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Role of complement receptor type three and serum opsonins in the neutrophil response to yeast. Complement 4, 75-86. 6. Czop, J. K., Austen, K. F. (l985a) A 13-glucan inhibitable receptor on human monocytes: Its identity with the phagocytic receptor for particulate activators of the alternative complement pathway.

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The temporal requirements for tyrosine phosphorylation in the induction of tumor necrosis factor (TNF) and inducible nitric oxide synthase (NOS) were compared in the routine macrophage cell line RAW 264.7. Preincubation of RAW 264.7 cells with herbimycin A or genistein (but not with either of three tyrphostins tested) significantly blocked TNF and NOS production on exposure of these cells to combinations of lipopolysaccharide (LPS) and interferon-gamma (IFN-gamma). The addition of either genistein or herbimycin A to RAW 264.7 cell cultures 1-6 It after stimulation with LPS and IFN-gamma had little or no effect on TNF production but markedly inhibited NOS protein accumulation. Together these data indicate that tyrosine kinase inhibitors block NOS production at a point well downstream of the initial wave of LPS- and IFN-gamma-mediated protein tyrosine phosphorylation.

Bacterial endotoxin or lipopolysaccharide is the major proinflammatory component of gram-negative bacteria, but the components of gram-positive bacteria that trigger the inflammatory cascade are poorly understood. Lipoteichoic acid (LTA) purified from 2 strains of viridans streptococci induced the accumulation of tumor necrosis factor (TNF) mRNA and protein by the murine macrophage cell line RAW 264.7 in a dose- and time-dependent manner. Furthermore, in the presence of recombinant interferon-gamma, LTA from both strains of viridans streptococci provoked the accumulation of inducible nitric oxide (NO) synthase mRNA and the production of NO. Together these observations indicate that LTA can trigger macrophage activation and the production of TNF and NO and suggest that LTA may be an important determinant of the host inflammatory response to gram-positive infection.

The authors describe four cases of obturator internus muscle (OIM) abscess in children, including their clinical presentations and treatment. This was a retrospective chart review. Children and adolescents younger than 18 years discharged between July 1, 1985, and September 30, 1998, from Brenner Children's Hospital with the diagnosis of muscle abscess or pelvic abscess were identified. A total of 56 patients were identified with the diagnosis of muscle abscess or pelvic abscess. OIM abscess was defined by radiologic findings of an inflammatory process with fluid collection in the OIM, along with the clinical findings suggestive of an OIM abscess. Four of the patients met the definition of OIM muscle abscess. The common presenting features were fever, limp, and hip pain. Computed tomography or magnetic resonance imaging was diagnostic in all four patients, and Staphylococcus aureus was the causative agent in each. All the patients recovered, one after surgical drainage and the other three after antimicrobial therapy alone or with needle aspiration. The presentation of OIM pyomyositis is similar to that of psoas muscle pyomyositis and other infectious processes of the pelvis and hip. The S. aureus is the most common etiologic agent but not the only one reported. Most patients can be managed without open surgical drainage, but needle aspirations may be helpful both therapeutically and diagnostically.

Helicobacter cinaedi has been most frequently isolated from rectal swabs of homosexual men with proctocolitis. The microorganism is a normal intestinal inhabitant of hamsters. We report a case of septicemia and meningitis by H. cinaedi in a neonate whose mother cared for pet hamsters during the first two trimesters of her pregnancy. The isolate was detected after 3 days of incubation in a Bact/Alert pediatric blood culture vial and an enrichment broth culture of the cerebrospinal fluid. H. cinaedi should be added to the list of unusual fastidious organisms that cause sepsis and meningitis in the newborn.

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