Non-pharmacological management of infant and young child procedural pain.

We have identified nine genes, the expression of which are regulated by the CreBC two-component system: the first members of the cre regulon. They are divided into eight transcriptional units, each having a promoter-proximal TTCACnnnnnnTTCAC "cre-tag" motif. The cre regulon genes are: the ackA/pta operon, the products of which collectively catalyze the conversion of acetyl-CoA into acetate and ATP; talA, which encodes an enzyme involved in the mobilization of glyceraldehyde-3-phosphate into the pentose phosphate pathway; radC, which encodes a RecG-like DNA recombination/ repair function; malE, which is the first gene in the malEFG maltose transporter operon; trgB, which encodes an ADP-ribose pyrophosphorylase; and three other genes, creD, yidS and yieI, the products of which have not been assigned a function. Expression of each of these cre regulon genes is induced via CreBC during growth in minimal media, with the exception of malE, which is more tightly repressed. The diverse functions encoded by the cre regulon suggest that CreBC is a global regulator that sits right at the heart of metabolic control in Escherichia coli.

Over recent years it has become increasingly apparent that mucosal antibodies are not only restricted to the IgM and IgA isotypes, but that also other isotypes and particularly IgG can be found in significant quantities at some mucosal surfaces, such as in the genital tract. Their role is more complex than traditionally believed with, among other things, the discovery of novel function of mucosal immunoglobulin receptors. A thorough knowledge in the source and function and mucosal immunoglobulins is particularly important in development of vaccines providing mucosal immunity, and also in the current climate of microbicide development, to combat major world health issues such as HIV. We present here a comprehensive review of human antibody mediated mucosal immunity.

Melioidosis is a potentially fatal disease that is endemic to tropical northern Australia and Southeast Asia, with a mortality rate of 14 to 50%. The bacterium Burkholderia pseudomallei is the causative agent which infects numerous parts of the human body, including the brain, which results in the neurological manifestation of melioidosis. The olfactory nerve constitutes a direct conduit from the nasal cavity into the brain, and we have previously reported that B. pseudomallei can colonize this nerve in mice. We have now investigated in detail the mechanism by which the bacteria penetrate the olfactory and trigeminal nerves within the nasal cavity and infect the brain. We found that the olfactory epithelium responded to intranasal B. pseudomallei infection by widespread crenellation followed by disintegration of the neuronal layer to expose the underlying basal layer, which the bacteria then colonized. With the loss of the neuronal cell bodies, olfactory axons also degenerated, and the bacteria then migrated through the now-open conduit of the olfactory nerves. Using immunohistochemistry, we demonstrated that B. pseudomallei migrated through the cribriform plate via the olfactory nerves to enter the outer layer of the olfactory bulb in the brain within 24 h. We also found that the bacteria colonized the thin respiratory epithelium in the nasal cavity and then rapidly migrated along the underlying trigeminal nerve to penetrate the cranial cavity. These results demonstrate that B. pseudomallei invasion of the nerves of the nasal cavity leads to direct infection of the brain and bypasses the blood-brain barrier.

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Most studies of children's attitudes to mathematics have dealt with children in second grade or later, and have suggested that attitudes deteriorate, and anxiety increases with age. The present study investigated attitudes to mathematics in 67 English and 49 Chinese children at the end of their first year of school. The participants were given Thomas and Dowker's (2000) Mathematics Attitude Questionnaire, which uses pictorial rating scales to assess primary school children's mathematics anxiety, liking for mathematics, unhappiness at poor performance in mathematics, and self-rating in mathematics. They were also given the British Abilities Scales Basic Number Skills test. Attitudes were generally positive, though not more so than previously found for older primary school children. The Chinese children performed better in the arithmetic test and also rated themselves higher than the English children, but did not differ in other attitudes. Self-rating in mathematics and lack of unhappiness at poor performance were associated with better performance in the English group. There were no significant relationships between attitudes and performance in the Chinese group. Implications of the findings are discussed.

Since the late 1980s, with the first identification of individuals who were exposed to human immunodeficiency virus type 1 (HIV-1) yet remained uninfected, or "HIV-1-resistant" individuals, a large number of cohorts that include HIV-exposed seronegative (HESN) subjects have been identified globally for the purpose of investigating the genetic, immunologic, and environmental factors that may help alter susceptibility to HIV-1. In this article, in light of the recent International Symposium on Natural Immunity to HIV, we review the characteristics of different groups with respect to their relative risks and briefly summarize the known cohorts that include exposed uninfected subjects worldwide.

We conducted a comprehensive cross-sectional analysis of total and HIV-specific cervical antibody levels in HIV-1-resistant, uninfected, and infected women in order to examine the role of HIV-specific antibody responses in the female genital tract and examine the effect on antibody levels of various epidemiologic factors in this population. Cervical lavages were collected from 272 subjects of the Pumwani commercial sex worker cohort. Total and HIV-specific genital tract IgA and IgG levels were measured using an ELISA and correlated with behavioral and demographic factors. No significant difference was seen between cervical HIV-specific IgA levels in infected, uninfected, and resistant individuals, nor were any correlations between cervical HIV-specific IgA and neutralization capacity or viral shedding seen. We did, however, note increased HIV-specific IgA in HIV-negative women with four or more clients per day, and decreased HIV-specific IgA in both long-term nonprogressors and long-term survivors. These results show that there is not a strong cohort-wide correlation between HIV-specific cervical IgA levels and resistance to infection by HIV-1 as previously believed, but there is a correlation between exposure to HIV and HIV-specific cervical IgA. Our findings do not preclude the possibility that functional differences in the cervical IgA of HEPS women may play a role in resistance, but argue that HIV-specific responses may not be a universal protective factor. They also indicate that resistance to HIV is a complex condition related to more factors than exposure. Further studies of correlates of immune protection in these individuals would be beneficial to the field.