Accuracy and precision of occlusal contacts of stereolithographic casts mounted by digital interocclusal registrations.

Statement Of Problem: Little peer-reviewed information is available regarding the accuracy and precision of the occlusal contact reproduction of digitally mounted stereolithographic casts.

Purpose: The purpose of this in vitro study was to evaluate the accuracy and precision of occlusal contacts among stereolithographic casts mounted by digital occlusal registrations.

Material And Methods: Four complete anatomic dentoforms were arbitrarily mounted on a semi-adjustable articulator in maximal intercuspal position and served as the 4 different simulated patients (SP).

In vitro antimicrobial susceptibility of Alloscardovia omnicolens and molecular mechanisms of acquired resistance.

All the 31 isolates of Alloscardovia omnicolens exhibited low MICs for β-lactams, glycopeptides, linezolid, tetracyclines, and cotrimoxazole. One strain showed MICs ≥256μg/mL for both erythromycin and clindamycin with a single point mutation in 23S rRNA. One strain likely had acquired fluoroquinolone resistance associated with a unique mutation in ParC.

[Acute pericarditis].

Acute pericarditis is an inflammation of the pericardium. Different etiologies are known, and can be classified in three groups: infectious, neoplastic and auto-immun. The diagnosis is based essentially on clinical signs and should be raised by position and respiratory dependent chest pain, especially when it follows a viral infection, and a pericardial friction rub on cardiac auscultation.

Molecular assays for determining Mycobacterium leprae viability in tissues of experimentally infected mice.

Background: The inability of Mycobacterium leprae to grow on axenic media has necessitated specialized techniques in order to determine viability of this organism. The purpose of this study was to develop a simple and sensitive molecular assay for determining M. leprae viability directly from infected tissues.

Evaluation of a novel in-vitro diagnostic device for the detection of urinary tract infections in diaper wearing children.

Questions: Is the novel in-vitro diagnostic device U-Test(®) reliable and secure for urine collection in diaper-wearing children and simultaneous evaluation of the urine collected for the presence of leucocytes and nitrite?

Methods: The qualitative and functional performance of U-Test(®) was evaluated in a multicentre prospective clinical trial. The diagnostic performance of the novel in-vitro diagnostic device was determined in reference to the established procedure involving urine sampling by urine-bag, clean-catch, catheterisation and suprapubic aspiration followed by dipstick analysis and urine culture, and in an in-vitro study.

Results: U-Test(®) proved to be comfortable and secure for the child and well accepted by the persons responsible for the participating children.

Development of a mouse food pad model for detection of sub clinical leprosy.

Early diagnosis of leprosy and a multi-drug therapy (MDT) regimen will block the trajectory of nerve damage, disability and deformity that are the hallmarks of this chronic disease. However, the diagnosis of leprosy is made solely by recognition of clinical signs and symptoms, requiring special expertise. These limitations also result in the under reporting of worldwide prevalence and incidence rates for leprosy.

Infection of mouse macrophages with viable Mycobacterium leprae does not induce apoptosis.

The role played by apoptosis in host response to Mycobacterium leprae is unclear. Here, we studied in vitro induction of apoptosis in mouse bone marrow-derived macrophages infected with live and irradiated M. leprae, as a function of multiplicity of infection under permissive (33 degrees C) and nonpermissive (37 degrees C) temperatures.

The health status of children without resident permit consulting the Children's Hospital of Lausanne.

Objective: To assess social, economic and medical data concerning children without a resident permit taken into care by the Children's Hospital of Lausanne (HEL) in order to evaluate their specific needs.

Methods: Prospective exploratory study by a questionnaire including the socio-demographic, medical and education data of 103 children without a resident permit, who consulted the HEL for the first time between August 2003 and March 2006. These children were then recalled for a second check-up one year later in order to allow a regular monitoring.

[Physician-pharmacist collaboration: a way to improve the quality of drug prescribing].

