Malaria in Greece, 1975 to 2010.

Malaria, which was endemic in Greece in the past, was officially eliminated in 1974. Since that time and up to 2010, a number of imported cases (ranging from 19 to 76) have been annually reported. The total number of reported laboratory-confirmed cases between 1975 and 2010 was 1,419.

Development of a PCR-based method for diagnosis of Leishmania in blood samples.

Visceral Leishmaniasis (VL) cases reported in Mediterranean countries and in Northern Europe are becoming increasingly frequent. The past few years several studies have shown Polymerase Chain Reaction to be more effective than the classical methods for the diagnosis of VL in clinical samples. The purpose of this study was the development of a simple, specific and sensitive PCR-based assay for the detection of Leishmania in blood samples.

Alpha 1-antitrypsin and survival in pancreatic cancer.

The association between serum levels of alpha 1-antitrypsin (a1AT) at the time of diagnosis and survival was studied in a group of 44 patients with confirmed pancreas cancer. All 44 patients were followed until time of death, which occurred in all cases from pancreas cancer, with a median time of 3 months and a range of 0.5 to 16 months.

Induction of cell-mediated immunity to HBsAg polypeptides.

Adult male guinea pigs were immunized with hepatitis B virus polypeptides prepared by Triton X-100 solubilization of purified 22-nm hepatitis B surface antigen (HBsAg) particles. A virus-specific subunit containing both the 28,000 molecular weight glycoprotein and the 23,000 molecular weight protein stimulated both cell-mediated and humoral immunity. A whole-blood-cell transformation assay additionally showed that the 64,000 molecular weight component of HBsAg, previously shown to contain host-specific antigens, also stimulated a cellular response to purified intact HBsAg particles, suggesting the additional presence of virus-specific material in this fraction.