Gene/Protein Disease Symptom Drug Enzyme Compound
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Query: UMLS:C0014118 (endocarditis)
 15,629 document(s) hit in 31,850,051 MEDLINE articles (0.00 seconds)

Approximately 40% of transforming growth factor-beta 1 null (knockout) mice generated in our laboratory develop normally to term, but 60% die in utero. The animals appear normal during the first 2 weeks of life but develop a rapid wasting syndrome and die by 3 to 4 weeks of age. All of the knockout mice have a multifocal inflammatory disease in many tissues. The heart and lungs are most severely affected. Increased adhesion of leukocytes to the endothelium of pulmonary veins is the initial lesion seen at day 8 postnatally and is soon followed by perivascular cuffing as well as inflammatory infiltrates in lung parenchyma. The lesions in the heart begin as endocarditis and then progress to myocarditis and pericarditis. Within the lung, chronic inflammatory infiltrates consist of T and B lymphocytes, including plasma cells, whereas macrophages are the primary inflammatory cell type in the heart. Increased expression of major histocompatibility complex class I and II proteins is seen in pulmonary vascular endothelium as early as day 8. An immunoblastic response in mediastinal and mandibular lymph nodes and spleen is also seen. In the absence of any pathogens, this massive inflammatory disease, together with overexpression of major histocompatibility complex class I and II proteins and overproduction of immunoglobulins by lymphocytes, offers circumstantial evidence for an autoimmune etiology.
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PMID:Transforming growth factor-beta 1 null mice. An animal model for inflammatory disorders. 785 32

The clinical presentation of infective endocarditis varies according to the etiologic agent and the host. In elderly individuals, infective endocarditis can be difficult to diagnose and poses a challenge for the physician. The course of subacute infective endocarditis is indolent, and the onset of cardiac structural lesion is slow and gradual. In elderly patients, anemia and weight loss are occasionally the only or the most striking symptoms. In such cases, the clinical reasoning process leads to a hypothesis of wasting syndrome or neoplastic disease, especially when there is no fever. We report the case of an elderly patient who had mitral insufficiency due to degenerative valve disease and presented with bacterial endocarditis due to Streptococcus mitis. The patient was not treated, because the diagnosis was not established in a timely manner. It is of note that the patient presented with marked weight loss and no fever. The autopsy revealed impairment of the mitral valve and left atrium due to endocarditis, as well as lung involvement due to chronic inhalation of smoke from biomass burning, such as that produced by wood-burning stoves.
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PMID:Infective endocarditis: a consumptive disease among the elderly. 3152 50