The aim of this study was to assess whether clinical work constitutes a risk factor for Helicobacter pylori infection among employees in hospitals. The prevalence of H. pylori infection was analysed ...in 249 individuals employed in a university teaching hospital according to three categories of hospital workers: (A) personnel from gastrointestinal endoscopy units (N=92); (B) personnel from other hospital units with direct patient contact (N=105); and (C) staff from laboratories and other units with no direct patient contact (N=52). Stool samples from each subject were examined with a validated enzyme-linked immunosorbent assay for the presence of H. pylori antigens. A questionnaire inquiring about sociodemographic and occupational characteristics was completed by each participant. The prevalence of H. pylori infection was 37.0% in group A, 35.2% in group B and 19.2% in group C (P<0.05). Among the different healthcare categories, nurses had a significant higher prevalence of H. pylori infection (P<0.01). No significant association was found between the length of employment or exposure to oral and faecal secretions, and H. pylori infection. Hospital work involving direct patient contact seems to constitute a major risk factor for H. pylori infection compared with hospital work not involving direct patient contact.
Aliment Pharmacol Ther 28, 364–370
Summary
Background Serum radioimmunoassay (RIA) tissue transglutaminase autoantibodies (tTG‐Abs) proved to be a sensitive test also during coeliac disease (CD) ...follow‐up. We demonstrated that RIA tTG‐Abs could be detected in human saliva.
Aim To evaluate salivary RIA tTG‐Abs in coeliac children on gluten‐free diet (GFD).
Methods Saliva and serum samples from 109 coeliac children were evaluated at diagnosis (group 1: 71 females, median age 9.4 years) and 58 of them on GFD: 36 after 3–6 months (group 2a), 34 at 9 months or more (group 2b). Two gender‐ and age‐matched control groups: 89 gastroenterological patients (group 3) and 49 healthy subjects (group 4) participated in the study. Saliva and serum tTG‐Abs were detected by RIA and compared with serum tTG‐Abs ELISA and IgA anti‐endomysium antibodies (EMA).
Results Salivary RIA tTG‐Abs were found in 94.5%, 66.7% and 50.0% of groups 1, 2a and 2b CD patients and in 98.2%, 72.2% and 50.0% of corresponding serum samples, respectively. tTG‐Abs decreased with GFD progression and a correlation was found between saliva and serum titres (r = 0.75, P = 0.0001). During the CD follow‐up, salivary and serum RIA sensitivities were comparable, and higher with respect to EMA and ELISA.
Conclusions This study demonstrates that it is possible to detect salivary tTG‐Abs with high sensitivity not only at CD diagnosis, but also during GFD.
In an asymptomatic 4 yr old child with radiographic evidence of parenchymal lung disease, bronchoalveolar lavage (BAL) yielded the diagnosis of chronic lipid pneumonia caused by chronic aspiration of ...mineral oil given as a laxative. BAL analysis showed a marked reduction in the total number of alveolar macrophages; almost 70% of these cells contained intracytoplasmic lipid vacuoles. It also disclosed lymphocytic (cytotoxic/suppressor) alveolitis. A high percentage of lymphocytes expressed antigen markers of activation (human leucocyte antigen (HLA)-DR), CD54 and CD25). BAL analysis 18 months after mineral oil intake revealed that lymphocytes bearing antigen markers of activation had markedly decreased whereas alveolar macrophages (normal and lipid-laden) had increased. A subsequent whole lung BAL was considered unnecessarily invasive in this otherwise healthy child.
The present study was aimed to investigate the variability of cardiac troponin I (cTnI) in the first week of acute myocardial infarction (AMI) course with regard to some epidemiological and clinical ...parameters and in patients with non-AMI acute coronary ischemic disease. Serum cTnI was assayed in 82 patients, 42 affected with AMI and 40 with non-AMI acute coronary ischemic disease, on admission in coronary care unit, within 6 h after the onset of symptoms, and, in AMI group, on 24 and 48 h and 7th day of illness course. cTnI is increased within the first 6 h, remaining above normal until 7th day. However, some distinctive features in the subgroups scheduled for this study are present. (1) The mean values of cTnI in AMI patients who died, >60 years old and with anterolateral necrosis are constantly higher than in survivors, <60 years old and with inferoposterior necrosis, respectively. (2) The cTnI concentration is already returned in normal range at 7th day of illness course in survivors and in patients with inferoposterior AMI. (3) The 24-h peak level of cTnI is significantly higher in fibrinolysed than in patients who didn’t undergo fibrinolysis. (4) A direct correlation between the cTnI value and the Killip class is present either in the whole group or in any subset of patients and the progressive decrease of the cTnI concentration along the AMI course doesn’t occur in Killip>2 group. (5) cTnI is higher in unstable than in stable anginous patients and normal subjects but not in stable angina with respect to healthy controls.
