Frequency of Cryptosporidium spp. as cause of human gastrointestinal disease in Switzerland and possible sources of infection.

Detection of Cryptosporidium parvum is not routinely done in laboratories of clinical microbiology and there is no obligation to communicate isolations of this pathogen to health authorities. For these reasons, frequency of cryptosporidiosis and sources of infection are only poorly known in Switzerland. To obtain more concise information in this field, feces from 5179 hospitalized and 1256 ambulatory patients with suspected gastrointestinal infections were screened for Cryptosporidium spp.

Role of adenoids in the pathogenesis of otitis media: a bacteriologic and immunohistochemical analysis.

Adenoidectomy is frequently performed in children suffering from recurrent or chronic otitis media with effusion and is thought to produce a long-term effect in preventing further episodes of otitis media. Bacteriologic analysis of adenoids from 60 patients revealed a significantly elevated colonization rate of middle ear pathogens in children with a present or previous history of ear disease compared to children with adenoidal hypertrophy only. The predominant pathogen was nontypeable Haemophilus influenzae, followed by Streptococcus pneumoniae and Moraxella catarrhalis.

Prolonged hemodynamic benefits from a high-dose bolus injection of human atrial natriuretic factor in congestive heart failure.

The physiologic and potential pharmacologic roles of atrial natriuretic factor in congestive heart failure have remained confusing. We have evaluated the hemodynamic responses to human atrial natriuretic factor [ANF (102-126)] given as bolus intravenous doses of 2.0 or 4.

Bolus injections of synthetic atrial natriuretic peptide in patients with chronic renal failure or nephrotic syndrome.

The diuretic and natriuretic responses to exogenous synthetic atrial natriuretic peptide (ANP) were evaluated in patients with chronic renal failure (CRF) or nephrotic syndrome (NS). Patients were studied after an oral water load (8 ml/kg in CRF and 20 ml/kg in NS patients). A short intravenous bolus of either a placebo or ANP was administered when urine output was stable.

Unusual in vitro formation of cyst-like structures associated with human intestinal spirochaetosis.

Spirochaetes were isolated from rectal biopsies of three patients and successfully cultured. Enzymatic reactions and electron microscopy revealed spirochaetes resembling Brachyspira aalborgi. Examination of ultrathin sections of centrifugates of cultured spirochaetes yielded unusual cyst-like structures with an outer double membrane containing spirochaetes in different developmental stages.

Effect of calcitonin replacement therapy in idiopathic juvenile osteoporosis.

An 8-year-old boy with idiopathic juvenile osteoporosis and multiple fractures had three abnormalities of bone mineral metabolism: calcitonin deficiency, elevated serum calcitriol concentrations, and hypercalciuria. Calcitonin deficiency was documented by two attempts to stimulate calcitonin secretion with intravenous calcium and pentagastrin. Treatment for 11 months with daily subcutaneous injections of human calcitonin and oral administration of calcitriol failed to reduce the excessive bone resorption observed on bone biopsy, and the fracture rate did not decrease.

Atrial natriuretic peptide administered as intravenous infusion or bolus injection to patients with liver cirrhosis and ascites.

The effect of a synthetic atrial natriuretic peptide (h-ANP, 25 amino acids, Wy-47.663) on blood pressure, renal electrolyte excretion, plasma catecholamines, and plasma renin activity was studied in nine patients with cirrhosis of the liver and ascites. The peptide was infused intravenously at 24-h intervals for 2 h in groups of four patients each in two different doses (0.

Hypergonadotropism in peripubertal boys with chronic renal failure.

Serum gonadotropin and testosterone concentrations were measured in ten peripubertal boys to assess the effects of uremia on pubertal maturation. Serum luteinizing hormone (LH) concentrations were elevated for stage of puberty in eight boys, whereas in most boys serum follicle-stimulating hormone and testosterone concentrations were normal. Serum LH concentrations correlated with the severity of uremia.

An inherited defect in the C3 convertase, C3b,Bb, associated with glomerulonephritis.

The control of the amplification C3 convertase, C3b,Bb, of the serum complement system has been found to be defective in five members of a family spanning three generations. One of the five has membranoproliferative glomerulonephritis (MPGN) type III and another has mild idiopathic rapidly progressive glomerulonephritis. The defect is manifested by low serum concentrations of C3 and usually factor B with normal levels of the proteins which control the convertase, H and I.

Calcitriol deficiency in idiopathic juvenile osteoporosis.

Low plasma calcitriol (1,25-dihydroxycholecalciferol) and normal serum calcifediol (25-hydroxycholecalciferol) levels were noted during the evaluation of an 11-year-old girl with diffuse osteoporosis and pathologic fractures. The onset of osteoporosis prior to puberty and the characteristic metaphyseal location of the fractures supported the diagnosis of idiopathic juvenile osteoporosis (IJO). Treatment with calcitriol, 1.

Circulating immune complexes in membranoproliferative glomerulonephritis.

Circulating immune complexes (CIC), measured by the solid-phase Clq method, were found to be in abnormal concentration in about half of 39 patients with membranoproliferative glomerulonephritis (MPGN). In contrast, they were present, usually in higher concentration, in nearly all patients with active lupus nephritis. Correlations between clinical course and CIC levels in patients with MPGN showed that complexes were always present when the disease was mild or "silent," but when renal impairment developed or was incipient, complexes were nearly always absent.

Hypocomplementemia in Reye syndrome: relationship to disease stage, circulating immune complexes, and C3b amplification loop protein synthesis.

Measurement of C1q, C2, C4, C5, C6, factor B, properdin, beta1H, and C3bINA were made in acute sera from 31 patients with Reye syndrome. Abnormalities were found in 18 patients. The magnitude of the complement component depression correlated with disease severity.

Transferable plasmids mediating multiple-antibiotic resistance in Streptococcus faecalis subsp. liquefaciens.

In strain HK187 (Streptococcus faecalis subsp. liquefaciens) four plasmids were isolated. The molecular weights, as analyzed in neutral sucrose gradients and by electron microscopy, were found to be about 36 x 10(6), 31 x 10(6), 26 x 10(6), and 4 x 10(6).