Enumeration of haemagglutinin-specific CD8+ T cells after influenza vaccination using MHC class I peptide tetramers.

With emergence of MHC class I tetramers loaded with CD8+ T-cell viral epitopes, it is possible to study virus-specific CD8 cells in humans during infection and after vaccination. MHC class I tetramers was used to detect the frequency of haemagglutinin (HA)-specific T cells in 26 healthy influenza-vaccinated humans. Peripheral blood was collected before, and 7, 14 and 28 days after vaccination.

Naive and memory CD4+ T-cells in the cerebrospinal fluid of children with aseptic meningitis following measles-mumps-rubella vaccination and enteroviral meningitis.

We investigated the distribution of memory (CD45RO+) and naive (CD45RA+CD62L+) CD4+ T-cells as well as CD8+ T-cells and total T-cells in the CSF of children with aseptic meningitis following measles-mumps-rubella (MMW) vaccination and those with enteroviral meningitis. Flow cytometric analysis of CSF cells was performed in 12 children with MMR vaccine-associated meningitis and 11 children with enteroviral meningitis. Percentages of total T-cells, CD4+ and CD8+ T-cells and monocytes in CSF of patients from the two groups were not significantly different.

Outcome of influenza vaccination in combat-related post-traumatic stress disorder (PTSD) patients.

Post-traumatic stress disorder (PTSD) is an anxiety disorder that can occur after exposure to extreme traumatic experience such as war trauma, and is accompanied by fear, helplessness or horror. Exposure to trauma can result in immune dysregulation and influence susceptibility to infectious disease as well as vaccine efficacy. The aim of the study was to determine the relation of psychological stress and the immune response to influenza vaccination in combat-related PTSD patients (n = 28).

Chemokines CXCL10 and CXCL11 in the cerebrospinal fluid of patients with tick-borne encephalitis.

Objectives: The aim of our study was to determine whether cerebrospinal fluid (CSF) of patients with tick-borne encephalitis (TBE) contains CXCL10, CXCL11, p40 subunit of interleukin-12 (IL-12)/IL-23, IL-18 and IL-15. We compared serum and CSF concentrations of CXCL10 and analysed the possible concentration gradient of this chemokine between the periphery and central nervous system.

Materials And Methods: The study enrolled 19 TBE patients and 10 patients with non-inflammatory neurological diseases.

Fabry disease--a diagnostic and therapeutic problem.

The authors present a patient with Fabry syndrome that remained undiagnosed for several years. Fabry syndrome is a genetic disease related to changes on the X chromosome. Its complex clinical presentation and diverse symptomatology is caused by deficient activity of lysosomal hydrolase alpha-galactosidase enzyme.

Increased expression of CXCR3 and CCR5 on memory CD4+ T-cells migrating into the cerebrospinal fluid of patients with neuroborreliosis: the role of CXCL10 and CXCL11.

The aim of this study was to evaluate the contribution of chemokine receptor CXCR3 and the corresponding ligands CXCL10 and CXCL11 to the recruitment of peripheral blood (PB) memory CD4+ T-cells into the cerebrospinal fluid (CSF) of patients with acute neuroborreliosis. Percentages of memory CD45RO+CD4+ T-cells expressing CXCR3 and CCR5 were significantly enriched in the CSF compared to the PB. Concentrations of CXCL10 and CXCL11 in the CSF of neuroborreliosis patients were significantly higher compared with the corresponding serum samples.

[Guidelines for antimicrobial treatment and prophylaxis of urinary tract infections].

Recommendations for antimicrobial treatment and prophylaxis of urinary tract infections (UTI) have been made according to the results of investigation of resistance of the most frequent causative agents of UTI to antimicrobial drugs. This investigation has been conducted for the past seven years by the Committee for monitoring bacterial resistance to antibiotics in the Republic of Croatia, with consensus of eight professional societies of the Croatian Medical Association. Uncomplicated cystitis is treated 1, 3, or 7 days, complicated 7 days, pyelonephritis 10-14 days, and complicated UTI 7 to 14 days, rarely longer.

Establishment of an active laboratory-based surveillance for bacterial meningitis in Croatia and molecular characterization of Neisseria meningitidis isolates causing meningococcal disease that were collected in the year 2000, the first year of activity.

