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Bacterial strains used as starter cultures in the production of fermented foods may act as reservoirs for antibiotic resistance (AbR) genes. To avoid the introduction of such genes into the food chain, the presence of acquired AbR in bacterial strains added to food must be tested. Standard protocols and microbiological cut-off values have been defined to provide practitioners with a basis for evaluating whether their bacterial isolates harbor an acquired resistance to a given antibiotic. Here, we tested the AbR of 24 strains of Pediococcus acidilacticiby using the standard protocol and microbiological cut-off values recommended by the European Food Safety Authority. Phenotypic data were complemented by searching for known AbR genes using an in silico analysis of whole genomes. The majority (54.2%) of the strains were able to grow at a tetracycline concentration above the defined cut-off, even though only one strain carried a known tetracycline resistance gene, tetM. The same strain also carried the AbR gene of an erythromycin resistance methylase, ermA,and displayed resistance toward clindamycin and erythromycin. Our results bolster the scarce data on the sensitivity of P. acidilacticito tetracycline and suggest that the microbiological cut-off recommended by the European Food Safety Authority for this antibiotic should be amended.

Objective: Our objective was to investigate the clinical pharmacologic characteristics of saquinavir given as a soft gelatin capsule, either alone or in combination with nelfinavir, to children and adolescents with human immunodeficiency virus infection.Methods: The pharmacokinetics of 50 mg/kg saquinavir 3 times a day (tid) alone versus 33 mg/kg saquinavir tid plus 30 mg/kg nelfinavir tid was assessed after single-dose administration and after short- and long-term administration. The single-dose pharmacokinetics of fixed (1200 mg) versus unrestricted weight-adjusted dosing (50 mg/kg) was also investigated.Results: Saquinavir as the sole protease inhibitor resulted in lower saquinavir exposure in children (steady-state geometric mean area under the concentration–time curve from time zero to 24 hours [AUC (0-24 h)], 5790 ng · h/ml; steady-state concentration 8 hours after drug administration [C8h,SS], 65 ng/ml) and adolescents [steady-state geometric mean AUC(0-24 h), 5914 ng · h/ml] than that reported in adults treated with 1200 mg tid [steady-state geometric mean AUC(0-24 h), 21,700 ng · h/ml; C8h,SS, 223 ng/ml]. This finding appeared to be attributable to markedly higher apparent oral clearance, potentially as a result of increased systemic clearance and reduced oral bioavailability. Nelfinavir combined with saquinavir reduced apparent oral clearance, increasing saquinavir exposure in children [steady-state geometric mean AUC(0-24 h), 11,070 ng · h/ml; C8h,SS, 380 ng/ml] to levels that approach those observed in adults. A significant correlation between average trough concentration and sustained viral load suppression was observed in children. The apparent threshold for maintaining viral load suppression was a mean trough saquinavir concentration above 200 ng/ml.Conclusions: The pharmacokinetics of saquinavir in children is different from that of adults, and administration of saquinavir alone will not give consistently efficacious plasma levels. The best way of improving saquinavir exposure in children is through combination therapy with other protease inhibitors that inhibit saquinavir metabolism.Clinical Pharmacology & Therapeutics (2002) 71, 122–130; doi: 10.1067/mcp.2002.121423

Low‐affinity receptors (Fc epsilon R) and secreted factors (IgE‐BF) which bind to immunoglobulins of the IgE isotype play a key role in the regulation of human IgE synthesis. We report here the cloning of a cDNA coding for the Fc epsilon R of the human B‐lymphoblast cell line RPMI 8866. The nucleotide sequence of this cDNA predicts a polypeptide with 321 amino acids and a mol. wt of 36,281 daltons. A functional Fc epsilon R capable of binding IgE was expressed in Chinese hamster ovary cells after stable transformation with the cDNA which had been cloned into a mammalian expression vector. Amino acid sequence analysis of IgE‐BF purified from RPMI 8866 cells revealed an amino‐terminal sequence of 19 residues which coincides with the predicted amino acid sequence of the Fc epsilon R, starting at residues 148 and 150. A computer search with the translated amino acid sequence of the Fc epsilon R revealed a domain of 120 amino acids having striking homology to the human asialoglycoprotein receptors.

