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The recognition of infection clusters via determination of clonal relationships between pathogen isolates represents the major aim of pathogen subtyping during outbreaks. In addition, a continuing and comprehensive subtyping of pathogen isolates is a prerequisite for early recognition of changes within pathogen populations, especially of new pathogen types and variants. Here, in an exemplary manner, we outline the current practice in Germany for three important agents of food-borne infections, Salmonella enterica, Listeria monocytogenes and enterohemorrhagic Escherichia coli (EHEC). Pathogen subtyping is mostly performed in specialized laboratories. Collection of representative pathogen isolates is therefore critical for comprehensive pathogen surveillance. Salmonella and L. monocytogenes are usually isolated by sample culturing in primary diagnostic laboratories and a considerable number are sent to the respective reference laboratories for further subtyping. However, the current situation in terms of EHEC is problematic. As the detection of shiga toxin (or gene) is sufficient for diagnosis and case reporting, primary diagnostic laboratories actually rarely isolate EHEC; therefore, a concept for appropriate retrieval of isolates is needed to ensure effective EHEC surveillance in Germany.

Based on experiments and quantum mechanical calculations a new mechanism for the ring D inversion in the formation of uroporphyrinogen I11 3 from hydroxymethylbilane and the mode of action of the enzyme cosynthetase is proposed. The easily occurring cyclisation of hydroxymethylbilane is traced back to the substitution pattern at the pyrrole rings forcing the acyclic molecule into a cyclic conformation due to an allylic 1,3-strain.

Parasitic infection during pregnancy is common. With most parasites, primary prevention is very effective in avoiding infestation. With the exceptions of malaria, toxoplasmosis, and African trypanosomiasis, when infection does occur, treatment decisions should be based on the impact of the infection on the patient and her fetus on an individual basis. When treatment is indicated, selection of medications with the least potential to harm the mother and more particularly the developing fetus is essential.

We have presented a case of atopic dermatitis associated with Giardia lamblia infection, which has not been previously described. Review of the world literature shows an association between giardiasis and urticaria. Other allergic phenomena, such as angioedema and possibly arthropathy, also might be associated with this infection. When confronted with these clinical problems, giardiasis should be included in the differential diagnosis. As these complications respond to specific therapy, identification of this organism as its cause can be particularly rewarding.

Parasitic infection during pregnancy is common. With most parasites, primary prevention is very effective in avoiding infestation. With the exceptions of malaria, toxoplasmosis, and African trypanosomiasis, when infection does occur, treatment decisions should be based on the impact of the infection on the patient and her fetus on an individual basis. When treatment is indicated, selection of medications with the least potential to harm the mother and more particularly the developing fetus is essential.

Ascaris lumbricoides is a significant health problem. One billion people worldwide are infected. Most frequently it is seen in malnourished people residing in developing countries. Areas with modern water and waste treatment have a low incidence. The major serious sequelae associated with the parasite is intestinal obstruction, which occurs at a rate of 2 per 1000 people infected. Intestinal obstruction is fatal in 6 per 100,000 children. An estimated 20,000 people die of this infection annually. Although effective chemotherapy is available, long-term cure and ultimate eradication of this parasite requires improved sanitation and change in some cultural habits. The incidence in the United States has seemed to decrease, presumably because of improved sanitation. This problem is still encountered occasionally, necessitating familiarity with the clinical manifestations and treatment modalities. A professional explanation of this parasite and its life cycle will go far to eliminate the guilt of parents whose child has "passed a worm."

More than 30 conjugative R plasmids between 60 and 70 Md in size were identified in wild type strains of Enterobacteriaceae isolated in German Democratic Republic, Bulgaria, Mongolia, Poland, Ethiopia, Iraque, and Soviet Union. They have been characterized by means of several genetic and molecular techniques as members of a new incompatibility group, termed IncZ. The properties of these plasmids including digestion pattern after EcoRI treatment demonstrate a phylogenetic relatedness.

Before the introduction of gentamicin, trimethoprim, or streptothricins for therapeutic or ergotropic purposes in the GDR respective resistance plasmids could not be detected in enteric bacteria from sewage, surface water or clinical specimens, even if the selection was carried out on drug containing media. After a certain time of continuous drug application the rise of particular plasmids encoding gentamicin (IncM), trimethoprim (IncI5), or streptothricin resistance (IncW3) was observed much earlier in enteric bacteria from sewage, waste water and surface water than in bacteria from clinical sources. These observations were further supported by surveying other plasmid species encoding gentamicin (IncOF, IncD, IncC), trimethoprim (IncK, IncZ, IncFII, IncN, IncW3), or streptothricin (IncI2, IncX, IncFII, IncI1, IncS, IncN) resistance. They appeared also at first in bacteria from sewage and surface water, then, some time later, in bacteria from clinical sources. Therefore, one must admit a key position of sewage and surface water for the surveillance of infectious drug resistance.

