Antigenic variants of Junín virus isolated from infectedCalomys musculinus

Summary Junín virus establishes a long-term persistent infection in its natural host,Calomys musculinus. Virus recovered from blood of infected animals from 14 to 61 days p.i. behaved antigenically distinct to parental virus, as shown by cross neutralization assays. The emergence of antigenic viral variants occurs during both the acute and persistent state of infection.With 1 Figure     

Antiviral activity of enterocin CRL35 against herpesviruses

Enterocin CRL35 is an antibacterial polypeptide of 3.5×10³ Da produced by Enterococcus faecium CRL35. A series of experiments are described that show the enterocin also had antiviral activity against thymidine-kinase positive (tk⁺) and deficient (tk⁻) strains of herpes simplex (HSV) type 1 and 2 in Vero and BHK-21 cells. This activity was observed at 100 μg/ml, 15-fold lower than the cytotoxic concentration. In both cell lines there was a 2 log inhibition of infectivity. The compound inhibited viral multiplication in a dose-dependent manner and had no virucidal effect. Enterocin CRL35 also inhibited the virion-associated host shutoff in infected Vero cells showing that intracellular viral multiplication was affected.     

Cardiac cysts. A case of isolated cardiac hydatidosis]

In the presence of cardiac cysts we must discard a hydatid disease, even if there is no involvement of other organs. Imaging techniques are useful for guiding the initial diagnosis. The presence of daughter vesicles or multiple cysts is very characteristic. We present a patient affected by cardiac hydatid disease, in the form of multiple cardiac cysts, without extracardiac affectation, who presented pericardial chest pain. The patient was dealt with surgery to avoid the risks of a cyst rupture.     

Diagnosis,treatment and maxillofacial rehabilitation in rhinocerebral mucormycosis patient: A case report and review of the literature

Mucormycosis is an aggressive, rare and opportunistic infectious disease, with a high mortality rate. Etiologic agents are filamentous fungi, and infection among humans normally occurs through spore inhalation. A 61-year-old male individual, presenting left eye amaurosis, dark epistaxis, hyperalgesia and malodor underwent clinical examination, which detected ulcerative lesion and wide bone exposure in the hard palate and alveolar ridge. Direct microbiological examination, microbiological culture and lesion biopsy were performed. Non-septate smooth fungal hyphae forming right angles with each other were observed through the direct microbiological examination. Microbiological culture revealed fast-growing fungal colonies with cottony texture, identified as Rhizopus sp. Histopathological examination exhibited necrosis areas, intense mononuclear inflammatory infiltrate and bulky hyphae, thus concluding the mucormycosis diagnosis. Amphotericin B antifungal therapy and surgical intervention were adopted as treatment. The patient was then rehabilitated with maxillofacial prosthesis, subsequently to the healing of the surgical wound.     

Impact of antibiotic resistance and of adequate empirical antibiotic treatment in the prognosis of patients with Escherichia coli bacteraemia

BACKGROUND: Escherichia coli is the most frequent Gram-negative organism causing bacteraemia. There are few data about prognostic factors of bloodstream infections due to E. coli. In particular, the consequences of antibiotic resistance and of adequate empirical antibiotic treatment on outcome remain broadly unknown. METHODS: We conducted a retrospective cohort study of patients with E. coli bacteraemia between January 1997 and June 2005 to identify any association between antibiotic resistance, adequacy of empirical antibiotic therapy and mortality. RESULTS: Of 663 patients with E. coli bacteraemia, 36 (5.4%) died. Patients with multidrug-resistant (MDR) E. coli bacteraemia had a significantly lower frequency of correct empirical antibiotic treatment than patients with non-MDR E. coli bacteraemia [relative risk (RR) 0.53; 95% confidence interval (CI) 0.48-0.67], and also had a significantly higher mortality (RR 3.31; 95% CI 1.72-6.36). An association between the number of antibiotics to which E. coli was resistant with adequacy of empirical antibiotic (P < 0.001) and with mortality (P < 0.001) was detected. After adjustment for other significant risk factors and confounders, the inadequacy of empirical antibiotic treatment was associated with an increased mortality (adjusted OR 2.98; 95% CI 1.25-7.11). When the adequacy of empirical treatment was excluded from the model, the presence of MDR E. coli in blood cultures was also associated with the prognosis (adjusted OR 3.11; 95% CI 1.3-7.44). In multivariate analysis, other variables associated with the outcome were age, the presence of severe sepsis or shock, Charlson index score and a non-urinary origin of the bacteraemia. CONCLUSIONS: Adequacy of empirical antibiotic treatment is an independent risk factor for mortality in patients with E. coli bacteraemia. MDR E. coli bacteraemia had a worse prognosis due, at least in part, to a lower frequency of correct empirical treatment.     

