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Yersinia pseudotuberculosis infection in a group of Macaca fascicularis.

Diarrheal disease associated with abortions and stillbirths occurred in a group of 42 Macaca fascicularis. The group was composed of wild-caught adults and their colony-born offspring housed in a half-acre cage. Thirteen adult females and 1 infant male were affected. All 14 monkeys had diarrhea and all 9 pregnant females either aborted or had a stillbirth. Yersinia pseudotuberculosis was isolated from 7 animals. In addition, Y enterocolitica was isolated from 1 monkey and Shigella flexneri type IV was isolated from 5 monkeys. One adult female had a mixed infection of both Y pseudotuberculosis and S flexneri. Every pregnant monkey from which Y pseudotuberculosis was isolated aborted or had a stillbirth. Five animals died, and Y pseudotuberculosis was the only pathogen isolated from these 5 monkeys.

Abortion, Veterinary↗

Experimental toxoplasmosis in calves and pregnant cows.

Experimental Toxoplasma gondii infections were studied in pregnant cows and in calves. In tests to compare their virulence, three strains of the toxoplasmal parasite were red to cats; then fecal oocysts were collected and given per os to calves. In tests to determine their effects, virulent tachyzoites or oocysts were given to 10 calves and to 22 pregnant cows by the oral, IV, or intraamniotic routes. Clinical signs were fever and inappetence. One cow in early gestation aborted 24 days after IV administration of tachyzoites. Gross and microscopic changes were slight and nonspecific. Toxoplasmas were isolaated from brain or liver of 4 cows, placenta of 2 cows, gastric contents of 2 near-term fetuses, and blood and tissues of calves. Toxoplasmas were not isolated from control cows.

Abortion, Veterinary↗

Expanded polytetrafluoroethylene patch versus braided polyester tape for the repair of incompetent cervix.

BACKGROUND: This study was done to evaluate pregnant patients with cervical incompetence using an expanded polytetrafluoroethylene (ePTFE) patch versus the commonly used braided polyester tape, comparing the rate of local tissue reaction or onset of contractions, or both. STUDY DESIGN: This study was a prospective clinical trial on 20 patients divided into two groups. Patients having tissue reactions or contractions were identified and each material was analyzed using a new approach by means of scanning electron microscopy (SEM) and roentgenogram diffraction studies. RESULTS: In the group of pregnant patients sutured with polyester tape there were four failures because of infection and contractions. There were no direct or indirect complications encountered in the ePTFE group. Bacteriologic evaluations of the failures revealed Escherichia coli, Gardnerella vaginalis, Bacteroides species, and Trichomonas vaginalis in various combinations, in addition to crystal structure degradation and layers of phagocytes. CONCLUSIONS: Our results provide a rationale for understanding the differences in morphologic integrity and the superiority of the ePTFE patch over the polyester tape using a new analytic approach of SEM and roentgenographic diffraction studies. Because of the small number of patients and because the procedure was performed in a select patient population, we recommend that further trials be undertaken with a larger number of patients in more advanced gestational age and in patients presenting with emergent cervical incompetence.

Abortion, Spontaneous↗

[The application of ultrasonography: uterovaginal and pelvic masses in black African women].

Echography was prospectively performed in 345 black African female patients with pelvic masses which had been clinically detected in some cases. The women were between 11 and 65 years old. The aims of this study were to list the pelvic masses observed in black. African women, to record any potentially distinguishing features and to evaluate the sensitivity and the specificity of echography as applied here. A total of 477 masses were listed. Ovarian masses were the most frequent (56.66%) followed by uterine masses (31.45%). Most masses were benign. We observed only two cases of ovarian cancer. The sensitivity was 100% and the specificity was 97.69%. Eleven cases (2.3%) of the ultrasound diagnoses did not correspond with the final diagnoses. As for distinguishing aspects, these patients were younger than European patients-this was particularly true for patients with fibroid masses (a range of 31 to 40 years compared to 40 to 50 years). Genetic factors in these patients could explain the high rate and early appearance of fibroids. Because the diagnosis of vaginal masses is well established by clinical examination rather than by echography, this lesion was rarely observed. The most frequent clinical complaint was pelvic pain (36.94%), followed by pelvic mass impression (28.65%). We found high rates of both past histories of miscarriage and abortion (60.7%) and postabortion pelvic hematoma. The hematomas comprised 45.4% of the non-genital pelvic masses. Misdiagnosis of pyosalpinx was often a source of diagnostic error. Thus, to avoid false diagnoses of pyosalpinx in evaluating pelvic masses with a void in ultrasound, the possibility of an infectious episode should be evaluated by definitive questioning. Ultrasound examination is of value in evaluating the pelvic masses of women; however, this should be considered within the appropriate disease context.