Summary.: During the past 7 years 45 patients have been operated upon using the Childs-Phillips method. Of those, 37 were subsequently examined for the study – 7 patients had died in the meantime. None of the deaths occurred as a direct result of transmesenteric small-bowel plication. An early recurrence of intestinal obstruction occurred in 4.4 % and a laparotomy was repeated. During the most recent examinations 86.5 % of those patients checked had (virtually) no complaints – 91.9 % based upon the Visick classification. A subtotal intestinal obstruction occurred during the period of the study in 8.1 % of cases, but could be conservatively treated. Up until the most recent examination there were still no instances of a late recurrence. Most intestinal obstruction recurrences are due to errors specific to the technique and are early recurrences. On the basis of our results, we are of the opinion that plication in the presence of existing peritonitis, as well as partial plication, is acceptable.

Plasma antioxidant vitamins A, C, and E and carotene were measured in a group of 2,974 men participating in the third examination of the prospective Basel Study in 1971-1973. In 1985, the vital status and mortality of all participants were assessed. A total of 204 men had died from cancer, including 68 with bronchus cancer and 37 with gastrointestinal cancer (20 with stomach cancer and 17 with large bowel cancer excluding cancer of the rectum). Overall mortality from cancer was associated with low mean plasma levels of carotene adjusted for cholesterol (p less than 0.01) and of vitamin C (p less than 0.01). Bronchus and stomach cancers were associated with a low mean plasma carotene level (p less than 0.01). Subjects with subsequent stomach cancer also had lower mean vitamin C and lipid-adjusted vitamin A levels than did survivors (p less than 0.05). After calculation of the relative risk using the Cox model with exclusion of mortality during the first 2 years of follow-up, low plasma carotene (below quartile 1) was associated with a significantly increased risk for bronchus cancer (relative risk (RR) = 1.8, p less than 0.05), low plasma levels of carotene and vitamin A with all cancers (RR = 2.47, p less than 0.01), and low plasma retinol in older subjects (greater than age 60 years) with lung cancer (RR = 2.17, p less than 0.05). Low levels of vitamin C increased the risk of stomach cancer (RR = 2.38) and gastrointestinal cancer (RR = 2.46) in older subjects, but only significantly with the inclusion of the first 2 years. The authors conclude that low plasma levels of antioxidant vitamins are associated with an increased risk of subsequent cancer mortality. This effect was stronger in men above age 60 years at blood sampling, and the effect seems to be site-specific.

Reocclusion of infarct-related coronary arteries within 2 weeks of thrombolytic therapy varies from 5% to 45% and neither clinical nor angiographic variables have been proved to be predictive of reocclusion. The goal of the present study was to evaluate whether aspirin could prevent coronary reocclusion and recurrent ischemia after thrombolysis. For this purpose, a meta-analysis including 32 studies was performed.

Low‐affinity receptors (Fc epsilon R) and secreted factors (IgE‐BF) which bind to immunoglobulins of the IgE isotype play a key role in the regulation of human IgE synthesis. We report here the cloning of a cDNA coding for the Fc epsilon R of the human B‐lymphoblast cell line RPMI 8866. The nucleotide sequence of this cDNA predicts a polypeptide with 321 amino acids and a mol. wt of 36,281 daltons. A functional Fc epsilon R capable of binding IgE was expressed in Chinese hamster ovary cells after stable transformation with the cDNA which had been cloned into a mammalian expression vector. Amino acid sequence analysis of IgE‐BF purified from RPMI 8866 cells revealed an amino‐terminal sequence of 19 residues which coincides with the predicted amino acid sequence of the Fc epsilon R, starting at residues 148 and 150. A computer search with the translated amino acid sequence of the Fc epsilon R revealed a domain of 120 amino acids having striking homology to the human asialoglycoprotein receptors.

