The DATAC study: a new growth database. Description of the epidemiology, diagnosis and therapeutic attitude in a group of Spanish children with short stature.

Background: Recombinant human growth hormone (rhGH) availability has allowed the treatment of a greater number of growth disorders. It is important to get an insight into the clinical characteristics of the paediatric population before rhGH treatment.

Methods: An observational, retrospective and multicentre study was conducted to evaluate the patients' baseline characteristics prior to rhGH therapy.

Adverse events during the titration phase of interferon-beta in remitting-relapsing multiple sclerosis are not predicted by body mass index nor by pharmacodynamic biomarkers.

Background: This study aimed to correlate body mass index or biomarkers with the frequency of common adverse events (AEs) with subcutaneous IFN β-1a during treatment titration in patients with relapsing-remitting multiple sclerosis previously naïve to IFN β.

Methods: Eighty-four patients (66.3% females) were followed up during 8 weeks, 25.

Histological approach to Bacillus subtilis colony-biofilm: evolving internal architecture and sporulation dynamics.

Bacillus subtilis has been used as a classic model to study biofilm formation and sporulation process. Colonies of wild-type strains usually have a complex external morphology, but the details of their internal architecture are still undisclosed. Since bacterial biofilms fulfill the criteria to be considered tissues, the aim of this work was to analyse B.

Invasion of solid culture media: a widespread phenotypic feature of clinical bacterial isolates.

Objectives: The in-depth growth in solid culture media is a common feature in filamentous fungi and yeasts. However, there are very few bacterial species in which this phenomenon has been documented. The aim of this work was to assess the agar invasiveness of a wide range of Gram-positive and Gram-negative bacterial species of clinical interest.

[Discrepancy in the disk diffusion susceptibility test of Pseudomonas aeruginosa strains isolated from cystic fibrosis patients after anaerobic preincubation and its potential clinical relevance].

Introduction: In cystic fibrosis, the Pseudomonas aeruginosa cells grow inside the thick mucus layer. In spite of being an obligate aerobe, P. aeruginosa is able to grow in a limited oxygen environment.

[The role of the pharmaceutical industry. Why aren't new antibiotics being marketed?].

The lack or absence of social and political interest in the problem of antibiotic resistance, the difficulty in identifying active molecules against new targets, and above all, low profitability in comparison to other types of drugs, as well as uncertainty and the arbitrary nature of regulatory authorities in terms of assessing effectiveness, all contribute to a significant slowdown in the marketing of new antibiotics. Current conditions do not favor investment in new antibiotics by the pharmaceutical industry, which has available therapeutic areas with far greater profit potential, and other problems of its own to handle. Since we cannot force the industry to develop antibiotics, it is necessary to implement policies as soon as possible that stimulate interest in developing them, or find a way for the states and regulatory authorities to replace the pharmaceutical industry in this task.

Multicenter study evaluating the role of enterococci in secondary bacterial peritonitis.

A 1-year prospective multicenter study was performed to explore the significance of the presence of enterococci in cultures of peritoneal fluid from patients with secondary bacterial peritonitis in seven Spanish hospitals. The clinical records of patients with positive peritoneal fluid cultures were reviewed and distributed into cases (patients with cultures yielding enterococci) and controls (patients with cultures not yielding enterococci). Of a total of 158 records, 38 (24.

[Recommendations in the empiric anti-infective agents of intra-abdominal infection].

A significant number of patients with abdominal infection develop advanced stages of infection and mortality is still above 20%. Failure is multifactorial and is associated with an increase of bacterial resitance, inappropriate empirical treatment, a higher comorbidity of patients and poor source control of infection. These guidelines discuss each of these problems and propose measures to avoid the failure based on the best current scientific evidence.

In vitro effect of physiological concentrations of human albumin on the antibacterial activity of tigecycline.

Objectives: To determine C(max) tigecycline activity in the presence/absence of physiological concentrations of human albumin with free fraction concentrations as controls.

Methods: Killing curves (final inoculum: 1.0-5.

Evaluation of the ability of erythromycin-resistant and -susceptible pharyngeal group A Streptococcus isolates from Spain to enter and persist in human keratinocytes.

The macrolide-resistance rate among group A Streptococcus (GAS) isolates has increased in some European countries. To investigate the reasons for this increase, the ability of 60 erythromycin-resistant and 61 erythromycin-susceptible, genetically unrelated, pharyngeal GAS isolates from Spain to enter and persist within human keratinocytes was evaluated. It was observed that erythromycin resistance was associated with the presence of prtF1, a gene related to invasiveness, whereas no association was observed with the ability to enter human keratinocytes.

