Isolated intestinal manifestation of an invasive varicella zoster virus reactivation in an immunocompromised patient: a case report.

Invasive varicella zoster infection is a rare but severe infectious disease, potentially affecting almost every organ system and presenting with a variety of symptoms. It is usually seen in immunocompromised patients, but also occurs in immunocompetent patients. Isolated intestinal manifestations without skin lesions are even more scarce.

A novel methylation signature predicts extreme long-term survival in glioblastoma.

Purpose: Glioblastoma (GBM) is the most common malignant primary brain tumor with a dismal prognosis of less than 2 years under maximal therapy. Despite the poor prognosis, small fractions of GBM patients seem to have a markedly longer survival than the vast majority of patients. Recently discovered intertumoral heterogeneity is thought to be responsible for this peculiarity, although the exact underlying mechanisms remain largely unknown.

Abnormal DNA methylation within HPA-axis genes years after paediatric critical illness.

Background: Critically ill children suffer from impaired physical/neurocognitive development 2 years later. Glucocorticoid treatment alters DNA methylation within the hypothalamus-pituitary-adrenal (HPA) axis which may impair normal brain development, cognition and behaviour. We tested the hypothesis that paediatric-intensive-care-unit (PICU) patients, sex- and age-dependently, show long-term abnormal DNA methylation within the HPA-axis layers, possibly aggravated by glucocorticoid treatment in the PICU, which may contribute to the long-term developmental impairments.

Abnormal DNA methylation within genes of the steroidogenesis pathway two years after paediatric critical illness and association with stunted growth in height further in time.

Background: Former critically ill children show an epigenetic age deceleration 2 years after paediatric intensive care unit (PICU) admission as compared with normally developing healthy children, with stunted growth in height 2 years further in time as physical correlate. This was particularly pronounced in children who were 6 years or older at the time of critical illness. As this age roughly corresponds to the onset of adrenarche and further pubertal development, a relation with altered activation of endocrine pathways is plausible.

Long-term impact of paediatric critical illness on the difference between epigenetic and chronological age in relation to physical growth.

Background: Altered DNA-methylation affects biological ageing in adults and developmental processes in children. DNA-methylation is altered by environmental factors, trauma and illnesses. We hypothesised that paediatric critical illness, and the nutritional management in the paediatric intensive care unit (PICU), affects DNA-methylation changes that underly the developmental processes of childhood ageing.

Assessment of aberrant DNA methylation two years after paediatric critical illness: a pre-planned secondary analysis of the international PEPaNIC trial.

Critically ill children requiring intensive care suffer from impaired physical/neurocognitive development 2 y later, partially preventable by omitting early use of parenteral nutrition (early-PN) in the paediatric intensive-care-unit (PICU). Altered methylation of DNA from peripheral blood during PICU-stay provided a molecular basis hereof. Whether DNA-methylation of former PICU patients, assessed 2 y after critical illness, is different from that of healthy children remained unknown.

Clinical and microbiological evaluation of temocillin for bloodstream infections with Enterobacterales: a Belgian single-centre retrospective study.

Background: Expanding the use of temocillin could be an important weapon in the fight against antimicrobial resistance. However, EUCAST defined clinical breakpoints for a limited number of species and only for urinary tract infections (UTI), including urosepsis but excluding severe sepsis and septic shock. Moreover, a dosage of 2 g q8h is advised in most cases.

Molecular Identification of Cutaneous Alternariosis in a Renal Transplant Patient.

Cutaneous alternariosis is a rare condition, caused by an uncommon opportunistic pathogen. The most frequently affected individuals are immunosuppressed patients, e.g.

Multicenter evaluation of the revised RIDA® QUICK test (N1402) for rapid detection of norovirus in a diagnostic laboratory setting.

The updated RIDA® QUICK (N1402) immunochromatographic assay (R-Biopharm) for detection of norovirus was evaluated during a prospective, multicenter study using 771 stool samples from patients with gastroenteritis. Compared to real-time reverse transcriptase polymerase chain reaction (RT-rtPCR) as gold standard, the RIDA® QUICK had an overall sensitivity of 72.8% (91/125) and a specificity of 99.

Late onset of Strongyloides stercoralis meningitis in a retired Belgian miner.

We report a rare case of Strongyloides stercoralis meningitis in an immunocompromised patient treated for a lung carcinoma. Despite his Belgian origin, he was infected with S. stercoralis due to his former work as a miner.

A hospital-level cost-effectiveness analysis model for toxigenic Clostridium difficile detection algorithms.

