Fasting increases tobramycin oral absorption in mice.

The pharmacokinetics of the aminoglycoside tobramycin was evaluated after oral administration to fed or fasting (15 h) mice. As expected, under normal feeding conditions, oral absorption was negligible; however, fasting induced a dramatic increase in tobramycin bioavailability. The dual-sugar test with lactulose and l-rhamnose confirmed increased small bowel permeability via the paracellular route in fasting animals.

Prevalence of tick-borne encephalitis virus in Ixodes ricinus from a novel endemic area of North Eastern Italy.

In Alpine area of extreme North Eastern Italy the first autochthonous case of TBE was reported in 1998 and was followed by 45 cases during the period 2001-2007, thus defining this area as definitely endemic. An ecological survey evaluated the tick density and the Tick-borne encephalitis virus (TBEV) infection prevalence in tick collected in selected sites. In addition, TBE strains were characterized by sequencing and phylogenetic analysis.

Human herpes virus 6 in archival cardiac tissues from children with idiopathic dilated cardiomyopathy or congenital heart disease.

Objective: To explore the possible role of human herpes virus 6 (HHV-6) in cardiac disorders in childhood in a retrospective study on archival specimens of explanted hearts.

Methods: 16 children (median age at transplantation 11.0 years) with idiopathic dilated cardiomyopathy (DCM) and 19 children (median age at transplantation 1.