A synthetic, non-peptide CXCR2 antagonist blocks MIP-2-induced neutrophil migration in mice.

Non-peptide antagonists of chemokine receptors are considered an intriguing alternative for the treatment of acute and chronic diseases. Particularly the recruitment of neutrophils to inflammatory sites often causes harmful side effects and is mediated by chemokine ligands of the CXC chemokine receptor 2 (CXCR2). Hence, this receptor has been proposed as an important target for novel drugs.

Constitutive expression of CXCL2/MIP-2 is restricted to a Gr-1high, CD11b+, CD62Lhigh subset of bone marrow derived granulocytes.

CXCL2/macrophage inflammatory protein (MIP)-2 is an inducible murine chemokine involved in attraction of polymorphonuclear granulocytes to sites of infection. In comparison, its role as constitutive produced chemokine in mice is unclear. The present study aimed to specify the cellular source of constitutively produced CXCL2/MIP-2 and to examine its expression pattern in comparison to other chemokines in peripheral lymphoid tissues as well as bone marrow (BM) of normal mice.

Challenge of personalized health care: to what extent is medicine already individualized and what are the future trends?

Personalized medicine: is it hype or revolution? In any case, there is not only real demand for it, but it also has a history. As it is, the personal aspects of health care have been partly neglected in the current era of evidence-based, scientific medicine. We now know that a 'one fits all' type of treatment has its limits.

Basic problems of serological laboratory diagnosis.

Serological laboratory diagnosis of infectious diseases is inflicted with several kinds of basic problems. One difficulty relates to the fact that the serological diagnosis of infectious diseases is double indirect: The first indirect aim in diagnosing an infectious disease is to identify the microbial agent that caused the disease. The second indirect aim is to identify this infectious agent by measuring the patient's immune response to the potential agent.

Development of a quantitative real-time RT-PCR assay with internal control for the laboratory detection of tick borne encephalitis virus (TBEV) RNA.

Background: Tick borne encephalitis virus (TBEV), is a human flavivirus causing tick borne encephalitis (TBE), a viral infection of the central nervous system endemic in Europe and Asia.

Objectives: To develop a reverse transcription polymerase chain reaction (RT-PCR) assay based on quantitative real-time RT-PCR technology (TaqMan) for detection and quantification of TBEV RNA. The test includes an internal control (IC) to avoid false negative results.

Isolation of dengue virus serotype 1 from the blood of a Swiss traveler prior to seroconversion.

Dengue virus serotype 1 was isolated from the blood of a patient who had returned to Switzerland from Brazil with fever of unknown origin. After 2 days of culture on Aedes albopictus (C6/36) cell line, the dengue virus was identified as serotype 1 using a type-specific indirect immunofluorescence assay. The diagnosis was confirmed by seroconversion of anti-dengue virus-specific IgM and IgG antibodies and by amplification of a serotype 1-specific region of the dengue virus genome.

Information management driven by diagnostic patient data: right information for the right patient.

Existing and future diagnostic technologies are providing a huge amount of data about the patient, which are to be sensibly managed by the treating physician. More than that, the sheer complexity of the interrelation between these data are calling for a radically new approach in the handling of medical data and information. The physician--representing the pivot between the diagnostic knowledge about the patient's condition and the globally available medical information--is to be supported in his decision-making by automated systems that provide the appropriate information in a timeframe and with a degree of detail that is adjusted to the actual needs of the decision process.

Tula virus infection associated with fever and exanthema after a wild rodent bite.

Reported here is the first case of human acute infection with Tula virus, which occurred in a 12-year-old boy in Switzerland. This hantavirus had been considered apathogenic to humans, and in Switzerland only TULV-genome sequences have been demonstrated in wild rodents to date. In this case, paronychia, fever and exanthema occurred after the patient was bitten by a wild rodent, indicating an unusual route of hantavirus transmission.

The SGML standardization framework and the introduction of XML.

Extensible Markup Language (XML) is on its way to becoming a global standard for the representation, exchange, and presentation of information on the World Wide Web (WWW). More than that, XML is creating a standardization framework, in terms of an open network of meta-standards and mediators that allows for the definition of further conventions and agreements in specific business domains. Such an approach is particularly needed in the healthcare domain; XML promises to especially suit the particularities of patient records and their lifelong storage, retrieval, and exchange.

Routine diagnosis of Borrelia burgdorferi (sensu lato) infections using a real-time PCR assay.

Objective: To establish a one-tube fluorogenic real-time PCR assay for routine detection of Borrelia burgdorferi (sensu lato) DNA in various clinical specimens.

Methods: A fragment of the flagellin gene sequence was amplified with the TaqMan chemistry using primers and a probe common to Borrelia burgdorferi sensu stricto, Borrelia afzelii, Borrelia garinii and Borrelia valaisiana. A recombinant plasmid containing the chromosomal gene coding for the flagellin protein was used as standard.

Constitutive expression of macrophage-inflammatory protein 2 (MIP-2) mRNA in bone marrow gives rise to peripheral neutrophils with preformed MIP-2 protein.

Macrophage-inflammatory protein 2 (MIP-2) is a major CXC chemokine involved in the migration of polymorphonuclear neutrophils (PMNs) to sites of inflammation. Although cell culture experiments have identified different cell types that can produce MIP-2, the cellular sources in vivo are not clearly defined. By using immunohistochemical staining and analysis of chemokine mRNA expression, the present study aimed to localize cells producing MIP-2 in tissues of normal mice and mice challenged with Yersinia enterocolitica.

