Genetic variability, evolution, and biological effects of Grapevine fanleaf virus satellite RNAs.

Large satellite RNAs (type B satRNAs) of Grapevine fanleaf virus (GFLV) from the genus Nepovirus, family Secoviridae were identified in a naturally infected vineyard and a grapevine germplasm collection. These GFLV satRNA variants had a higher nucleotide sequence identity with satRNAs of Arabis mosaic virus (ArMV) strains NW and J86 (93.8 to 94.6%) than with the satRNA of GFLV strain F13 and those of other ArMV strains (68.3 to 75.0%). Phylogenetic analyses showed no distinction of GFLV and ArMV satRNAs with respect to the identity of the helper virus. Seven stretches of 8 to 15 conserved nucleotides (I-VII) were identified in the 5' region of subgroup A nepovirus genomic RNAs GFLV, ArMV, and Grapevine deformation virus) and nepovirus type B satRNAs, including previously reported motif I, suggesting that large satRNAs might have originated from recombination between an ancestral subgroup A nepovirus RNA and an unknown RNA sequence with the 5' region acting as a putative cis-replication element. A comparative analysis of two GFLV strains carrying or absent of satRNAs showed no discernable effect on virus accumulation and symptom expression in Chenopodium quinoa, a systemic herbaceous host. This work sheds light on the origin and biological effects of large satRNAs associated with subgroup A nepoviruses.

Dynamic scaling in the susceptibility of the spin-1/2 kagome lattice antiferromagnet herbertsmithite.

The spin-1/2 kagome lattice antiferromagnet herbertsmithite, ZnCu(3)(OH)(6)Cl(2), is a candidate material for a quantum spin liquid ground state. We show that the magnetic response of this material displays an unusual scaling relation in both the bulk ac susceptibility and the low energy dynamic susceptibility as measured by inelastic neutron scattering. The quantity chiT(alpha) with alpha approximately 0.66 can be expressed as a universal function of H/T or omega/T. This scaling is discussed in relation to similar behavior seen in systems influenced by disorder or by the proximity to a quantum critical point.

Practical management measures for patients with recurrent herpes labialis.

Recurrent herpes labialis (RHL) is a common condition associated with the formation of vesicles around the mouth, often preceded by prodromal symptoms including tingling and burning. Treatment is targeted toward individual episodes, but in severe cases, suppressive therapy may be indicated. At present, no cure exists for this troublesome condition. The purpose of this article is to serve as a practical guide in the management of RHL by summarizing current treatments and discussing potential new therapies.

Safety, efficacy & recurrence rates of imiquimod cream 5% for treatment of anogenital warts.

Imiquimod 5% cream (Aldara, Graceway Pharmaceuticals) is an immune response modifier used for the topical treatment of anogenital warts in non-HIV-infected patients. Several randomized controlled trials have demonstrated that imiquimod 5% cream is a safe and efficacious treatment. Current data regarding efficacy shows that complete clearance of warts occurred in up to 50% of patients treated with imiquimod 5% cream applied once-daily, 3 times per week for up to 16 weeks. Recurrence rates ranged from up to 19% at 3 months to 23% at 6 months. Imiquimod 5% cream showed an acceptable safety profile; local inflammatory reactions were the most frequent adverse effects, with local erythema being the most common.

IL-12/IL-23 inhibitors: the advantages and disadvantages of this novel approach for the treatment of psoriasis.

Psoriasis is a common chronic inflammatory skin disease that is mediated, in part by the body's T-cell inflammatory response mechanisms. Further insight into the pathogenesis of the disease and the role of various cytokines, particularly interleukin(IL)-12 and IL-23, has led to advances in the treatment of this disease. A relatively new class of drugs that inhibit these interleukins is being developed and studied. Current data regarding the efficacy of these agents show they may have the potential to become the new clinical gold standard for biologic therapy to treat psoriasis.

Dermatological management of human immunodeficiency virus (HIV).