Late potentials in normal subjects and in patients with ventricular tachycardia unrelated to myocardial infarction

Fifty normal male and female athletes, or athletically active subjects, were evaluated, and a search for low-amplitude late potentials in the terminal part of ventricular activation was performed. Recordings from 3 normal men met the definition of abnormal late potentials, and were indistinguishable by present analytic techniques from those encountered in patients who have ventricular tachycardia (VT) after myocardial infarction (MI). Of 24 patients studied, 11 had VT, but only 2 had had an MI, which occurred in the remote past. Another patient had 1 narrowed coronary artery on arteriography. Group differences could be demonstrated using amplitudes and durations of late potentials, but late potentials generally did not prove the impressive marker of the patient with VT, which other workers, as well as ourselves, have encountered in patients after MI. Late potentials were an impressive marker in a subset of the VT group in whom cardiomegaly developed. Thus, the absence of late potentials is an effective marker in the normal subject, but the presence of late potentials is not an effective marker in identifying the patient with non-MI-related, nonsustained VT before development of cardiomegaly.     

Genetic polymorphism of N-acetyltransferase-2, glutathione S-transferase-M1, and cytochromes P450IIE1 and P450IID6 in the susceptibility to head and neck cancer.

AIMS: To analyse the allele frequencies of DNA polymorphisms at the genes for cytochromes P450IIE1 and P450IID6, N-acetyltransferase-2, and glutathione S-transferase-M1 in patients with head and neck squamous cell carcinoma, in an attempt to define genetic factors involved in the susceptibility to this cancer, which is strongly associated with tobacco consumption. METHODS: Determination of restriction fragment length polymorphism (RFLP) at cytochromes P450IIE1/P450IID6 and NAT2 genes, and the presence of homozygous deletion of the GSTM1 gene, in 200 controls and 75 head and neck cancer patients. Allelic frequencies between the two groups were compared using a chi 2 test, and odds ratio with 95% confidence intervals were calculated. RESULTS: There was no evidence of an association between alleles of CYP2D6 and CYP2E1 and head and neck cancer in our population. Similarly, frequencies of individuals lacking the GSTM1 gene did not differ between controls and patients. However, individuals with the NAT2-SA phenotype were at higher risk of developing head and neck cancer. The frequencies of the most common SA genotype (homozygous for the NAT2*5 allele) were higher in patients than in controls (27% v 15%, respectively). Slow acetylators homozygous for the NAT2*6 allele, the second most common SA allele, were also more common in patients than in controls (11% v 5%, respectively). CONCLUSIONS: Slow NAT2 activity is a risk factor possibly leading to the development of head and neck cancer in response to tobacco carcinogens.     

Evaluation of the therapeutic efficacy and tolerability of levocarnitine propionyl in the treatment of chronic obstructive arteriopathies of the lower extremities: a multicentre controlled study vs. placebo.

The treatment of symptomatic chronic obstructive peripheral arteriopathies is a difficult task since it requires the prolonged administration of drugs which are often unable to correct the various pathogenetic factors reponsible for the disability. The authors, on the basis of recent studies demonstrating the rheological and vasoactive as well as metabolic activities of levocarnitine propionyl, have decided to use this substance in the treatment of arteriopathics affected by intermittent claudication. Levocarnitine propionyl administered orally to 142 arteriopathics affected by intermittent claudication was responsible for a marked increase in initial as well as absolute walking distances. It is particularly important to note that these clinical results were obtained primarily due to the metabolic activities of levocarnitine propionyl.     

Analysis of ras oncogene mutations in human squamous cell carcinoma of the head and neck.

The presence of proto-oncogene mutations at codons 12, 13 and 61 of the Ha-, Ki-, and N-ras in primary head and neck squamous cell carcinoma are analysed in this study. Oncogene ras-specific sequences were amplified by the polymerase chain reaction and probed with mutation specific oligonucleotide probes. Mutations were detected in 8 of 22 samples (36.3%). No mutations were detected on patients' peripheral blood DNA. We found that histologically and clinically, squamous cell carcinomas with or without a ras mutation do not differ significantly from each other.