QTc Prolongation Associated With Psychiatric Medications: A Retrospective Cross-Sectional Study of Adult Inpatients.

Objective: The aim of our study was to assess the impact of psychiatric medications and concomitant risk factors on the prevalence of QTc prolongation and torsades de pointes (TdP) in hospitalized subjects. We examined the association between individual risk scores and QTc prolongation and proposed an evidence-based protocol for electrocardiogram monitoring on psychotropic medications.

Method: Electrocardiograms (ECGs) of subjects hospitalized over a 1-year period were analyzed for QTc prolongation, associated risk factors, and use of medications.

Influence of a high-intensity interval training session on peripheral and central blood pressure at rest and during stress testing in healthy individuals.

Background: Regular physical activity is known to reduce arterial pressure (BP). In a previous investigation, we could prove that even a single bout of moderate-intensity continuous exercise (MICE) causes a prolonged reduction in BP. Whether high-intensity interval training (HIIT) has a favourable influence on BP, and therefore may be followed subjects and methods by a prolonged BP reduction, should be examined on the basis of blood pressure response after exercise and during a subsequent stress test.

Substrate Factors Determine Roadside Vegetation Structure and Species Richness: A Case Study Along a Meridional Gradient in Fennoscandia.

This study assessed the effects of road-related alteration of substrate, including increased salinity, on vegetation along a meridional gradient in Fennoscandia. Vegetation community composition were surveyed in 29 randomly selected 1-m(2) sized roadside plots. Number of plant species and plant cover (%) on the plots were positively interrelated (p < 0.

Plant-herbivorous beetle networks: molecular characterization of trophic ecology within a threatened steppic environment.

DNA barcoding facilitates many evolutionary and ecological studies, including the examination of the dietary diversity of herbivores. In this study, we present a survey of ecological associations between herbivorous beetles and host plants from seriously threatened European steppic grasslands. We determined host plants for the majority (65%) of steppic leaf beetles (55 species) and weevils (59) known from central Europe using two barcodes (trnL and rbcL) and two sequencing strategies (Sanger for mono/oligophagous species and Illumina for polyphagous taxa).

Gastrointestinal diagnosis of classical Whipple disease: clinical, endoscopic, and histopathologic features in 191 patients.

Classic Whipple disease (CWD) is a systemic infection caused by Tropheryma whipplei. Different diagnostic tools have been developed over the last decades: periodic acid-Schiff (PAS) staining, T whipplei-specific polymerase chain reaction (PCR), and T whipplei-specific immunohistochemistry (IHC). Despite all these advances, CWD is still difficult to diagnose because of a variety of clinical symptoms and possibly a long time span between first unspecific symptoms and the full-blown clinical picture of the disease.

GI-lymphomas in immunosuppressed patients (organ transplantation; HIV).

Gastrointestinal lymphoma plays a major role complicating different diseases presenting with immunosuppression, both primary and acquired immunodeficiency (incl. HIV, transplantation, immunosuppression following chemotherapy, or inflammatory bowel disease). Lymphoma in diseases with immunosuppression are clinically and pathologically heterogeneous, but share some features such as frequent involvement of extranodal sites, diffuse aggressive histology, B-cell lineage derivation, viral association with EBV and clinically aggressive courses.

Fluid and deformation regime of an advancing subduction system at Marlborough, New Zealand.

Newly forming subduction zones on Earth can provide insights into the evolution of major fault zone geometries from shallow levels to deep in the lithosphere and into the role of fluids in element transport and in promoting rock failure by several modes. The transpressional subduction regime of New Zealand, which is advancing laterally to the southwest below the Marlborough strike-slip fault system of the northern South Island, is an ideal setting in which to investigate these processes. Here we acquired a dense, high-quality transect of magnetotelluric soundings across the system, yielding an electrical resistivity cross-section to depths beyond 100 km.

Intestinal non-Hodgkin's lymphoma: a multicenter prospective clinical study from the German Study Group on Intestinal non-Hodgkin's Lymphoma.

