20 research outputs found
Human ehrlichiosis
Background. Human ehrlichiosis is a newly recognized disease. It is a tick-borne disease caused by several bacterial species of the genhus Erlichia. These are small gram-negative pleomorphic cocci, that are obligatory intracellular bacteria. Tick Ixodes is the principle vector in Europe, and Amblyomma americanum in the United States. Bacterial organisms replicate in a tick, and are transmited from infected cells in a vector to the blood cells of animals or humans. Human ehrlichiosis is a name for a group of diseases caused by different species of Ehrlichia. One of them is the disease named human monocytic ehrlichiosis, caused by Ehrlichia chaffeensis, and the other is a human granulocytic ehrlichiosis caused by Anaplasma phagocytophilia. Case report. We reported a 23-year-old patient admitted for the clinical treatment with the symptoms of high febrility (above 40 Ā°C), headache, vomiting, general weakness and exhaustion, but without data on a tick bite. The patient was treated with trimetoprim-sulfamethoxazole for a week when Ehrlichia chaffeensis was confirmed by the immunofluoroscence test, and the therapy contimed with doxacyclin. Conclusion. Human ehrlichiosis is also present in our country, so this disease should be considered everyday, especially in infectology practice
Healthcare associated Clostridioides difficile infection in adult surgical and medical patients hospitalized in tertiary hospital in Belgrade, Serbia: a seven years prospective cohort study
Introduction: Clostridioides difficile (C. difficile) infection (CDI) is one of the most common healthcare-associated (HA) infections in contemporary medicine. The risk factors (RFs) for HA CDI in medical and surgical patients are poorly investigated in countries with a limited resource healthcare system. Therefore, the aim of the study was to investigate differences in patientsā characteristics, factors related to healthcare and outcomes associated with HA CDI in surgical and medical patients in tertiary healthcare centre in Serbia. Materials and Methods: A prospective cohort study was conducted including adult patients diagnosed with initial episode of HA CDI, first recurrence of disease, readmission to hospital, while deaths within 30 days of CDI diagnosis and in-hospital mortality were also recorded. Patients hospitalized for any non-surgical illness, who developed initial HA CDI were assigned to medical group, whereas those who developed initial HA CDI after surgical procedures were in surgical group. The data on patientsā characteristics and factors related to healthcare were collected, too. Results: During 7-year period, from 553 patients undergoing in-hospital treatment and diagnosed with CDI, 268 (48.5%) and 285 (51.5%) were surgical and medical patients, respectively. Age ā„ 65 years, use of proton pump inhibitors, chemotherapy and fluoroquinolones were positively associated with being in medical group, whereas admission to intensive care unit and use of second- and third-generation cephalosporins were positively associated with being in surgical group. Conclusions: Based on obtained results, including significant differences in 30-day mortality and in-hospital mortality, it can be concluded that medical patient were more endangered with HA CDI than surgical ones
Animal models of multiple sclerosis: Focus on experimental autoimmune encephalomyelitis.
Multiple sclerosis (MS) is a chronic, progressive disorder of the central nervous system (CNS) that affects more than two million people worldwide. Several animal models resemble MS pathology; the most employed are experimental autoimmune encephalomyelitis (EAE) and toxin- and/or virus-induced demyelination. In this review we will summarize our knowledge on the utility of different animal models in MS research. Although animal models cannot replicate the complexity and heterogeneity of the MS pathology, they have proved to be useful for the development of several drugs approved for treatment of MS patients. This review focuses on EAE because it represents both clinical and pathological features of MS. During the past decades, EAE has been effective in illuminating various pathological processes that occur during MS, including inflammation, CNS penetration, demyelination, axonopathy, and neuron loss mediated by immune cells."This is the peer reviewed version of the following article: Bjelobaba I, Begovic-Kupresanin V, Pekovic S, Lavrnja I. Animal models of multiple sclerosis: Focus on experimental autoimmune encephalomyelitis. J Neurosci Res. 2018, which has been published in final form at [https://doi.org/10.1002/jnr.24224]. This article may be used for non-commercial purposes in accordance with Wiley Terms and Conditions for Self-Archiving.
