Vitamin K1 monitoring in pregnancies after bariatric surgery: a prospective cohort study.

Background: Neonatal intracranial bleedings and birth defects have been reported, possibly related to maternal vitamin K1 deficiency during pregnancy after bariatric surgery. The objective of this study was to investigate the effects of screening and supplementation on K1 serum levels in pregnant women with bariatric surgery, and to compare K1 levels and prothrombin time (PT %) in the first trimester with pregnant women without bariatric surgery.

Methods: A prospective cohort study including 49 pregnant women with bariatric surgery.

First quantification of calcium intake from calcium-dense dairy products in Dutch fracture patients (the Delft cohort study).

Recommendations for daily calcium intake from dairy products are variable and based on local consensus. To investigate whether patients with a recent fracture complied with these recommendations, we quantified the daily dairy calcium intake including milk, milk drinks, pudding, yoghurt, and cheese in a Dutch cohort of fracture patients and compared outcomes with recent data of a healthy U.S.

The prognostic influence of neuroendocrine differentiation in breast cancer: results of a long-term follow-up study.

Reports about neuroendocrine (NE) differentiation in breast carcinomas and its possible relation with prognosis are scarce. Furthermore the results of some studies have not been subjected to multivariate survival analysis and the follow-up periods were relatively short. Therefore, in the present long-term follow-up study, the prognostic influence of immunohistochemically defined NE cells, present in the tumours of 40 out of 317 (12.

Prediction and diagnosis of type 1 diabetes using beta-cell autoantibodies.

The clinical manifestation of type 1 diabetes is the endpoint of a long-lasting immune-mediated destruction process of the B-cells. Autoantibodies originating from this process can be applied in the diagnosis and clinical discrimination of autoimmune diabetes as well as in the prediction of this disease. At clinical diagnosis between 80-90% of patients with type 1 diabetes are positive for antibodies to B-cell antigens, such as ICA and antibodies to glutamic acid decarboxylase or IA2.

Serological methods for diagnosis of Helicobacter pylori infection and monitoring of eradication therapy.

Several methods can be used to diagnose Helicobacter pylori infection. Invasive methods include detection of the bacterium in gastric biopsy specimens by culture, immunohistochemistry, rapid urease tests, or the polymerase chain reaction. Noninvasive or less invasive detection methods include the urea breath test and serological methods.

Rapid identification of diverse Campylobacter lari strains isolated from mussels and oysters using a reverse hybridization line probe assay.

Campylobacters isolated from mussels and oysters in The Netherlands were analysed by a novel assay, based on DNA amplification with primers, based on semiconserved GTP-binding sites of a putative GTPase gene. Polymerase chain reaction (PCR) was followed by a single step reverse hybridization line probe assay (PCR-LiPA). This permits identification of Campylobacter jejuni, C.

Radiotherapy for oesophagus carcinoma: the impact of p53 on treatment outcome.

Background And Purpose: Wildtype p53 protein plays an important role in the cellular response to ionizing radiation and other DNA damaging agents and is mutated in many human tumours. We evaluated the relationship of the immunohistochemically determined p53 protein status and the disease control with radiotherapy alone for carcinoma of the oesophagus.

Materials And Methods: Immunostaining for p53 protein was performed on paraffin-embedded specimens from 69 patients with adeno- and squamous cell carcinoma of the oesophagus.

Molecular discrimination between Campylobacter jejuni, Campylobacter coli, Campylobacter lari and Campylobacter upsaliensis by polymerase chain reaction based on a novel putative GTPase gene.

Polymerase chain reaction (PCR) mediated DNA fingerprinting has resulted in the identification of a novel Campylobacter jejuni gene, encoding a GTPase protein. The gene, consisting of 383 amino acids contained semi-conserved GTP-binding sites (designated G-1 to G-4), that are characteristic for members of the GTPase protein superfamily. Remarkably, this gene from C.

Measurement of cytokine antibodies. Test development.

Several assays have been used for detection of antibodies against cytokines. The choice of assay is greatly dependent on the intended goal, e.g.

The effect of recombinant human interferon alpha B/D compared to interferon alpha 2b on SIV infection in rhesus macaques.

The model of simian immunodeficiency virus (SIV) infection in rhesus macaques was used to evaluate the effects of recombinant human interferon alpha, Hu IFN-alpha 2b and Hu IFN-gamma B,D, at two doses. Administration began 1 day prior to infection and was continued for 90 days postinfection. Both interferons suppressed SIV antigenemia during the treatment period.

Collagen content and distribution in the normal and transplanted human heart: A postmortem quantitative light microscopic analysis.

Endomyocardial biopsies in heart transplant patients offer the opportunity to study the myocardial interstitium in the context of myocardial function. For that purpose endomyocardial biopsies should reliably reflect the composition of the entire myocardium. We determined whether the collagen content in the subendocardial region of the right side of the interventricular septum (site of right ventricular endomyocardial biopsy), in 16 normal and 30 transplanted human hearts, is representative for the entire myocardium.

Factors inhibiting IFN activity.

Several factors may inhibit the activity of IFNs. Some of these occur naturally, others are therapy-induced or artificial. Naturally occurring antibodies appear to have a much broader reactivity than therapy-induced antibodies.

Unexpected borderline malignant and malignant smooth muscle cell tumors of the uterine corpus in women treated with LH-RH analogues.

