From plate cultures of Campylobacter jejuni grown in room air a particulate protein of 62kDa was isolated by ion-exchange chromatography. The protein had a square shape from the side view but when ...viewed from the top it had a star-shaped structure. The molecular size of the whole particle determined by gel filtration was 850kDa which suggested the presence of 14 subunits of 62kDa in each particle. The N-terminal 37 amino residues showed more than 80% homology with the sequence of these heat shock protein (HSP) 60 homologs of Chlamydia trachomatis, Helicobacter pylori, and Escherichia coli (GroEL). This protein is immunologically cross-reactive with the antiserum for the 60-kDa HSP of Yersinia enterocolitica. Production of the 62-kDa protein increased under heat stress and growth in an aerobic atmospheric environment. From these observations we concluded that the 62-kDa protein is a Campylobacter stress protein (Cj62) which belongs to the HSP 60 family.
An analysis was made of 91 cases of infective endocarditis (IE) with regard to causative organisms and their sensitivities to various antibiotics, the clinical features of the disease, the laboratory ...test results and other items were important in establishing a diagnosis of IE. The number of cases of IE has shown a tendency to increase in recent years, particularly in the number of elderly patients, and the ratio of total cases consisting of prosthetic valve endocarditis (PVE) has shown a sharp increase. The most common causative organism is still Streptococcus viridans, but there has been an increase in the incidence of IE due to benzyl-penicillin-resistant strains of Staphylococcus aureus, Staphylococcus epidermidis, Streptococcus faecalis and other fastidious organisms. The percentage of underlying diseases represented by combined valvular diseases has been increasing, while the primary known cause of the infection of IE was dental treatments. A positive value for CRP, an accelerated value for ESR, leukocytosis, anemia, a decrease in serum Fe, a positive value for RA-T, were all parameters which showed a high correlation with IE, and these should be useful in establishing the diagnosis of IE. The use of cardioechography to detect cardiac vegetation is important in relation to establishing the diagnosis and prognosis of IE, and the evaluation of the therapeutic results.
The goals of this study were: 1) to examine the prevalence of cytotoxin-associated protein (CagA), vacuolating cytotoxin (VacA), and the vacuolating cytotoxin activity (VCA) in vitro of infecting ...Helicobacter pylori isolates and 2) to clarify the relation between the expression of these virulence factors and the occurrence of peptic ulceration.
One hundred sixty-seven clinical isolates of H. pylori from patients with peptic ulcer disease (gastric ulcer, 62 cases; duodenal ulcer, 48 cases) and nonulcer dyspepsia (57 cases) were studied regarding their genetic and phenotypic properties.
Type 1 bacteria, which had both CagA and VCA, and type 2 bacteria, which did not express either CagA or VCA, represented 62.9% and 7.8%, respectively; the remaining 29.4% had an intermediate phenotype, expressing either CagA independent of the presence of VCA (CagA+VCA-) or vice versa (CagA-VCA+). CagA+VCA- and CagA-VCA+ bacteria represented 17.4 % and 12.0%, respectively, both of which were more numerous than the type 2 category. The proportion of the CagA-positive isolates was significantly higher in both the duodenal ulcer (97.9%) and gastric ulcer (83.9%) patients than in the non-ulcer dyspepsia patients (61.4%) (p < 0.01). On the other hand, the proportion of VacA/VCA-positive isolates was not significantly different between peptic ulcer disease and non-ulcer dyspepsia.
The currently used classification of this bacterium based on the concomitant expression of CagA and VacA/VCA into the two major types is not adequate. The CagA-positive phenotype thus may be important as a virulence marker for peptic ulcer disease independent of the presence of VacA/VCA.
We report a rare case of a patient with ileus due to Strongyloides infection that occurred four times within a six-month period. The ileus was improved by treatment with ivermectin and there has not ...been a recurrence of the symptoms within the last two years.
