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Objectives: The efficacy of telithromycin, a new ketolide antibiotic, was investigated in the treatment of acute Chlamydia pneumoniae infection in a mouse model.Methods: C57BL/6J mice were inoculated intranasally, and the effects of three different doses of telithromycin (25, 50 and 100 mg/kg) were assessed after 5 and 10 days of treatment. Lungs for culture, PCR, histopathology, and blood for serum samples were collected immediately after each treatment period and at 3 weeks post-inoculation. C. pneumoniae-specific antibodies were analysed, and the effect of treatment was assessed by culture, detection of C. pneumoniae DNA and determination of histopathological inflammatory changes in mouse lungs.Results: Culture negativity in the lungs was achieved with the higher doses, 50 and 100 mg/kg, after 10 days of treatment. C. pneumoniae DNA was not totally eradicated with the treatments, but the groups treated with 50 and 100 mg/kg doses for 10 days had the lowest DNA positivity rates (10%) 3 weeks after the inoculation. In lung histopathology, the efficacy of telithromycin on inflammatory changes was also dose-dependent: higher doses were more effective in reducing the inflammatory reaction. Overall, the 25 mg/kg dose had a weaker effect compared with the others.Conclusions: Telithromycin had both time- and dose-dependent effects on the eradication of chlamydia and on reducing infection-induced inflammatory changes in mouse lungs. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Background: Malnutrition, falls, and cognitive impairment are common in older patients visiting the emergency department (ED). Early recognition of these conditions could trigger interventions to improve outcomes following ED visits., Aim: To analyze whether a simple risk screening protocol in the emergency medical services (EMS) identifies older patients at risk of ED readmission., Methods: The EMS screened the falls risk, nutritional risk, and cognition of 472 patients (age ≥ 70 years) transported to the ED of a Finnish secondary care hospital between November 2018 and July 2019. Data on the risk screening, comorbidities, and ED readmissions were collected from electronic patient records. Data were analyzed using negative binomial regression, and the results are presented as incidence rate ratios (IRRs)., Results: Altogether 312 patients (66%) experienced 880 ED readmissions during the 12-month follow-up. Nutritional risk was associated with an increased ED readmission rate across all time categories (< 1, 1-3, 3-6, and ≥ 6 months; IRRs 1.36-1.62, p-values < 0.05). Falls risk was associated with ED readmissions from one month after the index ED visit (IRRs 1.41-1.57, p-values < 0.05). Impaired cognition had no effect on readmissions (IRRs 1.14-1.26, p-values > 0.1)., Conclusions: Patients with nutritional risk or falls risk, identified by the EMS, had a higher ED readmission rate independent of comorbidity. EMS risk screening could supplement the assessment in the ED to better identify older patients who might benefit from more detailed assessment of their health status and interventions to prevent ED readmission., Competing Interests: Declarations. Ethics approval and consent to participate: Since June 2018, EMS risk screening has been determined as a routine procedure for older patients in the EMS in the Espoo region, Finland. The research data were retrospectively collected from patient records. Finnish and European Union legislation declare that for registry studies neither ethical approval nor informed patient consent are required. Helsinki and Uusimaa Hospital District admitted a research permit for the study (permit number HUS/141/2020). Competing interests: The authors declare no competing interests., (© 2025. The Author(s).)

