[Importance of quality control of baciloscopy in laboratories that perform diagnosis of tuberculosis].

Background: Baciloscopy is the primary tool for pulmonary tuberculosis diagnosis, being this technique the most used internationally in the search for infectious cases. Quality control is the process of the rechecking smears by a highly qualified observer.

Aim: To evaluate and highlight the importance of quality control of smear microscopy in the Provincial Laboratories diagnosticians of Tuberculosis in Cuba.

[Isolation frequency of the Mycobacterium genus in urine samples].

Kidney infections caused by Mycobacterium genus are torpid and chronic evolution. In this study were analyzed 177 urine samples (included 110 from HIV patients) received between January 2006 and July 2014 in the National Reference Laboratory of Tuberculosis at Tropical Medicine Institute "Pedro Kourí" (IPK). The results were 17 isolates Mycobacterium tuberculosis, and 30 isolates of nontuberculous mycobacteria were detected.

[Surveillance of resistance to antitubercular drugs in Cuba, 2000-2009].

Objective: Determine the prevalence of resistance to antitubercular drugs in Cuba in the 2000-2009 decade.

Methods: A prospective longitudinal study was conducted. The sample group consisted of 2,285 Mycobacterium tuberculosis isolates obtained from throughout the country in the period from 1 January 2000 to 31 December 2009.

Structural studies of cord factors from Mycobacterium simiae related to the capacity for tumour necrosis factor alpha (α-TNF) induction.

The structure of cord factor was studied in several strains of Mycobacterium simiae, including 'habana' TMC 5135, considered as highly immunogenic in experimental tuberculosis and leprosy. The mycolic acids liberated from cord factor were identified in all cases as α'-, α- and keto-mycolates. According to the general NMR and MS data, α'-mycolates were mono-unsaturated and contained from 64 to 68 carbon atoms, whereas α-mycolates mainly presented two 2,3-disubstituted cyclopropane rings and a chain length of 80-91 carbon atoms; keto-mycolates mostly contained one cyclopropane ring and 85-91 carbon atoms.

Concomitant Mycobacterium avium infection and Hodgkin's disease in a lymph node from an HIV-negative child.

We report a case of an immunocompetent child with simultaneously an infection with Mycobacterium avium and Hodgkin's disease in a cervical lymph node. A positive PCR result for M. avium on a biopsy of the lymph node directed the definitive diagnosis for both etiologies and avoided a possible dissemination of this infection after chemotherapy was started.

Analysis of the structure of mycolic acids of Mycobacterium simiae reveals a particular composition of alpha-mycolates in strain 'habana' TMC 5135, considered as immunogenic in tuberculosis and leprosy.

Structural analysis of mycolic acids from Mycobacterium simiae (including some 'habana' strains) was carried out using (1)H-NMR and MS. Results indicated that this species presents a general pattern of alpha-, alpha'- and keto-mycolates. alpha-Mycolates were composed of a complex mixture of 82 to 89 carbon atoms (C82-C89), with the predominant molecular species containing two di-substituted cyclopropane rings.

[Isolation of Mycobacterium avium-intracellulare from a hepatic biopsy].

A 64 years-old patient, who was a farmer suffering from chronic fever for two years, loss of weight and acute asthenia, was studied. He was admitted to "Pedro Kourí" Tropical Medicine Institute where the studies were conducted and revealed a globular sedimentation rate of 116 mm in 2 hours, and anemia of 9,8g% hemoglobin. The laparoscopic study indicated hepatic granulomatosis that was confirmed by hepatic biopsy in which a sample was taken from the liver to be microbiologically and cytologically examined.

Analysis of lipids reveals differences between 'Mycobacterium habana' and Mycobacterium simiae.

Fatty and mycolic acids and the pattern of glycolipids were studied in a collection of 34 strains of 'Mycobacterium habana' and in two strains of Mycobacterium simiae. Major glycolipids of these micro-organisms were assigned to the glycopeptidolipid (GPL) structural type, but both mycobacteria differed in the patterns obtained by TLC. The strains of 'M.