Atypical Mycobacteria in the Niagara Peninsula

From 1960 to 1965, 44,629 cultures were performed on persons attending chest clinics in the Niagara Peninsula.Tubercle bacilli were cultured from 965 biological specimens (2.16%) and atypical mycobacteria from 281 specimens (0.62%).Twelve subjects had more than one variety of atypical mycobacterium in their secretions, suggesting the occurrence of mutation. The administration of antituberculous drugs may have contributed to the emergence of atypical mycobacteria in some instances, but 41 patients had never received antituberculous drugs.Of 113 persons from whom atypical mycobacteria were cultured only two had lung infection primarily due to the atypical mycobacterium isolated.     

Arachidonic acid metabolites and colchicine in Behçet's disease (BD)

Vasculitis is accepted to be the basis of Behçet's disease (BD) which is a multisystem disease, and the arachidonic acid(AA) metabolites acting as balancing mediators in the organism are accepted to be responsible for the vasculitis.In this study, we examined the prostaglandin E₂ (PGE₂) and leukotriene C₄ (LTC₄) levels of the patients with BD before and after colchicine therapy. We found a statistical decrease in the PGE₂ and LTC₄ levels after colchicine therapy compared to the previous levels, concluding that colchicine inhibits the inflammation and the polymorphonuclear leukocyte (PML) chemotaxis by inhibiting the cyclooxygenase and lipoxygenase patways.