Pro-Osteogenic Effect of the Nutraceutical BlastiMin Complex in Women with Osteoporosis or Osteopenia: An Open Intervention Clinical Trial.

Osteoporosis is a chronic disease that affects millions of patients worldwide and is characterized by low bone mineral density (BMD) and increased risk of fractures. Notably, natural molecules can increase BMD and exert pro-osteogenic effects. Noteworthily, the nutraceutical BlastiMin Complex (Mivell, Italy, European Patent Application EP4205733A1) can induce differentiation of human bone marrow mesenchymal stem cells (BM-MSCs) in osteoblasts and can exert in vitro pro-osteogenic and anti-inflammatory effects.

Patients with lymphatic malformations who receive the immunostimulant OK-432 experience excellent long-term outcomes.

Aim: Sclerotherapy is the primary treatment for lymphatic malformations. The aim of this study was to evaluate the long-term outcome in patients with lymphatic malformations treated with the immunostimulant OK-432 as a sclerosant.

Methods: Between 1998 and 2013, we enrolled 131 of 138 eligible patients treated with OK-432 for lymphatic malformations in a retrospective study.

Cryptococcus gattii serotype-C strains isolated in Bangalore, Karnataka, India.

During a retrospective study on cryptococcosis carried out in Bangalore, Karnataka, India, four Cryptococcus gattii strains were isolated from one HIV-positive and three HIV-negative patients, two of which had unknown predisposing conditions. Serotyping and genotyping showed that the isolates were C. gattii serotype C, mating-type α and genotype VGIV.

Nerve dysfunction following surgical treatment of cervical non-tuberculous mycobacterial lymphadenitis in children.

Aim: To present our experience of nerve dysfunction following surgical treatment among 126 children with microbiologically verified non-tuberculous mycobacterial (NTM) lymphadenitis.

Methods: We retrieved data from medical records, and a questionnaire with an invitation to a clinical follow-up was returned by 88 families.

Results: The time from onset of symptoms to diagnosis was more than 3 months in 24% of subjects.

Unreliable alcohol testing in a shipping safety programme.

Background: Within a maritime alcohol and drug testing programme, a case showing an unphysiological urine ethanol concentration (235 mmol/L, 10.8 g/L) was found. The sample contained low levels of the ethanol metabolites ethyl glucuronide (EtG) and ethyl sulphate (EtS) which confirmed prior drinking, but also tested positive for the fermenting yeast Candida albicans which suggested post-sampling ethanol formation.

Drug resistance and genotypic analysis of Mycobacterium tuberculosis strains from Thai tuberculosis patients.

The aim of this study was the molecular characterization of primary drug-resistant Mycobacterium tuberculosis strains in Thailand. We examined a group of M. tuberculosis isolates from newly registered tuberculosis (TB) cases, collected at the largest university hospital, the Siriraj Hospital, in Thailand.

Late-onset posttraumatic skin and soft-tissue infections caused by rapid-growing mycobacteria in tsunami survivors.

Background: In the tsunami catastrophe in Thailand in 2004, several thousand Swedish tourists were injured, with contaminated crush trauma of the legs being the main cause of injury among the survivors.

Methods: Patient and laboratory data for those who received hospital care in Stockholm and Gothenburg and contracted late-onset infections due to rapid-growing mycobacteria were reviewed retrospectively. Also, concomitant infections were recorded.

Molecular epidemiology of drug-resistant tuberculosis in Sweden.

Drug-resistant tuberculosis (TB), including the more severe forms of multidrug- and extensively drug-resistant forms, is an increasing public health concern globally. In Sweden the majority of patients with TB are immigrants from countries with a high incidence of TB including the drug-resistant forms. In this study, the spread of resistant TB in Sweden was investigated by molecular fingerprinting.

Extensive transmission of an isoniazid-resistant strain of Mycobacterium tuberculosis in Sweden.

Setting: City of Stockholm, Sweden.

Background: The incidence of tuberculosis (TB) in Sweden increased by 40% between 2003 and 2005. The spread of a unique TB strain resistant to isoniazid (INH) contributed to this increase.

Performance of commercial latex agglutination tests for the differentiation of Candida dubliniensis and Candida albicans in routine diagnostics.

Candida dubliniensis is phenotypically similar to Candida albicans and may therefore be underdiagnosed in the clinical microbiology laboratory. The performance of Bichro-Dubli latex agglutination test for rapid species identification of C. dubliniensis was prospectively evaluated on 111 vaginal and 118 respiratory isolates.