Background: Despite thorough analyses of the analytical performance of Clostridium difficile tests and test algorithms, the financial impact at hospital level has not been well described. Such a model should take institution-specific variables into account, such as incidence, request behaviour and infection control policies.

Aim: To calculate the total hospital costs of different test algorithms, accounting for days on which infected patients with toxigenic strains were not isolated and therefore posed an infectious risk for new/secondary nosocomial infections.

Establishing quality control ranges for temocillin following CLSI-M23-A3 guideline.

Objectives: This study aimed to establish acceptable quality control ranges for temocillin disk diffusion tests and Etest(®) minimal inhibitory concentrations.

Methods: According to Clinical and Laboratory Standards Institute (CLSI) guideline, a Tier 2 quality control study was performed and involves seven laboratories. Each of them tested 10 replicates of two quality control strains (Escherichia coli ATCC 25922 and E.

Diving-related visual loss in the setting of angioid streaks: report of two cases.

Purpose: The purpose of this study was to report diving-related visual loss in the setting of angioid streaks.

Methods: Observational case reports of two patients with angioid streaks suffering sudden visual loss immediately after diving.

Results: Two young adult male patients presented with visual loss after diving headfirst.

The preanalytical optimization of blood cultures: a review and the clinical importance of benchmarking in 5 Belgian hospitals.

Bloodstream infections remain a major challenge in medicine. Optimal detection of pathogens is only possible if the quality of preanalytical factors is thoroughly controlled. Since the laboratory is responsible for this preanalytical phase, the quality control of critical factors should be integrated in its quality control program.

Q fever across the Dutch border in Limburg province, Belgium.

Data from three different data sources were compiled to estimate the presence of Coxiella burnetii in the Belgian Limburg province for both humans and livestock. First, serological data of all samples sent to the Belgian reference centre (2003–2010) for human Q fever were analysed, showing evidence for an acute Q fever infection in 1–5% of the cases. Second, a multi-centre prospective survey was conducted in Limburg in 2010 to detect undiagnosed human cases; evidence for a recent infection with Coxiella burnetii was found in three out of 100 patients from which clinicians suspected a Mycoplasma pneumoniae infection.

Polypoidal choroidal vasculopathy, diagnosis and management.

Polypoidal Choroidal Vasculopathy (PCV) was first identified in 1985. Initially considered to be rare, PCV is currently frequently diagnosed in patients of African and Asian descent. In Caucasians, PCV counts for 10% of cases of AMD, and for up to 85% of patients with hemorrhagic or exudative retinal pigment epithelial detachment.

Intravitreal bevacizumab for myopic choroidal neovascularization: 1-year and 2-year results.

Methods: A retrospective interventional case series of 29 patients with mCNV was conducted. Charts were reviewed of all patients who received IVB for active mCNV and who had a follow-up of at least 12 months after the first injection. Patients were divided into three groups based on length of followup: patients in Group 1 had a follow-up of > or =12 months, in Group 2 of > or =18 months and in Group 3 of > or =24 months.

Glaucoma medication during pregnancy and nursing.

Risks that glaucoma medications pose to the fetus and neonate must be balanced against the risk of vision loss in the mother. There is no high level evidence for harmful effects on the fetus and neonate of medications used to treat glaucoma. All topical and systemic glaucoma medication should be avoided during the first trimester of pregnancy.

Corneal complications of intraoperative Mitomycin C in glaucoma surgery.

Purpose: To report corneal toxicity of Mitomycin C application during filtering glaucoma surgery in two patients.

Case Reports: An elderly woman, 81 years of age, developed diffuse corneal epitheliopathy with subepithelial stromal oedema seven weeks after a trabeculectomy with Mitomycin C application. Another patient, a 76-year-old man, first developed a central epithelium defect and stromal oedema in the second postoperative week after a similar procedure.

Performance of a new chromogenic medium, BBL CHROMagar MRSA II (BD), for detection of methicillin-resistant Staphylococcus aureus in screening samples.

Two chromogenic media for the detection of MRSA were compared: BBL CHROMagar MRSA II (BD) and MRSA ID agar (bioMérieux). Following overnight nonselective enrichment, 1,919 screening samples were inoculated on both chromogenic agars. After 24 h, the sensitivities of both media were high and comparable.

The safety and efficacy of glaucoma medication in the pediatric population.

Topical glaucoma medications are widely used for childhood glaucoma, although little is known concerning the use of the newer glaucoma medications in this population. The majority of the references cited were extracted from PubMed. A literature review of all English language reports related to glaucoma medication in the pediatric population since 1980 was performed.