Gene/Protein Disease Symptom Drug Enzyme Compound
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Query: UMLS:C0032285 (pneumonia)
 54,520 document(s) hit in 31,850,051 MEDLINE articles (0.00 seconds)

It has been suggested that C3 breakdown by granulocyte-neutral proteases in pleural empyemas may be related to a decreased inhibitor potential for these enzymes. In the present study it was shown that in 17 infected pleural effusions, high proteolytic activity on 125I-labeled C3 (16.3% +/- 4.4%) correlated with low functional levels of alpha 1-proteinase inhibitor (alpha 1-PI), as determined by trypsin-inhibitory capacity (56.2 +/- 20.1 IU/ml; rs = -0.97, P less than .001), whereas in 18 sterile pleural effusions there was no such correlation (125I-labeled C3 cleavage, 2.2% +/- .2%; trypsin-inhibitory capacity, 192.6 +/- 26.7 IU/ml). However, alpha 1-PI and alpha 2-macroglobulin protein concentrations in infected and sterile effusions (as measured by immunodiffusion) were similar. Fifteen strains of three bacterial species--Streptococcus pneumoniae, Pseudomonas aeruginosa, and Proteus mirabilis--isolated from patients with pneumonia or empyema inactivated the elastase-inhibitory capacity of alpha 1-PI in vitro. These results show that in empyemas functional levels of alpha 1-PI were too low to inactivate granulocyte elastase and that some bacterial species may contribute to the low inhibitor potential of infected pleural fluid by direct alpha 1-PI inactivation.
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PMID:Low levels of functional of alpha 1-proteinase inhibitor in the promotion of C3-cleavage by granulocyte-neutral proteases in pleural empyema. 620 92

Wistar, Sprague-Dawley, and Long-Evans outbred rats, and the Fischer344 inbred strain were inoculated intranasally with 10(3) TCID50 of sialodacryoadenitis virus at approximately 9 weeks of age. Paired animals were killed at 2-day intervals post inoculation up to 2 weeks, then at 20 days. A comparison of strain susceptibility to sialodacryoadenitis virus was made using the following criteria: histopathology, immunofluorescent microscopy, serology and serum amylase activity. All four strains were susceptible to sialodacryoadenitis virus. The disease was frequently subclinical, although typical lesions were observed on histopathology. Focal bronchitis, bronchiolitis and pneumonitis were observed histologically during the acute stages of the disease. Immunohistochemistry was performed on trypsin-treated, paraffin-embedded sections, and viral antigen was readily demonstrated in salivary and lacrimal glands during the early stages of the disease. A rise in serum amylase was observed, and it was correlated with the first appearance of lesions in the salivary glands. Based on serology and immunofluorescence microscopy, the appearance of detectable antibody to sialodacryoadenitis virus, and the rate of viral clearance from infected glands, the course of the disease was similar in the four strains studied.
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PMID:Comparison of strain susceptibility to experimental sialodacryoadenitis in rats. 620 17

Activities of elastase- and trypsin-like proteinases from granulocytes as well as content of their acid-stable inhibitors were studied in 80 samples of the bronchial secretory products obtained from 34 children from 4 to 15 years old suffering from various forms of bronchopulmonary pathology/primary chronic pneumonia, Cartagener's syndrom, mucoviscidosis, pulmonary malformations. Normal bronchial secretory products were characterized by high content of the acid-stable inhibitors as well as by absence of the granulocytic proteinases activity. Development of inflammatory impairments in bronchi was accompanied by 2-3-fold decrease in content of the inhibitors with simultaneous increase in the enzymatic activity. The data obtained suggest that the relationship between activity of granulocytic proteinases and content of acid-stable inhibitors in bronchial secretory products might be considered as an important index of inflammatory processes in bronchi. De novo synthesis of acid-stable inhibitors in lungs appears to be decreased in the course of development of inflammation.
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PMID:[Activity of granulocyte proteinases and level of acid-stable proteinase inhibitors in the bronchial secretions of children with bronchopathies of different etiology]. 700 5

Urine from nine patients with serogroup 1 Legionnaires' disease, 100 with infected or contaminated urine, 50 with bacteremic infections, 26 with infectious or infiltrative pulmonary diseases, and 65 with miscellaneous infectious or noninfectious illnesses, was examined by radioimmunoassay for the presence of Legionella pneumophila antigen(s). Urine of all nine Legionnaires' disease patients was clearly differentiated from that of the 241 control subjects by the assay. The antigen was detected from 2 to at least 10 days after the initiation of erythromycin therapy. A probable false-positive results occurred in a patient with necrotizing nosocomial pneumonia who died before definitive serologic evaluation for Legionnaires' disease could be completed. The antigen was stable at 100 degrees C for 30 minutes and was not degraded by trypsin. Its elution behavior suggested that its molecular weight is approximately 10 000. The radioimmunoassay appears to be a useful method for rapidly diagnosing serogroup 1 Legionnaires' disease.
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PMID:Rapid radioimmunoassay diagnosis of Legionnaires' disease: detection and partial characterization of urinary antigen. 723 92