Abortion, Induced↗

National Transplantation Pregnancy Registry: analysis of pregnancy outcomes in female liver transplant recipients.

Outcomes from 48 pregnancies in 34 female liver transplant recipients were analyzed. Data were collected via interviews, questionnaires, and hospital records. All recipients were treated with cyclosporine-based immunosuppression except 2 patients treated with FK506 and 2 treated with no immunosuppression. The age at conception was 26.1 +/- 5.9 years (mean +/- SD) with a transplant interval (time from transplantation to conception) of 2.9 +/- 2.5 years. There were 49 outcomes (1 set of twins): miscarriage 9 (18%), therapeutic abortion 4 (8%), and live birth 36 (74%). No stillbirths or ectopic pregnancies were reported. Of the 36 live births, the gestational age was 36.9 +/- 3.5 weeks, the birthweight was 2,604 +/- 698 grams, 39% were premature (< 37 weeks), and 31% had low birthweight (< 2,500 grams). No birth defects or neonatal deaths (< 28 days) were reported. The newborn complication rate was 17% (n = 6), 5% in premature infants. The incidence of drug-treated hypertension was 46%; pre-eclampsia 21%; infectious complications 26%; and Caesarean section 47%. Recipients with hypertension had a higher proportion of premature infants (71%) than normotensive patients (38%) (P = .04 by Fisher's exact test). Acute rejection was diagnosed in 6 pregnancies, 2 of which were ended by therapeutic abortion. Four recipients who continued their pregnancies were treated with increased immunosuppression for rejection, and all delivered livebirths. There were two grafts lost within 6 months of pregnancy. The only maternal death occurred in a patient who required retransplantation for recurrent C hepatitis 3 months afte therapeutic abortion and died 6 months later. The other recipient with graft loss was successfully retransplanted for chronic rejection 6 months after delivery. We draw the following conclusions: (1) female liver transplant recipients can safely undergo pregnancy, although there is a high rate of premature and low birthweight infants; (2) pregnancies in this population should be considered high-risk and require close monitoring of liver function; and (3) altered graft function during pregnancy should be thoroughly investigated.

Adult↗

A role for tryptophan in immune control of chlamydial abortion in sheep.

Tryptophan (Trp) catabolism appears to be an important mechanism for regulation of inflammatory responses, resulting in T-cell tolerance and survival of semi-allogeneic concepti during pregnancy. Trp catabolism can be induced by IFN-gamma, and is therefore an important host defence mechanism against intracellular pathogens. Chlamydophila abortus is a bacterial pathogen that can cause persistent infection in non-pregnant sheep, but invades the placenta and causes abortion in late pregnancy. IFN-gamma was found to control the growth of Chlamydophila abortus in ovine cells in a highly dose-dependent manner. Addition of 200U/ml IFN-gamma eradicated all traces of infection from the cultures, whereas concentrations less than 50U/ml failed to control the growth of the organism, resulting in cell lysis. However, concentrations in the range of 50-100U/ml were found to restrict growth to an extent that a persistent infection was established, allowing survival of the organism in tissue culture for several months. Removal of IFN-gamma resulted in the re-appearance of infectious organisms. Addition of exogenous Trp to the cells treated with 50-100U/ml IFN-gamma prevented the establishment of persistence. These effects in tissue culture are analogous to the persistent infection observed in pregnant sheep prior to abortion. These data suggest that control of C. abortus growth in the periphery is linked to the balance of pro-inflammatory cytokine production and availability of Trp during pregnancy.