Chloroquine (Resochin, Nvaquine), das neben seiner Verwendung als Malariamittel noch bei verschiedenen anderen Krankheiten therapeutisch verordnet wird, kann bei Mi\brauch zum Tode führen. Nach einem Hinweis auf die bisher bekannt gewordenen, akut tödlichen Vergiftungen wird über ein Suicid mit Chloroquine berichtet. Bei der chemisch-toxikologischen Analyse der Körperflüssigkeiten lie\ sich Chloroquine mittels der Dünnschichtchromatographie, der UV- und der IR-Spektrophotometrie eindeutig nachweisen.

Zusammenfassung Es wird über 7 Fälle von sulfonamidresistenter Pneumonie berichtet, die durch den Befund von Enterokokken im Auswurf charakterisiert sind. Die ätiologische Bedeutung der Enterokokken wird erörtert und unter Vergleich mit den bisher in der Literatur mitgeteilten Fällen das Bild der Enterokokkenpneumonie als einer den chemotherapieresistenten Formen zugehörigen Erkrankung beschrieben.

Diagnostic, therapeutic and prognostic aspects are interpreted on the basis of two cases ofEchinococcus alveolaris. Both patients had undergone partial hepatectomy and were subsequently treated chemotherapeutically. In one case dehydroemetine and mebendazole (Vermox®, Janssen), and in the other case metrifonate (Bilarcil®, Bayer A. G.) were used. The diagnosis of alveococcosis of the liver was demonstrated in one case histologically on the occasion of appendectomy, and in the other case by the indirect immunofluorescence test and passive haemagglutination. In case of suspected alveococcosis these serological tests are imperative, as they are the most reliable methods of demonstrating this disease.The latest trend in therapy aims at a combination of surgery and chemotherapy. Mebendazole seems to be promising as an anthelmintic agent for the treatment of alveococcosis.Remission of the disease was obtained in either case.

For testing the significance of dose-related effects, a test procedure was developed for the typical situation in toxicological studies where several dosage groups are compared to one control group. Using a closed testing procedure in the sense of Marcus et al. (1976), the algorithm is sensitive to the detection of toxicological effects without increase in type-one errors. Furthermore, all significance tests applied in the algorithm are based on ranks and the calculation of the error probability is performed by a random-permutation technique (Wall 1974, 1985); the algorithm is therefore also applicable to non-normally distributed data. In the case of discrete quantities, this technique takes into account tie-structures of all kinds (Lüdin 1985). An application of the proposed test-procedure is given in the work of Kistler and Hummler (1985).

Die Gesundheitsschwester hat zahlreiche Möglichkeiten, in Absprache mit den ärzten ihrer Gemeinde präventiv zu wirken. Als Beispiele werden genannt: Blutdruckmessungen bei Menschen mit einer Schwellenangst vor dem Arztbesuch, Beratung bei der Raucherentwöhnung, Ernährungsberatung bei übergewichtigen, Vorträge und Erziehung zu einer gesunden Lebensgestaltung. De nombreuses possibilités se présentent à l'infirmière de santé publique de participer — en accord avec les médecins praticiens — aux efforts de la prévention. Plusieurs exemples sont présentés: la prise de pression artérielle chez les personnes qui appréhendent la consultation d'un médecin, le soutien pour ceux (ou celles) qui veulent arrÊter de fumer et le contrÔle du poids, les conférences publiques et l'éducation pour la santé. The public health nurse has numerous possibilities of participating in preventive activities. In accordance with the physicians in the community, she will take blood-pressure measurements of persons shy of consulting a doctor, provide advice on smoking cessation and weight control, give talks in the community and be a part of the community effort to change unhealthy life styles.