Purpose: Intestinal non-Hodgkin's lymphomas are not well characterized. We therefore studied prospectively their clinical features and response to standardized therapy.

Patients And Methods: Fifty-six patients with primary intestinal lymphoma were included in a prospective, nonrandomized multicenter study.

Frequency of clonal intraepithelial T lymphocyte proliferations in enteropathy-type intestinal T cell lymphoma, coeliac disease, and refractory sprue.

Background: Clonal T cell receptor (TCR) gene rearrangements and loss of T cell antigens such as CD8 and TCR-beta in intraepithelial lymphocytes (IELs) may indicate the development of an enteropathy-type intestinal T cell lymphoma (EITCL) in patients with refractory sprue.

Aims: To define the diagnostic value of these markers in duodenal biopsies from patients with villous atrophy as a result of various underlying disorders.

Patients And Methods: Duodenal biopsies from eight patients with coeliac disease and five patients with villous atrophy caused by defined disorders were compared with three patients with refractory sprue evolving into overt EITCL, two patients with ulcerative jejunitis, and with eight patients with overt EITCL, for expression of CD3, CD4, CD8, and TCR-beta in IELs using immunohistochemistry and for clonal TCR-gamma gene rearrangements using polymerase chain reaction.

Gastric lymphomas: aspects of follow-up and after-care.

In recent years, new insights into gastric lymphomas and their etiology and pathogenesis have been gained. The predominant role of infection with Helicobacter pylori in the pathogenesis as a pre-malignant condition of a special lymphoma entity [gastric lymphoma of the mucosa-associated lymphoid tissue (MALT) type], has defined new diagnostic procedures and concepts of treatment. Therefore, prognostic factors (e.

Efficacy, safety and toleration of fluconazole suppositories in the treatment of oral candidosis.

An open multicentre, non-comparative study was conducted in three countries to investigate the efficacy, safety and tolerance of fluconazole suppositories in the treatment of oropharyngeal candidosis. Patients received fluconazole 100 mg day-1 in the form of suppositories or capsules. Minimum duration of total treatment was 7 days, maximum total treatment duration was 14 days, and median duration of total treatment was 9.

[Current therapeutic strategy in primary intestinal non-Hodgkin's lymphoma].

Of all surgical interventions of intestinal non-Hodgkin's lymphomas 58% (15 or 26 patients) are performed in an emergency situation. In 42% of cases, examination by ultrasonography, endosonography, intestinoscopy. Sellink's enema, thoracic, abdominal/pelvic CT and bone marrow puncture could determine the stage preoperatively.

Increased immunoglobulin G production by short term cultured duodenal biopsy samples from HIV infected patients.

Background: Secretory immunity is a major defence mechanism against infections at mucosal surfaces which are common in HIV infected patients.

Aims: To analyse intestinal immunoglobulin production in HIV infection in comparison with that in saliva and serum.

Patients And Methods: Immunoglobulin G (IgG), A (IgA), and M (IgM) concentrations were determined in supernatants of short term cultured duodenal biopsy samples, serum, and saliva from HIV infected patients (n = 28) and controls (n = 14) by radial immunodiffusion.

HIV-1 p24 but not proviral load is increased in the intestinal mucosa compared with the peripheral blood in HIV-infected patients.

Objective: To investigate differences in viral and proviral load between the peripheral blood and the intestinal mucosal immune system in HIV-infected patients.

Design: HIV-1 p24 and HIV DNA content were compared in blood samples and intestinal biopsies from HIV-infected patients.

Methods: Intestinal biopsies and peripheral blood were simultaneously obtained from 27 HIV-infected patients undergoing diagnostic endoscopy.

Abnormal predominance of IgG in HIV-specific antibodies produced by short-term cultured duodenal biopsy specimens from HIV-infected patients.

