[Impact of hospital admissions for pneumonia in a tertiary Spanish hospital].

Background: Impact of hospital admissions for pneumonia during 1998 in the Hospital Clínic, Barcelona.

Patients And Method: Retrospective information on the hospitalizations for pneumonia was collected.

Results: During 1998 a total of 626 adult were admitted with a hospital diagnosis of pneumonia (72% were >/= 65 years).

Effects of bacteria on the growth of an amoeba infecting the gills of turbot.

We analysed the influence of various bacteria on the in vitro growth of trophozoites of a Platyamoeba strain isolated from diseased gill tissues of cultured turbot. Little or no growth was shown by amoebae cultured in the presence of (1) the turbot-pathogenic bacteria Vibrio anguillarum, Aeromonas salmonicida or Streptococcus sp., (2) Pasteurella piscicida or Vibrio vulnificus (pathogenic for some fishes but not turbot), or (3) the non-pathogenic 'environmental' bacteria Vibrio campbelli, Vibrio fluvialis or Pseudomonas dondorofii.

[Leukocytoclastic vasculitis associated with ticlopidine].

In the last five years the combination of ticlopidine plus aspirin has been the treatment of choice to avoid thrombi formation after the implantation of intracoronary stents. The adverse effects observed include the appearance of a maculopapulous, pruritic, painless, cutaneous rash. We present the case of a patient who developed leucocytoclastic vasculitis associated with the administration of ticlopidine.

Fate of stent-related side branches after coronary intervention in patients with in-stent restenosis.

Objectives: We sought to assess the fate of stent (ST)-related side branches (SB) after coronary intervention in patients with in-ST restenosis.

Background: In-ST restenosis constitutes a therapeutic challenge. Although the fate of lesion-related SB after conventional angioplasty or initial coronary stenting is well established, the outcome of ST-related SB in patients with in-ST restenosis undergoing repeat intervention is unknown.

Non-specific responses of turbot (Scophthalmus maximus L.) adherent cells to microsporidian spores.

We investigated non-specific responses of turbot spleen- and pronephros-resident adherent cells to spores of fish microsporidians, and the effects of the glucocorticoid dexamethasone (DX) on these responses. On average, 65% of adherent cells from the spleen and pronephros showed esterase activity (as characteristic of macrophages); 32% showed peroxidase activity (as characteristic of neutrophils), and 19% of peroxidase-positive cells were capable of phagocytosing microsporidian spores. A significantly higher proportion of adherent cells showed phagocytic activity when viable spores were the target than when non-viable spores were the target.

Pressure wire kinking, entanglement, and entrapment during intravascular ultrasound studies: a potentially dangerous complication.

The simultaneous use of intravascular ultrasound catheters and sensor-tipped guidewires is gaining acceptance during coronary interventions as a means to gain further insights on the significance of coronary stenoses. Herein we describe four patients in whom the distal tip of the pressure wire became entrapped during an intravascular ultrasound examination. In the four patients, a localized kinking of the pressure wire initially prevented the removal of the imaging catheter and eventually the wire-catheter assembly had to be retrieved as a unit into the guiding catheter.

Allozyme analysis of two polymorphic enzymes in a natural population of Lecithochirium musculus.

Genetic variability among 112 individuals of Lecithochirium musculus from Anguilla anguilla from northwestern Spain was examined using allozyme analysis. Starch-gel electrophoresis was used to investigate the genetic variation in two polymorphic enzymes, glucose phosphate isomerase (GPI) and phosphoglucomutase (PGM). The banding patterns obtained for GPI were consistent with a dimeric structure for this enzyme and with single-locus control.

RFLP analysis of PCR-amplified small subunit ribosomal DNA of three fish microsporidian species.

The phylogenetic relationships of the microsporidian species Microgemma caulleryi, Pleistophora finisterrensis and Tetramicra brevifilum were investigated on the basis of restriction fragment length polymorphism (RFLP) analysis of PCR-amplified small-subunit rDNA (SSUrDNA). Using PCR primers specific for microsporidian SSUrDNA, a single product was obtained from each species, and heteroduplex analysis indicated a high degree of sequence homology among the 3 products. In RFLP analysis of the PCR-amplified SSUrDNA, the enzymes AluI and DdeI gave restriction patterns that differed among all 3 species.

Does focal destruction of the thoracic aorta wall by Staphylococcus aureus lead to the development of infected aneurysms? An experimental study.

