Prevalence of pharyngeal Chlamydia trachomatis and Neisseria gonorrhoeae among heterosexual men in Japan.

Pharyngeal chlamydial and gonococcal infections can occur as a consequence of oral sex, and they also can be transmitted from the pharynx to the genital tract of sex partners. There have been many reports on the prevalence of pharyngeal Chlamydia trachomatis and Neisseria gonorrhoeae in men who have sex with men; however, there have been few reports on the prevalence of these pathogens in the pharynges of heterosexual men. In this study, we determined the prevalence of pharyngeal C. trachomatis and N. gonorrhoeae in 42 heterosexual men diagnosed with urethritis. Pharyngeal swabs and first-voided urine specimens were tested using the Gen-Probe APTIMA Combo 2 transcription-mediated amplification assay. The prevalence of pharyngeal C. trachomatis and N. gonorrhoeae in patients with urethritis was 2.4 % (1/42) and 11.9 % (5/42), respectively. Among patients with either chlamydial or gonococcal urethritis, 9.1 % (1/11) and 25.0 % (5/20) had pharyngeal C. trachomatis or N. gonorrhoeae, respectively. Our results suggest that screening for pharyngeal colonization by N. gonorrhoeae and C. trachomatis using validated nucleic acid amplification tests should be performed in heterosexual men diagnosed with urethritis.

Effector memory CD4+T cells in mesenteric lymph nodes mediate bone loss in food-allergic enteropathy model mice, creating IL-4 dominance.

Intestinal inflammation can be accompanied by osteoporosis, but their relationship, mediated by immune responses, remains unclear. Here, we investigated a non-IgE-mediated food-allergic enteropathy model of ovalbumin (OVA) 23-3 mice expressing OVA-specific T-cell-receptor transgenes. Mesenteric lymph nodes (MLNs) and their pathogenic CD4+T cells were important to enteropathy occurrence and exacerbation when the mice were fed an egg-white (EW) diet. EW-fed OVA23-3 mice also developed bone loss and increased CD44hiCD62LloCD4+T cells in the MLNs and bone marrow (BM); these changes were attenuated by MLN, but not spleen, resection. We fed an EW diet to F1 cross offspring from OVA23-3 mice and a mouse line expressing the photoconvertible protein KikGR to track MLN CD4+T cells. Photoconverted MLN CD44hiCD62LloCD4+T cells migrated predominantly to the BM; pit formation assay proved their ability to promote bone damage via osteoclasts. Significantly greater expression of IL-4 mRNA in MLN CD44hiCD62LloCD4+T cells and bone was observed in EW-fed OVA23-3 mice. Anti-IL-4 monoclonal antibody injection canceled bone loss in the primary inflammation phase in EW-fed mice, but less so in the chronic phase. This novel report shows the specific inflammatory relationship, via Th2-dominant-OVA-specific T cells and IL-4 production, between MLNs and bone, a distant organ, in food-allergic enteropathy.

Prostate specific antigen complexed to alpha-1-antichymotrypsin in patients with intermediate prostate specific antigen levels.

BACKGROUND: The authors attempted to evaluate prospectively the usefulness of serum prostate specific antigen (PSA) complexed to alpha-1-antichymotrypsin (PSA-ACT) in the early detection of prostate carcinoma and its ability to discriminate between prostate carcinoma and benign prostatic hyperplasia (BPH), especially among patients with intermediate PSA levels. METHODS: Between December 1999 and August 2000, systematic sextant biopsies were performed on 281 prospective patients with prostate carcinoma who had serum PSA levels between 4.1 ng/mL and 20.0 ng/mL. The serum samples were assayed by using kits that were designed specifically for measuring serum PSA, PSA-ACT, and free PSA levels. The clinical values of PSA, PSA-ACT, the free PSA to total PSA ratio (F/T ratio), the free PSA to PSA-ACT ratio, PSA density (PSAD), and PSA-ACT density (ACTD) were compared by using receiver operating characteristic (ROC) curve analysis. RESULTS: Biopsy yielded no evidence of malignancy in 198 patients, and prostate carcinoma was confirmed in 83 patients. ROC analysis demonstrated that the area under the curve (AUC) for PSA-ACT was greater than that for total PSA and was equivalent to that for the F/T ratio in both groups of patients (PSA ranges of 4.1-20.0 ng/mL and 4.1-10.0 ng/mL, respectively). The AUC for the ACTD was greater than the AUC for the PSAD and had the highest value of all parameters. CONCLUSIONS: The measurement of PSA-ACT represents an alternative to the use of total and free PSA. The ACTD value is the most useful for discriminating between BPH and prostate carcinoma.