Conclusions: (1, 2) The less increase and the early return in normal range of cTnI serum levels which occur in AMI subgroups with a better prognosis could be regarded as favourable prognostic signs. (3) The persistent higher values of cTnI in fibrinolysed subjects being associated with the angiographic finding of patent coronary arteries, it can be suggested that the large and persistent relase of cTnI from myocardium represents a reliable biochemical marker following the wash-out associated to a successful reperfusion. (4) The persistent increase of cTnI in AMI patients with advanced Killip class suggests that the high cTnI values are not only a strong index of myocardial necrosis but also of ongoing myocyte injury and hemodynamic impairment predictive of poor outcome. (5) The hypothesis can be reasonably advanced that the higher values of cTnI in unstable angina are due to focal areas of myocardial necrosis undetectable by the conventional serum markers or to a clinically silent AMI occurred in the week or so before in-hospital admission.
ABSTRACT
Background. Endoscopy represents the gold standard for the diagnosis of Helicobacter pylori infection. We evaluated three noninvasive tests in a group of children: the immunoassay for ...detection of H. pylori stool antigen, the polimerase chain reaction for identification of bacterial DNA on the oral cavity and the serum specific antibodies.
Materials and Methods. One hundred and ninety children underwent endoscopy for various gastrointestinal symptoms. H. pylori stool antigen and anti‐H. pylori antibodies were assayed by commercial kits. The bacterial DNA on saliva and oral plaque was detected by a seminested PCR.
Results. Based on the positivity of culture or urease rapid test and histology, infection was detected in 47 patients. The statistical analysis showed that, for the detection of the infection, stool antigen assay is more effective in sensitivity and negative predictive value (91.5% and 96.5%), whereas specificity and positive predictive values appear slightly better in serology (89.6% and 76.0%). Correlations between serum IgG both with patients’ age (r = 0.21, p < .05) and H. pylori stool antigen (r = 0.47, p < .01) were found. The search for bacterial DNA on oral samples proved to be very specific (99.1% on saliva and 98.2% on plaque), but insensitive (22.2% and 25.7%).
Conclusions. In children H. pylori stool antigen represents a sensitive test, suitable for detecting H. pylori infection. Serum IgG proved to be more specific; the PCR on the oral cavity resulted as being a very specific, but insensitive test.
Aims: Tissue transglutaminase (tTG) was recently identified as the major autoantigen in coeliac disease. The aim of this multicentre study was to evaluate the impact of a new immunoenzymatic assay ...for the detection of IgA anti-tGT antibodies. Methods: Seventy four Italian and French clinical laboratories participated in this study; anti-tTG IgA with an enzyme linked immunosorbent assay (ELISA) method using guinea pig liver extract as the coating antigen, anti-endomysium IgA autoantibodies (EMA), and total serum IgA were determined in 7948 patients, 1162 of whom had coeliac disease (737 untreated cases and 425 on a gluten free diet). A proportion of the sera were then sent to a reference laboratory for anti-tTG retesting with an ELISA method using recombinant human tTG antigen. Results: Seven thousand four hundred and fifty eight (93.8%) sera were EMA/antiguinea pig tTG concordant (positive or negative); 490 (6.2%) were non-concordant. The sensitivity of EMA and antiguinea pig tTG in the 737 untreated patients with coeliac disease was 92.1% and 94.8%, respectively, and the specificity was 99.8% and 99.2%, respectively. Retesting of the discordant sera showed that of the 162 sera classified as EMA negative/antiguinea pig tTG positive, only 49 were positive for human recombinant anti-tTG, and that 39 of these were also EMA positive. Furthermore, of the 36 sera classified as EMA positive/antiguinea pig tTG negative, only two were confirmed as EMA positive. Conclusions: The antiguinea pig tTG assay is more sensitive but less specific than EMA, whereas the antihuman recombinant tTG assay is far more specific and just as sensitive as antiguinea pig tTG. Testing for EMA presents considerable interpretative problems and is difficult to standardise.
Opsonized-zymosan-stimulated polymorphonuclear cells show a cyanide-insensitive oxygen consumption. We have investigated whether opsonized-zymosan could induce similar metabolic change in human blood ...platelets. Preparation of intact human blood platelets, obtained by separation through a Ficoll layer (23% w/v) were challenged with opsonized-zymosan. The polymorphonuclear cell contamination was less than 1/10(8) platelets. The opsonized-zymosan-stimulated platelets showed an increase of oxygen consumption. The mean of oxygen burst measured by a polarographic method with a Clark electrode was 11 nmole/10(9) platelets/min (S.E.M. 4; n = 15). The duration of the burst was 2 min. Unstimulated platelets did not show the oxygen burst. The inhibitors of respiratory chain and prostaglandin synthesis completely abolished the oxygen consumption by opsonized-zymosan-stimulated platelets. The simultaneous addition of NADH (1 mM) and opsonized-zymosan induced a burst of oxygen consumption, which occurred after a variable lag phase (10-12 min) from the stimulation, also in the presence of inhibitors. This burst, which lasted about 1 min, amounted to 10 nmole/10(9) platelets/min (S.E.M. 2; n = 15) and it was higher in the presence of NAN3, a catalase inhibitor. Zymosan treated with hydrazine or heated plasma (56 degrees C) did not cause increased oxygen consumption. Inulin or inulin-treated serum did not stimulate platelets. In these experimental conditions some NADH disappeared, as shown by isotachophoresis. The results demonstrated that an immunological stimulus may activate a membrane-linked cyanide-insensitive oxygen metabolizing system.
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