The medical prescription is the end-result of a structured process. It is, in effect, a medicolegal document that binds the physician who writes it as well as the pharmacist who delivers it, with a civil duty of care that is protected by penal sanction. Moreover, prescriptions carry important costs, and can be the source of errors, especially where there are breakdowns in the continuity of patient care.

Mycobacterium leprae actively modulates the cytokine response in naive human monocytes.

Leprosy is a chronic but treatable infectious disease caused by the intracellular pathogen Mycobacterium leprae. Host immunity to M. leprae determines the diversity of clinical manifestations seen in patients, from tuberculoid leprosy with robust production of Th1-type cytokines to lepromatous disease, characterized by elevated levels of Th2-type cytokines and a suboptimal proinflammatory response.

The role of free-living pathogenic amoeba in the transmission of leprosy: a proof of principle.

Objectives: Leprosy transmission remains poorly understood, though, prolonged skin contact and/or infection via nasal mucosa, are considered likely. Problematic in any transmission hypothesis is the fastidious nature of Mycobacterium leprae outside its host cell and the requirement for temporary survival in the environment, soil or water. Experiments were carried out to test the hypothesis that free living pathogenic amoeba might serve as host cells for M.

Lymphotoxin-alpha and TNF have essential but independent roles in the evolution of the granulomatous response in experimental leprosy.

Recent studies identified an association between genetic variants in the lymphotoxin-alpha (LTalpha) gene and leprosy. To study the influence of LTalpha on the control of experimental leprosy, both low- and high-dose Mycobacterium leprae foot pad (FP) infections were evaluated in LTalpha-deficient chimeric (cLTalpha(-/-)) and control chimeric (cB6) mice. Cellular responses to low-dose infection in cLTalpha(-/-) mice were dramatically different, with reduced accumulation of CD4(+) and CD8(+) lymphocytes and macrophages and failure to form granulomas.

Etiology of community-acquired pneumonia in hospitalized children based on WHO clinical guidelines.

Community-acquired pneumonia (CAP) is a major cause of death in developing countries and of morbidity in developed countries. The objective of the study was to define the causative agents among children hospitalized for CAP defined by WHO guidelines and to correlate etiology with clinical severity and surrogate markers. Investigations included an extensive etiological workup.

Activation of complement by Mycobacterium leprae requires disruption of the bacilli.

Objective: The immune-mediated events that precipitate erythema nodosum leprosum (ENL) are not well understood. One component may be the complexing of antibody with antigens released from infected macrophages, the activation of complement and the subsequent local inflammation. We assess here the ability of highly-purified, disrupted M.

Enumeration of Mycobacterium leprae using real-time PCR.

Mycobacterium leprae is not cultivable in axenic media, and direct microscopic enumeration of the bacilli is complex, labor intensive, and suffers from limited sensitivity and specificity. We have developed a real-time PCR assay for quantifying M. leprae DNA in biological samples.

Expression and characterization of recombinant interferon gamma (IFN-gamma) from the nine-banded armadillo (Dasypus novemcinctus) and its effect on Mycobacterium leprae-infected macrophages.

Armadillos (Dasypus novemcinctus) manifest the full histopathological spectrum of leprosy, and are hosts of choice for in vivo propagation of Mycobacterium leprae. Though potentially useful as a model of leprosy pathogenesis, few armadillo-specific reagents exist. We have identified a region of high homology to the interferon gamma (IFN-gamma) of other mammals within the recently published armadillo whole genomic sequence.

Using the costs of drug therapy to screen patients for a community pharmacy-based medication review program.

Objectives: To measure the positive predictive value (PPV) of the cost of drug therapy (threshold = 2000 Swiss francs [CHF], US$1440, 1360) as a screening criterion for identifying patients who may benefit from medication review (MR). To describe identified drug-related problems (DRPs) and expense problems (EPs), and to estimate potential savings if all recommendations were accepted.

Setting: Five voluntary Swiss community pharmacies.

Practical evaluation of the drug-related problem management process in Swiss community pharmacies.