Introduction: Early recognition of nutritional risk is important to prevent the adverse consequences of malnutrition. However, nutritional risk screening is often disregarded in hospitals., Purpose: To evaluate the agreement of nutritional risk screening results between screening performed by emergency medical services (EMS) and at the hospital ward., Methods: The EMS used the Nutritional Risk Screening 2002 (NRS-2002) to screen the nutritional risk of community-dwelling patients aged ≥ 70 years transported to the emergency department of a large Finnish hospital. The NRS-2002 results from the EMS were compared to results obtained during hospitalization., Results: The EMS screened 472 patients and recognized nutritional risk in 81 (17 %). NRS-2002 was repeated at hospital ward in 97 of the screened. In about two-thirds of the cases (69 %), the EMS and ward personnel agreed on whether the patient had nutritional risk or not, and one-third of patients (31/97, 32 %) had the exact same score. The EMS tended to give lower scores (mean difference 0.70 ± 1.29, p < 0.001). Twenty-four patients considered not to be at nutritional risk according to the EMS were recognized as risk patients at the ward., Conclusion: Nutritional risk screening by the EMS could help in identifying persons requiring more detailed assessment of nutritional status., Competing Interests: Declaration of Competing Interest The authors declare that they have no known competing financial interests or personal relationships that could have appeared to influence the work reported in this paper., (Copyright © 2024 The Authors. Published by Elsevier Ltd.. All rights reserved.)

Corn mint ( Mentha arvensis ) provides a good source of natural phenols such as flavone glycosides and caffeic acid derivatives, which may have prophylactic properties against inflammations. This study investigated whether corn mint extract would be beneficial against a universal respiratory tract pathogen, Chlamydia pneumoniae , infection. The extract inhibited the growth of C. pneumoniae CWL-029 in vitro in a dose-dependent manner. The inhibition was confirmed against a clinical isolate K7. The phenolic composition of the extract was analyzed by UPLC-ESI/Q-TOF/MS, the main components being linarin and rosmarinic acid. These compounds were active in vitro against C. pneumoniae. Linarin completely inhibited the growth at 100 μM. Inbred C57BL/6J mice were inoculated with C. pneumoniae K7. M. arvensis extract was given intraperitoneally once daily for 3 days prior to inoculation and continued for 10 days postinfection. The extract was able to diminish the inflammatory parameters related to C. pneumoniae infection and significantly (p = 0.019) lowered the number of C. pneumoniae genome equivalents detected by PCR at biologically relevant amounts.

The most frequently used infection route in Chlamydia pneumoniae animal models is intranasal (i.n.), while the intragastric (i.g.) infection route has not been studied previously. The aim of the present study was to examine the course of Chlamydia pneumoniae infection in mice infected via the i.g. route and to compare the outcome of i.n. reinfection in these mice to i.n. reinfection of primarily i.n. infected mice. C57BL/6JBom mice were used, and the infection was monitored using chlamydial culture, C. pneumoniae PCR and histological examination of several tissues, and antibody measurements. C. pneumoniae was able to disseminate from the gastrointestinal tract to other organs, and i.g. inoculation led to an immunological response. In addition, the primary i.g. challenge made mice more susceptible to i.n. reinfection. In conclusion, the results suggest that the nature of the immune response to a previous C. pneumoniae infection affects the outcome of reinfection.

Increasing evidence suggests that plant polyphenolic compounds may protect from cardiovascular diseases, which have been addressed to their antioxidative properties. In addition, these compounds have been shown to possess anti-inflammatory and anti-microbial potential. In the present study we tested the effects of two flavonoid compounds, quercetin and luteolin, and one alkyl gallate, octyl gallate, on the course of acute Chlamydia pneumoniae infection in vivo. C57BL/6J mice were treated with quercetin, luteolin or octyl gallate for 3 days prior to and 10 days after C. pneumoniae inoculation. Lung tissue was analysed for the presence of chlamydia by culture and quantitative PCR, and inflammatory responses were assessed. Luteolin was found histologically to suppress inflammation in lung tissue, the development of C. pneumoniae-specific antibodies and the presence of chlamydia in lung tissue. Octyl gallate had no significant effect on the course of infection, but quercetin increased both the inflammatory responses and the chlamydial load in the lungs. The infection and inflammation-enhancing effects of quercetin treatment may be attributable to the dose and the route of administration and should be reassessed in further studies with lower doses or with different metabolites of the compound. Contrariwise, the effects of luteolin treatment suggest this compound to have potential in decreasing the infection load and inflammatory reactions in vivo.

