[Tarantulas bite: two case reports of finger bite from Haplopelma lividum].

The risk of envenomations by venomous exotic spiders have not been well recognized in Japan. Two cases of finger bite from Asian pet tarantula, Haplopelma lividum (Cobalt blue), are reported. In both cases, initial severe pain and inflammatory signs were completely healed with only symptomatic treatments within several hours. In one case, arthritic stiffness lasted for a few weeks following bite but resulted no permanent deficit. Bites from Haplopelma lividum seemed relatively harmless like other various tarantulas, although the composition of the venom has been unknown.

Monitoring of chicken houses and an attached egg-processing facility in a laying farm for Salmonella contamination between 1994 and 1998.

Two chicken houses and an attached egg-processing facility in a laying farm were sampled between 1994 and 1998 to investigate Salmonella contamination. Each of the houses was environmentally controlled and fitted with egg belts that transported eggs from the houses to the egg-processing facility. Four hundred twenty-eight Salmonella isolates were obtained from 904 environmental samples collected from the houses. Two hundred fifty-two of the 428 (58.9%) isolates yielded five serotypes as follows: Salmonella enterica subsp. enterica serovar Livingstone, Salmonella serovar Cerro, Salmonella serovar Montevideo, Salmonella serovar Mbandaka, and Salmonella serovar Corvallis. The remaining (41.1%, 176 of 428) isolates included four other serotypes and isolates that were untypeable. Salmonella isolates obtained from the drain water collected after the washing of the eggs in the egg-processing facility yielded the same serotypes as those found in the chicken houses. Strains having an identical pulsed-field gel electrophoresis (PFGE) pattern were continually recovered from a house for more than 1 year. Several strains of Salmonella Cerro, Salmonella Mbandaka, and Salmonella Montevideo obtained from both the houses and from the egg-processing facility were indistinguishable by PFGE, respectively. These results suggest that Salmonella organisms originating from a single clone colonized the chicken houses and that the egg belts are likely to be one of the means by which Salmonella organisms are spread from one house to the others.

Allowable aperture size of the front end for the high-heat-load undulator beamlines of SPring-8.

A systematic study to determinine the allowable aperture size of the front end for the SPring-8 high-heat-load undulator beamlines has been performed, from the viewpoint of protecting the front-end Be window from thermomechanical failure, and based on the results of ANSYS finite-element analyses. These results have revealed that the allowable aperture size of the front end ranges approximately from 1.06 mm(2) to 3.2 mm(2) depending on the K-parameter and the filter thickness.

[A case of sudden onset of toxic cholangitis].

A previously healthy 43-year-old male was admitted to the hospital because of the impared consciousness. Although a passage of the bile duct was good, the patient was in severe biliary sepsis and cardiac arrest occurred repeatedly. Plasma concentration of TNF increased markedly suggesting a pathogenic role of TNF in the course of the patient. Plasma exchange was effective for hemodynamic stabilization. Recent advances in treatment of acute cholangitis has been brought by early drainage of the obstruction in the bile duct using endoscopic or percutaneous drainage. However this case suggests that only drainage of the infection focus is not sufficient for the life saving in such a patient and other therapeutic approach such as an inactivation of TNF activity should be considered.

Diamond beam-position monitor for undulator radiation and tests at the Tristan Super Light Facility.

A photon beam-position monitor using a diamond foil as a position-sensitive device has been developed for use on insertion-device beamlines of third-generation synchrotron radiation facilities such as SPring-8, and was tested on the undulator beamline of the Tristan Super Light Facility at KEK. The beam test results show that the diamond monitor can be operated in a photoconductive mode like a semiconductor detector. It has a linear working range of about +/-1 mm and a position sensitivity of less than 3 mum. The stability of the monitor was confirmed by continuous operation under low photon beam intensity conditions.

Isolation of a measles virus variant: protection of newborn mice from measles encephalitis by 24 h prior intracerebral inoculation with the variant.

A small plaque mutant with reduced neurovirulence in newborn mice was obtained from Edmonston strain measles virus after propagation for 5 months in NIH3T3 cells. It retained the antigenicity of the parental virus and tended to induce higher neutralizing antibody titers in the adult BALB/c mice. The intracerebral (but not intraperitoneal) inoculation of the live mutant virus one day before prevented the newborn BALB/c mice from encephalitis caused by the intracerebral challenge with the parental strain at a dose of 10-20 LD50. The intracerebral inoculation with the mutant virus whose replication capacity was inactivated by UV-irradiation was ineffective. The protection was not attributed to interferons nor to viral interference. The mechanism remains unknown.

L cell clone developing plaques upon infection with measles virus (Edmonston strain).

An L cell clone developing cytopathic plaques upon infection with measles virus (Edmonston strain) was obtained. The sensitivity as measured by the newly devised UV-Vero assay was not significantly different between plaque-forming and non-plaque-forming L cell clones. Cytopathogenicity and sensitivity to the virus infection appear to be under different host cell regulations.