Rapid Immunofluorescence Microscopy for Diagnosis of Melioidosis

An immunofluorescent (IF) method that detects Burkholderia pseudomallei in clinical specimens within 10 min was devised. The results of this rapid method and those of an existing IF method were prospectively compared with the culture results for 776 specimens from patients with suspected melioidosis. The sensitivities of both IF tests were 66%, and the specificities were 99.5 and 99.4%, respectively.     

复合树脂预热的研究现状和临床应用

复合树脂作为临床常用牙科充填材料存在耐磨性差、聚合收缩大和牙本质边缘适应性不佳等问题。近年有研究发现预热可以改善复合树脂的性能,本文就预热复合树脂对其单体转化率、边缘微渗漏、机械性能以及牙髓的影响等方面进行探讨,以供临床参考。     

Low back pain education and short term quality of life: a randomized trial

Background  

Different interventions can reduce the burden of the chronic low back pain. One example is the use of a 'Back School Programme'. This is a brief therapy that uses a health education method to empower participants through a procedure of assessment, education and skill development. This study aimed to evaluate to what extent the programme could improve quality of life in those who suffer from the condition.     

Recurrent melioidosis in patients in northeast Thailand is frequently due to reinfection rather than relapse

Human melioidosis is associated with a high rate of recurrent disease, despite adequate antimicrobial treatment. Here, we define the rate of relapse versus the rate of reinfection in 116 patients with 123 episodes of recurrent melioidosis who were treated at Sappasithiprasong Hospital in Northeast Thailand between 1986 and 2005. Pulsed-field gel electrophoresis was performed on all isolates; isolates from primary and recurrent disease for a given patient different by one or more bands were examined by a sequence-based approach based on multilocus sequence typing. Overall, 92 episodes (75%) of recurrent disease were caused by the same strain (relapse) and 31 episodes (25%) were due to infection with a new strain (reinfection). The interval to recurrence differed between patients with relapse and reinfection; those with relapses had a median time to relapse of 228 days (range, 15 to 3,757 days; interquartile range [IQR], 99.5 to 608 days), while those with reinfection had a median time to reinfection of 823 days (range, 17 to 2,931 days; IQR, 453 to 1,211 days) (P = 0.0001). A total of 64 episodes (52%) occurred within 12 months of the primary infection. Relapse was responsible for 57 of 64 (89%) episodes of recurrent infection within the first year after primary disease, whereas relapse was responsible for 35 of 59 (59%) episodes after 1 year (P < 0.0001). Our data indicate that in this setting of endemicity, reinfection is responsible for one-quarter of recurrent cases. This finding has important implications for the clinical management of melioidosis patients and for antibiotic treatment studies that use recurrent disease as a marker for treatment failure.     

Oxygen-dependent up-regulation of mucoid exopolysaccharide (alginate) production in Pseudomonas aeruginosa.

We previously showed substantial differences in Pseudomonas aeruginosa exopolysaccharide production in vitro at oxygen tensions reflective of the right versus left cardiac circuits in vivo (40 versus 80 mm Hg, respectively; A. S. Bayer, T. O'Brien, D. C. Norman, and C. C. Nast, J. Antimicrob. Chemother. 23:21-35, 1989). However, those studies did not specifically confirm this exopolysaccharide to be the characteristic P. aeruginosa mucoid alginate seen in patients with cystic fibrosis. With a murine monoclonal antibody prepared against P. aeruginosa alginate, strongly positive immunofluorescence (IF) staining of a nonmucoid P. aeruginosa strain (PA-96) was seen after its exposure in vitro to oxygen tensions (pO2) of approximately 80 mm Hg; the intensity of the IF staining under these conditions was similar to that observed with a phenotypically mucoid P. aeruginosa strain (C1712M) from a cystic fibrosis patient. In contrast, the same nonmucoid strain (PA-96), after exposure to pO2 of approximately 40 mm Hg, showed little IF staining for alginate. Following enzyme treatment with alginase, PA-96 cells previously exposed to the higher pO2 and exhibiting enhanced alginate production, as determined by IF staining, now showed no IF staining. Moreover, treatment of the oxygen-up-regulated PA-96 cells with alginase released amounts of unsaturated alginate breakdown products (uronic acids) quantitatively similar to those released by typically mucoid strains treated with the same enzyme. These data indicated that the P. aeruginosa exopolysaccharide in our studies was, indeed, mucoid alginate and that variations in oxygen tensions represent one of the trigger mechanisms for the up-regulation of mucoid exopolysaccharide production.     

