Combination of PCR targeting the VD2 of omp1 and reverse line blot analysis for typing of urogenital Chlamydia trachomatis serovars in cervical scrape specimens.

50% contained both serovars D and E. The nested VD2 PCR-RLB developed is a simple, fast, and specific method for the identification of individual urogenital C. trachomatis serovars previously detected by using plasmid PCR. Moreover, it is an appropriate method for studying multiple C. trachomatis infections and for use in large epidemiological studies

О номенклатуре Ceramium rubrum (Rhodophyta)

Анализируются номенклатурные проблемы, связанные с цитацией видового названия Ceramium rubrum auctorum. Показано, что правильным названием данного таксона следует считать C. virgatum Roth.A nomenclature problems of misuse of a species name Ceramium rubrum auctorum are analyzed. The correct name of the taxon is demonstrated to be C. virgatum Roth

An evaluation of three processing methods and the effect of reduced culture times for faster direct identification of pathogens from BacT/ALERT blood cultures by MALDI-TOF MS

Matrix-assisted laser desorption/ionisation time-of-flight mass spectrometry (MALDI-TOF MS) is a fast and reliable method for the identification of bacteria from agar media. Direct identification from positive blood cultures should decrease the time to obtaining the result. In this study, three different processing methods for the rapid direct identification of bacteria from positive blood culture bottles were compared. In total, 101 positive aerobe BacT/ALERT bottles were included in this study. Aliquots from all bottles were used for three bacterial processing methods, i.e. the commercially available Bruker’s MALDI Sepsityper kit, the commercially available Molzym’s MolYsis Basic5 kit and a centrifugation/washing method. In addition, the best method was used to evaluate the possibility of MALDI application after a reduced incubation time of 7 h of Staphylococcus aureus- and Escherichia coli-spiked (1,000, 100 and 10 colony-forming units [CFU]) aerobe BacT/ALERT blood cultures. Sixty-six (65%), 51 (50.5%) and 79 (78%) bottles were identified correctly at the species level when the centrifugation/washing method, MolYsis Basic 5 and Sepsityper were used, respectively. Incorrect identification was obtained in 35 (35%), 50 (49.5%) and 22 (22%) bottles, respectively. Gram-positive cocci were correctly identified in 33/52 (64%) of the cases. However, Gram-negative rods showed a correct identification in 45/47 (96%) of all bottles when the Sepsityper kit was used. Seven hours of pre-incubation of S. aureus- and E. coli-spiked aerobe BacT/ALERT blood cultures never resulted in reliable identification with MALDI-TOF MS. Sepsityper is superior for the direct identification of microorganisms from aerobe BacT/ALERT bottles. Gram-negative pathogens show better results compared to Gram-positive bacteria. Reduced incubation followed by MALDI-TOF MS did not result in faster reliable identification

Prevalence of cutaneous adverse events associated with long-term disease-modifying therapy and their impact on health-related quality of life in patients with multiple sclerosis: A cross-sectional study

Background: Glatiramer acetate (GA) and interferon-beta (IFN-β) are disease-modifying therapies (DMTs) for multiple sclerosis that are administered through subcutaneous (SC) or intramuscular (IM) injections. Skin reactions associated with DMTs are common and may influence patient's health-related quality of life (QoL). We aimed to determine the prevalence of cutaneous adverse events associated with long-term DMT use, and to assess the impact of cutaneous adverse events on QoL. Methods: A cross-sectional study among patients with multiple sclerosis who had been treated with their first DMT for at least 2 years. Cutaneous events were assessed from photographs of injection-sites by dermatologists blinded for DMT. Generic and dermatology-specific health-related QoL were assessed using validated patient-reported questionnaires. Results: A total of 229 patients were enrolled, of whom 156 (68%) had at least one skin reaction. The prevalence of cutaneous adverse events was higher for SC DMTs (75-82%) compared to IM DMT (41%) (P < 0.001). Erythema and lipoatrophy were the most common skin reactions, observed in 156 (68%) and 45 (20%) patients, respectively. Dermatology-specific, but not generic, QoL was significantly lower among patients with skin reactions compared to those without. Conclusions: The prevalence of cutaneous adverse events was high in long-term DMT-treatment. Patients with cutaneous adverse events had a lower perceived dermatology-specific QoL

Impact of maturation and growth temperature on cell-size distribution, heat-resistance, compatible solute composition and transcription profiles of Penicillium roqueforti conidia

Penicillium roqueforti is a major cause of fungal food spoilage. Its conidia are the main dispersal structures of this fungus and therefore the main cause of food contamination. These stress resistant asexual spores can be killed by preservation methods such as heat treatment. Here, the effects of cultivation time and temperature on thermal resistance of P. roqueforti conidia were studied. To this end, cultures were grown for 3, 5, 7 and 10 days at 25 °C or for 7 days at 15, 25 and 30 °C. Conidia of 3- and 10-day-old cultures that had been grown at 25 °C had D56-values of 1.99 ± 0.15 min and 5.31 ± 1.04 min, respectively. The effect of cultivation temperature was most pronounced between P. roqueforti conidia cultured for 7 days at 15 °C and 30 °C, where D56-values of 1.12 ± 0.05 min and 4.19 ± 0.11 min were found, respectively. Notably, D56-values were not higher when increasing both cultivation time and temperature by growing for 10 days at 30 °C. A correlation was found between heat resistance of conidia and levels of trehalose and arabitol, while this was not found for glycerol, mannitol and erythritol. RNA-sequencing showed that the expression profiles of conidia of 3- to 10-day-old cultures that had been grown at 25 °C were distinct from conidia that had been formed at 15 °C and 30 °C for 7 days. Only 33 genes were upregulated at both prolonged incubation time and increased growth temperature. Their encoded proteins as well as trehalose and arabitol may form the core of heat resistance of P. roqueforti conidia.</p

