Automated image analysis to improve bead ingestion toxicity test counts in the protozoan Tetrahymena pyriformis.

Aims: To improve bead ingestion counts in Tetrahymena pyriformis by automated image analysis as an alternative to direct-counts.

Methods And Results: Fluorescent latex beads were added to T. pyriformis cultures for ingestion tests.

Image analysis, methanogenic activity measurements, and molecular biological techniques to monitor granular sludge from an EGSB reactor fed with oleic acid.

Morphological changes in anaerobic granular sludge fed with increasing loads of oleic acid were quantified by image analysis. The combination of this technique with data on the accumulation of adsorbed long chain fatty acid and with the molecular characterization of microbial community gave insight into the mechanisms of sludge disintegration, flotation and washout. It was found that the bacterial domain was more affected than the archaeal domain during this process.

Superoxide dismutase, glutathione peroxidase activities and the hydroperoxide concentration are modified in the hippocampus of epileptic rats.

The relationship between free radical and scavenger enzymes has been found in the epileptic phenomena and reactive oxygen species have been implicated in seizure-induced neurodegeneration. Using the epilepsy model obtained by systemic administration of pilocarpine (PILO) in rats, we investigated the superoxide dismutase (SOD) and glutathione peroxidase (GPx) activities as well as the hydroperoxide (HPx) concentration in the hippocampus of rats during status epilepticus (SE), silent and chronic periods. The enzyme activities as well as the HPx concentration were measured using spectrophotometric methods and the results compared to values obtained from saline-treated animals.

Cytomegalovirus antigenemia in acquired immunodeficiency syndrome patients with untreated cytomegalovirus retinitis.

Purpose: To determine the frequency of cytomegalovirus (CMV) viremia in patients with acquired immunodeficiency syndrome (AIDS) and untreated CMV retinitis using conventional cell culture isolation and the sensitive CMV antigenemia assay.

Methods: We examined 24 AIDS patients with ophthalmologic diagnosis of untreated CMV retinitis and 24 AIDS patients without present or past retinitis (control patients) from three medical centers between September 1992 and March 1994. Cytomegalovirus antigenemia was detected by an indirect peroxidase staining in 300,000 cytocentrifuged neutrophils, using a mixture of murine monoclonal antibodies directed against the pp65 lower matrix protein of CMV.

Cytomegalovirus infection in a day-care center in the municipality of São Paulo.

The prevalence of antibodies against cytomegalovirus (CMV) and the incidence of CMV infection were tested in 98 children aged 5 to 36 months who attended the day-care center of a University hospital in São Paulo. At the beginning of the study the overall prevalence of anti-CMV IgG antibodies was 44% (43/98). Saliva and/or urine samples were obtained from 38 of the 43 children that were seropositive at the beginning of the study for isolation of the virus, and 52.

Alpha-chain disease, schistosomiasis and toxoplasmosis: a case report in Brazil and follow-up for 5 years.

A case of alpha-chain disease associated with schistosomiasis mansoni and radiological and immunological findings suggestive of toxoplasmosis is reported. This patient has been followed-up for five years and is in clinical remission while taking tetracycline, prednisone and cyclophosphamide. This first report of alpha-chain disease in Brazil emphasizes certain common features of the various report of alpha-chain disease like the low socio-economic background of all individuals, and all living in areas where parasitic infections are endemic.