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The purpose of this study was to determine the rate of decline in the diagnostic yield of influenza PCR assay after oseltamivir administration, and to identify risk factors for prolonged shedding. This was a prospective observational study. We included adult inpatients with clinical signs of influenza during the influenza seasons 2015 and 2016, who had positive influenza PCR tests and who were treated with oseltamivir. Clinical follow-up and repeat PCR testing were performed on days 2, 4 and 6 after the first positive test. We defined prolonged shedders as patients who still required hospitalization and had a positive PCR assay on day 4. Risk factors for prolonged shedding were assessed in univariate and multivariate analyses. A total of 215 patients were included in our study. The median age was 64 years and 49.3% were men. The main influenza type was H1N1 (50.1%). Rates of PCR positivity among evaluable patients on days 2, 4 and 6 were 142/215 (66%), 50/78 (64.1%) and 20/30 (66.6%), respectively. Independent risk factors for prolonged shedding (50 patients) included hypoxemia [odds ratio (OR) 2.55, 95% confidence interval (1.3-5.1)] and lower diastolic blood pressure [OR 0.94, 95% CI (0.92-0.97)] on admission. Negative PCR tests taken more than 48 h after initiation of treatment had low diagnostic yield. More severe disease, manifested by hypoxemia and lower blood pressure, is associated with prolonged shedding on oseltamivir treatment. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This is a phase II institutional exploratory trial of biweekly irinotecan and cetuximab administration regimen in metastatic colorectal cancer patients progressing to at least one previous chemotherapy line. A total of 40 patients were treated between November 2005 and November 2007 with irinotecan 180 mg m-2 and cetuximab 500 mg m-2 q2w (every 2 weeks), in every 21-day cycles, until unacceptable toxicity or progressive disease. An overall response rate of 22.5% was obtained (two complete and seven partial responses). The disease control rate was 60%. The time to progression was 3.4 months and the overall survival was 8 months. The toxicity compared very favourably to weekly cetuximab combination schedules. Grade 3/4 adverse effects were observed in 12 patients. Overall, our results turn up very similar both in terms of toxicity and efficacy to those obtained by weekly and biweekly administration regimens. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The paper shows the possibility of reducing the labor-consumption of tribotests of lubricants with the four-ball machine according to the Methodical Recommendations Pд 50-531-85. The amount of experiments can be reduced by replacing testing of several specimens with averaging data over the set of realizations with one process of a quite long duration provided that the informative content of the experiment is retained. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Despite its decreasing incidence overall, gastric cancer is still a challenging disease. Therapy is based mainly upon surgical resection when the tumour remains localised in the stomach. Conventional chemotherapy may play a role in treating micrometastatic disease and is effective as palliative therapy for recurrent or advanced disease. However, the knowledge of molecular pathways implicated in gastric cancer pathogenesis is still in its infancy and the contribution of molecular biology to the development of new targeted therapies in gastric cancer is far behind other more common cancers such as breast, colon or lung. This review will focus first on the difference of two well defined types of gastric cancer: intestinal and diffuse. A discussion of the cell of origin of gastric cancer with some intriguing data implicating bone marrow derived cells will follow, and a comprehensive review of different genetic alterations detected in gastric cancer, underlining those that may have clinical, therapeutic or prognostic implications. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Valproic acid is a reliable and comparatively safe drug in the treatment of special forms of absence seizures. Severe but very rare complications include acute liver necrosis and acute pancreatitis which may end lethally. A case of a previously unreported association of pancreatic pseudocyst and development of cholestatic icterus in conjunction with valproic acid therapy is presented. The clinical signs of icterus and chronic pancreatic failure disappeared when we terminated the therapy. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Rupture of the corpus cavernosum, commonly referred to as 'fracture' of the penis, is a rare occurrence. The etiology, clinical symptoms, diagnostic and therapeutic methods in 6 cases are described and the experiences compared with those in the literature. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The concentrations of cobalt and chromium have been measured in the urine of 22 patients who had received uncemented hip prostheses made from cobalt, chromium and molybdenum alloy, and in 21 patients who had not received prostheses, using absorption spectrophotometry. The results were statistically analysed using the Wilcoxon test. The levels of cobalt in the urine in the patients with uncemented prostheses did not show a significant increase, indicating that there is no greater risk of cobalt toxicity. The concentration of chromium was significantly raised (p less than 10(-2) in the urine of patients with uncemented prostheses, and in three of these patients significant corrosion had occurred. