Isr Med Assoc J
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During recent months, the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) announced the occurrence of three major biosafety incidents, raising serious concern about biosafety and biosecurity guideline implementation in the most prestigious agencies in the United States: the CDC, the National Institutes of Health (NIH) and the Federal Drug Administration (FDA). These lapses included: a) the mishandling of Bacillus anthracis spores potentially exposing dozens of employees to anthrax; b) the shipment of low pathogenic influenza virus unknowingly cross-contaminated with a highly pathogenic strain; and c) an inventory lapse of hundreds of samples of biological agents, including six vials of variola virus kept in a cold storage room for decades, unnoticed. In this review we present the published data on these events, report the CDC inquiry's main findings, and discuss the key lessons to be learnt to ensure safer scientific practice in biomedical and microbiological service and research laboratories.
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A single self-rated health (SRH) assessment is associated with clinical outcome and mortality, but the biological process linking SRH with immune status remains incompletely understood. ⋯ A valid association exists for apparently healthy individuals of both genders between inflammation-sensitive biomarker levels and SRH categories, especially when comparing levels of hs-CRP. Our findings underscore the importance of assessing SRH and treating it like other markers of poor health.
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Laryngeal cleft (LC) is a rare congenital anomaly manifesting in a variety of symptoms, including swallowing disorders and aspirations, dyspnea, stridor and hoarseness. The mild forms (types I-II) may be underdiagnosed, leading to protracted symptomatology and morbidity. ⋯ Types I-II LC should be considered in the differential diagnosis of children presenting with protracted cough and aspirations. DL is crucial for establishing the diagnosis. Endoscopic surgery is safe and should be applied promptly when conservative measures fail.
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Randomized Controlled Trial Multicenter Study
The familial Mediterranean fever (FMF) 50 score: does it work in a controlled clinical trial? Re-analysis of the trial of rilonacept for patients with colchicine-resistant or intolerant FMF.
The familial Mediterranean fever 50 score (FMF50) score was recently devised to define response to treatment and as an outcome measure for clinical trials of FMF. ⋯ The proposed FMF50 score did not differentiate well between responders and non-responders compared to the a priori defined primary outcome measure in this successful controlled study.