ABSTRACT
Drywall from China has been reported to release sulfur producing products which are corrosive to metals, result in noxious odors, and represent a significant health risk. It has been reported that these emissions produce medical symptoms such as respiratory or asthma type problems, sinusitis, gastrointestinal disorders, and vision problems in home owners and their household pets. We report here a method of identifying a causative agent for these emissions by sampling affected gypsum wallboard and subjecting those samples to Real Time Polymerase Chain Reaction [RT-PCR] studies. Specific DNA probes and primers have been designed and patented that detect a specific iron and sulfur reducing bacterium (i.e., Thiobacillus ferrooxidans). One hundred percent of affected drywall samples obtained from homes located in the southeastern United States tested positive for the presence of T. ferrooxidans. All negative controls consisting of unaffected wallboard and internal controls, Geotrichum sp., tested negative within our limits of detection.
Subject(s)
Iron/metabolism , Sulfur/metabolism , Thiobacillus/isolation & purification , Wood/microbiology , DNA Probes/metabolism , DNA, Bacterial/analysis , Iron/chemistry , Oxidation-Reduction , Real-Time Polymerase Chain Reaction , Sulfur/chemistry , Thiobacillus/genetics , Thiobacillus/metabolismSubject(s)
Analgesics/adverse effects , Controlled Clinical Trials as Topic/standards , Pain/drug therapy , Pain/etiology , Spinal Cord Injuries/complications , gamma-Aminobutyric Acid/analogs & derivatives , Adverse Drug Reaction Reporting Systems/standards , Anti-Anxiety Agents/adverse effects , Body Weight/drug effects , Conflict of Interest , Controlled Clinical Trials as Topic/methods , GABA Agonists/adverse effects , Humans , Pain/physiopathology , Placebo Effect , Pregabalin , Reproducibility of Results , Research Design/standards , Spinal Cord Injuries/physiopathology , Substance Withdrawal Syndrome/physiopathology , Synaptic Transmission/drug effects , Synaptic Transmission/physiology , Treatment Outcome , gamma-Aminobutyric Acid/adverse effectsSubject(s)
Benzothiazoles/adverse effects , Clinical Trials as Topic/ethics , Conflict of Interest , Restless Legs Syndrome/drug therapy , Benzothiazoles/administration & dosage , Clinical Trials as Topic/standards , Dopamine Agonists/administration & dosage , Dopamine Agonists/adverse effects , Dose-Response Relationship, Drug , Drug-Related Side Effects and Adverse Reactions , Ethics, Pharmacy , Humans , Placebo Effect , Pramipexole , Reproducibility of Results , Treatment OutcomeABSTRACT
OBJECTIVE: Patients with interstitial pulmonary fibrosis (IPF) often have diffusely abnormal findings on chest radiographs, making it difficult to detect evidence of superimposed congestive heart failure (CHF) or pneumonia. The goal of this study was to determine whether the crackles of IPF differed in their transmission and frequency from crackles of CHF and pneumonia in the hope of improving diagnosis and monitoring of these patients. METHODS: A multichannel lung sound analyzer was used to collect 20-s samples of sound from 25 patients with pneumonia, 17 patients with CHF, and 19 patients with IPF. We calculated a crackle transmission coefficient (CTC) by quantifying the distance a crackle spreads using a technique that cross-correlated the signal containing the highest amplitude crackle with the corresponding signal on all other ipsilateral channels: CTC, 0% = no transmission; CTC, 100% = equal transmission to all channels. RESULTS: Both the CTC and the crackle frequency in IPF were statistically different from that in CHF and pneumonia (p < 0.0001). The CTC averaged 24 +/- 5% for pneumonia, 25 +/- 8% for CHF, and 14 +/- 4% for IPF. The crackle frequency averaged 302 +/- 47 Hz for pneumonia, 311 +/- 62 Hz for CHF, and 462 +/- 50 Hz for IPF (+/- SD). CONCLUSION: These differences in CTC and crackle frequency offer the promise of helping guide treatment in IPF patients.
