Search

On December 2006, an outbreak of gastroenteritis occurred at a residential-care facility for the elderly in northern Italy. Thirty-five of 61 individuals interviewed (attack rate, 57.4%) fell ill. In 94.3% of cases, the onset of illness was within 48 h of a Christmas party at the facility. Norovirus (NoV) was detected by RT-PCR in 24 of 31 individuals examined, including three asymptomatic food-handlers, in whom there was evidence of long-lasting excretion of viral particles. The identification of a sequence referring to the ‘2006a GII.4 NoV variant’ in all examined strains supported the hypothesis of a common point source. This retrospective cohort study is the first report on an outbreak of NoV gastroenteritis in an Italian residential-care facility for the elderly. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Peptide nucleic acid fluorescence in situ hybridization ( PNA FISH) is a molecular diagnostic tool for the rapid detection of pathogens directly from liquid media. The aim of this study was to prospectively evaluate PNA FISH assays in comparison with culture-based matrix-assisted laser desorption/ionization-time of flight mass spectrometry ( MALDI- TOF MS) identification, as a reference method, for both blood and cerebrospinal fluid ( CSF) cultures, during a 1-year investigation. On the basis of the Gram stain microscopy results, four different PNA FISH commercially available assays were used (' Staphylococcus aureus/ CNS', ' Enterococcus faecalis/ OE', ' GNR Traffic Light' and 'Yeasts Traffic Light' PNA FISH assays, AdvanDx). The four PNA FISH assays were applied to 956 positive blood cultures (921 for bacteria and 35 for yeasts) and 11 CSF cultures. Among the 921 blood samples positive for bacteria, PNA FISH gave concordant results with MALDI- TOF MS in 908/921 (98.64%) samples, showing an agreement of 99.4% in the case of monomicrobial infections. As regards yeasts, the PNA FISH assay showed a 100% agreement with the result obtained by MALDI- TOF MS. When PNA FISH assays were tested on the 11 CSF cultures, the results agreed with the reference method in all cases (100%). PNA FISH assays provided species identification at least one work-day before the MALDI- TOF MS culture-based identification. PNA FISH assays showed an excellent efficacy in the prompt identification of main pathogens, yielding a significant reduction in reporting time and leading to more appropriate patient management and therapy in cases of sepsis and severe infections. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Abstract: The pineal gland hormone melatonin has been recently described to downregulate the intrinsic (or damage-induced) pathway of apoptosis in human leukocytes. These properties appear to depend on a specific mitochondrial signaling of melatonin which is associated with a lower generation of reactive oxygen species and a better control of redox-sensitive components such as the antiapoptotic protein Bcl-2. Other elements upstream in this signaling are expected to contribute regulatory roles that remain unexplored. The aim of this study was to investigate whether the extracellular signal-regulated kinase (ERK), which controls the balance between survival and death-promoting genes throughout the MAPK pathway, is involved in the antiapoptotic signaling of melatonin. Human monocytic U937 cells irradiated with UVB light were used as a model of stress-induced apoptosis. In this model we found that pharmacological concentrations of melatonin (1 mM) were able to decrease superoxide anion production, mitochondrial damage, and caspase-dependent apoptosis by improved Bcl-2 levels and decreased Cyt c release in the cytoplasm. Moreover, melatonin increased the phosphorylative activation of ERK 1/2 independently from the presence of UVB stress, and decreased the UVB-mediated activation of the stress kinases p38 MAPK and JNK. The ERK 1/2 inhibitor PD98059, but not the p38 MAPK inhibitor SB203580, abolished to different extents the effects that melatonin had on the UVB-induced ROS generation, mitochondrial dysfunction, and apoptosis. Using these inhibitors, a cross-talk effect between stress and survival-promoting kinases was tentatively identified, and confirmed the hierarchical role of ERK MAPK phosphorylation in the signaling of melatonin. In conclusion, melatonin sustains the activation of the survival-promoting pathway ERK MAPK which is required to antagonize UVB-induced apoptosis of U937 cells. This kinase mediates also the antioxidant and mitochondrial protection effects of this hormonal substance that may find therapeutic applications in inflammatory and immune diseases associated with leukocyte oxidative stress and accelerated apoptosis. [Copyright &y& Elsevier]