Atypical presentations of typical dermatological conditions are common in human immunodeficiency virus (HIV). This article will focus on three specific topics: eosinophilic folliculitis, psoriasis, and cutaneous mycoses. Their unique presentations in HIV and treatments are discussed.

Fatal acute splenic sequestration at 4 months of age.

A patient with homozygous sickle cell anemia is the youngest known to have died from acute splenic sequestration crisis. A cord blood screening program might have prevented this infant's death.

Usefulness of thallium-201 for distinction of ischemic from idiopathic dilated cardiomyopathy.

Thallium-201 scintigraphic defects are observed in most patients with ischemic cardiomyopathy and also can be found in idiopathic dilated cardiomyopathy. To determine the ability of qualitative and quantitative perfusion parameters to differentiate these entities, thallium-201 exercise testing was performed in 51 patients with coronary arteriography referred for evaluation of severe congestive heart failure. All patients had a left ventricular ejection fraction < 35%. Thirty-one ischemic patients had coronary stenosis > 70% in > or = 1 artery, and 20 idiopathic patients had no coronary stenosis or identifiable cause of heart disease. Similar exercise capacity, ejection fraction and sex distribution were found in both groups. Ischemic patients more often had severe perfusion defects (97 vs 25%; p = 0.00001), large perfusion defects involving > or = 40% of the left ventricular contour (100 vs 80%; p = 0.01), and increased thallium-201 lung uptake (94 vs 65%, p = 0.01). Large severe defects were present in 90% of ischemic and only 5% of idiopathic patients. On quantitative analysis, the area of the thallium-201 curve less than normal was greater in ischemic than idiopathic patients (14.8 +/- 9.5% vs 3.3 +/- 2.8%; p = 0.001). The degree and severity of redistribution were similar in both groups. Multivariate analysis identified the qualitative parameters of increased thallium-201 lung uptake, severe defects and large severe defects as the only independent predictors of the presence of ischemic disease. The presence of large severe defects had a 97% predictive value for ischemic cardiomyopathy. The absence of severe defects had a 94% predictive value for idiopathic dilated cardiomyopathy.(ABSTRACT TRUNCATED AT 250 WORDS)

Comparative evaluation of body composition in medically stable elderly.

OBJECTIVE: Accurate assessment is needed to identify the nutritional status of elderly persons. Anthropometric data were collected to describe body composition of the sample, including blacks and whites aged 55 to 89 years, and to explore the usefulness of several methods of body composition measurement. DESIGN: Baseline measurements were made as part of a longitudinal study. Body composition variables, particularly lean and lean-to-height measures, were used. SUBJECTS/SETTING: One hundred twenty-nine free-living medically stable elderly at senior community centers were self-selected into the study. STATISTICAL ANALYSIS: Descriptive statistics were generated for all variable by gender, race, and age (< 65, 65 to 74, and > or = 75 years). Actual height was correlated with estimated height using published equations. Analysis of variance revealed the effect of gender, race, or age on outcome variables. RESULTS: White women, black women, and white men made up 54%, 23%, and 23% of the sample, respectively. Most gender differences were expected. Black women had greater weight, body mass index, arm muscle circumference, and ratio of lean to height but lower percent lean body mass than white women. Subjects over 75 years old were shorter, lighter, and had lower ratio of lean to height. Gender and age had the greatest effect on ratio of lean to height. CONCLUSIONS/APPLICATIONS: A lean-to-height index appears to be a useful tool for tracking the status of lean mass in the elderly. Knee height may be especially useful because it, unlike stature, does not decrease with age. Furthermore, some published equations for estimating stature from knee height need adjustment, specifically for elderly black women.

Education and certification influence the nutrition and management knowledge of long-term-care foodservice managers.