Pyrosequencing of a short hypervariable 16S rDNA fragment for the identification of nontuberculous mycobacteria--a comparison with conventional 16S rDNA sequencing and phenotyping.

Conventional methods for identification of nontuberculous mycobacteria (NTM) are often inexact and time consuming. Sequencing of bacterial 16S rDNA is accurate, rapid and effective. We have retrospectively evaluated the discriminative power of pyrosequencing of a short hypervariable 16S rDNA fragment as a simple and rapid tool for NTM characterization.

Non-tuberculous mycobacteria in China.

Infection with non-tuberculous mycobacteria (NTM) is relatively rare in areas that are high-endemic for tuberculosis. We identified 126 strains of NTM in respiratory specimens collected by the Chinese Nationwide Survey in 2000, the Beijing Tuberculosis and Thoracic Tumour Institution, and the Guangzhou Thoracic Hospital. Species diagnosis was attained by sequencing of 16S-rDNA complemented by phenotypic characterization when necessary.

Mycobacterium marinum: ubiquitous agent of waterborne granulomatous skin infections.

Mycobacterium marinum is a waterborne mycobacterium that commonly infects fish and amphibians worldwide. Infection in humans occurs occasionally, in most cases as a granulomatous infection localized in the skin, typically following minor trauma on the hands. For this reason, infection is especially common among aquarium keepers.

Mycobacterium abscessus: an emerging rapid-growing potential pathogen.

Mycobacterium abscessus is the most pathogenic and chemotherapy-resistant rapid-growing mycobacterium. It is commonly associated with contaminated traumatic skin wounds and with post-surgical soft tissue infections. It is also one of the mycobacteria that are most often isolated from cystic fibrosis patients.

Endogenous ethanol fermentation in a child with short bowel syndrome.

Unlabelled: The term "auto-brewery syndrome" has been frequently used to describe patients who show features of alcohol intoxication because of abnormal yeast proliferation after ingesting carbohydrate-rich meals. We present a case of a 3-y-old girl with short bowel syndrome (SBS) who demonstrated signs of alcohol intoxication on repeated occasions. A blood test indicated an ethanol concentration of 15 mmol/l, and cultures from gastric fluid and faeces showed the presence of Candida kefyr.

Non-tuberculous mycobacterial infections.

Non-tuberculous mycobacteria (NTM) are ubiquitous environmental organisms in contrast to those belonging to the M. tuberculosi complex (MTB). NTM infects and causes disease only in hosts with local or general predisposing factors.

Concomitant late soft tissue infections by Cladophialophora bantiana and Mycobacterium abscessus following tsunami injuries.

A Swedish man and woman sustained severe soft tissue injuries during the tsunami catastrophe in Thailand in December 2004, and subsequently received partial thickness skin grafts after multiple surgical revisions. Four to six weeks post trauma they displayed signs of purulent infections in the non-traumatized, virtually intact skin outside the resection margins. Skin biopsies revealed granulomatous reactions and pigmented fungal hyphae were observed in specimens from the male patient.

Clinico-mycological profile of dermatophytosis in a reference centre for leprosy and dermatological diseases in Addis Ababa.

To assess the clinical and fungal species spectrum of dermatophyte infection in a reference centre in Addis Ababa, 539 dermatological patients with signs of dermatophytosis were investigated. Seventy-one percent were female and 29% male, aged 2-66 years (median 9). Four hundred-fifteen (77%) had at least one skin lesion.

A fatal case of severe immunodeficiency associated with disseminated Merulius tremellosus infection.

We report a fatal case of severe immunodeficiency associated with infection caused by the white rot fungus, Merulius tremellosus. This is the first report of Merulius tremellosus infection in humans. To improve clinical management, awareness and diagnostics of uncommon fungal infections in immunodeficient patients are important.

White variants of Trichophyton violaceum isolated in Ethiopia.

Certain dermatophytes are geographically restricted and endemic in particular parts of the world, while other species may have a sporadic but worldwide distribution. Trichophyton violaceum is one of the most common dermatophytes causing tinea capitis, and is the predominant cause of tinea in Africa, South America and the Indian subcontinent. Among 1187 dermatophyte isolates collected from Ethiopian patients with various types of tinea, 32 isolates had uncharacteristic phenotypic features.