Identification of an antiviral compound isolated from Pistacia lentiscus.

This study screened mastic gum (Pistacia lentiscus L.) for antiviral activity against herpes simplex virus type 2 (HSV-2), coxsackievirus type B3, and adenovirus type 5. The organs of this plant (leaves, stem, and seed) were macerated sequentially using solvents of increasing polarity (hexane, dichloromethane, ethyl acetate, and methanol).

Molecular Detection of the Three Major Pathogenic Vibrio Species from Seafood Products and Sediments in Tunisia Using Real-Time PCR.

Unlabelled: Vibrio spp. have emerged as a serious threat to human health worldwide. V.

Real-time PCR using SYBR Green for the detection of Shigella spp. in food and stool samples.

Shigella spp are exquisitely fastidious Gram negative organisms that frequently get missed in the detection by traditional culture methods. For this reason, this work has adapted a classical PCR for detection of Shigella in food and stool specimens to real-time PCR using the SYBR Green format. This method follows a melting curve analysis to be more rapid and provide both qualitative and quantitative data about the targeted pathogen.

Detection and characterization of Shigella species isolated from food and human stool samples in Nabeul, Tunisia, by molecular methods and culture techniques.

Aims:   This study was designed to isolate Shigella spp. strains from food and stool samples by a combination of PCR and culture methods and characterize their serotypes, antibiotic resistance profiles, virulence genes and pulsed-field gel electrophoresis (PFGE) patterns to investigate possible clonal relationships amongst strains circulating.

Methods And Results:   Six Shigella spp.

Immunophenotypic analysis of bone marrow B lymphocyte precursors (hématogones) by flow cytometry.

The aims of this flow cytometry study were to quantify B lymphoid precursors known as hématogones across age and clinical conditions and to study the immunophenotypic profile of these benign immature B cells. A total of 406 consecutive marrow specimens were analyzed for hématogones using 4-color flow cytometry during a 19 month period (60% males and 40% females). The age range was 3 months to 89 years.

[Genotypes of echovirus 6 in Monastir region].

Unlabelled: OBJECTIVE OF THE WORK: Echoviruses of serotype 6 were reported to be endemic in Tunisia and even in other country over the world. they are associated with many outbreak meningitis. The Objective of this study was to genetically characterize echovirus 6 fields isolates.

The difficult-to-cultivate coxsackieviruses A can productively multiply in primary culture of mouse skeletal muscle.

Coxsackieviruses A (CVA) are associated with several clinical manifestations such as aseptic meningitis and paralytic syndromes in humans. Most CVA are difficult-to-cultivate, which impedes their propagation and isolation from clinical material. Here, we tested the ability of cultivable (CVA-13, CVA-14), and difficult-to-cultivate (CVA-6, CVA-22) strains to infect primary cultures of skeletal muscle cells established from newborn mice.

Nucleotide sequences of IRES domains IV and V of natural ECHO virus type 11 isolates with different replicative capacity phenotypes.

ECHO viruses (ECV) belong to the enterovirus genus of the Picornaviridae family and are the most frequently isolated from clinical and environmental samples. They are responsible for a wide variety of clinical syndromes involving most organs of the human body. We previously postulated that some of the variations in the recognition of ECHO virus type 11 (ECV 11) strains by a group specific monoclonal antibody (Mab) which we have studied could be explained by variations in their replicative capacity in cell culture and variations within the 5' nontranslated region (5' NTR) of their genomes.

Recognition of coxsackievirus A by Enterovirus genus-specific immune and molecular markers in experimentally infected suckling mice.

Objective: Most of coxsackieviruses A (CV-A) are difficult to isolate in cell culture and are responsible for flask paralysis in suckling mice. The aim of the present work was to analyze the ability of immune and RT-PCR techniques to detect viral components of three different serotypes, CV-A6, CV-A13, and CV-A14, in skeletal muscles of experimentally infected suckling mice.

Material And Methods: The antigen detection was done by immunofluorescence technique on trypsinized muscular cells and by immunoperoxidase assay on frozen sections of skeletal muscle, using a monoclonal antibody directed towards a conserved epitope of the VP1 capsid protein among enteroviruses.