The seroprevalence of hepatitis C virus infection among children and their mothers attending for dental care in Glasgow, Scotland, United Kingdom.

This paper describes a voluntary anonymous survey to investigate the seroprevalence of Hepatitis C (HCV) in children in Glasgow, UK attending a Dental Hospital and the proportion of HCV positive mothers who have a child who is HCV seropositive. The study was undertaken among children and accompanying parents and household contacts attending a general anaesthetic assessment clinic at Glasgow Dental Hospital and School. Children were asked to provide an oral fluid specimen for HCV testing.

HIV-1 co-receptor expression and epithelial immune cells of the cervix in asymptomatic women attending a genitourinary medicine clinic.

Objectives: The aim of the study was to qualitatively and semiquantitatively characterize the expression of the principal HIV co-receptors chemokine (C-C motif) receptor 5 (CCR5) and chemokine (C-X-C motif) receptor 4 (CXCR4) on susceptible CD4 T-helper cell, monocyte/macrophage and Langerhans dendritic cell populations within the cervical epithelia of asymptomatic women attending a genitourinary medicine clinic.

Methods: Of 77 asymptomatic women recruited, 35 were excluded: 21 because they were found to have bacterial vaginosis, eight because they were found to have candida and six for other reasons. Cervical cytobrush samples from 11 women with Chlamydia trachomatis infection and 31 women without any detectable genital infection were stained with fluorescently labelled antibodies specific for cell surface CCR5, CXCR4, CD4, CD3, CD1a and CD19 expression, then analysed by flow cytometry.

Interleukin-1β regulates CXCL8 release and influences disease outcome in response to Streptococcus pneumoniae, defining intercellular cooperation between pulmonary epithelial cells and macrophages.

The success of Streptococcus pneumoniae (the pneumococcus) as a pulmonary pathogen is related to its restriction of innate immune responses by respiratory epithelial cells. The mechanisms used to overcome this restriction are incompletely elucidated. Pulmonary chemokine expression involves complex cellular and molecular networks, involving the pulmonary epithelium, but the specific cellular interactions and the cytokines that control them are incompletely defined.

Role of activins and inducible nitric oxide in the pathogenesis of ectopic pregnancy in patients with or without Chlamydia trachomatis infection.

Chlamydia trachomatis infection can lead to pelvic inflammatory disease, ectopic pregnancy (EP), infertility, and chronic pelvic pain in women. Activins and inducible nitric oxide synthase (iNOS) are produced by the human fallopian tube, and we speculate that tubal activins and iNOS may be involved in the immune response to C. trachomatis in humans and their pathological alteration may result in tubal pathology and the development of EP.

Effect of storage temperature on survival of Chlamydia trachomatis after lyophilization.

Lyophilized preparations of Chlamydia trachomatis were made to investigate how well they would survive storage at four relevant incubation temperatures for 1 week and 1 month. Good viability was maintained by storage at either 4 degrees C or 20 degrees C for 1 week. If the ambient temperature is not too high, short-term transportation of C.

Spermicidal activity of bacterial lipopolysaccharide is only partly due to lipid A.

We have previously shown that co-incubation of Chlamydia trachomatis lipopolysaccharide (LPS) leads to premature sperm death by an apoptosis-like mechanism. It was always assumed that lipid A is the toxic component of LPS. Here we investigate the possible involvement of 3-deoxy-D-manno-octulosonic acid (Kdo), which is an additional component of the LPS in C.

Apoptosis of ejaculated human sperm is induced by co-incubation with Chlamydia trachomatis lipopolysaccharide.

Background: Previous work has shown that co-incubation of human sperm with Chlamydia trachomatis serovars E and LGV leads to premature sperm death and that this is due primarily to chlamydial lipopolysaccharide (LPS). Here, we investigated the possible involvement of apoptosis in this premature sperm death.

Methods: Highly motile preparations of sperm from normozoospermic patients were co-incubated for 6 h with extracted LPS from C.

Induction of neutrophil apoptosis by the Pseudomonas aeruginosa exotoxin pyocyanin: a potential mechanism of persistent infection.

Pseudomonas aeruginosa colonizes and infects human tissues, although the mechanisms by which the organism evades the normal, predominantly neutrophilic, host defenses are unclear. Phenazine products of P. aeruginosa can induce death in Caenorhabditis elegans.