OBJECTIVES: To describe nutrition knowledge, attitude toward nutrition, and management knowledge of long-term-care foodservice managers and to determine the relationship between these variables and the foodservice managers' personal and facility characteristics. DESIGN: Nutrition knowledge, management knowledge, and attitudes toward nutrition were measured using survey methodology designed for this study by modifying an instrument developed by the Nutrition Education Training Program for the Texas Department of Human Services. SUBJECTS/SETTING: Surveys were mailed to a random sample of 300 long-term-care foodservice directors from the 1,092 directors listed in the 1996 Ohio Department of Health Directory of Nursing Homes. The participants were 123 of the 300 foodservice directors (41%). STATISTICAL ANALYSES PERFORMED: Descriptive statistics, Spearman rank correlations, 1-way analysis of variance, and post hoc variance were calculated. RESULTS: Mean scores of respondents were 21.2 out of a possible 29 (73%) for the nutrition knowledge assessment, and 18.2 out of 26 (70%) for management knowledge. Dietitians and dietetic technicians scored significantly better than others on these tests. The mean score of attitudes toward nutrition was 4 on a 5-point scale (where 1 = strongly disagree to 5 = strongly agree). All participants requested more training in computers, nutrition terminology, and preparing appealing foods. APPLICATIONS: Dietitians and dietetic technicians are prepared with a wide scope of knowledge in nutrition and management. Thus, they are in an ideal position to take advantage of job opportunities in the area of foodservice management.

Intravenous site care practices in critical care: a national survey.

OBJECTIVE: To collect and compare written procedures for central line intravenous site care. DESIGN: Descriptive, stratified, random sample survey. SETTING: Adult medical-surgical critical care units among hospitals throughout the United States. SAMPLE: One hundred fifty-two returned surveys. RESULTS: A 24.6% response rate with underrepresentation from smaller institutions and hospitals in the Mid-Atlantic and West South Central regions of the country. There were wide variations in procedures for intravenous site care related to type of dressing used and frequency of dressing changes. CONCLUSIONS: Standardization of catheter care is needed to ensure consistent quality of intravenous site care. Lack of standardization may be due to lack of a research data base linking various components of care to outcomes such as infection, patient comfort, or catheter retention.

Synchronized estrus and fertility of beef cows after weaning calves for short intervals.

In Exp. 1, the objective was to determine if interval of separating calves from cows (24 or 48 h) immediately before insemination affects detection and precision of estrus and pregnancy rates of lactating beef cows implanted with norgestomet. Separation of calves from cows for 24 h (n = 418) lengthened intervals to estrus, did not affect precision of estrus, reduced success of detecting estrus and lowered pregnancy rates relative to positive controls (48 h separation, n = 508). Cows with poor body condition, and not suckled for 24 h, conceived at lower rates than cows with similar condition that were not suckled for 48 h. Adverse effects of separation for only 24 h on fertility are apparently due to inadequate intervals between estrus and insemination at 48 h after removing implants. In Exp. 2, the objective was to determine effects of separating calves from cows for 48 h immediately before insemination on detection and precision of estrus and on pregnancy rate of ovulatory lactating beef cows injected twice with prostaglandin F2 alpha (PGF2 alpha). Weaning increased detection of estrus but overall pregnancy rates did not differ between suckled (n = 256) and nonsuckled (n = 221) cows. But, weaning calves improved pregnancy rates of young (2 to 3 yr) cows and reduced fertility among middle (4 to 6 yr)-aged cows. Increased pregnancy rates after weaning calves for 48 h are due largely to greater detection of estrus and inseminating more cows.(ABSTRACT TRUNCATED AT 250 WORDS)

A statewide consortium initiative to establish an undergraduate clinical internship program.

The amount of time and the type of experience needed by undergraduate students in the clinical setting to actually practice nursing has been the subject of many debates between nurses in academe and service. Rather than blaming each other for the culture shock and transition problems of neophyte nurses, members of the academic and practice community in Rhode Island decided to address the problem together. The development of the collaborative program described in this article grew out of a research study and was coordinated through the efforts of nurses from service and academe. The central outcome of this statewide consortium's project was to increase the students' level of nursing competencies. "Turf" issues that related to the colleges and the hospitals involved became secondary. Everyone involved believed that students from different collegiate programs working together presented exciting opportunities to share and learn from one another. In addition, other outcomes included increased recruitment and retention of these baccalaureate-prepared nurses in the hospitals, and greater ease in their orientation and transition. In addition, a cluster of three research studies were conducted by members of the consortium. This ongoing program, in which nurses in education and service are working together in a statewide consortium to break down the turf issues that separated them, is achieving outcomes that could not have been accomplished had it been undertaken independently. This article describes the process used to develop, implement, and evaluate such a program.(ABSTRACT TRUNCATED AT 250 WORDS)

Listeners' discrimination of real and human-imitated animal sounds.