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The white-tailed prairie dog is an obligate hibernator that enters a heterothermic phase when maintained in the cold with low intensity light and ad libitum food and water. The black-tailed prairie dog (a facultative hibernator) will not hibernate under similar conditions. It has been suggested that the black tailed prairie dog remains active during the winter because it can conserve water more effectively due to a more efficient kidney. The present study revealed no significant differences between the species in renal morphology: relative medullary thickness, nephron heterogeneity, renal vasculature, or fornix dimensions, all of which are structures associated with the urinary concentrating mechanism. In addition, there was no difference in number of nephrons between the two species. The black-tailed prairie dog does produce a more concentrated urine when food and water deprived. However, this difference was not observed when the animals were salt loaded. The water-deprivation and salt-loading experiments suggest that the higher urine osmolality produced by the back-tailed prairie dog during fasting is a result of a higher urea load due to a greater protein catabolism and not because of a differential capacity to concentrate urine. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The isolation and characterization of a new methanogen from a peat bog, Methanobacterium palustre spec. nov., strain F, is described. Strain F grew on H/CO and formate in complex medium. It also grew autotrophically on H/CO. Furthermore, growth on 2-propanol/CO was observed. Methane was formed from CO by oxidation of 2-propanol to acetone or 2-butanol to 2-butanone, but growth on 2-butanol plus CO apparently was too little to be measurable. Similarly, Methanobacterium bryantii M. o. H. and M. o. H. G formed acetone and 2-butanone from 2-propanol and 2-butanol, but no growth was measurable. On the basis of morphological and biochemical features strain F could be excluded from the genus Methanobrevibacter. Due to its cell morphology, lipid composition and polyamine pattern it belonged to the genus Methanobacterium. From known members of this genus strain F could be distinguished either by a different G+C content of the DNA, low DNA-DNA homology with reference strains, lacking serological reactions with anti-S probes and differences in the substrate spectrum. An alcohol dehydrogenase activity, specific for secondary alcohols and its substrate specificity was determined in crude extracts of strain F. NADP was the only electron carrier that was utilized. No reaction was found with NAD, F, FMN and FAD. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Firm adhesion of fungal plant pathogens to their hosts is critical at several stages in the host-parasite interaction. Spores of many fungal species are capable of rapid, non-specific attachment to various surfaces. This early adhesion, which often occurs well before germ tube emergence, prevents spores from being blown or washed from the host surface before infection can take place. Adhesion is critical for proper sensing of topographic signals involved in thigmotropic responses and for differentiation and function of appressoria. Four fungal pathogens which exhibit a variety of adhesion mechanisms have been selected for discussion. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The aim of this study is to evaluate directly, using a reduced experimental system, the nature of interactions between voltage-gated potassium channels and the resting membrane potential. Xenopus oocytes were injected with various concentrations of cRNA coding for a delayed-rectifier potassium channel Shaker-IR. The effects of the density and kinetics of the expressed channels on resting membrane potential is explored in isolated ("inside-out") patches. The channel density is given in terms of maximal conductance (Gmax), measured from the maximal slope of the I-V curve under voltage clamp conditions. The capacitance of the experimental setup is approximately 1 pF. At high channel densities (Gmax > 10 pA/mV) the mean membrane potential is stabilized at approximately -60 mV. This resting membrane potential is more than 35 mV positive to the reversal potential for potassium ions under the same experimental conditions. Analyses of voltage clamp experiments indicate that at high channel densities the mean membrane potential is determined by the rates of channel activation and deactivation, but is not affected by the rates involved in the process of slow (C-type) inactivation. In contrast, at lower channel densities membrane potential is very unstable, and its mean value and amplitude of fluctuations are strongly affected by the process of slow (C-type) inactivation. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

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Copyright of Zeitschrift für Kinderheilkunde is the property of Springer Nature and its content may not be copied or emailed to multiple sites or posted to a listserv without the copyright holder's express written permission. However, users may print, download, or email articles for individual use. This abstract may be abridged. No warranty is given about the accuracy of the copy. Users should refer to the original published version of the material for the full abstract. (Copyright applies to all Abstracts.)