Fifty-two of 142 (37%) American ex-prisoners of war that worked on the Burma-Thailand Railroad during World War II were found to have previously unrecognized symptomatic Strongyloides stercoralis infections. A characteristic urticarial creeping skin eruption on the abdomen, buttocks and thighs occurred in 92%. Infection was also associated with pruritus ani, abdominal pain, indigestion, heartburn, and diarrhea. Demonstration of larvae in ether-formalin stool concentrates in these chronic low density infections required 5 hours of microscopy per case to detect 90% of positive cases. Therapy with thiabendazole resulted in a clinical cure in 93% and a microscopic cure in 100%; but was associated with frequent side effects. Chronic strongyloidiasis should be considered in veterans of Far East conflicts and in others with intimate soil contact in rural Strongyloides stercoralis-endemic areas who present with recurrent creeping skin eruption, abdominal pain, and eosinophilia.

A B S T R A C T The ability of antibiotics to prevent Streptococcus sangutis endocarditis was tested in rabbits. Only vancomycin or a combination of penicillin G plus streptomycin always prevented infection when administered as a single dose. A loading dose of 30 mg/kg of phenoxymethyl penicillin (penicillin V) followed by additional 7.5 mg/kg doses for 48 h proved to be the only successful prophylactic program that could be given orally to man. Cefazolin alone or with streptomycin in multiple doses was also an effective alternative to penicillin or penicillin derivatives. Erythromycin uniformly failed to protect animals from bacterial endocarditis but showed greater prophylactic efficacy when a low inoculum of streptococci was used.

Cystic Fibrosis (CF) is an autosomal recessive disorder caused by mutations in the gene encoding the Cystic fibrosis transmembrane conductance regulator (CFTR).⌬F508-CFTR, the most common disease-causing CF mutant, exhibits folding and trafficking defects and is retained in the endoplasmic reticulum, where it is targeted for proteasomal degradation. To identify signaling pathways involved in ⌬F508-CFTR rescue, we screened a library of endoribonuclease-prepared short interfering RNAs (esiRNAs) that target ϳ750 different kinases and associated signaling proteins. We identified 20 novel suppressors of ⌬F508-CFTR maturation, including the FGFR1. These were subsequently validated by measuring channel activity by the YFP halide-sensitive assay following shRNA-mediated knockdown, immunoblotting for the mature (band C) ⌬F508-CFTR and measuring the amount of surface ⌬F508-CFTR by ELISA. The role of FGFR signaling on ⌬F508-CFTR trafficking was further elucidated by knocking down FGFRs and their downstream signaling proteins: Erk1/2, Akt, PLC␥-1, and FRS2. Interestingly, inhibition of FGFR1 with SU5402 administered to intestinal organoids (mini-guts) generated from the ileum of ⌬F508-CFTR homozygous mice resulted in a robust ⌬F508-CFTR rescue. Moreover, combination of SU5402 and VX-809 treatments in cells led to an additive enhancement of ⌬F508-CFTR rescue, suggesting these compounds operate by different mechanisms. Chaperone array analysis on human bronchial epithelial cells harvested from ⌬F508/ ⌬F508-CFTR transplant patients treated with SU5402 identified altered expression of several chaperones, an effect validated by their overexpression or knockdown experiments. We propose that FGFR signaling regulates specific chaperones that control ⌬F508-CFTR maturation, and suggest that FGFRs may serve as important targets for therapeutic intervention for the treatment of

Long-term use of indwelling urinary catheters in nursing home (NH) patients is a potential cause of significant morbidity. We retrospectively studied 10 NH patients with chronic indwelling urinary catheters. Sixty-four percent of all 84 antibiotic courses prescribed were for bacteriuria alone without clinical infection. Seventy percent of 63 antibiotic courses were followed by bacteriuria with organisms resistant to the antibiotic administered. Bacteria isolated from NH patients often displayed greater resistance to specific antibiotics than those isolated from hospitalized patients. Four of the 20 urinary tract infections were associated with bacteremia. Three episodes of bacteremia were with highly-resistant organisms and one was fatal. Use of urinary catheters and inappropriate use of antibiotics in NH patients results in urinary tract colonization and infection with resistant bacteria and is an important cause of morbidity and mortality.