Objective: The infrequency of infected aneurysms suggests that either infection of segments of the aortic wall is uncommon, or that infections do not always lead top infected aneurysm formation. The purpose of the study was to determine whether focal Staphylococcus aureus infection of aortic wall segments leads consistently to the development of infected aneurysms and to evaluate the segments in which infection did not lead to the infected aneurysm formation.

Methods: Twenty pigs were inoculated with 0.

DNA probes for detection of the fish microsporidians Microgemma caulleryi and Tetramicra brevifilum.

DNA probes were developed for the detection and identification of 2 microsporidian parasites of marine fishes, Microgemma caulleryi (infecting the liver of the greater sand-eel, Hyperoplus lanceolatus) and Tetramicra brevifilum (infecting muscle, intestine and liver of the turbot, Scophthalmus maximus, a commercially important species). The probe-development procedure used is fast and straightforward, and readily applicable to the development of probes for other microsporidian species. First, genomic DNA of microsporidian spores was isolated and digested with the restriction enzyme Hind III.

Human immunoglobulin isotype profiles produced in response to antigens recognized by monoclonal antibodies specific to Anisakis simplex.

Background: Anisakis simplex is a medically important pathogen which not only causes anisakiasis but may provoke allergy reactions, ranging from mild urticaria to anaphylactic shock.

Objective: To investigate anti-Anisakis isotype profiles in anisakiasis and Anisakis allergy patients.

Methods: Capture ELISA techniques were used to investigate the isotype profiles of antibodies specific for two defined Anisakis simplex antigens, in serum from Japanese patients with confirmed anisakiasis and from Spanish patients with allergy to Anisakis.

Characterization by enzyme electrophoresis of specimens of the genus Helicometra (Trematoda, Opecoelidae) from fish caught off the coast of northwest Spain.

Species within the genus Helicometra are difficult to distinguish on morphological grounds alone, and are best discriminated with the aid of biochemical techniques. In the work reported here, the electrophoretic mobility of malate dehydrogenase isoenzyme of the Mdh-1 locus was used to characterize 375 individuals of Helicometra obtained from various teleost species (Anguilla anguilla, Conger conger, Gobius niger or Ciliata mustela) caught off the coast of northwest Spain. The results suggest that all specimens belong to only one species, probably H.

Effects of chitinolytic and proteolytic enzymes on in vitro phagocytosis of microsporidians by spleen macrophages of turbot, Scophthalmus maximus L.

The serum of many teleosts, including turbot, contains chitinolytic and proteolytic enzymes. In the present study, the possible role of these enzymes in nonspecific immune responses to microsporidian infection was investigated. The rate of phagocytosis of Glugea caulleryi spores by turbot splenic macrophages was significantly reduced after pretreatment of spores with proteolytic or chitinolytic enzymes, suggesting that alteration of surface glycoproteins affects spore recognition.

[The absence of interference between GSM mobile telephones and implantable defibrillators: an in-vivo study. Groupe Systèmes Mobiles].

Introduction And Objectives: The electromagnetic field created by mobile telephones can cause pacemaker dysfunction. Although implantable cardioverter defibrillators are also susceptible to electromagnetic interference, few studies have addressed this issue and compatibility with the GSM mode has not been tested. This study was developed to detect possible "in vivo" interference between GSM mobile telephones and implantable cardioverter defibrillators.

Melon ascorbate oxidase: cloning of a multigene family, induction during fruit development and repression by wounding.

A small family of at least four genes encoding melon ascorbate oxidase (AO) has been identified and three members of it have been cloned. Preliminary DNA sequence determination suggested that melon AO genes code for enzymes homologous to ascorbate oxidases from other plants and similar to other multicopper oxidases. We describe detailed molecular studies addressing melon AO expression during organ specific differentiation, fruit development and ripening, and in response to wounding.

Monoclonal antibodies against diagnostic Anisakis simplex antigens.

Five monoclonal antibodies (UA2, UA3, UA5, UA6, and UA8) specific for Anisakis simplex are described. All are IgG1/kappa monoclonal antibodies, except for UA2, which is an antibody IgM/kappa. The molecular weights of the major components recognized in immunoblotting are 48 and 67 kDa (UA2); 139 kDa (UA3 and UA5; same epitope); 35, 38, and 139 kDa (UA6); and 205 kDa (UA8).

