Neonatal invasive disease caused by Streptococcus agalactiae in Europe: the DEVANI multi-center study.

Purpose: Group B streptococcus (GBS) remains a leading cause of invasive disease, mainly sepsis and meningitis, in infants < 3 months of age and of mortality among neonates. This study, a major component of the European DEVANI project (Design of a Vaccine Against Neonatal Infections) describes clinical and important microbiological characteristics of neonatal GBS diseases. It quantifies the rate of antenatal screening and intrapartum antibiotic prophylaxis among cases and identifies risk factors associated with an adverse outcome.

Neonatal protection and preterm birth reduction following maternal group B streptococcus vaccination in a mouse model.

Purpose: Evaluate effects of maternal immunization in a mouse model of Group B Streptococcus (GBS) vaginal colonization using clinical isolates.

Materials And Methods: Female pregnant mice were immunized with heat-killed GBS 21 days before pregnancy and were inoculated intravaginally with GBS cultures (5 × 10 CFU twice a day for three days) from the 16th day of pregnancy. Gestation period and mice survival were monitored.

External quality assessment for the determination of diphtheria antitoxin in human serum.

Accurate determination of diphtheria toxin antibodies is of value in determining the rates of immunity within broad populations or the immune status of individuals who may be at risk of infection, by assessing responses to vaccination and immunization schedule efficacy. Here we report the results of an external quality assessment (EQA) study for diphtheria serology, performed within the dedicated surveillance network DIPNET. Twelve national laboratories from 11 European countries participated by testing a standard panel of 150 sera using their current routine method: Vero cell neutralization test (NT), double-antigen enzyme-linked immunosorbent assay (ELISA; DAE), dual double-antigen time-resolved fluorescence immunoassay (dDA-DELFIA), passive hemagglutination assay (PHA), toxin binding inhibition assay (ToBI), and in-house or commercial ELISAs.

Screening for Corynebacterium diphtheriae and Corynebacterium ulcerans in patients with upper respiratory tract infections 2007-2008: a multicentre European study.

Diphtheria is now rare in most European countries but, when cases do arise, the case fatality rate is high (5-10%). Because few countries continue to routinely screen for the causative organisms of diphtheria, the extent to which they are circulating amongst different European populations is largely unknown. During 2007-2008, ten European countries each screened between 968 and 8551 throat swabs from patients with upper respiratory tract infections.

Calibration possibilities and modifier use in ETV ICP OES determination of trace and minor elements in plant materials.

The possibilities for universal calibration based on multi-element aqueous standard solutions and graphite laboratory reference materials (graphite standards) for the electrothermal vaporization inductively coupled plasma optical emission spectrometric (ETV ICP OES) determination of Al, B, Ba, Cd, Co, Cr, Cu, Fe, Mn, Ni, P, Pb, S, Sr, Ti, V, and Zn in plant materials were investigated. A commercially available state-of-the-art ETV device was coupled with an Echelle ICP spectrometer equipped with a charge-injection-device (CID) camera for spectral detection. The transition area between transport tube and ETV graphite tube and the gas streams for inner gas, bypass gas, and modifier gas were optimized to achieve best transport efficiencies.

Validation of mercury determination by solid sampling Zeeman atomic absorption spectrometry and a specially designed furnace.

Certified reference materials (CRMs) of different origin were used to validate the direct determination of total mercury by solid sampling Zeeman atomic absorption spectrometry (SS-ZAAS) and a specially designed furnace. The temperature program provides only for one step. Atomisation of mercury and pyrolysis of the matrix is performed at a constant temperature in the range of 900-1000 degrees C.

Slurry sampling ETAAS determination of sodium impurities in optical crystals of potassium titanyl phosphate and potassium gadolinium tungstate.

Slurry sampling ETAAS was successfully applied to the determination of sodium impurities in single crystals of potassium titanyl phosphate (KTP) and potassium gadolinium tungstate (KGW). Platform atomizers coated with titanium carbide or tungsten carbide, respectively, were used in order to avoid sensitivity drift due to the changes in the composition and the structure of the platform surface. Calibration curves with aqueous standards could be used for the KGW slurry (no matrix effects); analysis of KTP slurry required the standard additions method.

Erythromycin-resistant group A streptococcal isolates recovered in Sofia, Bulgaria, from 1995 to 2001.

The frequency of erythromycin resistance within group A streptococci in Sofia, Bulgaria, from 1995 to 2001 was 2.1% (26 isolates). Of this, 57.

Electrothermal atomization of arsenic, antimony and thallium using a graphite atomizer with refractory metal platforms.

The electrothermal atomization of the volatile elements arsenic, antimony and thallium from a refractory metal platform consisting of a tungsten coil and/or a refractory metal foil with the dimensions of a conventional graphite platform was studied. Several combinations of refractory metal platforms were investigated, as follows: W platform; Ta platform; W coil; W coil on a W platform and W coil on a Ta platform. The best combination for these elements as regards both thermal stabilization and sensitivity is the W coil on a Ta platform.

Cyclosporine induces glomerulosclerosis: three-dimensional definition of the lesions in a rat model of renal transplant.

Previous description of chronic cyclosporine (CsA) renal toxicity commonly included vascular changes, tubular atrophy, and interstitial fibrosis. Glomerular injury was only occasionally documented and it is not clear whether glomerular changes may have an impact on the clinical syndrome of CsA toxicity observed in experimental animals and humans. At the moment the prevailing view is that when patients given CsA have glomerular lesions at a renal biopsy, these were due to concomitant chronic rejection or renal hypoperfusion rather than to CsA itself.