Polymorphisms in matrix metalloproteinase-1, -3, -9, and -12 genes in relation to subarachnoid hemorrhage.

Background And Purpose: Intracranial aneurysm, which underlies the vast majority of subarachnoid hemorrhage incidences, has a multifactorial etiology, and the importance of genetic factors is increasingly recognized. Development and rupture of intracranial aneurysms involve degradation and remodeling of the vascular wall matrix in which the matrix metalloproteinases (MMPs) play an important role. The possible impact of MMP gene polymorphisms on susceptibility to intracranial aneurysms is still controversial, with conflicting data from different reported studies.

Toxin production, adherence and protein expression by clinical Aeromonas spp. isolates in broth and human pooled ileostomy fluid.

The physiological behaviour of clinical Aeromonas spp. isolates was compared following culture in a conventional broth and human pooled ileostomy fluid (PIF). Protein expression was markedly affected by the growth medium, with an overall reduction in whole cell proteins in bacteria grown in ileostomy fluid.

In-vitro activity of imipenem, in comparison with cefuroxime and ciprofloxacin, against coagulase-negative staphylococci in broth and peritoneal dialysis fluid.

The activity of cefuroxime, ciprofloxacin and imipenem against 50 coagulase-negative staphylococci (CNS) strains isolated from patients with peritonitis while on continuous ambulatory peritoneal dialysis (CAPD) was examined. Strains were cultured in both used peritoneal dialysis fluid (PUD) and broth (ISB) in an atmosphere of air with 5% CO2. MICs of cefuroxime, ciprofloxacin and imipenem differed significantly between the two media for 40%, 26% and 42% of strains, respectively.

Comparison of the in vitro activities of fenticonazole, other imidazoles, metronidazole, and tetracycline against organisms associated with bacterial vaginosis and skin infections.

The in vitro antibacterial activity of the antifungal compound fenticonazole was compared with those of clotrimazole, miconazole, tetracycline, and metronidazole against 177 strains of bacterial species associated with either bacterial vaginosis (BV) or skin infections by agar dilution MIC determinations. BV-associated Bacteroides isolates of the Bacteroides melaninogenicus-B. oralis group, Gardnerella vaginalis, Mobiluncus spp.

Activity of pefloxacin and thirteen other antimicrobial agents in vitro against isolates from hospital and genitourinary infections.

The in-vitro activity of the quinolone derivative pefloxacin was compared with that of three other quinolones, five beta-lactam antibiotics and three aminoglycosides against 367 isolates from hospital patients and from out-patients with genitourinary infections. MIC90 of pefloxacin and norfloxacin for each strain was the same; that of ciprofloxacin was a little lower. All strains except Escherichia coli were resistant to nalidixic acid.

In-vitro and in-vivo activity of metronidazole against Gardnerella vaginalis, Bacteroides spp. and Mobiluncus spp. in bacterial vaginosis.

An open, randomized, culture-controlled clinical study was designed to compare the efficacy of a single 2 g dose of metronidazole (Elyzol) with standard 7-day therapy in the treatment of bacterial vaginosis (BV). Forty-one of 47 (87%) patients given the single dose and 30 of 33 (91%) given the 7-day treatment were found to be cured seven days after treatment. At final assessment, 24 of 34 (71%) patients given the single dose and 22 of 28 (79%) given the 7-day treatment remained cured.

In vitro susceptibility of Gardnerella vaginalis and Bacteroides organisms, associated with nonspecific vaginitis, to sulfonamide preparations.

Recent reports suggest that anaerobic Bacteroides organisms are frequently found with Gardnerella vaginalis in nonspecific vaginitis. Specimens taken from 96 women with vaginal discharge were tested simultaneously for these organisms. G.

Balanoposthitis associated with Gardnerella vaginalis infection in men.

Fourteen of 194 (7.2%) consecutive unselected men had positive culture results from genital swabs for Gardnerella vaginalis. A higher yield of isolates was obtained from preputial (93%) than from urethral swabs (64%).

Induction of a cell wall variant of the gonococcus by human amylase.

Human amylase has been shown to be an effective and powerful inhibitor of the gonococcus in vitro. Its action appears to be on the bacterial cell wall. When tested in osmotically stabilised liquid media the organism was not inhibited; however the organisms which grew in such cultures appeared to be cell wall variants, which were less sensitive to penicillin than the parent strains.