Acute Brucellosis Following Accidental Exposure to Brucella melitensis Rev 1 Vaccine.

Brucellosis is mainly transmitted to humans by direct contact with infected animals, consumption of non-pasteurized dairy products or through inhalation of aerosols. However, the disease may also be transmitted by exposure to Brucella vaccination that is used in veterinary medicine. In the literature, there were a few case reports of persons who developed brucellosis after unintentional inoculation or conjunctival exposure to the live Brucella vaccine. Here, we describe a sheep farmer with acute brucellosis that occurred as a result of unintentional percutaneous exposure to Brucella melitensis Rev 1 animal vaccine while vaccinating lambs.

The adenylate kinase genes of M. voltae, M. thermolithotrophicus, M. jannaschii, and M. igneus define a new family of adenylate kinases.

The adenylate kinase genes (adkA) were cloned from four closely related methanogenic members of the Archaea: the mesophile Methanococcus voltae (Mv), the thermophile M. thermolithotrophicus (Mt) and the hyperthermophiles M. jannaschii (Mj) and M. igneus (Mi). All four genes encode a protein of 192 amino acids (aa), and the four enzymes were closely related, with 68-81% aa identity in pairwise comparisons. It is anticipated that the enzyme set will provide the basis for studies that can establish the structural basis for ADK thermal stability. Mj and Mi contained a gene homologous to M. vannielii sec Y upstream of adkA, while Mv and Mt contained an unidentified, yet conserved, upstream open reading frame (ORF). Mt, Mj and Mi, but not Mv, contained an unidentified, yet highly conserved, ORF directly downstream of adkA. Based on their size, predicted secondary structure and phylogenetic relation to bacterial and eukaryotic adenylate kinases (ADK), it was concluded that the archaeal adkA genes encoded a unique class of ADK, and suggested that Euryarchaeotal and Crenarchaeotal branches of the Archaea contain separate subclasses of the enzyme.

F420H2:NADP oxidoreductase from Methanobacterium thermoautotrophicum: identification of the encoding gene via functional overexpression in Escherichia coli.

F420H2:NADP oxidoreductase is found in methanogenic, sulfate-reducing and halophilic archaea and also in some bacteria. The putative gene encoding the enzyme was cloned from Methanobacterium thermoautotrophicum (strain Marburg) and heterologously expressed in Escherichia coli. The overproduced active enzyme was purified, characterized and crystallized.

Re-face stereospecificity at C4 of NAD(P) for alcohol dehydrogenase from Methanogenium organophilum and for (R)-2-hydroxyglutarate dehydrogenase from Acidaminococcus fermentans as determined by 1H-NMR spectroscopy.

The two diastereotopic protons at C4 of NAD(P)H are seen separately in 1H-NMR spectra. This fact was used to determine the stereospecificity at C4 of NAD(P) for the NADP-dependent alcohol dehydrogenase from Methanogenium organophilum and for the NAD-dependent (R)-2-hydroxyglutarate dehydrogenase from Acidaminococcus fermentans. The reduction of NADP+ with [2H6]ethanol was found to yield (4R)-[4-2H1]NADPH and the oxidation of (4R)-[4-2H1]NADH with 2-oxoglutarate to yield unlabelled [4-1H]NAD+. These results indicate that both enzymes are Re-face stereospecific at C4 of the pyridine nucleotides.

Clinical situations in which amputation is preferred to pulp capping because of biologic considerations.

Calcium hydroxide, in its various forms, has become the preferred agent of most practitioners who perform pulp capping. The application of calcium hydroxide to the pulp stimulates the growth of new dentin and protects the pulp from subsequent irritation. However, the new dentin generated by the pulp may, in turn, infringe on the pulp. If the thickness of the pulp tissue is large, this infringement will not be significant. If the volume of pulp tissue is shallow, the same amount of infringement may cause sufficient impairment of circulation to the cornal area of the pulp, leading to an area of the necrosis may then contaminate the entire pulp, and root canal therapy will become necessary. Therefore, pulpal amputation is the preferred treatment in such situations.

Efficacy of radioiodine urinalysis.