In this report, two cases of uterine smooth muscle cell tumors, one of uncertain malignant potential and one clearly malignant, are described in women treated for prolonged periods with luteinizing hormone-releasing hormone (LH-RH) analogues. Due to lengthy monitoring of LH-RH therapy, surgical intervention and histologic classification of these tumors was late in the course of disease, resulting in a delay in definite treatment. The risk to these women is discussed.

Long-term physical exercise and lipoprotein(a) levels in a previously sedentary male and female population.

We investigated the effect of long-term physical exercise on serum lipoprotein(a) levels. 21 sedentary men and 15 sedentary women were trained three to four times a week with increasing intensity during 9 months. After 24 weeks all subjects ran a 15 km race and after 36 weeks a half marathon run (21 km).

Sequence evolution of the hypervariable region in the putative envelope region E2/NS1 of hepatitis C virus is correlated with specific humoral immune responses.

Sequence evolution of the hypervariable region 1 (HVR1) in the N terminus of E2/NS1 of hepatitis C virus (HCV) was studied retrospectively in six chimpanzees inoculated with the same genotype 1b strain, containing a unique predominant HVR1 sequence. Immediately after inoculation, all animals contained the same HVR predominant sequence. Two animals developed an acute self-limiting infection.

Solid-phase C1q-directed bacterial capture followed by PCR for detection of Chlamydia trachomatis in clinical specimens.

An antigen capture system based on the binding of bacteria to solid-phase immobilized complement C1q followed by PCR for detection of Chlamydia trachomatis in clinical samples was developed and clinically evaluated. Comparison of C1q-directed antigen capture PCR with cell culture and direct PCR on 71 consecutive clinical specimens revealed an identical sensitivity. In this group, all 11 cell culture-positive samples were positive by direct PCR and C1q-directed antigen capture PCR.

PCR-mediated genotyping of Candida albicans strains from bone marrow transplant patients.

DNA amplification using polymerase chain reaction (PCR) primers aiming at eukaryotic or prokaryotic repetitive DNA motifs enables discrimination between individual Candida albicans isolates. This PCR-mediated DNA fingerprinting procedure was used to monitor yeast colonisation in immune-compromised leukaemia patients (n = 11) who were undergoing bone marrow transplantation (BMT). The leukaemia patients remained colonised by the same strain throughout a 5 month study period, irrespective of intermediate treatment with fungostatics or application of BMT-related therapies.

Absence of hepatitis B virus (HBV) DNA in children born after exposure of their mothers to HBV during in vitro fertilization.

During in vitro fertilization, 22 human embryos were exposed to hepatitis B virus (HBV) in contaminated human serum present in the culture medium. All mothers experienced hepatitis B during the first trimester of pregnancy, and two had hepatitis B surface antigen and HBV DNA, as determined by PCR, at the time of delivery. No HBV DNA was found in serum or lymphocytes from the exposed 22 infants.

Polymerase chain reaction-mediated DNA fingerprinting for epidemiological studies on Campylobacter spp.

The applicability of polymerase chain reaction (PCR)-mediated DNA typing, with primers complementary to dispersed repetitive DNA sequences and arbitrarily chosen DNA motifs, to study the epidemiology of campylobacter infection was evaluated. With a single PCR reaction and simple gel electrophoresis, strain-specific DNA banding patterns were observed for Campylobacter jejuni and C. upsaliensis.

Rapid detection of hepatitis C virus RNA by direct capture from blood.

A new diagnostic assay for hepatitis C virus RNA detection is described. HCV genomic RNA is captured onto streptavidin-coated magnetic beads by solution hybridization with biotinylated complementary oligonucleotides. The specificity of the capture assay is confirmed using different capture oligonucleotides as well as sera representing different types of HCV.

Prolonged physical conditioning and blood platelet release markers: a longitudinal study.

To study the long-term non-acute effect of endurance physical exercise on blood platelet activation, 20 sedentary males and 14 sedentary females were trained 3 to 4 times a week for 9 months. After 24 weeks all subjects ran a 15-km race; and after 36 weeks a half-marathon (21 km) race. Blood samples were drawn before the training programme and 5 days after both races.

Absence of human papillomavirus type 16 E6 transcripts in HPV 16-infected, cytologically normal cervical scrapings.

By a combination of reversed transcription and subsequent polymerase chain reaction (RNA-PCR), 23 cytologically normal cervical scrapings, positive for the presence of human papillomavirus type 16 (HPV 16) DNA, were analyzed for the presence of transcripts originating from the E6 region of the viral genome. This region is thought to be involved in transformational, tumorigenic events. No mRNAs of the E6 region were detectable using the most sensitive PCR-mediated procedure currently available.

Comparison of phage typing and DNA fingerprinting by polymerase chain reaction for discrimination of methicillin-resistant Staphylococcus aureus strains.

A typing procedure for methicillin-resistant Staphylococcus aureus (MRSA) based on the polymerase chain reaction (PCR) amplification of both mecA sequences and variable DNA sequences as present in the prokaryotic genome has been developed. Two primers based on the sequences of DNA repeats as discovered in gram-negative members of the family Enterobacteriaceae allow detection of variable regions in the genome of a gram-positive bacterium such as S. aureus, as does a newly described arbitrary primer.