Improvement of knowledge and practical skills in venipuncture through web-based training.

This paper reports on the implementation of web-based training in venipuncture as standardizable knowledge transfer. For this purpose, we performed an experimental study with nursing students and medical students.

Caries-, Candida- and Candida antigen/antibody frequency in children after heart transplantation and children with congenital heart disease.

The aim of this study was to determine the incidence of oral/intestinal Candida colonization and Candida-antigen/antibody in immunosuppressed children after HTx (group III, n = 31), in children with CHD (group II, n = 24) and in children with healthy hearts (comparison group, group I, n = 23) aged 2-16 yr according to their dental status between 2004 and 2007. Candida species in saliva, dental plaque, carious lesions and stool were detected with Sabouraud-/CHROMagar and Auxacolor system. Candida-specific-antigen/antibody assays were used for serological diagnosis.

Microbial contamination of toothbrushes with different principles of filament anchoring.

Background: The retention and growth of cariogenic microorganisms on toothbrushes pose a threat of recontamination. The authors to studied three species of oral microorganisms found at different places on toothbrush filaments.

Methods: The authors tested on patients 30 toothbrushes each of three different toothbrush types made by a single manufacturer.

Systemic aspergillosis with predominant genitourinary manifestations in an immunocompetent man: what we can learn from a disastrous follow-up.

Prostatic aspergillosis is a rare finding with only ten cases reported previously. We report the first case of systemic aspergillosis predominantly presenting with prostatic involvement and, clinically, with urinary retention in an immunocompetent host. Routine transurethral resection was performed due to benign prostatic hyperplasia with subvesical obstruction.

The commercially available ELISA for pancreatic elastase 1 based on polyclonal antibodies does measure an as yet unknown antigen different from purified elastase 1. Binding studies and clinical use in patients with exocrine pancreatic insufficiency.

The measurement of fecal elastase 1 concentrations by means of an ELISA based on monoclonal antibodies (mABs) highly specific for human elastase 1 (ELISA 1) has become an accepted indirect test of the exocrine pancreatic function during the last years. Its use has been demonstrated in many clinical studies including comparison with direct function tests and ERCP morphology. Recently, a new ELISA, also named "elastase 1" based on polyclonal antibodies (pABs; ELISA 2) became available.

An immunoassay for canine pancreatic elastase 1 as an indicator for exocrine pancreatic insufficiency in dogs.

The detection of pancreatic elastase 1 in stool samples has become the noninvasive gold standard for the diagnosis of pancreatic insufficiency in humans. Accordingly, the development of a sandwich-ELISA specific for canine pancreatic elastase 1, based on monoclonal antibodies, is presented here. The test has a detection range of 4-240 microg canine pancreatic elastase l/g feces.

Disinfectant contaminated with Klebsiella oxytoca as a source of sepsis in babies.

We report an outbreak of sepsis from contaminated disinfectant in a neonatal and paediatric intensive-care unit. 28 infants were infected with Klebsiella oxytoca and basic measures to control the outbreak failed. The resistance of K.

Effect of dental treatment and/or local application of amphotericin B to carious teeth on oral colonization by Candida.

Microbiological analyses of saliva and swabs were obtained from carious lesions of 54 children and adolescents with carious teeth, and of 49 boys and girls with healthy teeth. Candida species were isolated from the saliva of 36 (66.7%) subjects with active caries, but from the saliva of only one (2%) of the 49 caries-free subjects.

[Determination and clinical relevance of fecal pancreatic elastase in dogs].

The determination of faecal pancreatic elastase 1 is a reliable test for the diagnosis of chronic pancreatic diseases in man due to its high sensitivity and specificity (93%). A clinical study was performed to investigate the detectability of canine faecal pancreatic elastase with polyclonal anti human pancreatic elastase 1 antibodies in 52 dogs with chronic diarrhoea and weight loss. To assess the diagnostic value of this parameter for the diagnosis of exocrine pancreatic insufficiency (EPI) in dogs faecal chymotrypsin activity was determined and serum trypsin-like immunoreactivity (TLI) concentration was measured within the Ceruletid test in all patients.

Immunoreactive elastase I: clinical evaluation of a new noninvasive test of pancreatic function.

We have evaluated the diagnostic value of the fecal elastase test in comparison with the secretin-pancreozymin test in the diagnosis of exocrine pancreatic insufficiency. Pancreatic elastase was measured immunologically. Immunoreactive elastase activity in spot stools from controls ranged from 136 to 4440 microgram/g; 95% of all values were within 175 to 1500 microgram/g.

Immunocytochemical localization of elastase 1 in human pancreas.

By light and electron microscopic immunocytochemistry the distribution is described of human pancreatic elastase 1 (E1) during ontogenesis, in adults, in cases of acute and chronic pancreatitis, acute pancreatic ischaemia as well as pancreatic tumours. E1-positive cells were first detected in ductal sprouts in the 14th gestational week. Complete acini expressing E1 could be found from the 17th to the 20th week of gestation onwards.

Development of resistance by Enterobacter cloacae during therapy of pulmonary infections in intensive care patients.