SUMMARYNatural isolates ofEscherichia coli, Salmonella typhimurium, Klebsiella pneumoniae, andProvidencia stuartiiwere analysed to determine their plasmid content. This data allowed the identification of nosocomial strains ofK. pneumoniaeandP. stuartiiand helped in the differentiation of epidemic strains ofE. coli0111 andS. typhimurium. Phenotypically similar isolates ofS. typhimuriumcould be shown to be of independent origin using plasmid pattern analysis. The dissemination of a particular plasmid through different strains ofS. typhimuriumresulted in a simulation of a very widely distributed epidemic strain, because the plasmid interfered with the phage type of its host strain in addition to determining re sistance properties. Plasmid pattern analysis disclosed two independently existing but interacting epidemic processes: a bacterial ‘epidemic’ strain may become disseminated over a large territory and may predominate there for a long time; a single plasmid, however, may also become distributed through many different bacterial strains and may spread over a large territory. Plasmid pattern analysis provides a valuable and universal epidemiological laboratory method.

Following the employment of trimethoprim/sulfonamid and gentamicin in the general clinical praxis transferable plasmids with respective resistance function were identified at first in enteric bacteria from sewage before they could be detected in patient strains. Whereas the trimethoprim resistance plasmids represent different incompatibility groups (C, FII, I5, K, M, N, S, U) the gentamicin resistance plasmids are very similar IncM members of 62 MD in size. Therefore a clonal distribution of a particular gentamicin resistance plasmid has to be taken into consideration.

The tide of Dr. Wind's book, “Bellini's Feast of the Gods,”1 is modest to the point of being misleading. Its subject is in fact the reinterpretation of two closely related artistic productions executed for two closely related art patrons of the Renaissance: the decorations of the studio of Isabella d'Este Gonzaga in Mantua and of that of her brother, Alfonso d'Este in Ferrara. Bellini's painting forms the connecting link between the earlier studio of Isabella and the somewhat later studio of Alfonso. Wind conjures up the past with a magic wand. He succeeds in convincing the reader of the correctness of his thesis and, what is most captivating, the book reads like a thrilling novel. So at last, here is a scholarly book that holds its reader enthralled from cover to cover.

When Joachim von Sandrart came to Venice in 1628 to stay for several years, the studio of Tintoretto was still vigorously productive. The founder of the house had, it is true, died in 1594, but since then Domenico, his son and faithful assistant through two decades, had headed it. He was assisted by his younger brother Marco, who seems to have kept some independence for himself, and by his pupil and assistant, Bastian Casser. After the death of his employers (Domenico died in 1635, Marco in 1637) the latter, as son-in-law of Jacopo, took the name of Tintoretto and for many years kept the shop going as both a studio and a museum

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(1958). Bernard Berenson, Italian Pictures of the Renaissance; A List of the Principal Artists and Their Works with an Index of Places: Venetian School.. The Art Bulletin: Vol. 40, No. 4, pp. 347-354.

The information that Pietro Aretino and Giovanni Maria Verdizotti drew up official letters for Titian does not originate earlier than in Ridolfi,1 who wrote almost a hundred years after Aretino's death and fifty after Verdizotti's. Vasari does not mention the fact, yet he was Aretino's fellow countryman and during his stay in Venice in 1566 was introduced to Verdizotti by Titian himself.2 Nevertheless the report seems trustworthy, since it implies neither advantage nor disadvantage to anybody. So far as Aretino is concerned, it is confirmed by a comparison of Titian's official correspondence from 1527 to 1556, the years of his close connection with Aretino, with hundreds of his friend's letters.

When Titian passed away in Venice in 1576, almost simultaneously with his son Orazio who died of the plague, his house on Birri Grande, brimful of works of art, remained unguarded. Burglars carried away valuable property. Titian's second son, Pomponio, and his son-in-law, Condio Sarcinello, represented by the avogadore di comun, Niccolo Barbarigo, had the criminal police promulgate a summons to the public to notify the authorities of any observation that might cast light on these robberies.1 Three years later Pomponio sold the house, apparently including all the paintings it contained, to Christoforo Barbarigo.2 As property of this noble family the paintings, or as many of them as survived through the following centuries, were listed by Bevilacqua in 1845.3 Even before the final liquidation of this heritage Pomponio Seems to have disposed of certain canvases, We are informed that Jacopo Tintoretto acquired a few,4 among them the Christ Crowned with Thorns, later on sold by Domenico Tintoretto to an oltram...

Contemporary or slightly later sources dealing with Titian's famous mural in the Sala del Consiglio Maggiore in the Ducal Palace are contradictory. They leave us uncertain as to exactly when it was painted, what specific battle it represented, and precisely how it looked. The interpretation by later critics of this very confusing tradition was incorrect, arbitrary, or superficial. It is my ungrateful task to reexamine the question in order to establish a new groundwork based on facts and less open to criticism. I call it an ungrateful task because the painting no longer exists, having been destroyed by fire in 1577, together with all the other paintings in the Hall. Painted and engraved copies convey an idea of its original arrangement. This circumstance converts my problem from a historical to an archaeological one. First of all, the documentary and literary sources must be introduced. The painting, meant to replace an older composition executed by Guariento in the fourteenth century, was first mentioned...