Evaluation of an optical immunoassay for the rapid detection of influenza A and B viral antigens.

An optical immunoassay for the rapid detection of influenza types A and B viral antigens, FLU OIA (Biostar, USA), was prospectively compared with antigen detection methods and cell culture on 400 respiratory specimens during an influenza outbreak that occurred in Switzerland in 1998/1999. The FLU OIA had an overall sensitivity of 64.4% (95%CI, 56.

Visceral leishmaniasis in a German child who had never entered a known endemic area: case report and review of the literature.

We describe a case of visceral leishmaniasis in a 15-month-old German child. Diagnosis was significantly delayed because the patient had no history of travel to known endemic areas. Congenital or blood transfusion-associated leishmaniasis was ruled out.

A soluble form of the murine common gamma chain is present at high concentrations in vivo and suppresses cytokine signaling.

The common gamma-chain (gammac) is a component of the receptors for IL-2, IL-4, IL-7, IL-9, and IL-15 and is essential for their signal transduction. Western blotting and a newly established enzyme-linked immunosorbent assay detected substantial constitutive levels (50-250 ng/mL) of soluble gammac (sgammac) in sera of murine inbred strains. It was demonstrated that purified immune cells, such as T, B, and natural killer cells, and macrophages released this protein after activation.

Basic problems of serological laboratory diagnosis.

Serological laboratory diagnosis is inflicted with at least two kinds of basic problems. One type relates to the fact that the serological diagnosis of infectious diseases is double indirect: First, to diagnose an infectious disease, the identification of the microbial agent is sought that caused the disease. Second, to identify this infectious agent, the patient's immune response to potential agents is measured.

Distribution of macrolide-resistance genes in Staphylococcus aureus blood-culture isolates from fifteen German university hospitals. M.A.R.S. Study Group. Multicentre Study on Antibiotic Resistance in Staphylococci.

The purpose of the study was to analyze the distribution of the macrolide-resistance genes in 134 erythromycin-resistant Staphylococcus aureus blood-culture isolates collected at 15 German university hospitals. The most prevalent resistance gene was ermC (68/134; 50.7%), followed by ermA (52/134; 38.

Antimicrobial susceptibility and frequency of occurrence of clinical blood isolates in Europe from the SENTRY antimicrobial surveillance program, 1997 and 1998.

As part of the European arm of the SENTRY Antimicrobial Surveillance Program, 25 European university hospitals referred 9613 blood isolates for in vitro testing against >20 antimicrobial agents. Escherichia coli, Staphylococcus aureus, coagulase-negative Staphylococcus, Pseudomonas aeruginosa, and Klebsiella pneumoniae were the 5 most frequent isolates and accounted for two-thirds of all referrals, with minor regional variation. Of these, approximately 0.

Multiple mutations conferring ciprofloxacin resistance in Staphylococcus aureus demonstrate long-term stability in an antibiotic-free environment.

Two unrelated strains of Staphylococcus aureus, one with a single mutation in grlA, the other with multiple mutations in gyrA, gyrB, grlA, grlB, norA and the norA promoter region, encoding low-level and high-level ciprofloxacin resistance, respectively, were studied. The characterized mutations in these genes were conserved when both strains were passaged for at least 500 generations in an antibiotic-free environment. New, rapidly stabilized mutations and higher MICs were detected for strains passaged in sub-MIC ciprofloxacin concentrations.

Antimicrobial resistance among community-acquired pneumonia isolates in Europe: first results from the SENTRY antimicrobial surveillance program 1997. SENTRY Participants Group.

Objective: The SENTRY antimicrobial surveillance program was established to monitor the occurrence and antimicrobial susceptibility of bacterial pathogens via an international network of sentinel hospitals.

Material And Methods: Microorganisms were forwarded to the reference laboratory for testing against various antimicrobial agents using broth microdilution. Twenty European hospitals referred 286 Streptococcus pneumoniae, 309 Haemophilus influenzae, and 167 Moraxella catarrhalis isolates during the first 10 months of the study, starting in April 1997.

Comparative activity of 27 antimicrobial compounds against 698 Streptococcus pneumoniae isolates originating from 20 European university hospitals. SENTRY Participants Group.

The purpose of this study was to compare the in vitro activity of 27 antimicrobial compounds against 698 clinical Streptococcus pneumoniae isolates collected at 20 European university hospitals. Of the isolates tested, 21.3% were intermediately resistant to penicillin and 6.

Prevalence of aminoglycoside resistance in 20 European university hospitals participating in the European SENTRY Antimicrobial Surveillance Programme.

The aim of this study was to analyse the current prevalence of aminoglycoside resistance in Europe and compare the in vitro activity of amikacin, gentamicin, and tobramycin against 7057 bacterial isolates from 20 university hospitals participating in the European SENTRY Antimicrobial Surveillance Programme. Amikacin exhibited better in vitro activity than tobramycin and gentamicin against most gram-negative bacilli in Europe. The resistance levels were 0.

Frequency of occurrence and antimicrobial susceptibility of bacterial pathogens associated with skin and soft tissue infections during 1997 from an International Surveillance Programme. SENTRY Participants Group.

The SENTRY Antimicrobial Surveillance Programme was established to provide a coordinated, standardised, international surveillance on antimicrobial resistance. In one part of the programme, isolates from skin and soft tissue infections sent from 20 hospitals in 12 different European countries were investigated in the European coordinating centre. Of 1013 isolates, Staphylococcus aureus and Pseudomonas aeruginosa were the most significant species, constituting almost 50% of the referred isolates.