Recently, deep-seated mycoses have often been complicated in the compromised hosts, and have a important key for the prognosis of infected hosts. Therefore, it is necessary for us to diagnose the ...deep-seated mycoses and to use useful antifungal agents for them as early as we can. Imaging diagnosis is one of rapid diagnostic procedures for the deep-seated mycoses. Besides X-ray examinations and endoscopic studies, ultrasonic examination and computed tomography and magnetic resonance imaging have been developed for the imaging diagnosis. We can detect fungus-infected foci in head, chest, and abdomen. Simultaneously, we can obtain some appropriate materials for diagnosis, for example, by biopsy guided by ultrasonograms. Clinical effects of antifungal agents for the deep-seated mycoses can be observed by the change of image. However, we cannot diagnose the causative pathogen by the specific changes except for pulmonary aspergilloma.
An analysis was made of 91 cases of infective endocarditis (IE) with regard to causative organisms and their sensitivities to various antibiotics, the clinical features of the disease, the laboratory ...test results and other items were important in establishing a diagnosis of IE. The number of cases of IE has shown a tendency to increase in recent years, particularly in the number of elderly patients, and the ratio of total cases consisting of prosthetic valve endocarditis (PVE) has shown a sharp increase. The most common causative organism is still Streptococcus viridans, but there has been an increase in the incidence of IE due to benzyl-penicillin-resistant strains of Staphylococcus aureus, Staphylococcus epidermidis, Streptococcus faecalis and other fastidious organisms. The percentage of underlying diseases represented by combined valvular diseases has been increasing, while the primary known cause of the infection of IE was dental treatments. A positive value for CRP, an accelerated value for ESR, leukocytosis, anemia, a decrease in serum Fe, a positive value for RA-T, were all parameters which showed a high correlation with IE, and these should be useful in establishing the diagnosis of IE. The use of cardioechography to detect cardiac vegetation is important in relation to establishing the diagnosis and prognosis of IE, and the evaluation of the therapeutic results.
We performed bacteriological and clinical studies on meropenem (MEPM), a new parenteral carbapenem antibiotic, with the following results. 1. Antibacterial activity The MICs of MEPM against various ...clinical isolates were detemined with an inoculum size of 106 cell/ml. The MIC90 was 6.25μg/ml for Staphylococcus aureus, 25 for Enterococcus faecalis, ≤0.05 for Escherichia coli, 0.1 for Kiebsiella pneumoniae, Proteus mirabilis and Proteus vulgaris, 1.56 for Enterobacter cloacae, 3.13 for Enterobacter aerogenes, 0.39 for Serratia marcescens, 0.78 for Citrobacter freundii and, 50 for Pseudomonas aeruginosa. Its activity against gram-positive cocci was less than that of imipenem (IPM), but against gram-negative rods other than P. aeruginosa its activity was more potent than IPM, ceftazidime (CAZ) cefoperazone (CPZ), and piperacillin (PIPC). Its activity against P. aeruginosa was the same as that of 1PM and CAZ, but more active than CPZ and PIPC.
This review is a collection of abstracts of seven papers presented at the panel discussion “Issues in the Development of Drugs for Treating Deep-Seated Mycosis-From Drug Discovery to Clinical ...Studies” held at the 45th Annual Meeting of the Japanese Society of Medical Mycology. The first three presentations concerned the discovery of new drugs. The first discussed the screening, analysis of chemical structure and elucidation of the mechanism of action of new antifungal agents focusing on aureobasidin A. The second was on the search for and development of novel agents with selective targets of action, specifically FK463 (micafungin) which inhibits (1→3)-β-glucan synthase. The third described the development of novel derivatives based on the structure-activity correlation of triazole agents, with CS-758 as an example. The remaining four presentations discussed the status and issues of clinical studies targeting hematological disorders and respiratory diseases, as well as various problems from the company point of view on new drug development and those from the government side concerning the approval of new drugs. This type of meeting which provides an opportunity for discussion of various multi-faceted issues from the discovery of a new drug to its preclinical and clinical studies can contribute greatly to progress in the future development of new antifungal agents.
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