Rhodococcus equi is a facultative, intracellular, Gram-positive coccobacillus, increasingly reported in pneumonia of AIDS-infected patients. We investigated killing resistance properties of human R. equi virulent and avirulent human strains. Avirulent beta-lactam-susceptible strains had lower intracellular colony forming units after 45 min incubation in murine macrophages J774 and human monocyte-macrophage TPH-1 than those of virulent strains. Only virulent beta-lactam-resistant strains persisted within macrophages for at least 18 min only. A beta-lactam-resistant mutant was obtained from a beta-lactam-susceptible strain after selection in a penicillin G-containing culture medium. This mutant strain, like the natural virulent strains, persisted within macrophages, harboured cell-associated appendages, produced phage-like particles and induced, after its intravenous inoculation, a chronic infection in BALB/c nude mice. Supernatant culture of virulent strains transferred partial macrophage-killing resistance properties to avirulent strains. The same supernatant was toxic for L-929, HeLa and Vero cell cultures. These supernatant effects were heat-inactivated, trypsin-inactivated and did not seem to be linked to phage-like particle presence. These data argue that virulence, beta-lactam-resistance, and macrophage-killing resistance are associated in human R. equi isolates. Moreover, only virulent strains produced uncharacterized toxic factors.
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PMID:Interaction of virulent and non-virulent Rhodococcus equi human isolates with phagocytes, fibroblast- and epithelial-derived cells. 781 68

The protein and antigen profiles of 11 isolates of Mycoplasma bovis were compared by sodium dodecyl sulfate-polyacrylamide gel electrophoresis and immunoblot analysis of whole organisms. The isolates examined included the type strain PG45 and 10 other filter-cloned strains or purified isolates both from animals without clinical signs and from clinical cases of bovine mastitis, arthritis, or pneumonia. While the overall protein patterns visualized by silver staining were very similar, marked differences in the antigen banding profiles were detected by rabbit antiserum prepared against whole organisms from one of the strains analyzed. This antigenic heterogeneity was shown to be independent of the geographical origin, the type of clinical disease, and the site of isolation and was also observed among serial isolates from a single animal. Antigen profiles were further monitored throughout sequentially subcloned populations of the PG45 strain. This clonal analysis revealed a high-frequency variation in the expression levels of several prominent antigens. All of these variable antigens were defined by detergent-phase fractionation with Triton X-114 as amphiphilic integral membrane proteins. A subset of different-sized membrane proteins was identified by a monoclonal antibody raised against a PG45 subclone expressing a 63- and a 46-kDa variant antigen within that set. The selective susceptibility of these proteins to trypsin treatment of intact organisms and their ability to bind the monoclonal antibody in colony immunoblots demonstrated that they were exposed on the cell surface. In addition, their preferential recognition by serum antibodies from individual cattle with naturally induced M. bovis mastitis or arthritis confirmed that they were major immunogens of this organism. These studies establish that the apparent antigenic heterogeneity among M. bovis isolates reported here does not represent stable phenotypic strain differences generated from accumulated mutational events but reflects distinct expression patterns of diverse, highly variable membrane surface proteins.
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PMID:Antigen heterogeneity among isolates of Mycoplasma bovis is generated by high-frequency variation of diverse membrane surface proteins. 792 89

Rhodococcus equi, an intracellular organism causing pneumonia and lung abscesses in foals, is generally thought to be non-haemolytic. In the present study, however, 13 of 14 representative isolates were found to be haemolytic when tested on agar media containing washed red blood cells rather than whole blood. Red cells of rabbits, dogs, horses and man were more sensitive to lysis than were those of ruminants. Two new enzymatic activities of the species were defined: a lecithinase and a phosphatidylinositol-specific phospholipase C (PI-PLC). As judged from tests for trypsin, temperature and ethanol sensitivity, the haemolytic activity was primarily dependent on PI-PLC though the participation of lecithinase seemed probable. The haemolytic activity of growing strains, but not of cell-free preparations, was partially inhibited by lecithin but enhanced by cholesterol; however, cholesterol oxidase (CO) activity, known to mediate cooperative lysis of RBC sensitized with sphingomyelin-specific phospholipases C or D of some other species, did not contribute to the direct haemolysis caused by R. equi as demonstrated here.
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PMID:Haemolytic and phospholipase C (PLC) activities of Rhodococcus equi. 798 59

