Citations

ABSTRACT Because of the bioterrorism threat posed by agents such as variola virus, considerable time, resources, and effort have been devoted to biodefense preparation. One avenue of this research has been the development of rapid, sensitive, high-throughput assays to validate immune responses to poxviruses. Here we describe the adaptation of a β-galactosidase reporter-based vaccinia virus neutralization assay to large-scale use in a study that included over 1,000 subjects. We also describe the statistical methods involved in analyzing the large quantity of data generated. The assay and its associated methods should prove useful tools in monitoring immune responses to next-generation smallpox vaccines, studying poxvirus immunity, and evaluating therapeutic agents such as vaccinia virus immune globulin.

ABSTRACT A prototype, real-time reverse-transcription PCR assay, based on MultiCode-RTx technology, quantifying hepatitis C virus (HCV) RNA by targeting the HCV 3′ untranslated region demonstrated linearity over 7 logs, with a good correlation between the quantitative results of this assay and the results of two commercially available comparator assays for 466 clinical specimens comprising all six HCV genotypes.

ABSTRACT The widely used hepatitis B virus (HBV) vaccine is based on three doses of hepatitis B surface antigen (HBsAg) protein. We previously showed that vectored measles viruses (MV) expressing HBsAg retain measles vaccine function in monkeys but do not induce a protective anti-HBs response in all animals. We show here that a single dose of HBsAg protein following a three-dose vaccination regimen with an optimized HBsAg-expressing MV elicits protective anti-HBs responses in all four vaccinated Rhesus monkeys. Vaccination strategies coupling the effective, long-term immunity elicited by the high-coverage MV vaccine to prophylactic HBV immunity are discussed.

The authors' purpose was to evaluate the current practice of registered diagnostic medical sonographers, with specialty in abdomen, of the American Registry of Diagnostic Medical Sonographers (ARDMS).A randomized sample of 2350 registered diagnostic medical sonographers with specialty in abdomen were chosen from the ARDMS database to complete a task survey on the Internet.The survey consisted of a 235-item ques tionnaire with regard to demographics, education, and frequency of specific sonograms performed in daily practice.Compared with the 1994 survey, registrants have received more formal education and less on-the-job training. Traditional tasks remain the predominant responsibilities of registered diagnostic medical sonographers with specialty in abdomen, including liver, biliary system, gallbladder, kidney, and pancreas, but a small minority of sonographers also perform liver transplant, kidney transplant, trauma, and musculoskeletal sonograms, and use newer technologies, such as power Doppler and tissue harmonic sonography, as well as transrectal sonography.The authors conclude that the ARDMS abdomen examination reflects current practice, but future revisions should include a small percentage of items in these newer areas.

Purpose Decitabine, a DNA-targeted hypomethylating agent, is approved by the United States Food and Drug Administration for treatment of patients with myelodysplastic syndromes (MDS) on a schedule of 15 mg/m2 administered via intravenous (IV) infusion every 8 hours for 3 days. This study assessed the efficacy and safety of an alternative dosing regimen administered on an outpatient basis in academic and community-based practices. Patients and Methods Patients were treated with decitabine 20 mg/m2 by IV infusion daily for 5 consecutive days every 4 weeks. Eligible patients were ≥ 18 years of age and had MDS (de novo or secondary) of any French-American-British (FAB) subtype and an International Prognostic Scoring System (IPSS) score ≥ 0.5. The primary end point was the overall response rate (ORR) by International Working Group (IWG 2006) criteria; secondary end points included cytogenetic responses, hematologic improvement (HI), response duration, survival, and safety. Results Ninety-nine patients were enrolled; the ORR was 32% (17 complete responses [CR] plus 15 marrow CRs [mCRs]), and the overall improvement rate was 51%, which included 18% HI. Similar response rates were observed in all FAB subtypes and IPSS risk categories. Among patients who improved, 82% demonstrated responses by the end of cycle 2. Among 33 patients assessable for a cytogenetic response, 17 (52%) experienced cytogenetic CR (n = 11) or partial response (n = 6). Conclusion Decitabine given on a 5-day schedule provided meaningful clinical benefit for patients with MDS, with more than half demonstrating improvement. This suggests that decitabine can be administered in an outpatient setting with comparable efficacy and safety to the United States Food and Drug Administration–approved inpatient regimen.

The constitutive equation with stress-dependent coefficients for laminated composite is derived and employed for iterative determination of myocardial fiber’s stiffness equation Ef = Kσf + C from myocardial strip’s stiffness equation Es = Ksσs + Cs. The strip’s stiffness constants Ks and Cs are estimated by the least-square curve fitting of the stress-strain data experimentally obtained from uniaxially stretching of strips of left ventricular heart wall excised from seven canine hearts. The values of K and C computed at selected fiber orientations across the thickness of the strip and using three, five, and ten-layer approximations are reported.

An analysis is presented of the deformation of a homogeneous, isotropic, elastic half space subjected to a constant radial strain in a circular area on the boundary. Explicit analytic expressions for the normal and radial displacements and the shear stress on the boundary are used to interpret experiments performed on inflated pig lungs. The boundary strain was induced by inflating or deflating the lung after bonding a flexible disk to the lung surface. The prediction that the surface bulges outward for positive boundary strain and inward for negative strain was observed in the experiments. Poisson’s ratio at two transpulmonary pressures was measured, by use of the normal displacement equation evaluated at the surface. A direct estimate of Poisson’s ratio was possible because the normal displacement of the surface depended uniquely on the compressibility of the material. Qualitative comparisons between theory and experiment support the use of continuum analyses in evaluating the behavior of the lung parenchyma when subjected to small local distortions.

Static pressure differences across a human bronchial tree model were obtained for steady expiratory flows of several gases producing Reynolds numbers (Re1) in the bronchus carrying the entire flow (first bronchus) between 150 and 50,000. The model was constructed from an air-dried lung and was complete to bronchi about 2 mm in diameter. Dimensionless static pressure plotted against Re1 consolidated the data on a single curve, phenomenologically described by an equation of the form: ΔPs/ΔPd1 = A + B Re1 where ΔPd1 is a pressure drop for Poiseuille flow. Velocity profile measurements at two sites along the first bronchus for laminar and turbulent flows indicate a dependence on the latter and distance from the first junction. Loss in total pressure was computed and may result from both frictional dissipation and changes in momentum flux associated with development of velocity profiles near the junctions. An average loss in total pressure within a single bronchus was calculated after making several simplifying assumptions, and this result may be useful in modeling both the resistance of the entire bronchial tree and the more complex phenomenon of maximal expiratory flow.