Abortion, Veterinary↗

Experimental transmission of epizootic bovine abortion (foothill abortion).

Advances in defining the biology of epizootic bovine abortion (EBA), including identification of the etiologic agent, have been hampered by the inability to reproduce the disease with confidence. Experimental reproduction of EBA, by feeding the tick vector Ornithodoros coriaceus on susceptible pregnant heifers, is not reliable. The primary objectives of this study were to identify specific tissue(s) obtained from EBA-infected fetuses that could transmit the disease, and then utilize such an infectious challenge system to better define the pathogen, host immunity and geographic distribution of the agent. Described here is the ability to routinely reproduce EBA following inoculation of cryopreserved suspensions of homogenized thymus into susceptible pregnant heifers. This challenge system permitted experiments demonstrating the agent was non-filterable, inactivated upon sonication and susceptible to antibiotics. These findings suggest a prokaryotic microbe and represent a major advance in EBA research. Additional experiments demonstrated that inoculation of the cryopreserved EBA-infectious tissue into heifers, prior to breeding, conferred immunity. Furthermore, such immunized heifers were resistant to challenge with heterologous sources of infectious tissue, suggesting monovalent vaccine development might be feasible. Lastly, challenge studies employing animals from Central Nevada, an area considered free of EBA, demonstrated partial immunity, suggesting the pathogen, and possibly the disease, enjoy a broader distribution than previously thought.

Abortion, Veterinary↗

3Y1 rat cells are defective in processing of the envelope precursor protein of AKR virus.

Rat 3Y1 cells were infected by AKR virus through microinjection of molecularly cloned proviral DNA. Based on a strong immunofluorescence using anti-p30 as an antiserum a cell clone (RESA-2) was selected that had a high expression of viral antigens. Subsequent restriction analysis of its DNA revealed that the RESA-2 clone contained at least 30 apparently intact integrated proviruses per genome. There was an apparently normal synthesis and processing of gag and pol gene products. The viral envelope precursor polyprotein gPr82env, however, did not yield the major envelope glycoprotein gp70. The gag precursor polyprotein, Pr65gag, as well as the gPr82env from RESA-2 cells were identified as AKR viral proteins by gel electrophoresis of hydroxylamine cleavage fragments. The virions formed by RESA-2 cells lacked gp70 and were noninfectious. After fusion of RESA-2 cells and mouse cells an infectious N-tropic virus was produced. The results indicate that rat 3Y1 cells lack (a) factor(s) necessary for the correct processing of gPr82env. The high incidence of abortive infections of murine leukemia virus (MLV) in susceptible rat cells reported by others is therefore probably due to defective particles in the virus stock and/or to the lack of (a) cellular factor(s) necessary for reverse transcription and subsequent integration of the viral genome.

AKR murine leukemia virus↗

Travels along the viral-immunobiology highway.

Michael Oldstone began his biomedical research career over three decades ago, showing contrary to established scientific dogma, the host was not tolerant but made a specific antiviral immune response during persistent virus infections. Further, the immune response to the virus actually caused tissue damage and disease, the first observation that several manifestations ordinarily accompanying infections were due to the host's antiviral immune response. These observations made originally with lymphocytic choriomeningitis virus (LCMV) and murine retroviruses were extended to other microbial infections including those in humans. Buildings on this work, he showed that antibodies to virus could recognize similar amino acid sequences or motifs found in host/cell proteins and cause disease. This cross-reactivity, referred to as molecular mimicry, has and is now been extensively studied by many laboratories. Another mechanism by which persistent virus infection produced disease was uncovered by cocumenting that viruses could alter the differentiation or "luxury" function of cells with causing cell destruction, thereby altering homeostasis. Finally, Oldstone was one of the first to show that viruses caused immunosuppression, abrogated immunologic surveillance resulting in viral persistence, work carried out long before HIV was discovered. He has also defined host-cell receptors for several viruses. In recent studies, host-cell receptor used by LCMV strains or variants that cause persistence have been identified. This led to observations that a single amino acid on the viral glycoprotein provides the infectious agent a selective ability ot displace extra-cellular matrix molecule, bind to and infect dendritic cells leading to their inability to act as antigen presenting cells thereby aborting the host's ability to generate the antiviral immune response required to clean the infection.

