Comparison of four serological tests (complement fixation (CF) test, microagglutination (MA) test, microimmunofluorescence (MIF) test, and enzyme-linked immunosorbent assay (ELISA)) for detection of ...post-infection antibody response in human and animal sera revealed a low sensitivity of the CF test with acute Q fever human, goat and sheep sera but not with chronic Q fever human sera and sera of aborting cows. The remaining three tests gave similar results with human (both acute and chronic) and cow sera, but the ELISA was more sensitive than the MA and MIF tests with goat and sheep sera. A treatment of phase I Coxiella burnetii (C.b.) cells with chloroform-methanol, potassium periodate and trichloroacetic acid (TCA), and mild acidic hydrolysis did not result in increase of the sensitivity of the tests when compared with the natural phase I and phase II C.b. cells, respectively. The suitability of various C.b. antigen preparations for the abovementioned serological tests with various sera is discussed.
High levels of IgG1, IgG3 and IgA2 antibodies have been observed in patients with Q fever following
Coxiella burnetii infection. This IgG subclass distribution is more typical of viral and autoimmune ...diseases than of bacterial infections. It seemed, therefore, of interest to carry out a prospective study of the distribution of immunoglobulin subclasses after vaccination with phase I
C. burnetii tricloroacetic soluble extracts to detect possible differences with respect to natural infection. The antibody response found in vaccinees was mainly restricted to the IgG1, IgG2 and IgA1 subclasses. These findings confirm differences in isotype distribution when compared to those of patients with acute or chronic
Coxiella infections and opens an area of interest with respect to the role of IgA subclasses.
Coxiella burnetii (C.b.) is a strictly intracellular, Gram-negative bacterium. It causes Q fever in humans and animals worldwide. The animal Q fever is sometimes designated "coxiellosis". This ...infection has many different reservoirs including arthropods, birds and mammals. Domestic animals and pets, are the most frequent source of human infections. Q fever may appear basically in two forms, acute and chronic (persistent). The latter form of Q fever in animals is characteristic by shedding C.b. into the environment during parturition or abortion. Human Q fever results usually from inhalation of contaminated aerosols originating mostly from tissue and body fluids of infected animals. Q fever may appear in humans either in an acute form accompanied mainly by fever (pneumonia, flu-like disease, hepatitis) or in a chronic form (mainly endocarditis). Diagnosis of Q fever is based on isolation of the agent in cell culture, its direct detection, namely by PCR, and serology. Detection of high phase II antibodies titers 1-3 weeks after the onset of symptoms and identification of IgM antibodies are indicative to acute infection. High phase I IgG antibody titers >800 as revealed by microimmunofluorescence offer evidence of chronic C.b. infection. For acute Q fever, a two-weeks-treatment with doxycycline is recommended as the first-line therapy. In the case of Q fever endocarditis a long-term combined antibiotic therapy is necessary to prevent relapses. Application of Q fever vaccines containing or prepared from phase I C.b. corpuscles should be considered at least for professionally exposed groups of the population. Infections caused by C.b. are spread worldwide and may pose serious and often underestimated health problems in human but also in veterinary medicine. Though during the last decades substantial progress in investigation of C.b. has been achieved and many data concerning this pathogen has been accumulated, some questions, namely those related to the pathogenesis of the disease, remain open.
: Serological examination of humans in Slovakia suspected of having rickettsial infections revealed the presence of antibodies to spotted fever group rickettsiae (R. conorii, R. slovaca, and R. ...typhi). Of interest is the finding of serological positivity to the newly recognized “IRS” agent. Antibodies to these rickettsiae and to C. burnetii were demonstrated also in domestic and hunting dogs and pet animals. These results confirm the occurrence and possible circulation of these rickettsiae and C. burnetii in the Slovak Republic.
Gastroenteropancreatic neuroendocrine tumors (GEP-NET) are classified on the basis of hormonal activity of tumor cells to functional and non-functional tumors. Therapy of well differentiated NETs ...includes surgical procedures, debulking of tumor mass, biotherapy and peptid receptor radionuclid therapy.
Analysis of therapeutic modalities in group of patients with well differentiated GEP-NETs.
In time period from 1. 1. 2005 to 1. 1. 2010 we followed up 50 pts (19 men/31 women) with well differentiated GEP neuroendocrine tumors. Primary localisation was: stomach--6 times, pancreas--9 times, duodenum--1 times, jejunum-- 4 times, appendix--3 times, ileum--23 times, rectum--4 times. Metastatic disease was affirmed in time of diagnosis in 36 patients. Carcinoid syndroma had 20 pts, 4 pts with pancreatic tumor had functional tumors (2 times overproduction of calcitonine, 1 times of gastrin, 1 times of insuline). Surgical treatment was performed in 40 pts--resection of primary tumor and debulking of metastases, in 5 pts with pancreatic tumor resection was not possible due to invasion to sorrounding tissue and vessels. Biological treatment with long acting somatostatin analogues was indicated in 20 pts with carcinoid syndroma and in 4 pts with functional pancreatic tumors. In 5 pts with non resectable neuroendocrine carcinoma of pancreas peptid radionuclide receptor therapy (PRRT) was indicated: in 4 of them with 90Ytrium-DOTA-octreotid and in 1 patient with MIBG. In all pts a reduction of tumor volume was noticed. Biotherapy with somatostatin analogues reduced symptoms of hormonal activities and brought on stabilisation of disease in most of patients. In period of follow up 5 patients died.
Complex therapy in patients with well differentiated neuroendocrine tumors markedly contributes to prolongation of survival of patients and also to enhancement quality of their life.
The presence of royal jelly (RJ) proteins in honey collected from nectars of different plants, origin, and regions and in honeybee‘s pollen was detected by Western-blot analysis using polyclonal ...antibodies raised against water-soluble RJ-proteins. The most abundant RJ-protein in honeybee products corresponded to a 55 kDa protein. The N-terminal amino acid sequence of 55 kDa protein was N−I−L−R−G−E. This sequence is identical to the apalbumin-1, the most abundant protein of RJ. Apalbumin-1 is a regular component of honeybee products and thus is a suitable marker tool for proving adulteration of honey by means of immunochemical detection. Its presence in all tested samples of honeys and honeybee pollen was confirmed also by Western-blot analysis using polyclonal antibodies raised against recombinant apalbumin-1. It has been found that major RJ-proteins, apalbumin-1, and apalbumin-2, stimulate mouse macrophages to release TNF-α, which demonstrates that physiologically active proteins of honey could be used for its biological valuation. Keywords: Honey; adulteration; major royal jelly protein; honeybee products; immunochemical analysis; TNF-α release
Highlights • Allergic rhinitis induced in experimental conditions up-regulates coughing and airway responsiveness via inflammation and neural mechanisms. • JNJ7777120–novel histamine H4 receptor ...antagonist reduces nasal symptoms, number of coughs and airway inflammation. • JNJ7777120 also reduces airway responsiveness measured in vitro and in vivo. • H4 receptor antagonists are promising class of drugs with potential clinical application in subjects with upper airway diseases and/or cough.
PDF
