evidence of reservoir competence for eastern towhees or brown thrashers. Lower infection rates in larvae applied to wild-caught birds compared with birds infected in the laboratory suggest that infected birds display temporal variability in infectiousness to larval ticks. Engorged larvae drop from birds abundantly during daylight, so the abundance of these bird species in the peridomestic environment suggests that they might contribute infected ticks to lawns and gardens.     

Maintaining acceptably low referral rates in teoae-based newborn hearing screening programs

This article describes factors that can affect the refer rate for otoacoustic emission (OAE) based newborn hearing screening, including the population of infants being screened, the adequacy of probe fit, software options used, external ear conditions, screener training, and baby handling. The effect of the infant’s age on screening outcomes is also discussed using results of screening for 1328 regular nursery newborns, ranging in age from 6 to 60 hours, who were screened with transient evoked otoaoustic emissions (TEOAE) prior to hospital discharge. The youngest infants (6–9 hours old) were as likely to pass (90% pass rate) as the infants who were 24–27 hours old (94% pass rate). The results of this study are consistent with reports from many TEOAE-based screening programs that have demonstrated that acceptably low refer rates (mean = 6.9%) can be obtained when appropriate screening procedures are followed.     

Unsere Erfahrungen mit der Kleinschen Probe zur Bestimmung der Abwehrkräfte gegen maligne Geschwulsterkrankung

Ohne ZusammenfassungMit 3 Textabbildungen.     

Relation between effective radiation dose and outcome of radioiodine therapy for thyroid cancer

We used a combination of radioiodine scanning and quantitative radiation dosimetry to evaluate responses to therapeutic irradiation with 131I in 76 patients with thyroid adenocarcinoma. Fifty patients received 131I treatment for ablation of residual thyroid tissue after surgical thyroidectomy, and 26 had 131I treatment for metastatic thyroid cancer. Successful ablation was observed in patients receiving higher radiation doses to the thyroid--about 4.4 times those in patients whose lesions were not ablated--largely because of a longer effective half-life of 131I in residual thyroid tissue in the patients with ablated lesions. Patients with metastases that persisted after 131I therapy tended to have more advanced disease and received significantly lower radiation doses per millicurie of administered 131I than did persons whose lesions responded to treatment. Initial 131I treatment resulting in radiation doses of at least 30,000 rad to thyroid remnants and 8000 rad to metastases was associated with a significant increase in the rate of response to therapy.     

Re-186(Sn) HEDP for treatment of painful osseous metastases: initial clinical experience in 20 patients with hormone-resistant prostate cancer.

Rhenium-186(tin) hydroxyethylidene diphosphonate (HEDP) is a new radiopharmaceutical that localizes in areas of osseous metastases in a manner similar to that of standard bone-scanning agents. It also emits beta particles with sufficient energy to be therapeutically useful. A single intravenous injection of about 33 mCi (1,221 MBq) was given to each of 20 elderly patients with advanced skeletal metastases from hormonally resistant prostate cancer. Prompt, significant relief of pain occurred 80% of the time with no significant side effects and only minimal, transient marrow toxicity. Re-186(Sn) HEDP appears to be a useful new agent for the palliation of painful osseous metastases in prostate cancer.