Adoptive Transfer↗

Inhibition of pseudorabies virus replication by vesicular stomicles virus I. Activity of infectious and inactivated B particles.

Infectious B particles of vesicular stomatitis virus (VSV) are capable of inhibiting the replication of pseudorabies virus (PSR) in a variety of cell lines. Even under conditions of an abortive infection in a continuous line of rabbit cornea cells (RC-6O), B particles interfere with the replication of PSR with high efficiency. Particle per cell dose-response analysis of B particle populations revealed that the number of VSV particles capable of inhibiting PSR replication exceeds the number of PFU by a factor of 32 to 64. When B particles are treated with UV irradiation, a drastic increase in the multiplicity of infection is required to inhibit PSR replication. Whereas one infective B particles per cell is sufficient to prevent replication of PSR, 800 to 1,000 VSV particles rendered noninfective by UV irradiation are required to compensate for the loss of VSV synthetic activity that results from irradiation. Temperature-sensitive mutants representing five complementation groups of VSV were tested at low multiplicities of infection for their effect on PSR replication at the nonpermissive temperature. Generally, the ability of the different complementation groups to amplify virion products at the nonpermissive temperature is associated with their ability to inhibit PSR replication. These results imply that at low multiplicities of infection, amplification of infecting VSV components is necessary for inhibition of PSR replication., but at high multiplicities of infection with VSV, a virion component can prevent PSR replication in the absence of de novo VSV RNA or protein synthesis.

Cell Line↗

Deoxyribonucleic acid synthesis in synchronized mammalian KB cells infected with herpes simplex virus.

We examined the patterns of host cell and virus deoxyribonucleic acid (DNA) synthesis in synchronized cultures of KB cells infected at different stages of the cell cycle with herpes simplex virus (HSV). We found that the initiation of HSV DNA synthesis, we well as the production of new infectious virus, is independent of the S, G1, and G2 phases of the mitotic cycle of the host cell. This is in contrast to data previously found with equine abortion virus. Because HSV replicates independently of the cell cycle, we were able to establish conditions that would permit the study of rates of HSV DNA synthesized in logarithmically growing cells in the virtual absence of cellular DNA synthesis. This eliminates the need for separation of viral and cellular DNA by isopycnic centrifugation in CsCl. We found that HSV DNA synthesis was initiated between 2 to 3 hr after infection. The rate of DNA synthesis increased rapidly, reaching a maximum 4 hr after infection, and decreased to 50% of maximum by 8 hr. Evidence is also presented which suggests that HSV infection can inhibit both the ongoing synthesis of host DNA as well as the initiation of the S phase.

Carcinoma↗

Adenovirus vectored vaccines.

Human recombinant adenoviruses (Ad) have been employed to develop experimental vaccines against a number of infectious agents. Ad-vectored vaccines express recombinant proteins, including any post-translational modifications, into functioning replicas of the native proteins capable of eliciting neutralizing antibodies in both abortive and permissive animal models. Human Ad types 4, 5, and 7 were used to construct recombinant viruses that express the respiratory syncytial virus F or G glycoproteins, the hepatitis B surface antigen, and the HIV env or gag genes. The recombinant Ad-HIV viruses are of particular interest and have been examined for their immunogenicity in dogs and chimpanzees. Dogs were immunized intratracheally with Ad-env recombinants (10(9) pfu/dog). Excellent humoral anti-HIV responses, including neutralizing antibodies, were detected in the sera following booster immunization (12-18 weeks after primary immunization) with a second Ad-env recombinant made in a different Ad serotype (heterotypic booster). Chimpanzees were immunized in two ways, orally with lyophilized virus (10(9) to 10(10) pfu/virus) in enteric-coated capsules or intranasally (10(7) pfu/virus). Intranasal immunization was superior to oral immunization with respect to replication of recombinant viruses as well as induction of anti-Ad and anti-HIV antibodies. Administration by both routes resulted in stimulation of cellular immune responses, as measured by antigen proliferation assays. Anti-HIV antibodies were detected in chimpanzee secretions (salivary, nasal, rectal, vaginal) taken from animals following intranasal immunization with a heterotypic recombinant. Intranasal administration effectively primed chimpanzees to produce high-titred (320-640) serum neutralizing antibodies to HIV following boosting with a baculovirus-derived env (gp160) subunit vaccine.(ABSTRACT TRUNCATED AT 250 WORDS)