Potential effect of opium addiction on lipid profile and blood glucose concentration in type 2 diabetic patients in Iran

Background: Diabetes is one of the most common chronic diseases in the world. People believe that opium improves blood glucose and lipid profiles in these patients and controversial studies show the effect of consumption of opium in controlling these indices. Accordingly, this study aimed to compare the serum levels of blood indices such as fasting blood glucose (FBS), Hemoglobin A1c (HbA1c) and lipid profile in opium users and non-users in type ΙΙ diabetic patients.

Methods: In this cross-sectional study, among type II diabetic patients referred to the Diabetes Clinic of Birjand 45 opium users and 135 non-users were selected and entered the study by the convenience sampling method.

Results: The results of this study showed that the mean serum levels of FBS, HbA1c, and serum lipid profiles were not significantly different between the two groups of opium users and non-users, but the levels of triglyceride (TG) were significantly 0.18 unit higher in the opium users, compared to non-opium users.

Conclusion: According to the results, the use of opium does not affect the indices of blood glucose, HbA1c and serum lipid profiles except triglyceride in diabetic patients. The general belief that opioid use reduces biochemical indices does not seem to be correct.

Abbreviations: FBS: fasting blood sugar; HbA1c: Hemoglobin A1c; LDL: low-density lipoprotein; HDL: High-density lipoproteins; HDL-C: High-density lipoproteins-cholesterol; BMI: Body mass index; IQR: Inter quartile range; TG: triglyceride; TC: total cholesterol; NS: non-significant; S: significant; ATN: Acute tubular necrosis     

Rapid and catalyst free synthesis of new bis(benzo[g]chromene) and bis(pyrano[3,2-c]chromene) derivatives and optimization of reaction conditions using response surface methodology

4,4′-(1,4-phenylene)bis(2-(alkylamino)-3-nitro-4H-benzo[g]chromene-5,10-dione) and 4,4′-(1,4-phenylene)bis(2-(alkylamino)-3-nitropyrano[3,2-c]chromen-5(4H)-one) derivatives are synthesized by a one-pot, multi-component reaction of N-alkyl-1-(methylthio)-2-nitroethenamine (derived from the reaction of various amines and 1,1-bis(methylthio)-2-nitroethene) with terephthalaldehyde or isophthalaldehyde, and 2-hydroxy-1,4-naphthoquinone or 4-hydroxycoumarin in EtOH/H₂O (85 : 15) as the solvent at 89 °C. Response surface methodology (RSM) is used to investigate the effect of reaction temperature and water content of aqueous ethanol on the product yields and reaction time. The notable features of this work are the optimization of reaction conditions with minimal experiments, absence of catalyst, good yields, simple work-up and the non-chromatographic purification of products.

One-pot synthesis of C₂-symmetric chromene derivatives, which serve as building blocks to prepare liquid crystals with potential electrical or optical properties.     

Surveillance of Artemisinin Resistance in Plasmodium falciparum in India Using the kelch13 Molecular Marker

Malaria treatment in Southeast Asia is threatened with the emergence of artemisinin-resistant Plasmodium falciparum. Genome association studies have strongly linked a locus on P. falciparum chromosome 13 to artemisinin resistance, and recently, mutations in the kelch13 propeller region (Pfk-13) were strongly linked to resistance. To date, this information has not been shown in Indian samples. Pfk-13 mutations were assessed in samples from efficacy studies of artemisinin combination treatments in India. Samples were PCR amplified and sequenced from codon 427 to 727. Out of 384 samples, nonsynonymous mutations in the propeller region were found in four patients from the northeastern states, but their presence did not correlate with ACT treatment failures. This is the first report of Pfk-13 point mutations from India. Further phenotyping and genotyping studies are required to assess the status of artemisinin resistance in this region.