Polymerase Chain Reaction and Goldmann-Witmer Coefficient Testing in the Diagnosis of Infectious Uveitis in HIV-Positive and HIV-Negative Patients in South Africa

Purpose: To use polymerase chain reaction (PCR) and Goldmann-Witmer coefficient (GWC) calculation to diagnose infectious uveitis.

Methods: Prospective cross-sectional study.

Results: Twenty-seven of 106 patients had positive PCR and/or GWC results on aqueous humor (AH) sampling and 15 of 27 (55.6%) were HIV-positive. Patients with non-anterior uveitis (NAU) were more likely to be HIV+ (p = 0.005). More than 1 possible pathogen was identified in 9 of 27 patients of whom 7 were HIV+. The final clinical diagnosis was discordant with AH findings in 9 of 27 cases. A positive EBV PCR result was associated with a discordant diagnosis (p = 0.001). All cases of herpetic anterior uveitis (42.9% HIV+) tested PCR-/GWC+ while all cases of herpetic NAU tested PCR+/GWC- (83.3% HIV+). All rubella virus cases were PCR+/GWC+.

Conclusion: PCR is useful to diagnose herpetic NAU in HIV+ patients while GWC is useful to diagnose herpetic anterior uveitis.     

Which constructs can predict emotional exhaustion in a working population? A study into its determinants

The main objective of this study was to examine the psychosocial stress model developed by Taylor and Aspinwall with emotional exhaustion as the outcome variable. Respondents, 409 men and 346 women, who had a paid job for at least 20 hours per week, completed questionnaires concerning demographic variables, personality, temperament, work pressure, workload, perceived social support, appraisal, coping, and emotional exhaustion. Structural equation analyses provided only partial support for the validity of the model. First, on theoretical and statistical grounds, one more path linking external resources to social support was added. Second, contrary to expectations, coping styles did not predict emotional exhaustion. To conclude, when coping is measured retrospectively, it does not add to our understanding of emotional exhaustion. It is suggested that future studies should be longitudinal and include objective measures of stressors and psychosocial health outcomes in addition to self‐reports. Copyright © 2007 John Wiley & Sons, Ltd.     

Hemoglobin adducts of benzo[a]pyrene diolepoxide in newspaper vendors: association with traffic exhaust

Benzo[a]pyrene diol epoxide adducts with hemoglobin (Hb) weremeasured to detect human exposure to environmental benzo[a]pyrenefrom traffic exhaust. Benzo[a]pyrene tetrahydrotetrols (BPTs)released from Hb after acid hydrolysis were quantitated by gaschromatography-mass spectrometry after immunoaffinity chromatography.Fifty three newspaper vendors were enrolled. The median adductconcentration was 0.3 fmol BPTs/mg Hb in high density traffic-exposedvendors and     

Double supernumerary isodicentric chromosomes derived from 15 resulting in partial hexasomy

We report two unrelated patients each with two supernumerary marker chromosomes (SMCs) derived from chromosome 15, and thus resulting in partial hexasomy. Hexasomy in the one case (family 1) was diagnosed at prenatal diagnosis and did not include the Prader-Willi/Angelman critical region (PWACR). The double SMCs were also found in the mother, the pregnancy continued to term, and an apparently phenotypically normal child was born. This represents the first report of transmission of double SMCs from mother to child. In the second case (family 2), the hexasomy did include the PWACR and was de novo in origin. This patient manifested severe psychomotor retardation, clefting of the soft palate, hypotonia, seizure-like episodes, and other phenotypic features. The aberrant phenotype is attributable to the hexasomy for the PWACR gene loci. The normal homologs of chromosome 15 proved to be biparental in origin while the two SMCs appeared maternal.     

The effect of soy isoflavones on the development of intestinal neoplasia in Apc mouse

Data from epidemiological studies suggest that isoflavones in soy may have a protective effect on the development of colon cancer in humans. Therefore, we have investigated whether soy isoflavones will inhibit intestinal tumour development in Apc^Min mice. The mice were fed a Western-type high risk diet (high fat, low fibre and calcium) containing two different isolates of soy protein as a protein source. For the control and test groups this resulted in the administration of about 16 and 475 mg of total isoflavones per kg diet, respectively. As a positive control, a third group of mice was administered a low isoflavone diet supplemented with 300 ppm sulindac. No significant differences in the incidence, multiplicity, size and distribution of intestinal tumours were observed between Min mice fed low and high isoflavone-containing diets. However, a clear reduction in the number of small intestinal tumours was observed for the sulindac diet. Thus, in contrast to epidemiological studies, our results demonstrate that high amounts of soy isoflavones present in a Western-type high risk diet do not protect against intestinal tumour development in a relevant animal model such as the Min mice.     

Searching for the Cartilage-associated Mimicry Epitope in Adjuvant Arthritis

Adjuvant arthritis (AA) is a T cell mediated disease which can be induced in genetically susceptible rats by immunization with heat-killed Mycobacterium tuberculosis ( Mt ) suspended in incomplete Freund's adjuvant. The critical mycobacterial T cell epitope for the induction of AA was previously identified as residues 178-186 of the mycobacterial 65 kDa heat shock protein ( Mt. hsp65 178-186 ). It was suggested that the development of AA was due to molecular mimicry between a mycobacterial epitope and a cartilage-associated self-antigen. However, until now such cartilage-associated mimicry epitope has not been identified. In this study we designed a computer search profile to predict mimicry self-epitopes, and investigated whether one or more of these self-epitopes could serve as mimicry epitopes in AA. Although several of these self-epitopes were recognized by arthritogenic T cells, no cross-reactivity was found between T cells specific for these self-epitopes and Mt. hsp65 178-186 specific T cells.