Healing sarcoids were followed in 18 horses which had taken part in previous clinical studies on a total of 29 horses suffering from either primary or recurrent sarcoids, treated with bio-immunotherapy. In the present study, attention was paid to changes observed in these fibroblastic skin tumours during their regression. The tumours were surgically debulked leaving the base in the skin. The horses were immunized according to bio-immunotherapy at 2- to 4-week intervals with an autogenous vaccine made from the excised part of the tumour until the base had visibly regressed. Healing was followed by inspections and serial biopsies from the base, studied under light microscope. Visibly normal epithelisation developed first at the margin of the base, progressing gradually to the centre. The mean rate of epithelisation was approximately equal to normal horse skin. Most of the histopathological features typical of equine sarcoid diminished significantly in the follow-up biopsies, when the first signs of visibly normal epithelisation were observed. The changes were more evident among the primary than the recurrent tumours. No leucocyte infiltration, lysis or apoptosis were found during the regression. Bio-immunotherapy seems to simulate a spontaneous healing process.

Common enterovirus infections appear to initiate or facilitate the pathogenetic processes leading to type 1 diabetes, and also sometimes precipitate the clinical disease. In experimental infection of mice, coxsackieviruses have shown to have a strong affinity for the exocrine tissue, while even in lethal cases, the islets remain unaffected. The virus strain most intensively studied in this respect is the diabetogenic variant E2 of coxsackievirus B4. In addition, it is known that all six serotypes of coxsackie B viruses can be made diabetogenic by repeated passages in either mouse pancreas in vivo or in cultured mouse beta-cells in vitro. However, the genetic determinants of the phenomenon have not been determined. In the present study, a laboratory strain of coxsackievirus B5 was passaged repeatedly in mouse pancreas in vivo. After 15 passages, the virus phenotype was clearly changed and infection of the variant resulted in a diabetes-like syndrome in mice characterized by chronic pancreatic inflammation together with dysregulation in glucose metabolism, loss of pancreatic acinar tissue, and mild insulitis. In order to characterize the genetic determinants involved in mouse pancreas adaptation, the passaged virus variant together with the parental virus strain was cloned for molecular characterization. The whole genome sequencing of both virus strains revealed only limited differences. Altogether, eight nucleotides were changed resulting in five amino acid substitutions, of which three were located in the capsid proteins., ((c) 2005 Wiley-Liss, Inc.)

A progressive pulmonary disease resulting in severe respiratory failure and death in an average of 3 weeks was diagnosed in 11 young Dalmatian dogs. The dogs were from 4 litters, all genetically related by a common ancestor. The initial clinical signs were tachypnea and noisy respiration. Respiratory distress developed shortly before death and was characterized by strenuous and rapid respirations, along with cyanosis and vomiting. On blood gas analysis, there were severe arterial hypoxemia, hypercapnia, and marked alveolar-arterial oxygen difference. Radiographically, a diffuse pattern of alveolar, interstitial, and peribronchial densities was observed in the lungs. Most dogs developed pneumomediastinum and gastroesophageal intussusception in the terminal phase of the disease. There was no response to treatment with antibiotics, corticosteroids, diuretics, or oxygen. At necropsy, the lungs were wet, heavy, and relatively airless. Absence of 1 kidney in 2 dogs and severe internal hydrocephalus in 2 dogs were additional necropsy findings. Pulmonary histopathology included metaplasia and atypia of the alveolar and bronchiolar epithelium, a nonpurulent inflammatory reaction characterized mainly by mononuclear cells and macrophages, eosinophilic hyaline membrane formation, and focal pulmonary fibrosis. The histological manifestations were typical of acute lung injury. Clinically, the findings were consistent with adult respiratory distress syndrome (ARDS), except for the relatively long course. No known risk factors for ARDS, such as trauma, toxin exposure, infection, or endotoxemia could be identified. The relationship of the other abnormalities (ie, renal aplasia, hydrocephalus) to the pulmonary disease also remains obscure. An inherited defect is suspected, because segregation analysis of the 4 litters suggests autosomal recessive inheritance.