The humoral immune response of turbot, Scophthalmus maximus L., to spore-surface antigens of microsporidian parasites.

Experiments based on enzyme-linked immunosorbent assay (ELISA) revealed considerable antigenic homology in turbot between two species of microsporidian, Tetramicra brevifilum (a parasite of the turbot, Scophthalmus maximus) and Glugea caulleryi (a parasite of the lesser sand-eel, Ammodytes tobianus). We next investigated whether G. caulleryi is able to suppress the turbot immune response.

The role of opsonization by antibody and complement in in vitro phagocytosis of microsporidian parasites by turbot spleen cells.

We investigated the role played by opsonization by antibody and complement in in vitro phagocytosis of microsporidian spores by turbot adherent phagocytes. Most turbot adherent cells displaying phagocytic activity are probably macrophages. Phagocytosis of yeast cells and polystyrene beads was greatly enhanced in the presence of both the Ig and the non-Ig (i.

Antigenic cross-reactivity in mice between third-stage larvae of Anisakis simplex and other nematodes.

We used ELISA and immunoblotting to investigate antigenic cross-reactivity in mice between third-stage larvae of Anisakis simplex and five other nematodes: the ascaridoids Ascaris suum, Toxocara canis and Hysterothylacium aduncum, and the nonascaridoids Trichinella spiralis and Trichuris muris. Two sera were raised against each species (including A. simplex, but excluding A.

Anisakis simplex: stage-specific antigens recognized by mice.

To investigate antigenic differences between the developmental stages of Anisakis simplex, somatic, excretion-secretion and detergent-solubilized surface antigen preparations of third- and fourth-stage A. simplex larvae, and a somatic antigen preparation of adults, were characterized by SDS-PAGE and immunoblotting using mouse immune serum containing antibodies against the two larval stages. Excretion-secretion and surface antigen preparations from third-stage larvae behaved very differently from those of fourth-stage larvae, in both SDS-PAGE and immunoblotting; this suggests that certain excretion-secretion and surface antigens are highly stage-specific.

Intestinal helminths of the red fox (Vulpes vulpes L.) in Galicia (Northwest Spain).

The intestinal helminth fauna of 201 specimens of Vulpes vulpes, captured in Galicia (northwest Spain), was investigated. Eight species were found: Toxocara canis (23% of host specimens), Toxocara cati (0.5%), Toxascaris leonina (1%), Uncinaria stenocephala (28%), Seuratascaris numidica (0.

A scanning electron microscope study of the nematode Spirura dentata (Spiruroidea) with notes on the morphometric variations in a Spanish population of this species.

This work provides a detailed morphological description by optic and scanning electron microscopy of the nematode Spirura dentara (Mŏnnig, 1938), a parasite of Herpestes ichneumon in southern and central Spain, together with an analyses of the morphometric variations within this population. Our findings in adult specimens include some important characters not recorded in previous descriptions, and contradict these in a few details: a) the four denticles arising from the inner wall of the oral opening are double, not simple as reported in the original description, b) four simple denticles are present, each located between the corresponding double denticles and the central protuberance of the pseudolabium, c) lateral crests are present running along the first third of the body in the adult, starting a short distance behind the deirids, and d) the pair of small submedian post-cloacal papillae mentioned in the original description has not been observed. The fourth-stage larva is described for the first time.

vanA-mediated vancomycin-resistant Enterococcus spp. in sewage.

Three high-level vancomycin-resistant Enterococcus strains (two Enterococcus faecium and one Enterococcus durans) were recovered from three of eight sewage samples taken from the general sewage collector at Logroño (Northern Spain). The strains were present in the sewage samples at estimated concentrations of ten resistant bacteria/mL, corresponding to about 0.4% of the enterococcal population.

Synthesis and potential anthelmintic activity of methyl-5-(4-salicyloyl-piperazin-1-yl)-benzimidazole-2-carbamates.

A series of methyl-5-(4-salicyloyl-piperazin-1-yl)-benzimidazole-2-carba mates (IX) has been prepared. 5-(4-Salicyloyl-piperazin-1-yl)-2-nitro anilines (VII) have been synthesized starting from 5-piperazino-2-nitro anilines and salicyloyl chlorides. Catalytic reduction of VII with Pd/C, followed by treatment with 1,3-dicarbomethoxy-S-methyl isothiourea, yielded the corresponding carbamates (IX), the anthelmintic activity of which was studied.