The emergence of resistance during therapy and the efficacy of different antibiotic therapy regimens were studied in 38 intensive care patients suffering from pulmonary infections caused by Enterobacter cloacae. Every three days a fresh isolate was obtained from each patient and tested in vitro for susceptibility to 16 antibiotics by determination of the minimal inhibitory concentrations. During therapy with cefotaxime and tobramycin the E.

Human alpha 1-antichymotrypsin of pancreatic origin carries blood group determinants.

alpha 1-Antichymotrypsin was detected as a minor but normal component of pancreatic juice and found, with the aid of monoclonal antibodies and lectins, to differ from serum alpha 1-antichymotrypsin with respect to its carbohydrate moiety. alpha 1-Antichymotrypsin carries blood group determinants, as is typical for glycoproteins of pancreatic origin.

Separation of human pancreatic carboxypeptidase A isoenzymes by high performance liquid chromatography.

Human pancreatic carboxypeptidase A, which was isolated from a pool of necrobiotic pancreae, crystallized spontaneously and appeared homogenous in sodium dodecylsulphate polyacrylamide gel electrophoresis. Reversed phase high performance liquid chromatography of the dissolved crystals, however, revealed the presence of two distinct isoenzymes, which were shown by aminoterminal sequence analysis to be only 61% homologous in their 31 amino terminal amino acids. On the other hand, amino terminal sequences of the isoenzymes were found to be 79% and 87% homologous with CAP1 and CPA2 of the rat, respectively.

[The germ colonization of the oral cavity in small children with the nursing bottle syndrome].

46 infants, aged 23 to 77 months, presenting with the nursing bottle syndrome, were examined clinically [dmf(t)] and microbiologically. Saliva and carious tooth substance was analysed for the presence of Streptococcus mutans, Lactobacilli and Candida albicans, using in part commercial tests. For comparative reasons, a group of caries-free children, aged 37 to 77 months, was examined as well.

[Candida infections in intensive care patients].

In 31 of 60 long-term ventilated intensive-care patients, a significant Candida antigen titer in serum was found that correlated with positive Candida cultures. In some cases the detection of the antigen was the first indication of Candida infection, while the isolation of the infectious agent required a culture period of 24-48 hours. In addition to routinely performed controls of Candida colonisation, determination of Candida antigen in the serum appears to be a valuable tool in the early diagnosis of candida infections.

[Microbiological care of ventilated intensive care patients. Feasibility of diagnosis and therapy of pulmonary infection].

Pulmonary infections are the most life-threatening infections in mechanically ventilated patients. Methods to avoid these infections by prophylactic systemic or local administration of antibiotics may promote resistance and selection of distinct groups of pathogens. In mechanically ventilated patients we studied the impact of early diagnosis and specific therapy on the prevention of pulmonary infections.

Carbohydrate structure of human pancreatic elastase 1.

Human pancreatic elastase 1 (E1) is a glycoprotein containing two potential N-glycosylation sites, one of which carries a carbohydrate moiety [Wendorf, Geyer, Sziegoleit & Linder (1989) FEBS Lett. 249, 275-278]. In order to study its glycosylation, glycoprotein isolated from post-mortem pancreas tissue of 75 donors was digested with trypsin.

Studies on the sterol-binding capacity of human pancreatic elastase 1.

In previous studies we isolated human pancreatic elastase 1 from intestinal lavage fluids, where it was found to be part of a complex whose major component was cholesterol. The present study involves the isolation and characterization of this elastase 1-sterol complex recovered from feces of healthy subjects and patients whose intestinal microflora were nearly eradicated by antibiotics. Results indicate that elastase 1 essentially is complexed with neutral sterols, i.

Pancreatic elastase 1 after pancreatic transplantation.

Human pancreatic elastase 1 (E1) is a novel pancreas-specific proteinase that has not yet been investigated after pancreatic transplantation (PTx). Using a recently developed E1 ELISA, we studied the E1 serum curves in 36 type I diabetic patients subjected to PTx with enteric exocrine diversion from the pretransplant value up to 8 years after transplantation (n = 731 samples). A characteristical pattern was observed: following PTx, E1 rose above the normal range to a peak within 6 days and then gradually fell to stabilize after 4-6 weeks at an elevated level (10 ng/ml) for approximately 1 year.

Localization and characterization of the glycosylation site of human pancreatic elastase 1.

Crystalline elastase 1 from human pancreas was digested with trypsin. Two peptides, containing the potential N-glycosylation sites at Asn-86 and Asn-125, were isolated and analyzed by amino acid analysis, sequencing and carbohydrate component analysis. The results demonstrate that only Asn-86 is glycosylated.

Elastase 1 and chymotrypsin B in pancreatic juice and feces.

A chymotrypsin-like protease was detected along with elastase 1 in pancreatic secretion and stool. This enzyme was isolated from necrobiotic human pancreas, purified, partially characterized and designated as chymotrypsin B. Quantitative studies by rocket immunoelectrophoresis indicated that neither elastase 1 nor chymotrypsin B was degraded during intestinal passage.