Theophylline in the prevention of vasovagal syncope recurrences.

Objectives: The present work aimed to study the efficacy and patient compliance of oral theophylline treatment in the prevention of vasovagal syncope recurrences.

Background: High blood adenosine may trigger vasovagal syncope. Theophylline is an adenosine receptor antagonist.

The estrogen receptor 1 gene affects bone mineral density and osteoporosis treatment efficiency in Slovak postmenopausal women.

Background: The study investigated the associations of rs9340799:A > G (XbaI) and rs2234693:T > C (PvuII) polymorphisms in the estrogen receptor 1 gene (ESR1) with femoral neck (BMD-FN) and lumbar spine bone mineral density (BMD-LS), biochemical markers of bone turnover, calcium and phosphate levels, fracture prevalence, and a response to two types of anti-osteoporotic therapy in postmenopausal women from southern Slovakia.

Methods: We analysed 343 postmenopausal Slovak women (62.40 ± 0.

Searching for protein-protein interactions within the Bacillus subtilis spore coat.

The capability of endospores of Bacillus subtilis to withstand extreme environmental conditions is secured by several attributes. One of them, the protein shell that encases the spore and is known as the coat, provides the spore with its characteristic resistance to toxic chemicals, lytic enzymes, and predation by unicellular and multicellular eukaryotes. Despite most of the components of the spore coat having been identified, we have only a vague understanding of how such a complex structure is assembled.

Role of structural variations of polysaccharide antigens in the pathogenicity of Gram-negative bacteria.

Pathogenic bacteria employ many strategies to overcome the host immune system for extended survival and propagation in their hosts. Components of the bacterial outer-membrane play an important role in this process. When invading the host, Gram-negative bacteria often use a strategy, known as phase variation, that involves a reversible change in antigenic determinants, frequently polysaccharides.

Effect of pressure on the magnetic properties of TM(3)[Cr(CN)(6)](2)·12H(2)O.

We present the results of magnetization and AC susceptibility measurements performed on ferrimagnetic Mn(3)(2+)[Cr(III)(CN)(6)](2)·12H(2)O and ferromagnetic Ni(3)(2+)[Cr(III)(CN)(6)](2)·12H(2)O systems under pressures up to 0.9 GPa in a commercial SQUID magnetometer. The magnetization process is affected by pressure: magnetization saturates at higher magnetic field, saturated magnetization μ(s) of Ni(3)[Cr(CN)(6)](2) is reduced and almost unaffected for Mn(3)[Cr(CN)(6)](2) at low temperatures.

Novel MLH1 and MSH2 germline mutations in the first HNPCC families identified in Slovakia.

Hereditary nonpolyposis colorectal cancer (HNPCC) is a dominantly-inherited cancer predisposition syndrome, in which the susceptibility to cancer of the colon, endometrium and ovary is linked to germline mutations in DNA mismatch repair (MMR) genes. We have recently initiated a cancer prevention program in suspected HNPCC families in the Slovak Republic. The first ten families fulfilling Amsterdam criteria or Bethesda guidelines were screened for germline mutations in MLH1 and MSH2, two MMR genes most frequently mutated in HNPCC families.

Detergent extract from chlamydial elementary bodies used as antigen for enzyme-linked immunosorbent assay.

Soluble antigen (SA) from chlamydial elementary bodies (EBs) was extracted with N-lauroylsarcosine. The extracted SA composed of lipopolysaccharide (LPS) and proteins was compared with EBs using an enzyme-linked immunosorbent assay (ELISA). Patient sera from natural chlamydial infections exhibited ELISA mean absorbance (A(492) and A(405/650)) values 2-5 times higher with SA than with EBs, resulting in a better discrimination between positive and negative human sera.

Cross-reactivity between Coxiella burnetii and chlamydiae.

A cross-reactivity among some strains of Coxiella burnetii and chlamydiae with immune rabbit and mouse sera in ELISA and immunoblot analysis was observed. In the latter, the cross-reactivity disappeared after a treatment of C. burnetii or C.

PCR based diagnosis of 21-hydroxylase gene defects in Slovak patients with congenital adrenal hyperplasia.

Objective: To analyse 21-hydroxylase gene for 8 most common mutations in patients with salt-wasting type of congenital adrenal hyperplasia.

Methods: Allele specific PCR performed on 8 salt-wasting CAH patients and their 23 healthy relatives.

Results: Two patients were homozygous for 8 bp deletion in exon 3, while 6 patients were homozygous for intron 2 splice mutation.

[Indirect diagnosis of type I neurofibromatosis using RFLP in Slovak families].

Neurofibromatosis type I clinical diagnosis confirmation as well as antenatal diagnostics of the disease are recently provided by molecular genetics. The authors analyze 17 Slovak families with multiple NFI incidence, in whom the detection of mutated gene transfer was performed using indirect diagnostics-bound with of restrictive fragments length polymorphism RFLP. With the help of PCR 7 polymorphic sequencies were amplified and subsequently broken with restrictive endonucleases localized close to the neurofibrin gene.

[Detection and diagnosis of hereditary monogenic neurologic diseases in Slovakia].

Authors present a clinical symptoms recapitulation of the most important monogenic hereditary neuromuscular diseases, their molecular-genetic causes and the possibilities of diagnostic on the level of DNA analysis. Low detectability of these pathologic states in Slovak republic is stressed and possible causes of this state are analyzed. (Ref.