In 2000, 23 Neisseria meningitidis (meningococcal [Men]) isolates were collected in Croatia through an active laboratory-based surveillance for bacterial meningitis (17 Men serogroup B [MenB], 4 MenC, 1 MenW135, and 1 nongroupable isolate). Molecular characterization revealed a substantial level of diversity with only six isolates belonging to electrophoretic type 5 (ET-5) and ET-37 hypervirulent complexes.

Center for Disease Control (CDC) flow cytometry panel for human immunodeficiency virus infection allows recognition of infectious mononucleosis caused by Epstein-Barr virus or cytomegalovirus.

Aim: To analyze the distribution of lymphocyte subsets in the peripheral blood of patients with infectious mononucleosis caused by Epstein-Barr virus (EBV) and cytomegalovirus (CMV) and to investigate the possible diagnostic usefulness of flow cytometry panel recommended by the Center for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) for HIV-1 infection.

Methods: The study included 130 immunocompetent adults with infectious mononucleosis caused by EBV (n=103) and CMV (n=27) and 50 controls. EBV-infected patients were divided into two groups based on typical (n=92) or atypical (n=11) clinical presentation of the disease.

[MHC tetramers: tracking specific immunity].

In an adaptive immune response, antigen is recognized by two distinct sets of highly variable receptor molecules: (1) immunoglobulins, that serve as antigen receptors on B cells and (2) the antigen-specific receptors on T cells. T cells play important role in the control of infection and in the development of protective immunity. These cells can also mediate anti-tumor effects and, in case of autoimmune syndromes, contribute to the development and pathology of disease.

Increased numbers of CD38 molecules on bright CD8+ T lymphocytes in infectious mononucleosis caused by Epstein-Barr virus infection.

The aim of this study was to quantify the expression of CD38 on CD8+ T lymphocytes of patients with infectious mononucleosis (IM) caused by Epstein-Barr virus (EBV) and cytomegalovirus (CMV). CD38 quantification technique chosen for this study was based on the enumeration of CD38 antibody binding sites in comparison to the quantification standards rather than determining relative fluorescence, which is difficult to standardize. The study enrolled 19 patients with typical clinical and laboratory parameters compatible with EBV-induced IM as well as 10 patients with atypical clinical presentation of this disease.

[Role of the clinician in cytologic diagnosis].

In the course of continuing education for physicians on nongynaecological cytology, together with the topics about development and actual situation in clinical cytology, especially in Croatia, as well as those about the technical procedures in cytology, the clinicians' participation in the interpretation of cytological diagnosis was discussed. The term "clinicians" is used here for those physicians who need a rapid, accurate and nonaggressive morphological diagnostic method for the treatment of their patients. The central part of the course was a round-table discussion about the role of clinicians in making cytological diagnosis, with participation of cytologists and clinicians from various branches of medicine, who are either cytologists, or have a good contact with cytologists.

Secondary hyperparathyroidism and brown tumor in dialyzed patients.

Secondary hyperparathyroidism is one of the most common complications of chronic renal failure (CRF). Its pathogenesis is multifactorial and still not completely understood. Pathological mechanism of hypocalcemia, hyperphosphatemia and calcitriol deficiency are basic characteristics of CRF and main reason for morphological changes in parathyroid glands and hyperparathyroidism (HP).

AIDS-related body cavity-based lymphoma. A case report.

Background: Body cavity-based lymphomas are rare malignancies in human immunodeficiency virus (HIV)-infected patients, but because of their unusual clinical, morphologic and immunophenotypic features, they are recognized as a distinct subgroup of lymphomas connected to human herpesvirus 8 (HHV-8) infection.

Case: A 39-year-old, HIV-positive, homosexual man was admitted to the hospital because of a left-sided pleural effusion that contained malignant lymphoid cells. He responded partially to a low-dose cyclophosphamide/doxorubycin/vincristine/prednisone regimen and died five months after the diagnosis of lymphoma.

Molecular detection of human papillomavirus in women with minor-grade cervical cytology abnormalities.

Background: Human papillomavirus (HPV) has been shown to be the major risk factor for the development of cervical carcinoma, the second most common cancer among women worldwide. Cervical cytology has been the main screening tool for detection of premalignant lesions in last 50 years.

