Multidisciplinary approach to prostatitis.

The modern clinical research on prostatitis started with the work of Stamey and coworkers who developed the basic principles we are still using. They established the segmented culture technique for localizing the infections in the males to the urethra, the bladder, or the prostate and to differentiate the main categories of prostatitis. Such categories with slight modifications are still used according to the NIH classification: acute bacterial prostatitis, chronic bacterial prostatitis, Chronic Pelvic Pain Syndrome (CPPS) and asymptomatic prostatitis.

Association between genital mycoplasmas, acute chorioamnionitis and fetal pneumonia in spontaneous abortions.

Aim: Ureaplasma parvum, Ureaplasma urealyticum and Mycoplasma hominis are also known as genital mycoplasmas. Acute chorioamnionitis is an inflammation of the placenta associated with miscarriage. We retrospectively evaluated a possible association between genital mycoplasmas detection, acute chorioamnionitis and fetal pneumonia from second and third trimester spontaneous abortions.

Acute appendicitis due to Cytomegalovirus in an apparently immunocompetent patient: a case report.

Introduction: In healthy subjects, Cytomegalovirus infection can be asymptomatic or manifest as mononucleosis syndrome, but organ disease has also been reported. However, in immunocompromised patients this infection can lead to its most significant and severe disease and even mortality. When Cytomegalovirus causes a gastrointestinal tract infection, it more commonly manifests with luminal tract disease and is usually characterized by ulcerative lesions.

Breastfeeding and transmission of cytomegalovirus to preterm infants. Case report and kinetic of CMV-DNA in breast milk.

Background: Breastfeeding has a major impact on CMV epidemiology. Postnatal CMV reactivation's incidence during lactation is nearby the maternal seroprevalence. Although perinatal CMV infection has practically no consequences in term newborn, it may cause, in some cases, a severe symptomatic disease in preterm newborns.

Racial difference in endothelial function: role of the infective burden.

There is much evidence to suggest the existence of racial differences between blacks and whites in the behaviour of endothelial function. Infective state, sustained by viral or bacterial agents, may injure the endothelial surface favouring the onset and progression of atherosclerotic process, mainly by an inflammatory mechanism. The aim of the study was to investigate endothelial function, expressed as brachial flow-mediated vasodilation (FMV), in black and white healthy subjects, along with antibody titer to cytomegalovirus, hepatitis virus (B, C), herpes virus-1 and 2, Epstein-Barr, Chlamydia pneumoniae and the expression of adhesion molecules.

Acute fatal necrotizing hemorrhagic encephalitis caused by Epstein-Barr virus in a young adult immunocompetent man.

Epstein-Barr Virus (EBV) encephalitis is a rare (<1%) and generally self-limited disease with few sequelae. This neurological complication has been reported almost exclusively in the course of acute primary infection and in paediatric patients. We describe a case of a young adult immunocompetent man who developed an acute fatal necrotizing haemorrhagic encephalitis as the only manifestation of an acute EBV infection.

Acute inflammatory state during influenza infection and endothelial function.

Chronic inflammatory stimulus seems to contribute to atherosclerotic process. Several studies have established a relationship between infective agents as Chlamydia pneumoniae, herpes virus and cytomegalovirus and atherosclerotic lesions. Aim of this study was to investigate the effects of influenza infective state on endothelial function of healthy young subjects, expressed as brachial flow-mediated vasodilation (FMV) and soluble form of intercellular adhesion molecule-1 (sICAM-1) and vascular cell adhesion molecule-1 (sVCAM-1).

Carriage of group B Streptococcus in pregnant women and newborns: a 2-year study at Perugia General Hospital.

OBJECTIVE: To study the prevalence of group B Streptococcus (GBS) colonization in pregnant women and their newborns at Perugia General Hospital. METHODS: The number of mother---child pairs examined was 2300. Vaginal swabs were collected from the mothers at delivery, and auricular and pharyngeal swabs and gastric aspirate from the newborns at birth.

IgG avidity in the serodiagnosis of acute Toxoplasma gondii infection: a multicenter study.

OBJECTIVE: To evaluate the validity of the IgG avidity test in the serodiagnosis of acute T. gondii infection; to verify the maturation of IgG avidity during the course of infection; to observe whether the kinetics of IgG maturation could be affected by antibiotic treatment. METHODS: Serial serum samples, collected in three Italian hospitals (Perugia, Treviso and Bologna), from untreated and antibiotic-treated patients with primary toxoplasmic infection, were assayed for IgG avidity, and IgM and IgA positivity.

Hepatitis C virus genotypes in the liver and serum of patients with chronic hepatitis C.

OBJECTIVE: To evaluate the prevalence of hepatitis C virus (HCV) genotypes in a central area of Italy (Umbria); to analyze the correspondence of the genotypes detected in serum and liver samples; to study the relationship between HCV genotypes and severity of liver disease; to test whether co-infection with more than one HCV subtype could be influenced by the source of infection. METHODS: Genotyping by polymerase chain reaction with core-specific primers (Okamoto method) was performed in the serum and liver from 48 consecutive patients with histologically confirmed chronic C hepatitis. RESULTS: HCV genotype 1b was the prevalent strain and was not associated with more severe histologic damage.