Kawasaki disease,or mucocutaneous lymph node syndrome: report of seven cases in North America.

The clinical and laboratory findings in seven children with Kawasaki disease are reviewed. Four of the patients had the more complicated course that has characterized the cases diagnosed in North America. This suggests that the benign forms are often mistaken for other febrile illnesses. The patients were two girls and five boys ranging in age from 4 months to 7 years; six were Caucasian and one was a North American Indian. Fever, redness of the oral mucosa, an erythematous or scarlatiniform rash and cervical adenopathy were seen in all; six patients had the characteristic fingertip desquamation and nonexudative conjunctivitis. Cardiac involvement occurred in four patients, two of whom had coronary artery aneurysm or thrombosis. Arthritis or arthralgia was seen in six patients, and aseptic meningitis occurred in four. Of the three patients with jaundice two underwent laparotomy and excision of a hydropic gallbladder; one of them died from Klebsiella pneumoniae sepsis and disseminated intravascular coagulopathy.     

Role of pituitary hormones in regulating renal vitamin D metabolism in man.

Studies in animals and tissue culture have shown the importance of prolactin and growth hormone in regulating renal 1 alpha-hydroxylase activity and plasma concentrations of 1,25-dihydroxycholecalciferol (1,25(OH)2D3). Evidence for a similar role for these hormones in man was sought by using a radioreceptor assay to measure plasma 1,25(OH)2D3 concentrations in 20 normal subjects, 12 patients receiving dialysis, 11 patients with primary hyperparathyroidism, 10 pregnant women, seven women with prolactinoma, and 14 patients with acromegaly. Circulating 1,25(OH)2D3 concentrations were appreciably raised in the patients with primary hyperparathyroidism and the pregnant women (P less than 0.001), slightly but significantly increased in the patients with prolactinoma (P less than 0.05), and greatly raised in those with acromegaly (P less than 0.001). These results suggest that prolactin and growth hormone are important regulators of renal vitamin D metabolism in the physiological conditions of pregnancy, lactation, and growth in man.     

Polysaccharide derivatives as coats for nylon tube urease

Urease was immobilized on O-alkylated nylon tubes coated with polyaminated derivatives of starch or dextran. The specific activity of the enzyme coil and the relative stability of the immobilized enzyme, compared with immobilized urease derived from other nylon tube modifications, were enhanced. Also, the nonspecific binding of urease to O-alkylated nylon tubes was virtually eliminated by the coating process.     

Isolation of Temperature-Sensitive Membrane Mutants of Escherichia coli K-12

Mutants with impaired biosynthesis of unsaturated fatty acids or altered metabolism of the phospholipids were isolated at a rather high frequency from a set of temperature-sensitive lysis mutants. It is suggested that preselection for the lysis phenotype makes it possible to isolate several kinds of mutants affected in the integrity of the cytoplasmic membrane.