To determine if listeners can accurately distinguish between real and human-imitated animal sounds, a total of 165 recorded sounds (55 real and 110 human-imitated) of cats, cows, dogs, pigs, and sheep were randomly arranged on a master tape and presented to 30 listeners for discriminative judgments. Results indicate that, in general, listeners can accurately discriminate real from human-imitated animal sounds. Suggestions for future research are discussed.

63Cu, 35Cl, and 1H NMR in the S=1/2 Kagome lattice ZnCu3(OH)6Cl2.

ZnCu(3)(OH)(6)Cl(2) (S=1/2) is a promising new candidate for an ideal Kagome Heisenberg antiferromagnet, because there is no magnetic phase transition down to approximately 50 mK. We investigated its local magnetic and lattice environments with NMR techniques. We demonstrate that the intrinsic local spin susceptibility decreases toward T=0, but that slow freezing of the lattice near approximately 50 K, presumably associated with OH bonds, contributes to a large increase of local spin susceptibility and its distribution. Spin dynamics near T=0 obey a power-law behavior in high magnetic fields.

Spin dynamics of the spin-1/2 kagome lattice antiferromagnet ZnCu3(OH)6Cl2.

We have performed thermodynamic and neutron scattering measurements on the S=1/2 kagomé lattice antiferromagnet ZnCu3(OH)6Cl2. The susceptibility indicates a Curie-Weiss temperature of theta CW approximately = -300 K; however, no magnetic order is observed down to 50 mK. Inelastic neutron scattering reveals a spectrum of low energy spin excitations with no observable gap down to 0.1 meV. The specific heat at low-T follows a power law temperature dependence. These results suggest that an unusual spin liquid state with essentially gapless excitations is realized in this kagomé lattice system.

Functions involved in bacteriophage P2-induced host cell lysis and identification of a new tail gene.

Successful completion of the bacteriophage P2 lytic cycle requires phage-induced lysis of its Escherichia coli host, a process that is poorly understood. Genetic analysis of lysis-deficient mutants defined a single locus, gene K, which lies within the largest late transcription unit of P2 and maps between head gene L and tail gene R. We determined and analyzed the DNA sequence of a ca. 2.1-kb EcoRV fragment that spans the entire region from L to R, thus completing the sequence of this operon. This region contains all of the functions necessary for host cell lysis. Sequence analysis revealed five open reading frames, initially designated orf19 through orf23. All of the existing lysis mutants--ts60, am12, am76, and am218--were located in orf21, which must therefore correspond to gene K. The K gene product has extensive amino acid sequence similarity to the product of gene R of bacteriophage lambda, and its exhibits endolysin function. Site-directed mutagenesis and reverse genetics were used to create P2 amber mutants in each of the four other newly identified open reading frames. Both orf19 (gene X) and orf20 (gene Y) encode essential functions, whereas orf22 (lysA) and orf23 (lysB) are nonessential. Gene Y encodes a polypeptide with striking similarities to the family of holin proteins exemplified by gpS of phage lambda, and the Yam mutant displayed the expected properties of a holin mutant. The gene products of lysA and lysB, although nonessential, appear to play a role in the correct timing of lysis, since a lysA amber mutant caused slightly accelerated lysis and a lysB amber mutant slightly delayed lysis of nonpermissive strains. Gene X must encode a tail protein, since lysates from nonpermissive cells infected with the X amber mutant were complemented in vitro by similar lysates of cells infected with P2 head mutants but not with tail mutants.