Effects of agmatine on chlorpromazine-induced neuronal injury in rat
This study was aimed to study the potentially beneficial effects of agmatine on oxidative/nitrosative stress development in the brain of Wistar rats during subacute chlorpromazine treatment. The animals were divided into control (0.9% saline), chlorpromazine (38.7 mg/kg b.w.), chlorpromazine+agmatine (agmatine 75 mg/kg b.w. immediately after chlorpromazine, 38.7 mg/ kg b.w. i.p.) and agmatine (75 mg/kg b.w.) groups. All the tested substances were administered intraperitoneally for 15 consecutive days and the rats were sacrificed by decapitation on day 15. Subacute administration of chlorpromazine resulted in increased lipid peroxidation, nitric oxide concentration and superoxide anion production, while completely damaging the antioxidant defence system in the cerebral cortex, striatum, and hippocampus. However, the combined treatment with chlorpromazine and agmatine significantly attenuated the oxidative/nitrosative stress indices and restored the antioxidant capacity to the control values in all of the examined brain regions. Western blot analysis supported biochemical findings in all groups, but the most notable changes were found in the hippocampus. Our results suggest potentially beneficial effects of agmatine, which may be useful in the modified antioxidant approach in chlorpromazine-therapy
Rapid Prenatal Diagnosis of Numerical Aberrations of Chromosome 21 and 18 by PCR-STR Method
In this study we reported the results for the first time of applying Polymerase Chain Reaction-Short Tandem Repeats
(PCR-STR) method in the field of detection of aneuploidies for chromosomes 21 and 18 in Croatians. The aims of the
study were: (I) validation of the diagnostic informativeness of 6 STR loci (D18S51, D18S858, D18S535, D21S1435,
D21S1411, and D21S1414) in sample of 205 unrelated healthy individuals; (II) evaluation of diagnostic power of the
PCR-STR method for those 6 microsatellites; (III) establishment protocol for use STRs as routine method for rapid prenatal
detection of trisomy 21 and 18. DNA samples were amplified by fluorescence-based PCR reaction, subjected to electrophoresis
in automated laser fluorescence DNA sequencer (ALFexpress). Results of our study were: (I) all 6 tested loci
are informative (68ā85% of heterozygous individuals); (II) comparison between PCR-STR method and conventional
cytogenetics did not revealed any false positive or false negative results; (III) in prenatal screening of 105 samples of uncultured
amniotic fluid 6 (5.7%) samples with chromosomal abnormalities were identified
CONGENITAL HYPERINSULINISM ā NOVEL INSIGHTS INTO ETIOLOGY, DIAGNOSIS AND TREATMENT
Kongenitalni hiperinzulinizam (KHI) najÄeÅ”Äi je uzrok tvrdokornih hipoglikemija u novoroÄenaÄkom i ranome dojenaÄkom razdoblju. Iako je bolest razmjerno rijetka s pojavnosti od oko 1 : 25ā
000ā50ā
000 živoroÄene djece, bolest se ne smije podcijeniti zbog trajnih neuroloÅ”kih oÅ”teÄenja do kojih dolazi ako se bolest brzo ne otkrije i ne zapoÄne promptno lijeÄiti. Uzrok su mutacije nekog od 7 gena, kljuÄnih u regulaciji inzulinske sekrecije u b-stanicama guÅ”teraÄe. Odmah nakon postavljanja dijagnoze nužno je u terapiju uvesti antihipoglikemike koji djeluju specifiÄno na -stanice guÅ”teraÄe. Kod teÅ”kih neonatalnih oblika nerijetko postoji rezistencija na antihipoglikemike. Tada preostaje kirurÅ”ko lijeÄenje prije kojeg je potrebno odrediti histoloÅ”ki oblik bolesti, Å”to se danas uspjeÅ”no postiže kombinacijom genskog testiranja i scintigrafske pretrage. KirurÅ”kim se zahvatom najÄeÅ”Äe postiže izljeÄenje kod fokalnog KHI, dok difuzni oblik ima loÅ”iju prognozu. Ovaj je tekst pregled novijih spoznaja o KHI, kojim želimo naglasiti važnost Å”to ranijeg postavljanja dijagnoze kao preduvjeta uspjeÅ”noga ciljanog lijeÄenja bolesti, koje je posljednjih godina obogaÄeno novim moguÄnostima.Congenital hyperinsulinism (CHI) is a major cause of persistent hypoglycemia in the neonatal and early infancy periods. Althought the disease is relatively rare with incidence of about 1: 25ā
000ā50ā