Ampicillin-resistant non-beta-lactamase-producing Haemophilus influenzae in Spain: recent emergence of clonal isolates with increased resistance to cefotaxime and cefixime.

The sequence of the ftsI gene encoding the transpeptidase domain of penicillin-binding protein 3 (PBP 3) was determined for 354 nonconsecutive Haemophilus influenzae isolates from Spain; 17.8% of them were ampicillin susceptible, 56% were beta-lactamase nonproducing ampicillin resistant (BLNAR), 15.8% were beta-lactamase producers and ampicillin resistant, and 10.

Impact of amoxicillin, associated or not with clavulanic acid, on pharyngeal colonization and selection of Streptococcus pneumoniae resistance in children under 5 years of age.

Among young children, pneumococcal nasopharyngeal colonization (NPC) rates of >90% have been described. The aim of our study was to assess the effect of amoxicillin exposure on the NPC. From Dec 2001 to Feb 2004, less than 5 years old children with respiratory symptoms and fever who were prescribed amoxicillin were eligible.

Geographical and ecological analysis of resistance, coresistance, and coupled resistance to antimicrobials in respiratory pathogenic bacteria in Spain.

A multicenter susceptibility surveillance (the S.A.U.

Survey of emm-like gene sequences from pharyngeal isolates of group C and group G streptococci collected in Spain.

We conducted a nationwide surveillance of the variable 5' emm-like (M-like protein gene) sequences from 214 pharyngeal group C and group G streptococci. Almost 75% of the isolates exhibited emm or emm-like sequences previously described. We identified six new 5' emm-like regions, and almost 23% of the isolates were nontypeable.

Streptococcus pyogenes pharyngeal isolates with reduced susceptibility to ciprofloxacin in Spain: mechanisms of resistance and clonal diversity.

A survey of emm gene sequences and an analysis of the pulsed-field electrophoretic profiles of 30 Streptococcus pyogenes isolates with reduced susceptibilities to ciprofloxacin detected the prevalence of isolates with emm type 6 and considerable genetic diversity among isolates. The mechanism of ciprofloxacin resistance in these isolates was based on point mutations in topoisomerase IV subunit C encoded by parC, mainly replacement of serine-79 by alanine.

Effect of social and climatological factors on antimicrobial use and Streptococcus pneumoniae resistance in different provinces in Spain.

Objectives: To investigate the association between geographical differences in antibiotic consumption and resistance of Streptococcus pneumoniae to penicillin and erythromycin in 15 provinces of Spain, taking into account the potential influence of a series of social and climatological factors.

Methods: Possible correlations between prevalence of resistance to penicillin and erythromycin of S. pneumoniae, as determined in the national reference laboratory, and antibiotic consumption, and socio-economic and climatological variables were investigated.

Survey of emm gene sequences from pharyngeal Streptococcus pyogenes isolates collected in Spain and their relationship with erythromycin susceptibility.

We conducted a nationwide survey of the variable 5' emm (M protein gene) sequences from 614 pharyngeal Streptococcus pyogenes isolates susceptible (299 isolates) and resistant (315 isolates) to erythromycin that were isolated in Spain from 1996 to 1999. Almost 98% of these isolates had emm sequences in agreement with previously recorded M antigen association. We only identified a new 5' emm sequence in 17 isolates.

A randomized study comparing lamivudine monotherapy after a short course of hepatitis B immune globulin (HBIg) and lamivudine with long-term lamivudine plus HBIg in the prevention of hepatitis B virus recurrence after liver transplantation.

Background/aims: To compare the efficacy in preventing hepatitis B virus (HBV) recurrence of lamivudine vs. lamivudine plus hepatitis B immune globulin (HBIg) after a short course of HBIg and lamivudine in liver transplanted chronic hepatitis B patients.

Methods: Forty-six patients with HBV cirrhosis received lamivudine before liver transplantation and were then randomized to receive lamivudine plus HBIg for 1 month followed by lamivudine or both drugs for 17 months.

Importance of local variations in antibiotic consumption and geographical differences of erythromycin and penicillin resistance in Streptococcus pneumoniae.

A geographical analysis of how commonly prescribed oral antibiotics are quantitatively and qualitatively responsible for the different local rates of erythromycin and penicillin resistance in Streptococcus pneumoniae in Spain is presented. From 1998 to 1999 a multicenter surveillance study yielded 1,684 consecutive S. pneumoniae isolates from community-acquired respiratory infections.