Department of Microbiology, Maulana Azad Medical College, University of Delhi, Bahadur Shah Zafar Marg, New Delhi 110002, India.
Published: January 2013
AI Article Synopsis
Article Abstract
Intestinal infections are a significant cause of morbidity and mortality in people living with HIV/AIDS (PLWHA) especially in developing countries. The present study was conducted to assess the clinical and microbiological spectrum in HIV/AIDS cases with diarrhea and to correlate the occurrence of such pathogens with stool characters, HIV seropositivity status, and CD4 counts. Stools from 154 HIV seropositive subjects and 50 HIV negative controls were examined by direct microscopy, fecal cultures, and serological tests (Clostridium difficile Toxin A, Cryptosporidium antigen, and Entamoeba histolytica antigen ELISA). CD4 T cell enumeration was done using FACS count (Becton Dickinson). The study showed a male preponderance (112 males and 42 females). Weakness, abdominal pain, and anorexia were the most common symptoms. Coccidian parasites were the most common cause of diarrhea in HIV seropositive cases. C. parvum was seen in 60.42% while Isospora belli in 9.03%. Amongst the bacterial pathogens C. difficile was detected in 18.06%, diarrheagenic Escherichia coli in 11.11%, and Shigella spp. in 2.78%. Pathogen isolation rates were more in HIV seropositive cases and subjects with low CD4 T lymphocyte counts. Regular monitoring of CD4 T lymphocyte counts and screening for enteric pathogens will help improve the quality of life for PLWHA.
This study examined the feasibility, acceptability, and preliminary efficacy of a mobile intervention called the Text-Based Adherence Game (TAG). TAG aimed to improve HIV treatment adherence among young people with HIV (YPWH) in Ghana. Participants, YPWH aged 18 to 24, were recruited from an HIV clinic in Kumasi, Ghana where study procedures were conducted.
Biofilm-associated peri-implant infections pose a major problem in modern medicine. The understanding of biofilm development is hampered by biofilm complexity and the lack of robust clinical models. This study comprehensively characterized the dynamics of early biofilm formation in the transmucosal passage of implant abutments in 12 patients.
Structural, functional, and molecular-level changes in the aging heart are influenced by a dynamic interplay between immune signaling and cellular metabolism that is referred to as immunometabolism. This review explores the crosstalk between cellular metabolic pathways including glycolysis, oxidative phosphorylation, fatty acid metabolism, and the immune processes that govern cardiac aging. With a rapidly aging population that coincides with increased cardiovascular risk and cancer incidence rates, understanding the immunometabolic underpinnings of cardiac aging provides a foundation for identifying therapeutic targets to mitigate cardiac dysfunction.
A male patient in his 20s, suffering from a persistent, infection-related corneal endothelial plaque (EP) was urgently referred to our tertiary medical centre for therapeutic penetrating keratoplasty (TPK). Over the preceding month, he had been undergoing treatment with both topical and oral antifungal medications due to clinical suspicion of fungal keratitis. At our centre, an endothelial scraping was performed using a reverse Sinskey hook to obtain samples for microbiology and revealed septate branching fungal hyphae.
Clinical symptoms of infection (CDI) range from diarrhea to pseudomembranous colitis. A major challenge in managing CDI is the high rate of relapse. Several studies correlate the production of CDT binary toxin by clinical strains of with higher relapse rates.
