Hepatitis C Epidemiology: Insights from a Comprehensive Cohort Study in ASST Melegnano and Martesana, Lombardia Region, Northern Italy.

Hepatitis C virus (HCV) infection is a significant public health problem affecting 58 million people worldwide, including 3.9 million in Europe. Many of these infections go undiagnosed because chronic infection is often asymptomatic.

Impact of mass effect, tumor location, age, and surgery on the cognitive outcome of patients with high-grade gliomas: a longitudinal study.

Background: High-grade gliomas are the most frequently occurring brain tumors and carry unfavorable prognosis. Literature is controversial regarding the effects of surgery on cognitive functions.

Methods: We analyzed a homogenous population of 30 patients with high-grade glioma who underwent complete resection.

First report of Kocuria marina bloodstream infection unrelated to a central venous catheter: a mini-review on an emerging and under-recognized opportunistic pathogen.

We report a case of sepsis by Kocuria marina in a 45-year-old woman carrying a midline venous catheter to provide total parenteral nutrition. Despite the finding of K. marina bacteraemia, no bacteria grew from the culture of the catheter tip.

Isolation of Enterobacter aerogenes carrying blaTEM-1 and blaKPC-3 genes recovered from a hospital Intensive Care Unit.

Enterobacter aerogenes has recently emerged as an important hospital pathogen. In this study, we showed the emergence of E. aerogenes isolates carrying the blaKPC gene in patients colonized by carbapenem-resistant Klebsiella pneumoniae strains.

A rare case of infant sepsis due to the emm-89 genotype of Group A Streptococcus within a community-acquired cluster.

Invasive Group A Streptococcus disease is a severe and sometimes life-threatening infection with only few cases reported in literature. We describe the case of a 49-day-old male infant with invasive Group A Streptococcus infection characterized by acute otitis media and development of septicemia within a probably community-acquired cluster. The causative agent resulted to be a rare emm-89 genotype of Streptococcus pyogenes.

Urinary Schistosomiasis in an Adolescent Refugee from Africa: An Uncommon Cause of Hematuria and an Emerging Infectious Disease in Europe.

We report a case of urinary schistosomiasis in an adolescent refugee from Gambia (arrived to Italy illegally), who was brought to the Emergency Department of our hospital. The patient complained of gross hematuria and, in the absence of clinical evidence of bacterial urinary infection, was admitted to the pediatric ward, considering his provenience and social setting. An appropriate collection and microscopic analysis of urine samples led to the detection of bilharzia.

Anti-chlamydial IgG Neutralizing Ability in Nonzoonotic Atypical Community Acquired Respiratory Tract Infections.

Chlamydophila pneumoniae is a pathogenic agent, involved in various types of infection. This study has evaluated the ability of IgG antibodies in outpatient, with acute respiratory tract infections from C. pneumoniae, to neutralize in vitro purified elementary bodies of this bacterium, revealing a good neutralizing performance of IgG antibodies.

Selectivity evaluation of a new chromogenic medium to detect group B Streptococcus.

Background: Group B Streptococcus (GBS) is an important pathogen that causes serious infections in newborns. Pregnant screening and intrapartum antibiotic prophylaxis are actually the strategies to prevent GBS disease in neonates because vaccination is under investigation.

Materials And Methods: Simultaneously, 156 isolates of GBS and 156 isolates other than GBS covering 17 different species, were tested to evaluate the selectivity of a new chromogenic medium to screen GBS.

Typing of Ochrobactrum anthropi clinical isolates using automated repetitive extragenic palindromic-polymerase chain reaction DNA fingerprinting and matrix-assisted laser desorption/ionization-time-of-flight mass spectrometry.

Background: Ochrobactrum anthropi (O. anthropi), is a non-fermenting gram-negative bacillus usually found in the environment. Nevertheless, during the past decade it has been identified as pathogenic to immunocompromised patients.

Rapid and reliable MALDI-TOF mass spectrometry identification of Candida non-albicans isolates from bloodstream infections.

Matrix-assisted laser desorption/ionization time-of-flight (MALDI-TOF) mass spectrometry (MS) fingerprinting has recently become an effective instrument for rapid microbiological diagnostics and in particular for identification of micro-organisms directly in a positive blood culture. The aim of the study was to evaluate a collection of 82 stored yeast isolates from bloodstream infection, by MALDI-TOF MS; 21 isolates were identified also directly from positive blood cultures and in the presence of other co-infecting micro-organisms. Of the 82 isolates grown on plates, 64 (76%) were correctly identified by the Vitek II system and 82 (100%) by MALDI-TOF MS; when the two methods gave different results, the isolate was identified by PCR.

Clonal dissemination of Klebsiella pneumoniae ST512 carrying blaKPC-3 in a hospital in southern Italy.

Strains of Klebsiella pneumoniae producing KPC-carbapenemase have emerged as one of the most important multidrug-resistant Gram-negative nosocomial pathogens. Here, we report the first isolation and subsequent dissemination of a K. pneumoniae ST512 producing KPC-3 carbapenemase in a hospital in southern Italy.