AIDS Vaccines↗

Periodontal disease and adverse pregnancy outcomes.

Periodontal disease is a common infectious disease in women of reproductive age. The disease is often not diagnosed and in studies of over 10 000 women has been associated with preterm birth, small for gestational age newborns, and preeclampsia. It has been shown in a smaller number of women that treatment of periodontal disease may reduce the rate of preterm birth. The pregnancy complications of periodontal disease may be due to lipopolysaccharide from the periodontal pockets inciting prostaglandin pathways controlling parturition. Three large randomized controlled trials of treatment of periodontal disease are underway and may provide confirmation of the importance of periodontal disease in causing complications of pregnancy.

Abortion, Spontaneous↗

Prenatal diagnosis of congenital varicella syndrome and detection of varicella-zoster virus in the fetus: a case report.

Varicella syndrome (VS) specific malformations were sonographically seen at 22 weeks and 3 days of gestation. Fetal infection was demonstrated by detection of varicella-zoster virus (VZV) DNA in fetal blood and amniotic fluid by polymerase chain reaction (PCR). Following therapeutic abortion, fetal infection was confirmed by detection of VZV DNA in several fetal tissues and placenta, and by histopathological findings like miliary calcified necroses in fetal organs.

Abortion, Therapeutic↗

Cardiovascular complications of cocaine abuse.

Cardiovascular complications are among the most common and dangerous complications of cocaine abuse, ranging from episodic arrhythmias to myocardial infarction, strokes, cardiomyopathy, and sudden death. The central nervous system-mediated action of cocaine triggers an increase in circulating catecholamines, resulting in arterial vasoconstriction, increase in myocardial oxygen demand, myocardial ischemia, tachycardia, and other arrhythmias. The peripheral cardiovascular action of cocaine involves the inhibition of reuptake of catecholamines at adrenergic nerve terminals, with local release of epinephrine, direct stimulation and vasospasm of the coronary arteries, coronary intimal hyperplasia, inhibition of baroreceptors, interference with the electrical conduction through the myocardium, and direct myocardial toxicity. The cardiovascular complications of cocaine include cardiac dysrhythmias and hypertension, acute myocardial infarction, myocarditis, infectious endocarditis, ventricular dysfunction, dilated cardiomyopathy, hypotensive shock, and cerebral strokes. Cocaine-related vascular changes in the pregnant woman and fetus have been related to an increased incidence of abortion, abruptio placentae, and congenital anomalies of the fetus.

Cardiovascular Diseases↗

The financial and production impacts of bovine dermatophilosis in Zambia.

During October to December 1986, 365 traditional cattle herds in four provinces in Zambia were inspected and the owners interviewed. Information was collected on the treatment, management and disposal of cases of bovine dermatophilosis and on the effects of this disease on productivity for 1985. The contemporary financial cost per case of treatment and/or premature disposal, slaughter or death to the owners was K. 202 (US$91). The cost due to draft oxen being affected was estimated at K. 428 (US$193) per affected ox. The cost of reduced milk production, replacing affected cows and calf deaths, directly or indirectly from bovine dermatophilosis, was estimated at K. 132 (US$78) per affected milking cow. The total annual national cost of bovine dermatophilosis in 1985 was conservatively estimated to be some K. 6.9 million, (US$3 million). There were indications that the true financial cost in 1985 may have been up to 1.8 times the estimated cost.

Abortion, Veterinary↗