Objective: To develop and evaluate a coding system integrated into pharmaceutical software to routinely report and assess the process of community pharmacists' interventions related to medical prescriptions.

Setting: A convenient sample of 20 Swiss community pharmacies.

Method: Pharmacists documented their interventions concerning all drug-related problems (DRPs) related to medical prescriptions during four consecutive weeks in 2005.

Mycobacterium leprae DNA associated with type 1 reactions in single lesion paucibacillary leprosy treated with single dose rifampin, ofloxacin, and minocycline.

Leprosy affects skin and peripheral nerves, and acute inflammatory type 1 reactions (reversal reaction) can cause neurologic impairment and disabilities. Single skin lesion paucibacillary leprosy volunteers (N = 135) recruited in three Brazilian endemic regions, treated with single-dose rifampin, ofloxacin, and minocycline (ROM), were monitored for 3 years. Poor outcome was defined as type 1 reactions with or without neuritis.

Antigen-specific cellular and humoral responses are induced by intradermal Mycobacterium leprae infection of the mouse ear.

Leprosy is caused by infection with Mycobacterium leprae. The immune response of leprosy patients can be highly diverse, ranging from strong cellular responses accompanied by an apparent deficit of M. leprae-specific antibodies to strong humoral responses with a deficit of cell-mediated responses.

Emergence of an effective adaptive cell mediated immune response to Mycobacterium leprae is not impaired in reactive oxygen intermediate-deficient mice.

Cytokine-activated macrophages (MPhi) employ reactive oxygen intermediates (ROI) and reactive nitrogen intermediates (RNI) to combat pathogens. The requirement for ROI for an effective host response to experimental leprosy using mice which have a disruption in the 91-kD subunit of the NAPDH oxidase cytochrome b (phox91-/-) was examined. Mycobacterium leprae multiplication in phox91-/- foot pads (FP) was elevated early in infection but subsequently arrested similarly to control mice within a noninvasive granuloma.

[Utility of Gamma Interferon blood tests in the diagnosis of tuberculosis infection in children].

Considering the ongoing difficulty with the interpretation of the tuberculin skin test and the importance of a correct interpretation of each situation in order to benefit from treatment, a lot of expectations are placed in the new Gamma Interferon blood tests. The aim of this article is to recall the basic principles of these tests and to review the evidence of their utility in paediatrics. In children, although the evidence is still insufficient, the blood tests can be useful in combination with the tuberculin skin test.

Mycobacterium leprae inhibits dendritic cell activation and maturation.

Leprosy presents with a clinical spectrum of skin lesions that span from strong Th1-mediated cellular immunity and control of bacillary growth at one pole to poor Ag-specific T cell immunity with extensive bacillary load and Th2 cytokine-expressing lesions at the other. To understand how the immune response to Mycobacterium leprae is regulated, human dendritic cells (DC), potent inducers of adaptive immune responses, exposed to M. leprae, Mycobacterium tuberculosis (Mtb), and Mycobacterium bovis bacillus Calmette-Guerin (BCG) were studied for their ability to be activated and to prime T cell proliferation.

Mycobacterium leprae is naturally resistant to PA-824.

Leprosy responds very slowly to the current multidrug therapy, and hence there is a need for novel drugs with potent bactericidal activity. PA-824 is a 4-nitroimidazo-oxazine that is currently undergoing phase I clinical trials for the treatment of tuberculosis. The activity of PA-824 against Mycobacterium leprae was tested and compared with that of rifampin in axenic cultures, macrophages, and two different animal models.

Effects of purification and fluorescent staining on viability of Mycobacterium leprae.

Over the years, researchers have carried out experiments with Mycobacterium leprae obtained from either human multibacillary lesions, or infected armadillo tissues, or infected footpad tissues of conventional mice as well as athymic nu/nu mice. In general, these sources of leprosy bacilli are satisfactory for most biochemical and mouse footpad studies, but less than satisfactory for studies in cell biology and immunology where contaminating host tissues pose a serious problem. We examined the utility of a procedure for eliminating mouse footpad tissue from M.