Intramedullary sarcoidosis presenting as incomplete paraplegia: case report and literature review.

Sarcoidosis is a chronic, multisystem noncaseating granulomatous disease of unknown etiology. Sarcoidosis typically presents clinically in individuals between the ages of 20 and 40 years. Although sarcoidosis most commonly affects the respiratory system, nearly any organ system can be involved. Spinal cord involvement by sarcoidosis is a rare event, occurring in less than 1% of patients with systemic disease. The case presented is that of a 29-year-old black male with benign past medical history who presented with a 6-week history of progressive incomplete paraplegia and bowel dysfunction. Magnetic resonance imaging revealed an intramedullary mass at the T-4-T-5 levels. The patient underwent thoracic laminectomy and debulking of the mass. The pathology was consistent with granulomatous disease. Postoperatively, the patient was placed on prednisone. He subsequently received comprehensive inpatient and outpatient rehabilitation and at present is bowel and bladder continent and ambulating at community levels with a rolling walker. The diagnosis of sarcoidosis; potential treatment options, including debulking and long-term steroid use; and prognosis will be discussed.

Identification of yebG as a DNA damage-inducible Escherichia coli gene.

The nucleotide sequence upstream of the Escherichia coli yebG gene presents features similar to those found in SOS system regulatory sites (putative SOS box, -10 and -35 promoter boxes and a ribosome binding site). Operon fusion assays demonstrate now that this region controls transcription in a recA-, lexA-dependent way and that the reporter gene expression is inducible by DNA damage consequent to mitomycin C treatment. Increased expression does not result from an increase in plasmid copy number. These results indicate that yebG is a novel SOS regulon gene. The yebG product is predicted to be a 96 amino acid residue, 10.7 kDa protein whose function is not yet known. Unlike other SOS genes, the construct carrying the yebG regulatory region is not stationary phase inducible.