Green fluorescent protein as a detection marker for Coxiella burnetii transformation.

The molecular biological study of the obligate intracellular bacterium Coxiella burnetii is hampered because of the lack of an efficient DNA transformation system. We used expression of the green fluorescent protein (GFP) in addition to ampicillin resistance as a selection marker for detection of transformed C. burnetii cells.

Immunological consequences of Coxiella burnetii phase variation.

The influence of the number of passages in chick embryo yolk sac (EPs) on the properties of the lipopolysaccharide (LPS) and other antigens of Coxiella burnetii Priscilla strain in polyacrylamide gel electrophoresis in the presence of sodium dodecyl sulphate (SDS-PAGE), immunoblot analysis, enzyme-linked immunosorbent assay (ELISA) and complement-fixation reaction (CFR) test has been studied. Three phases in the phase variation of Coxiella burnetii could be distinguished by these methods: phase I lasting up to the 20th passage (EP 20), intermediate phase corresponding to EP 20-EP 70, and phase II beginning at EP 80. The changes in LPS were more marked than those in proteins which conserved their immunoblot profile up to EP 80.

[Presence of Y-specific sequences in patients with Turner syndrome as a presymptomatic marker of increased risk of gonadoblastoma].

The risk of the origin of neoplasms in patients with gonadal dysgenesis and the presence of Y chromosome mosaicism has been known for a long period. The majority of hidden mosaicism is however not detectable by means of cytogenetic methods. The authors of this study deal with the detection of Y specific chromosomal sequences in 86 patients with Turner syndrome by means of polymerase chain reaction (PCR) and compare the results of this method with cytogenetic findings.

Improved method of isolation of Coxiella burnetii proteins.

An improved method of isolation of Coxiella burnetti proteins was developed. It consists of a combination of detergent (sodium dodecyl sulphate (SDS) or sodium deoxycholate (DOC) and hot phenol treatments. The resulting phenol phase (PP) contained either lipopolysaccharide-(LPS) free proteins (DOC extraction) or proteins contaminated with LPS (SDS extraction), while the water phase (WP) contained LPS.

Immunogenicity of Coxiella burnetii whole cells and their outer membrane components.

The immunogenicity and protective efficacy of the phase I and phase II Coxiella burnetii whole cells (Cb I and Cb II) and their outer membrane components (OMC), i.e. phase I trichloroacetic acid extract (TCAE), phase I 29 K protein (PRO), phase I and II lipopolysaccharides (LPS I, LPS II), polysaccharides (PS I, PS II), and lipid A (LA I, LA II), were compared.

Isolation of Coxiella burnetii and of an unknown rickettsial organism from Ixodes ricinus ticks collected in Austria.

Two strains of Coxiella burnetii and two strains of an unidentified rickettsial organism were isolated for the first time from Ixodes ricinus ticks collected in the Alpine region of Tirol, Austria. The C. burnetii strains belong to the group of agents causing acute forms of Q fever.

Coxiella burnetii phase I and II proteins studied by SDS-page.

Coxiella burnetii cells in both phase I and II reveal in sodium dodecylsulphate-polyacrylamide gel electrophoresis (SDS-PAGE) similar protein profiles with only small differences. C. burnetii protein profile in SDS-PAGE depended on the method of purification of C.

Lipopolysaccharide smooth-rough phase variation in bacteria of the genus Chlamydia.

In two strains of Chlamydia psittaci and in Chlamydia trachomatis serotype L1, we have detected a so-far-unknown antigen which (i) is resistant to heat and proteolytic digestion, (ii) can be extracted with phenol-water into the water phase, (iii) gives a ladder-like banding pattern in sodium dodecyl sulfate-polyacrylamide gel electrophoresis, (iv) is immunogenic in rabbits and mice, and (v) contains immunoreactivity of lipid A, a common and characteristic component of gram-negative lipopolysaccharides (LPS). Thus, chlamydiae contain, in addition to the known rough-type LPS, another LPS type which is phenotypically smooth (S-LPS). S-LPS was observed preferentially in chlamydiae grown in the yolk sac of embryonated eggs; it was, however, also detected by immunofluorescence in tissue culture-grown chlamydiae with a monoclonal antibody against S-LPS.

Characterization and protective effect of a 29 kDa protein isolated from Coxiella burnetii by detergent Empigen BB.

A 29 kDa protein, isolated from the outer membrane of Coxiella burnetii, strain Nine Mile phase I by detergent Empigen BB, was characterized. The failure in removing lipopolysaccharides (LPS) from preparations of the protein by the purification method used indicates a strong binding between proteins and LPS in the outer membrane of C. burnetii.

Immunochemical and antigenic characterization of Coxiella burnetii strains isolated in Europe and Mongolia.

SDS-PAGE, immunoblotting and serological methods such as microimmunofluorescence (MIF) test and ELISA were used to compare protein and lipopolysaccharide (LPS) profiles and antigenicity of 12 Coxiella burnetii strains isolated mostly from ticks in Europe and Mongolia with three reference C. burnetii strains originating from USA, namely Nine Mile from tick, Priscilla from goat placenta and S from human heart valve. Among strains from Europe and Mongolia, no significant differences in protein and LPS profiles were observed, irrespective of their origin, i.