The aim of our study was to analyze HIV-specific humoral immunity in the intestinal mucosa at different stages of HIV infection in comparison with serum and saliva. Duodenal biopsy specimens from 30 AIDS patients and 9 HIV-infected patients without AIDS were cultured for 48 hours. Culture supernatants, as well as simultaneously obtained serum and saliva samples, were adjusted to the same immunoglobulin concentrations and tested for HIV-specific IgG and IgA by Western blot.

Mucosal abnormalities in microsporidiosis.

Objective: To determine the prevalence of microsporidiosis in HIV-infected patients with and without diarrhoea and to characterize alterations in mucosal architecture and brush border enzyme activities in patients with microsporidiosis.

Patients: A total of 259 HIV-infected patients undergoing oesophago-gastroduodenoscopy because of diarrhoea (n = 123) or other symptoms (n = 136) were studied.

Methods: Patients were evaluated for the presence of microsporidia by electron microscopy of duodenal biopsies.

Comparative evaluation of modified trichrome and Uvitex 2B stains for detection of low numbers of microsporidial spores in stool specimens.

At present, the laboratory diagnosis of intestinal infections caused by microsporidia depends on the detection of the typical spores either with a modified trichrome stain (MTS) or by staining with fluorochromes. The purpose of the present study was (i) to compare staining with MTS (MTS method) and the staining with the fluorochrome Uvitex 2B (U2B method) with respect to their sensitivities and specificities, particularly in the presence of low numbers of spores, and (ii) to evaluate their reliabilities under routine laboratory conditions. First, 30 negative human stool specimens as well as 30 specimens enriched with a low concentration of microsporidial spores were examined.

Fulminant primary manifestation of Crohn's colitis "Hot Crohn's disease".

Following the very short course of a disease with watery diarrhea, fever, nausea, meteorism and a severe feeling of general illness, a 22-year-old patient was diagnosed as having a toxic megacolon, and a subtotal colectomy was carried out. The postoperative progression was uncomplicated and the patient recovered quickly. The examination of the operation specimen revealed a serious ulcerous colitis with relative omission of the rectum and the distal sigmoid colon.

Pathological and epidemiological aspects of skin lesions in histoplasmosis. Observations in an AIDS patient and badgers outside endemic areas of histoplasmosis.

As a consequence of HIV infection, histoplasmosis is increasingly occurring as an opportunistic infection with a systemic course outside histoplasmosis-endemic areas, e.g. in Europe.

Malignant gastrointestinal lymphomas in patients with AIDS.

HIV-associated malignant lymphomas are a common complication in late HIV infection, and there is a high percentage of gastrointestinal tract involvement. Non-Hodgkin's lymphoma was found in 108 of 2,750 HIV-positive patients (3.9%) in our institution, whereas gastrointestinal manifestation was diagnosed in 48 of 108 patients (44.

Intestinal T-cell lymphoma: a reassessment of cytomorphological and phenotypic features in relation to patterns of small bowel remodelling.

Intestinal T-cell lymphoma (ITCL) is an uncommon entity among primary gastrointestinal lymphomas. In this study we evaluated tumours from 20 patients presenting with (n = 8) or without (n = 12) a history of coeliac disease (CD). Neoplastic lesions were composed of predominantly small (n = 4), small-to-medium (n = 2), medium/mixed-to-large (n = 7) or large and anaplastic (n = 7) cells.

Stool viruses, coinfections, and diarrhea in HIV-infected patients. Berlin Diarrhea/Wasting Syndrome Study Group.

To examine the prevalence of stool viruses and their role in the pathogenesis of diarrhea in HIV infection, we evaluated biopsies and repeated stool samples of 256 HIV-infected patients undergoing diagnostic endoscopy because of diarrhea (n = 136) or other symptoms (n = 120) for bacterial, protozoal, and viral enteropathogens. In 70% of the patients with diarrhea, at least one potential enteropathogen was detected. Stool virus was detected by electron microscopy in 17% (44 of 256), adenovirus in 6.

Foscarnet 5 versus 7 days a week treatment for severe gastrointestinal CMV disease in HIV-infected patients.

In a randomized open trial foscarnet 90 mg/kg b.i.d.