Low grade squamous intra-epithelial lesions and human papillomavirus infection in Colombian women

Low grade squamous intra-epithelial lesions could be considered as a manifestation of human papillomavirus exposition, however the discrepancy between rates of infection with human papillomavirus and development of low grade squamous intra-epithelial lesions is notable. Here we report a cross-sectional three-armed case–control study in the Colombian population, to compare the risk factors of women with low grade squamous intra-epithelial lesions with that of human papillomavirus DNA-negative and positive women with normal cytology

Reduced anticoagulation targets in extracorporeal life support (RATE):study protocol for a randomized controlled trial

BackgroundAlthough life-saving in selected patients, ECMO treatment still has high mortality which for a large part is due to treatment-related complications. A feared complication is ischemic stroke for which heparin is routinely administered for which the dosage is usually guided by activated partial thromboplastin time (aPTT).However, there is no relation between aPTT and the rare occurrence of ischemic stroke (1.2%), but there is a relation with the much more frequent occurrence of bleeding complications (55%) and blood transfusion. Both are strongly related to outcome.MethodsWe will conduct a three-arm non-inferiority randomized controlled trial, in adult patients treated with ECMO. Participants will be randomized between heparin administration with a target of 2–2.5 times baseline aPTT, 1.5–2 times baseline aPTT, or low molecular weight heparin guided by weight and renal function. Apart from anticoagulation targets, treatment will be according to standard care. The primary outcome parameter is a combined endpoint consisting of major bleeding including hemorrhagic stroke, severe thromboembolic complications including ischemic stroke, and mortality at 6 months.DiscussionWe hypothesize that with lower anticoagulation targets or anticoagulation with LMWH during ECMO therapy, patients will have fewer hemorrhagic complications without an increase in thromboembolic complication or a negative effect on their outcome. If our hypothesis is confirmed, this study could lead to a change in anticoagulation protocols and a better outcome for patients treated with ECMO.Trial registrationClinicalTrials.gov NCT04536272. Registered on 2 September 2020. Netherlands Trial Register NL796

Prevalence and determinants of HPV infection among Colombian women with normal cytology

Human papillomavirus is the principal risk factor associated with cervical cancer, the most common malignancy among women in Colombia. We conducted a survey, aiming to report type specific prevalence and determinants of human papillomavirus infection in women with normal cytology. A total of 1859 women from Bogota, Colombia were interviewed and tested for human papillomavirus using a general primer GP5+/GP6+ mediated PCR–EIA. The overall HPV DNA prevalence was 14.8%; 9% of the women were infected by high risk types, 3.1% by low risk types, 2.3% by both high risk/low risk types and 0.4% by uncharacterized types (human papillomavirus X). Thirty-two different human papillomavirus types were detected, being human papillomavirus 16, 58, 56, 81(CP8304) and 18 the most common types. The human papillomavirus prevalence was 26.1% among women younger than 20 years, 2.3% in women aged 45–54 years, and 13.2% in women aged 55 years or more. For low risk types the highest peak of prevalence was observed in women aged 55 years or more. Compared to women aged 35–44 years, women aged less than 20 years had a 10-fold increased risk of having multiple infections. Besides age, there was a positive association between the risk of human papillomavirus infection and number of regular sexual partners and oral contraceptive use. In women aged below 25 years, high educational level and having had casual sexual partners predicted infection risk. In conclusion, there was a broad diversity of human papillomavirus infections with high risk types being the most common types detected. In this population multiplicity of sexual partners and, among young women, high educational level and casual sexual partners seem to determine risk

Papillomavirus infection in rural women in southern India

To investigate the prevalence of, and the risk factors for, cervical infection with 44 types of human papillomavirus (HPV) in a rural area in the Dindigul District, Tamil Nadu, India, we interviewed and obtained cervical cell samples from 1891 married women aged 16–59 years. HPV prevalence was 16.9% overall and 14.0% among women without cervical abnormalities, or 17.7 and 15.2%, respectively, age-standardised to the world standard population. In all, 21.9% of infections involved more than one HPV type. High-risk HPV types predominated, particularly HPV 16 (22.5% of women infected), followed by HPV 56, HPV 31, HPV 33 and HPV 18. Unlike most populations studied in developed countries, HPV prevalence was constant across the age groups. HPV positivity was inversely associated with education level (odds ratio (OR) among women with high school vs no education=0.6) and positively associated with widowhood and divorce (OR=1.7), nulligravidity (OR=2.3), and condom use (OR=2.6). It is unclear how much low clearance of, or frequent reinfection with HPV accounted for the study prevalence of infection in different age groups