Molecular and phenotypic characterization of methicillin-resistant Staphylococcus aureus from surgical site infections.

Background: Nosocomial infections represent an important problem for the health of hospitalized patients. Peri-operative infections--those occurring during surgery or in the post-operative period--account for 15%-20% of cases. Most surgical site infections (SSIs) are caused by endogenous gram-positive microorganisms, in particular, Staphylococcus aureus, S.

Different mutations in mucA gene of Pseudomonas aeruginosa mucoid strains in cystic fibrosis patients and their effect on algU gene expression.

Alginate biosynthesis in Pseudomonas aeruginosa is a highly regulated process in which algU and mucA genes are key elements. Mutations in mucA gene determine alginate operon overexpression and exopolysaccharide overproduction. In our study, 119 strains of P.

Toll-like receptor kinetics in septic shock patients: a preliminary study.

The aim of this study is to evaluate some inflammatory parameter changes in septic shock patients and their possible correlation with clinical outcome, in particular when continuous veno-venous hemofiltration (CVVH) treatment is required. Considering the objective difficulty in enrolling this kind of patient, a preliminary study was initiated on seventeen septic shock patients admitted to a medical and surgical ICU. The mRNA expression of Toll-like receptor (TLR)-1, TLR-2, TLR-4, TLR-5, TLR-9, TNFα, IL-8 and IL-1β was assessed, the plasmatic concentrations of IL-18, IL-2, IL-10 and TNFα were measured on the day of sepsis diagnosis and after 72 h.

MALDI-TOF mass spectrometry and microsatellite markers to evaluate Candida parapsilosis transmission in neonatal intensive care units.

Recent studies on outbreaks of Candida showed an increased incidence of bloodstream infections in neonatal intensive care units (NICUs) caused by C. parapsilosis species, highlighting the need for the proper identification and epidemiology of these species. Several systems are available for molecular epidemiological and taxonomic studies of fungal infections: pulsed-field gel electrophoresis (PFGE) represents the gold standard for typing, but is also one of the most lengthy and expensive, while simple sequence repeats (SSRs) is based on polymerase chain reaction (PCR) amplification and is, therefore, faster.

Ambroxol influences voriconazole resistance of Candida parapsilosis biofilm.

The ability to form biofilm on different surfaces is typical of most Candida species. Microscopic structure and genetic aspects of fungal biofilms have been the object of many studies because of very high resistance to antimycotic agents because of the scarce permeability of the external matrix and to the alterations in cell metabolism. In our study, 31 isolates of Candida parapsilosis, isolated from bloodstream infections, were tested for their ability to produce biofilm and were found to be good producers.

Small deletion at the 7q21.2 locus in a CCM family detected by real-time quantitative PCR.

Cerebral cavernous malformations (CCMs) represent a common autosomal dominant disorder that predisposes patients to haemorrhagic strokes and focal neurological signs. About 56% of the hereditary forms of CCMs have been so far associated with mutations in the KRIT1 (Krev Interaction Trapped 1) gene, located at 7q21.2 (CCM1 locus).

PLAUF binding to the 3'UTR of the H3.3 histone transcript affects mRNA stability.

In P. lividus sea urchin the H3.3 histone variant is coded by an mRNA characterized by a long 3'UTR containing ARE (AU-Rich element) motifs.

On the possibility that H1 histone interaction with DNA occurs through phosphates connecting lysine and arginine side chain groups.

Gel filtration and velocity of sedimentation analyses on native and on lysine- and arginine-modified forms of the annelid worm Chaetopterus variopedatus sperm H1 histone indicate that anion-mediated lysine-arginine interactions play a relevant role in the stabilization of the oligomeric states of the molecule. CD spectroscopy shows that phosphate anions are at least an order of magnitude more efficient than chloride as negatively charged groups connecting H1 lysines and arginines. Acetylation of lysines, although not altering grossly the H1 properties, causes a tenfold decrease of the structuring efficiency of phosphates.

H3 and H3.3 histone mRNA amounts and ratio in oral squamous cell carcinoma and leukoplakia.

Histone variants (e.g. H3) play an important role in chromatin structure and gene expression regulation of normal cells.

PLAUF is a novel P. lividus sea urchin RNA-binding protein.

Preliminary results have shown that various proteins bind long 3'UTR of the transcript for Paracentrotus lividus sea urchin H3.3 histone variant and are probably implicated in mRNA instability. In order to identify these RNA-binding proteins, we screened a lambda-ZAPII cDNA expression library prepared from poly(A) mRNA extracted from sea urchin embryos at blastula stage.

A new family of "H3L-like" histone genes.

The H3L histone variant gene in Paracentrotus lividus (sea urchin) shows almost all typical features of the replication-dependent histone genes, but it codes for the H3.3 histone protein with the S.//.