000 live births, the importance of the disease should not be underestimated. Namely, prompt recognition and management of patients with CHI is essential, if permanent neurological impairment is to be avoided. CHI is caused by mutations in one of the 7 genes involved in the regulation of insulin secretion in pancreatic b-cells. It is important to introduce specific medical therapy as soon as diagnosis is established. Severe, neonatal forms of CHI are often resistant to medications, thus they require surgical procedure. The preoperative genetic testing and scintigraphy are indicated to distinguish histological subtypes of the disease (focal vs. diffuse CHI). Patients with focal disease are usually cured after pancreatic resection, while diffuse disease has much worse prognosis. This manuscript offers novel insights into CHI and emphasizes the role of early diagnosis as crucial for succesful treatment that was recently enriched with novel options
Therapy of acute hepatitis C infection
Background. Hepatitis C viral infection is a major cause of chronic hepatitis, liver cirrhosis and hepatocellular carcinoma. The progression of acute to chronic infection occurs in 50-90% of cases. There is no standard therapy for acute HCV infection. Comparative studies are required to verify the optimal doses, dosage schedules and the treatment duration, and to establish the optimal treatment for acute hepatitis C. Recent reports have demonstrated that early application of interferon alpha was a treatment of choice for acute HCV infection. The addition of ribavirinin in the treatment of acute HCV infection, and HCV genotype, did not improve the end-of treatment responses. It is important to consider the treatment of acute HCV infection before it progresses to chronic state. Case Report. Beneficial effect of interferon therapy in a patient with acute hepatitis C is presented. Early treatment with 3 MIU interferon alpha, three times a week, within six-months, resulted in the normal serum aminotransferases, and good virological response in our patient. Conclusion. Interferon therapy significantly increased the probability of obtaining normal serum aminotransferases and undetectable HCV RNA, following acute HCV infection
Vaccine Effectiveness against SARS-CoV-2 Infection during the Circulation of Alpha, Delta, or Omicron Variants: A Retrospective Cohort Study in a Tertiary Hospital in Serbia
The COVID-19 pandemic prompted rapid vaccine development and deployment worldwide. Despite widespread vaccination efforts, understanding the effectiveness of vaccines in hospitalized patients remains a critical concern. This retrospective cohort study, conducted at a tertiary healthcare centre in Serbia, tracked patients hospitalized during different waves of COVID-19 variantsāAlpha, Delta, and Omicron. Data collection included demographics, comorbidities, symptoms, and vaccination status. Among 3593 patients, those with prior exposure to COVID-19 cases or hospital treatment showed higher positivity rates. Symptom prevalence varied across waves, with coughs persisting. Patients without chronic diseases were more frequent among those testing negative. Vaccine effectiveness varied, with Sinopharm demonstrating a 45.6% effectiveness initially and Pfizer-BioNTech showing an effectiveness of up to 74.8% within 0ā84 days after the second dose. Mixed-dose strategies, notably Sinopharm as a primary dose followed by a Pfizer-BioNTech booster, suggested increased protection. Despite substantial vaccination availability, a significant portion of hospitalized patients remained unvaccinated. This study underscores the dynamic nature of vaccine effectiveness and advocates for booster strategies to address evolving challenges in combating COVID-19, particularly in hospitalized patients
Infective endocarditis of a rare etiology: Serratia marcescens
Infective endocarditis (IE) is a unique diagnostic and therapeutic challenge. It is a severe disease, fatal before penicillin discovery. Atypical presentations frequently led to delayed diagnosis and poor outcome. There was little information about the natural history of the vegetations during medical treatment or the relation of morphologic changes in vegetation to late complications. Application of a new diagnostic criteria and echocardiography, increased the number of definite diagnosis. Trans-thoracic and trans-esophageal echocardiography had an established role in the management of patients with IE. The evolution of vegetation size, its mobility, and consistency, the extent of the disease, and the severity of valvular regurgutation were related to late complications. With therapeutic options including modern antibiotic treatment and early surgical intervention IE turned out to be a curable disease. Reduction in mortality also depended on prevention. Antibiotic prophylaxis of IE was important, but low mortality was also the result of early treatment, especially in the event of early recognition of symptoms and signs of the disease