Objective: The utility of a molecular assay for detection of HPV in cervical smears was evaluated.

[Herpes simplex viruses: biological characteristics, immunopathogenesis, diagnosis and treatment].

Herpes simplex virus (HSV) is the most common cause of sporadic encephalitis in developed countries. Herpes simplex virus type 1 (HSV-1) causes oropharyngeal infections, keratoconjunctivitis and infections of the central nervous system, while herpes simplex virus type 2 (HSV-2) in the immunocompetent most frequently causes genital infections. HSV-1 primary infection usually occurs in the early childhood but is also possible at adolescent age.

Immune, endocrine, and psychological responses in civilians displaced by war.

Objectives: The objectives of this study were to assess the influence of trauma caused by forced expulsion from home in a war-ravaged region on the psychological, hormonal, and immune responses in displaced persons and to analyze the relationships between psychometric, hormonal, and immunologic variables.

Methods: Participants were 20 displaced and 14 control women. Psychosomatic response was evaluated using the COR-NEX2 test.

Morphologic and functional changes of left ventricle in dialyzed patients after treatment with recombinant human erythropoietin (r-HuEPO).

Dysfunction of the cardiovascular system is a common complication of chronic renal insufficiency. Many factors can cause left ventricular hypertrophy (LVH), and hypertension and anemia are among them. They play an important role in the pathogenesis of LVH as well as in the development of cardiac dysfunction.

Comparison of lymphocyte subpopulations in the peripheral blood of patients with infectious mononucleosis and human immunodeficiency virus infection: a preliminary report.

The aim of this study was to analyse the lymphocyte subpopulations in the peripheral blood of HIV-1-infected adults to compare them with four patients with acute EBV infection. Lymphocyte subsets in 15 healthy controls, 40 HIV-1-infected adults and 4 EBV-infected patients with infectious mononucleosis were analysed by flow cytometry. The immunophenotyping of HIV-1-infected patients in different stages of disease showed a significant reduction in the percentage and absolute count of CD4+ T-lymphocytes, significantly increased percentage of CD8+ T-lymphocytes, inverted CD4/CD8 ratio and an increase in the expression of activation marker HLA-DR compared to controls.

A case of McLeod syndrome with chronic renal failure.

A 50-year-old man with the rare McLeod syndrome, associated with glomerular lesion to the end stage of chronic renal failure and death, is reported. McLeod syndrome is an X-linked recessive disorder on the basis of abnormal expression of the Kell blood group antigens and absence of erythrocyte surface Kx antigen. Most often the clinical and pathological findings are retinitis pigmentosa to blindness, progressive chronic neuropathy, cortical atrophy, dilated cardiomyopathy, and glomerular lesion with chronic renal failure.

HCV genotypes in patients with chronic hepatitis C in Croatia.

The determination of hepatitis C virus (HCV) genotype is an important epidemiological parameter in patients with chronic hepatitis C, while its clinical significance is still a matter of debate. The HCV genotypes in a group of 203 Croatian patients with chronic hepatitis C were examined. Genotypes were correlated to different risk factors, age, duration of the disease, liver histology activity and level of viremia.

Cytologic and immunoenzymatic findings in CSF from patients with tick-borne encephalitis.

Objective: To evaluate the dynamics of cytologic changes in the cerebrospinal fluid (CSF) of patients with tick-borne encephalitis (TBE) and to determine the various forms of mononuclear cells by immunocytochemical methods.

Study Design: To perform a cytologic analysis of 200 cells in stained sediment of CSF. To determine the population and subpopulation of mononuclear cells by using monoclonal antibodies.

Comparative study of mitral annular calcification (MAC) with cardiac arrhythmias in dialysis patients.

Cardiac arrhythmias and myocardial malfunction are very frequent in uremic patients. The pathogenesis and etiology of arrhythmias are very complex and still unknown. The sedimentation of calcium salt in myocardial structures is one of the reasons for emergence of cardiac arrhythmias (AV conduction defects, ectopic arrhythmias).

[Kawasaki disease--case reports of 2 female patients].

Clinical and laboratory features of two female patients with Kawasaki disease, aged 9 and 12 years are presented. The main pathogenetic, differential diagnostic and therapeutic considerations are discussed.