Little exists in the literature to support the efficacy of urinalysis for demonstrating thyroid uptake of radioiodine. A review was made of a variety of kinetic models. Computer analysis and graphics were used to assess the variables in the two models chosen for this study. The applicability of each model was tested by using data obtained from a group of euthyroid subjects. The results indicate that using an integral urine-sampling method and a three-component model yields minimum detectable thyroid uptakes which fall well below required reporting limits. Furthermore, the results show that integral urine samples obtained in the first few hours post exposure may be used to predict major thyroid uptakes in time for effective thyroid blocking.

Biocompatibility tests on the intraocular vision aid IOVA.

Intraocular miniaturized image transmission systems are developed to restore vision in patients with irreversible destruction of the anterior ocular segment (i.e. chemical burns, explosion trauma, trachoma) and high risk for corneal transplantation, provided that the posterior ocular segment is intact. To ensure safety of such a device biocompatibility tests were conducted. In the present study the effects of light and temperature in various intensities and the toxicity of the implanted materials on neural function in the rabbit retina in-vivo was investigated. All tests give encouraging results concerning the feasibility of intraocular miniaturized image transmission systems.

Intense geodesic acousticlike modes driven by suprathermal ions in a tokamak plasma.

Intense axisymmetric oscillations driven by suprathermal ions injected in the direction counter to the toroidal plasma current are observed in the DIII-D tokamak. The modes appear at nearly half the ideal geodesic acoustic mode frequency, in plasmas with comparable electron and ion temperatures and elevated magnetic safety factor (q_{min}>or=2). Strong bursting and frequency chirping are observed, concomitant with large (10%-15%) drops in the neutron emission. Large electron density fluctuations (n[over ]_{e}/n_{e} approximately 1.5%) are observed with no detectable electron temperature fluctuations, confirming a dominant compressional contribution to the pressure perturbation as predicted by kinetic theory. The observed mode frequency is consistent with a recent theoretical prediction for the energetic-particle-driven geodesic acoustic mode.

Strongly driven frequency-sweeping events in plasmas.

A generic model of a kinetic plasma formed from a source and sink is presented which without instability would form a strongly unstable state due to a single mode. Instead, the resulting wave-particle resonant interaction maintains the distribution near a marginally stable state through the continual production of fast frequency-sweeping modes that sweep unidirectionally (upward in our case) throughout the energy-inverted region of the distribution function. The energy of these modes can be channeled to the background plasma through wave dissipation and, in our particular example, one quarter of the injected energy is available to be channeled.

Multitude of core-localized shear Alfvén waves in a high-temperature fusion plasma.

Evidence is presented for a multitude of discrete frequency Alfvén waves in the core of magnetically confined high-temperature fusion plasmas. Multiple diagnostic instruments confirm wave excitation over a wide spatial range from the device size at the longest wavelengths down to the thermal ion Larmor radius. At the shortest scales, the poloidal wavelengths are comparable to the scale length of electrostatic drift wave turbulence. Theoretical analysis confirms a dominant interaction of the modes with particles in the thermal ion distribution traveling well below the Alfvén velocity.

Quality assurance of Leksell gamma units.

A Leksell Gamma Unit was commissioned and a Lars Leksell Center for Radiosurgery was established at the University of Virginia Health Sciences Center in March 1989. At that time a formal quality assurance program designed for the Leksell Gamma Unit was put into effect. This paper will review the components of suggested daily, monthly, semiannual and annual quality assurance reviews of United States Nuclear Regulatory Commission regulatory as well as nonregulatory items for Leksell Gamma Units. The acceptance criterion for each quality assurance test has been established based on federal requirements and the recommendations of national scientific organizations as well as the practical experience gained from this quality assurance program.

[Experiment in sense and behavior therapy. Critique of J. Wolpe and St. Rachman on S. Freud's study]. / Sinnexperiment und Verhaltenstherapie. Zur Kritik von J. Wolpe und St. Rachman an S. Freuds Beweisführung.

In 1960 Wolpe and Rachman published a critique of psychoanalytic evidence based on Freud's case of Little Hans. No one has yet attempted to contest their argument. In a review of this classic critique it is shown that Wolpe and Rachman misrepresent and misunderstand central points of Freud's study. The alternative view of Hans' phobia which Wolpe and Rachman put up was already considered by Freud himself and rejected for good reasons. Some fundamental assumptions of behavior therapy and psychoanalysis are contrasted. The authors point out that psychologists have to develop their own philosophy of science.