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Sero-epidemiological studies are required to identify populations susceptible to measles. The hemagglutination inhibition (HI) test is no longer sensitive enough to confirm immunity to measles, and at present the particle agglutination (PA) test and enzyme-linked immunosorbent assay (EIA) are employed. The most reliable method is the neutralization test (NT), but it is time-consuming and requires experience. To simplify the NT, a recombinant measles AIK-C virus expressing green fluorescence protein (GFP-MVAIK) was constructed and used as a challenge virus. Plaques and cytopathic effects were visualized under ultraviolet light and detected easily, and measuring the intensity of the fluorescence enabled a reduction in the time-consuming steps. Neutralizing antibody titers of a complete inhibition neutralization test were equivalent to those of a 90% plaque reduction neutralization test. Comparison of four methods, HI, PA, EIA and the complete inhibition neutralization test, showed that only the results of EIA correlated well with those of the complete inhibition neutralization test, but sera with borderline levels by EIA were sometimes negative by the complete inhibition neutralization assay.

We describe a patient with right common iliac artery occlusion who presented with intermittent claudication and underwent percutaneous transluminal angioplasty. The angiogram showed 100% occluded right common iliac artery with bridged collateral flow. After initial ballooning to the artery, the occluding plaque detached from the artery and resulted in multiple embolizations, not only to the distal external iliac artery, but also to the internal iliac artery and its branches, which supplied collateral flow to the right femoral artery. Circulation in the collateral networks from internal iliac artery and its branching to the right femoral artery diminished from the multiple embolizations. Repeat aspiration and stenting to the portion of dislodged plaque was attempted, but repeat ballooning to open the external iliac artery was unsuccessful because of decreased collateral flows and distal displacement of the embolus to the right femoral artery. Finally, all blood flow to the right femoral artery was occluded. Surgical embolectomy was successfully performed, but the patient succumbed to myonephropathic metabolic syndrome. Multiple embolizations occluding numerous collateral arteries caused acute fatal ischemia to the right limb. This case report highlights potentially fatal complication in the percutaneous intervention for chronic iliac artery occlusion.

The development of appropriate intellectual property protection for biotechnology is crucial for the industries which apply and develop it. This paper examines the issues concerning the patenting of recombinant proteins by analysing the recent judicial decisions relating to tissue-plasminogen activator (t-PA), a therapeutic protein drug. This recent litigation is important because of the apparent coincident invention of t-PA and variants in different laboratories. Such developments arise as many major R&D efforts are directed at common therapeutic goals. This study focuses on the issues of non-obviousness and scope with respect to both the invention itself and the production of second generation and subsequent compounds that may readily be created by the application of powerful recombinant DNA techniques. Three companies, Genentech (San Francisco, CA, USA), Wellcome (Beckenham, UK) and Toyobo (Otsu, Shiba, Japan) were involved in three separate court actions over claims to recombinant t-PA. We demonstrate that biotechnology patents with broad claims have been upheld and as a consequence have led to the curtailment of modified variants with potentially useful pharmacological properties. There is, therefore, a clear need for public policies which address these complex issues. We argue that such policies should both reward the inventor and facilitate maximum exploitation of this limited natural biological resource by greater specificity of patent claims.

This is a rare image of a porcelain heart resulting from rheumatic pancarditis. We present a case of postmortem porcelain heart scanned by multislice computed tomography, and we show three-dimensional data reconstruction analyzed with a commercial workstation (Vitrea2; Vital Images, Inc., Minnetonka, MN). Three-dimensional volume-rendering technique imaging reveals massive calcification of the entire heart, creating a pottery appearance.