Writers on Michelangelo have always encountered difficulties in interpreting the decoration of the Medici Chapel. In the first place the decoration was never brought to completion; the work dragged on for a very long time during which the original program underwent repeated modification; the documents give no clue as to the underlying idea. An added source of confusion, as I see it, is the fact that the comments on the idea of the decoration came from a period considerably later than the work on the principal figures, and were made moreover by intellectuals absorbed in literary and aesthetical questions and whose natural ambition was to find their own approach confirmed by the work of art and to explain it in literary terms. Michelangelo himself followed the same line of approach. What he formulated in his poems, what he told Condivi to write, is interpretation after the event. At the time when he conceived the figures, the commission from outside and his own inner reaction to the order had to work out in...

The sheet of drawings here published and discussed for the first time (Figs. 1 and 2)1 presents various studies of nudes which seem to me to be by two different hands: those of the recto are studies from the live model drawn with genuine devotion to nature, repeating and varying the poses, while on the verso only one study, representing a seated woman seen from behind—a very hasty sketch, incidentally—might be by the same hand as those on the recto. The others on the verso are certainly not drawn from life, but copied from drawings which in their turn may have been done after works of sculpture. Thus, all the drawings on the verso except the one of the seated woman are, so to speak, second hand; they therefore lay greater stress on anatomical details, but lack the spontaneity of those on the recto.

To localize the insertion sites for Tn7-like transposons Tn1824, Tn1825 and Tn1826 the EcoRI-cleaved fragments of E. coli recA+ and recA- strains chromosome carrying the transposons were hybridized. It was shown that transposition of Tn7-like elements takes place in the strictly defined region of E. coli chromosome, like it had been previously described for transposon Tn7.

The biotin-labelled DNA probe for identification of functioning and silent genes for streptotricin acetylation has been constructed. The probe is homologous to sat1 gene of the movable genetic element Tn1825. The simplified modification of the hybridization technique using the biotin-labelled DNA probe is described.

Digitalis toxicity is a frequently encountered clinical problem. Drug interactions leading to digitalis toxicity are very common. Within this group, the interaction of digitalis and verapamil is increasingly recognized as an important cause of digitalis toxicity. The use of digoxin-binding antibodies represents a significant advance in the treatment of this problem and can be lifesaving in the setting of massive overdose. A case report of digitalis toxicity and a review of this problem and its treatment are presented.

The transposing elements Tn7, Tn1824, controlling the resistance to trimethoprim and Tn1925, Tn1826, carrying the streptothricin resistance genes were classified as a new transposon family on the basis of their physical structure. The comparative genetic analysis of the frequency, specificity and insertion orientation in different replicons, obtained in independent research systems in this study, demonstrated the identity of transposition characteristics of the transposons. The latter makes it possible to classify them as an independent transposon family. The peculiar feature of the Tn7-like elements family is their RecA-dependent transposition into the chromosome of Escherichia coli stimulated by bacteriophage Plkc transduction of the transposons.

Salmonella typhimurium strains isolated in the German Democratic Republic between 1972 and 1980 mainly belong to phage type n.c.1/72/n.c. and biochemotype b. Nearly all of these strains are characterized by an identical basic plasmid pattern. Thus, they may be considered to be independent isolates of the same epidemic strain. Moreover, some multiple drug resistant offsprings of that epidemic strain have been characterized by their carriage of an additional IncH-1 R plasmid. However, a few strains of phage type n.c.1/72/n.c. were found to differ fundamentally in their plasmid patterns from that of the epidemic strain. The phage pattern of these strains is determined by a conjugative R plasmid belonging to the incompatibility group IncI4. Despite of the same phage- and biochemotype these strains must be considered non-related with the epidemic strain, therefore. The analysing of the plasmid pattern of bacterial strains turns out to be an important contribution to the investigation of epidemic processes.

S. typhimurium strains isolated in 14 regions of the USSR have, parallel with considerable similarity in their biological characteristics, a number of essential differences. These differences become manifest in the determination of the plasmid spectra of the above organisms. The transfer of R-plasmid PLE518 F1 me fin+ with a molecular weight of 96 Md to strains, sensitive to the action of typing bacteriophages, renders these strains resistant to the lytic action of a number of phages, which leads to the conversion of their phage type. In some cases it may deteriorate the validity of the method of phage typing, used for epidemiological purposes.

Following the employment of trimethoprim/sulfonamid and gentamicin in the general clinical praxis transferable plasmids with respective resistance function were identified at first in enteric bacteria from sewage before they could be detected in patient strains. Whereas the trimethoprim resistance plasmids represent different incompatibility groups (C, FII, I5, K, M, N, S, U) the gentamicin resistance plasmids are very similar IncM members of 62 MD in size. Therefore a clonal distribution of a particular gentamicin resistance plasmid has to be taken into consideration.

In 1942 the Museum of Fine Arts in Boston acquired a large altarpiece to which Mr. W. G. Constable devoted a comprehensive article.2 The altarpiece was called one of the very few large-scale paintings by Paolo Veronese in this country. I believe that many essential points of Constable's publication call for revision.