Israel journal of medical sciences
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A study group of 1,299 adult Israelis aged 30 to 65 years was chosen from persons referred for evaluation of possible pulmonary diseases in two outpatient chest clinics. They were interviewed using the ATS-NHLI (American Thoracic Society-National Heart and Lung Institute) health questionnaire and underwent the pulmonary function test (PFT), which included the following parameters: forced vital capacity (FVC), forced expiratory volume in 1st sec (FEV1), FEV1/FVC, peak expiratory flow (PEF), FEF50 and FEF25 (forced expiratory flow at 50 and 25% of FVC, respectively). The effect of the country of origin of the subjects on the distribution of respiratory symptoms, pulmonary diseases and PFT was analyzed. ⋯ In immigrants from Morocco, reported respiratory symptoms, pulmonary diseases and impaired PFT were relatively uncommon. The different distribution of reported respiratory symptoms, pulmonary diseases and impaired PFT by country of origin could not be explained by environmental factors, such as smoking habits and socioeconomic background. The high prevalence of reported asthma among immigrants from Iraq-Iran is most probably due to a genetic factor.
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Comparative Study
General anesthesia during excision of a mouse tumor accelerates postsurgical growth of metastases by suppression of natural killer cell activity.
Our previous studies indicated that anesthetic drugs cause acceleration of postoperative metastasis of mouse tumors. We tested whether this augmentation could be attributed to a decrease in natural killer (NK) activity. ⋯ Treatment of mice with poly I:C abolished the accelerated growth of metastases following excision of the tumor under ketamine or halothane anesthesia. On the other hand, treatment with poly I:C seemed to have no effect on acceleration of postoperative metastasis in mice anesthetized with N2O or thiopental sodium.
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Clinical Trial
Development and approval of vaccines in the United States.
In the United States, vaccines and the establishments in which they are manufactured are required to be licensed by the Food and Drug Administration (FDA) before the vaccine can be marketed. This licensing process, as well as the development and investigation of vaccines, is regulated by the FDA's Office of Biologics Research and Review. ⋯ Inspections, surveillance and laboratory testing are performed by the FDA before and after issuance of a license for marketing. The procedures and policies in the investigational and licensing phases of vaccine development are described.
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Case Reports
Herpes encephalitis during pregnancy: failure of acyclovir and adenine arabinoside to prevent neonatal herpes.
A gravid woman with herpes Type II encephalitis delivered an infant with herpes neonatorum despite therapy with acyclovir. Acyclovir was not measurable in the baby's serum 10 h after birth. The viral isolate was sensitive to acyclovir in vitro, and the neonatal infection responded to treatment with the drug. Prenatal antiviral therapy may be ineffective in preventing intrauterine herpesvirus infection.