Group B streptococci (GBS) are the major cause of neonatal pneumonia, sepsis, and meningitis. Steps considered to be important in the pathogenesis of this infection include colonization of the rectum and vagina of the mother, aspiration of GBS into the fetal lung during or just prior to delivery, and invasion of GBS into pulmonary epithelial cells. We have previously demonstrated that GBS can invade pulmonary epithelial cells both in vivo and in vitro. Adherence of GBS to epithelial cells may play an important role in colonization of the rectum and vagina and constitute a first step in invasion of pulmonary epithelial cells. Because GBS can both adhere to and invade epithelial cells, we have developed two assays for GBS adherence which measure cell surface and not intracellular bacteria. Using these assays, we were able to demonstrate specific adherence of GBS to pulmonary epithelial cells. Adherence levels were similar at 4 and 37 degrees C and for log- and stationary-phase bacteria. Physiologic conditions vary considerably between the rectum, vagina, and lung, and a range of conditions was therefore tested. Adherence was enhanced in hypotonic solutions, while magnesium and calcium had no effect on adherence at physiologic concentrations. In comparison with adherence at neutral pH, adherence was increased 6- to 20-fold at pH 4, which is the normal vaginal pH. Neither capsular polysaccharide nor lipoteichoic acid was important for adherence in these assays. Treatment of GBS with trypsin decreased their adherence by more than 75%, indicating that surface proteins play an important role.
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PMID:Adherence of group B streptococci to cultured epithelial cells: roles of environmental factors and bacterial surface components. 818 70

Cystic fibrosis was diagnosed in two female infants, respectively nine months old (Case 1) and six months old (Case 2). Clinical presentation of these two infants showed frequent episodes of pneumonia, dehydration and poor weight gain, despite fair intake of food since birth. Hyponatremic, hypochloremic metabolic alkalosis had been found during their previous hospitalizations. In Case 1, stool fat was positive with negative trypsin test. Both cases had abnormal findings on chest X-ray films, but the pancreas showed no remarkable cystic changes from sonography. Plastic-bag method of sweat test showed Na/Cl: 155/185 nmol/L in Case 1, Na/Cl: 127/135 nmol/L in Case 2. A family history was suggested, since each one had an elder brother who had died in early infancy with similar clinical presentations. Both patients were put on special diet therapy as well as chest physical therapy. Case 1 died suddenly at 16 months of age. Autopsy revealed mucusplugged dilated ducts with atrophy of the exocrine portion of the pancreas. DNA analysis in Case 2 showed abnormal mutation point at 1898+5 G-->T on chromosome 7.
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PMID:Cystic fibrosis in two Chinese infants in Taiwan. 821 63

Under an influenza surveillance initiated in Pune, India, 2 or 3 dispensaries and small hospitals where patients with acute respiratory disease (ARD) sought medical assistance were chosen for regular weekly visits to collect a sufficient number of specimens. A case of ARD included individuals with the following conditions: common cold, pharyngitis, laryngitis, tracheitis, bronchitis, bronchiolitis, pneumonia, or bronchopneumonia. During the period of surveillance of 1978-90, more than 10,000 cases of ARD among various age groups were investigated. The majority of cases were in children and infants. Most of the patients were seen during investigations of 16 outbreaks of influenza. Generally, the cases presented with 2 or 3 symptoms of respiratory disease and 1 or 2 systemic manifestations. Throat and nasal swabs were collected from ARD cases during the acute phase of their illness (1-4 days). Throat/nasal swabs were taken from over 10,000 ARD cases. About 80% of these specimens were cultivated for influenza virus in embryonated chicken eggs (9-11 days' old) and about 39% in Madin-Darby canine kidney cell culture (MDCK) with crystalline trypsin. Several variants of influenza virus types A and B were isolated during the 16 outbreaks including these variant strains: A/USSR/77 (H1N1) in 1978; A/Singapore/6/86 (H1N1) in 1986; and B/Yamagata/16/88-like in 1990. A total of 290 influenza virus isolates comprising several variants of influenza type A (H3N2) and A (H1N1) and type B were isolated. The variant strains of influenza type A (H1N1), type A (H3N2), and type B circulated regularly either every year or in alternate years. 181 of 290 of the influenza isolates were from children aged 10 years. Analysis of the isolates showed that 174 were from the rainy months of July, August, and September, and the maximum number of 93 occurred in July. Of the 16 outbreaks of influenza, 10 occurred in the rainy season, 3 in the hot season, 1 in the cool season, and 2 in February and March.
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PMID:Influenza surveillance in Pune, India, 1978-90. 849 Sep 80


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