Perigraft infections due to Salmonella after abdominal aortic aneurysm repair

A 70-year-old man with abdominal aortic aneurysm repair presented with fever accompanied by rigors and abdominal pain one month after the procedure. Radiological investigations showed a perigraft collection. The collection was drained and the abscess cavity was lavaged. Cultures of pus and blood both yielded Group D Salmonella (non-typhi), which was treated with ceftriaxone and ciprofloxacin. The patient was followed-up for the past eight months without any further symptoms. Perigraft infections post abdominal aortic aneurysm repair could be caused by enteric organisms and must be treated with long-term appropriate antibiotics, depending on the microbiological finding, besides surgical drainage and lavage.

Greater severity and extent of periodontal breakdown in 136 south Indian human immunodeficiency virus seropositive patients than in normal controls: a comparative study using community periodontal index of treatment needs

Apart from the more or less distinctive forms of periodontal disease associated with human immunodeficiency virus (HIV)/acquired immunodeficiency syndrome there remains considerable uncertainty as to whether or not conventional destructive periodontitis is exacerbated in HIV positive individuals. This is especially so in developing countries, from which few studies have been reported. The present study compared the severity and extent of periodontal break down in 136 HIV positive individuals from Chennai, South India, with 136 age-matched controls from the same low socio-economic and ethnic group. All surfaces of all teeth were scored for the community periodontal index of treatment needs (CPITN). Statistical analysis was performed using SPSS package. The results of the present study show that CPITN is a simple, useful technique to assess periodontal status in immunosuppressed patients and that periodontitis is associated with immunosuppression and oral candidiasis. The assessment of periodontal statuscould thus be a useful tool in minimally invasive screening of populations for HIV disease, especially in those parts of the world, like India and Africa, with high prevalence and rising incidence.

Vaporization thermodynamic studies by high-temperature mass spectrometry on some three-phase regions over the MnO-TeO2 binary line in the Mn-Te-O ternary system

Knudsen effusion mass spectrometric measurements have been performed in the temperature range of 850-950 K over four three-phase mixtures, each phase mixture having at least one phase lying on the MnO-TeO2 binary line of the Mn-Te-O phase diagram, and the rest of the phases lying above this binary line. The three-phase mixtures investigated are Mn3O4 + MnO + Mn6Te5O16; Mn3O4 + Mn6Te5O16 + MnTeO3; Mn3O4 + Mn3TeO6 + MnTeO3; and Mn3TeO6 + MnTeO3 + Mn2Te3O8. The vapor pressures of the gaseous species TeO2, TeO, and Te2 over these three-phase mixtures were measured, and various heterogeneous solid-gas reactions were evaluated along with the homogeneous gas-phase reaction TeO2(g) + 0.5Te2(g) = 2 TeO(g). The enthalpy and Gibbs free energy of formation of the four ternary Mn-Te-O phases were deduced at T = 900 K. These values (in kJ.mol-1), along with the estimated uncertainties in them are Delta(f)H(o)m = 4150 +/- 19, 752 +/- 11, 1710 +/- 11, 1924 +/- 40, and Delta(f)G(o)m= 2835 +/- 28, 511 +/- 11, 1254 +/- 19, 1238 +/- 38, for Mn6Te5O16, MnTeO3, Mn3TeO6, and Mn2Te3O8, respectively. A thermochemical assessment was made to examine the conditions under which the ternary Mn-Te-O phases could be formed on a stainless steel clad of mixed-oxide-fueled (MO2; M = U + Pu) fast breeder nuclear reactors. The phase Mn3TeO6 could be formed when the fuel is even slightly hyperstoichiometric (O/M = 2.0002) and the phase Mn6Te5O16 could also be formed when O/M = 2.0004. The threshold tellurium potential for the formation of Mn3TeO6 is higher than that for MnTe0.80 and CrTe1.10, but is comparable to that for MoTe1.10, and even lower than that for FeTe0.81 or NiTe0.63.

Structural and mechanistic studies of VPS4 proteins

VPS4 ATPases function in multivesicular body formation and in HIV-1 budding. Here, we report the crystal structure of monomeric apo human VPS4B/SKD1 (hVPS4B), which is composed of five distinct elements: a poorly ordered N-terminal MIT domain that binds ESCRT-III substrates, large (mixed alpha/beta) and small (alpha) AAA ATPase domains that closely resemble analogous domains in the p97 D1 ATPase cassette, a three-stranded antiparallel beta domain inserted within the small ATPase domain, and a novel C-terminal helix. Apo hVPS4B and yeast Vps4p (yVps4p) proteins dimerized in solution, and assembled into larger complexes (10-12 subunits) upon ATP binding. Human and yeast adaptor proteins (LIP5 and yVta1p, respectively) bound the beta domains of the fully assembled hVPS4B and yVps4p proteins. We therefore propose that Vps4 proteins cycle between soluble, inactive low molecular weight complexes and active, membrane-associated double-ring structures that bind ATP and coassemble with LIP5/Vta1. Finally, HIV-1 budding was inhibited by mutations in a loop that projects into the center of the modeled hVPS4B rings, suggesting that hVPS4B may release the assembled ESCRT machinery by pulling ESCRT-III substrates up into the central pore.