Tungiasis in New York

A 33-year-old African woman was evaluated for tender nodules on her feet. Accompanied by her four children, she had recently immigrated from Somalia. Before her immigration, she resided in a Kenyan refugee camp for approximately 1 year, where she walked barefoot in sand and dirt. The patient stated that she and her four children, as well as many people living in the same compound, had similar, tender lesions on their feet. Her children were "treated" by their grandmother, who removed the contents of their lesions with a safety pin.
On physical examination the patient had numerous tender, isolated, and clustered hyperkeratotic, crusted papules, measuring 4–6 mm, on the plantar and periungual surfaces. Several lesions were ulcerated (Figs 1 and 2). The hyperkeratotic masses were debrided with a surgical blade. An intact, white, coiled structure was curetted from each papule, leaving numerous empty crater-like lesions (Fig. 3), which were identified on histologic sections as Tunga penetrans. Microscopic examination of unstained specimens showed branching, thin, translucent tubular structures with numerous eggs. Ring-shaped cross-sections of the organism's respiratory and digestive tracts were seen on hematoxylin and eosin stain (Fig. 4).
The patient received a 10-day course of dicloxacillin and topical bacitracin ointment. All lesions were healed within 1 week of therapy.     

Altered establishment/clearance mechanisms during experimental micrometastasis with live and/or disabled bacterial lacZ-tagged tumor cells.

To study micrometastasis at its earliest stages, the bacterial lacZ marker gene was introduced into human EJ Ha-ras-transformed BALB/c 3T3 cells (LZEJ), followed by their intravenous injection into nude mice. Lung micrometastases were easily identified by blue staining of lacZ-tagged cells minutes/hours after injection, permitting effective evaluation of establishment/clearance mechanisms of LZEJ cells. Different treatments were used to disable LZEJ cells (fixation, irradiation, or mitomycin C) to determine modulation of these processes--although unable to divide, these cells stain for lacZ expression for days after treatment. Fixation-killed cells generated large microfoci (> 13-15 cells/focus) with well-rounded morphologies while live, irradiated, or mitomycin-treated cells generated smaller, irregularly shaped foci (3-7 cells/focus). Fixed-cell foci were cleared more slowly from lungs than the other three classes, even when prefiltered to remove large aggregates. All foci of disabled cells were eventually cleared while a basal level of live-cell foci persisted. Co-injection of fixed and live cells (or preinjection of fixed cells, followed by live cells) resulted in complete clearance of live-cell microfoci; in contrast, preinjection of live cells (then injection of fixed cells) led to survival of live-cell micrometastases. Therefore, altered deformability and/or cell surface interactions of tumor cells modulate the effectiveness of host-clearing mechanisms in the lung and in some situations these altered cells facilitate clearance of live tumor cells that are normally tumor-progressing.     

艾滋病142例临床表现分析

目的艾滋病(AIDS),是严重危害人类健康的疾病,临床上症状多变,应提高对AIDS的认识。现将作者在西非工作期间收治的142例AIDS病例的临床表现作一介绍。方法病例均为当地黑人居民,男性89例,女性53例,年龄14～45岁,平均年龄27.65岁。用酶联免疫吸附法和快速法检测患者血清中HIV—1和 HIV—2抗体。结果 HIV—1型25例(35.00％);HIV-2型74例(52.11％);混合型32例(22.53％)。临床表现为脑膜脑炎或脑炎7例(4.93％);肺型27例(19.01％);胃肠道感染84例(59.15％):包括急性48例(33.80％),慢性24例(16.90％),急腹症12例(8.45％);皮肤粘膜损害18例(12.68％):卡波齐肉瘤6例(4.23％),带状疱疹2例(1.41％),皮炎10例(7.04％),病死率19.72％(28/142)。其传播途径以性传播为主,高达78.87％(112/142),其次是密切生活接触,未发现吸毒或输血者。结论艾滋病病死率高,病情复杂,且目前尚无特效药物,必须引起医护人员高度重视。     

Ritanserin in the treatment of alcohol dependence – a multi-center clinical trial

Four hundred and twenty-three alcohol dependent subjects were enrolled into a 12-week randomized, double-blind, placebo-controlled study to determine the safety and efficacy of the 5-HT₂ receptor antagonist, ritanserin (2.5 mg/day or 5 mg/day), in reducing alcohol intake and craving. All subjects received 1 week of single-blind placebo prior to randomization into the 11-week double-blind phase. Additionally, all subjects received weekly individual sessions of manual-guided cognitive-behavioral therapy. Comparing the single-blind period with endpoint, there was approximately a 23% reduction in drinks/day; 34% fall in the total number of drinking days/week; 22% decrease in drinks/drinking day; and a 37% diminution in alcohol craving for all treatment groups. All treatment groups experienced a beneficial clinical outcome as assessed by the Clinical Global Impression Scale. There was, however, no significant difference between treatment groups on any of these measures of alcohol drinking, craving, or clinical outcome. Subjects were of relatively high social functioning at baseline, and this did not change significantly during treatment. Treatment groups did not differ significantly on either medication compliance or reported adverse events. Ritanserin treatment was associated with a dose-related prolongation of subjects’ QTc interval recording on the electrocardiogram. These results suggest that alcohol dependent subjects can show marked clinical improvement within a structured alcohol treatment program. These findings do not support an important role for ritanserin in the treatment of alcohol dependence. Received: 30 April 1996/Final version: 3 July 1996     

Antigenicity of a synthetic peptide from glucosyltransferases of Streptococcus mutans in humans.

Human salivary immunoglobulin A (IgA) and serum IgG antibodies to the Streptococcus mutans glucosyltransferases (Gtfs) and to a synthetic peptide of 19 amino acids from a conserved region in the Gtfs (residues 435 to 453) were determined in young adults by enzyme-linked immunosorbent assay. Varying levels of antibody to Gtfs were detected in saliva or serum, with significantly higher levels of antibody to GtfD than to GtfB/C or GtfC. Anti-Gtf IgA levels in saliva did not correlate with those of IgG in serum. Caries-free (CF) volunteers exhibited significantly higher salivary IgA antibody levels to the peptide and to GtfB/C or GtfC than did the caries-active (CA) subjects. Preincubation of CF saliva and serum with the peptide inhibited the antibodies to the Gtfs in a dose-dependent manner, whereas preincubation of the samples from the CA group resulted in only partial inhibition. Our results indicated that this 19-amino-acid peptide includes one of the major B-cell epitopes of Gtfs and that CF individuals have higher titers of antibodies than CA subjects.     

青年人群血清流感抗体水平纵向监测

通过对北京４０５例青年１９９２～１９９４年流感抗体的纵向监测结果表明，３年中Ｂ型流感表现很活跃，抗体分别在１９９３年和１９９４年春出现高峰。Ａ型流感抗体在１９９３年春出现高峰。其中２１８例个体连续３年６次抗体检测，据抗体波动提示：３年中流感３个亚型总的感染频率为４４０％，每个体每年平均为１．４次，其中Ａ１型感染频率最高，每个体３年内平均１．８次；Ａ３型次之为１．５２；Ｂ型为１．０６。流感３个亚型抗体在机体内有６７％～７３％高水平抗体个体可在０．５～１年内下降至≤２０的低水平。２１８例个体中Ａ１型抗体３年内长期低水平者有３％，Ａ３有９％，Ｂ有３８％。