ABSTRACT
Neisseria meninigitidis is one of the most frequently encountered microorganisms associated with central nervous system infections. The aim of this study was to evaluate a PCR-based assay for specific and rapid detection of N. meninigitidis in CSF specimens. Since April 2002 to July 2006, 130 CSF specimens were collected from patients suspected of having baterial meningitis. Bacterial isolation and identification was carried out according to the standard bacteriological methods. The PCR was used to amplify a 101bp fragment of capsular transport gene A [ctr A] of N. meningitidis. PCR yielded an amplified product with the expected size of 101 base pair fragment. Sensitivity test proved 500 mg of N. meningitidis DNA as the final detection limit and specificity test revealed no cross-reaction for a wide range of respiratory pathogenic organisms. The PCR assay was more sensitive than the bacterial culturing. It might be possible to apply this procedure for rapid diagnosis of meningococci in clinical samples
Subject(s)
Humans , Polymerase Chain Reaction , Cerebrospinal Fluid/microbiology , Meningitis, Meningococcal , Meningitis, Bacterial/cerebrospinal fluidABSTRACT
Graft-versus-host disease [GVHD] is one of life-threatening post-transplantation complications. Several recent studies have described a significant correlation between transplantation outcome and three single nucleotide polymorphisms [SNPs] in the NOD2 gene. This study was conducted to evaluate the association of NOD2 gene polymorphisms with the occurrence of GVHD in acute myelogenous leukemia patients who underwent HSCT from their HLA-matched sibling donors. We examined retrospectively NOD2 genotypes by PCR-SSP both in 124 patients who underwent HSCT and in their donors; then, the association of the genetic polymorphisms on acute and chronic GVHD was evaluated. Median follow up of patients was 40 months [range of 28-77 months]. Statistical analyses were performed using Chi-square test and SPSS software. Mutation incidence were the same between donors and recipients as 12.1%. In three of the patient-donor pairs [2.4%] SNPs occurred in both resulting in an overall frequency of 21.8% in patient-donor pairs. There weren't any significant differences between aGVHD and cGVHD incidence rates when donor/recipient pairs with SNPs were compared with the pairs without SNPs. aGVHD and cGVHD incidence rates in the former pairs were 52% and 56% and in the latter pairs 50.5% and 55%, respectively. No impact of NOD2 SNPs on incidence of acute and chronic GVHD was observed. Further studies are required to ascertain whether the findings of this study can be extended to other disease groups. In addition, further studies are required to identify the relevance of other SNPs
Subject(s)
Humans , Polymorphism, Genetic , Retrospective Studies , Incidence , Leukemia, Myeloid, AcuteABSTRACT
Background: there are several systemic disorders which have adverse effects on periodontal tissue, such as diabetes. Previous studies of non-diabetic patients have demonstrated higher levels of fasting blood sugar [FBS] among those with periodontitis compared to those without periodontitis. In an attempt to clarify whether periodontal diseases incline the patients to a pre-diabetic state or not, we studied the FBS level of non-diabetics with periodontitis and compared the results with those who had no periodontal involvement
Materials and methods: eighty non-diabetics who referred to the outpatient clinics of dentistry faculty, Azad University, Tehran, during 2003 were evaluated in this case control study. 40 patients with periodontitis constituted the cases, and 40 without any periodontal disease made up the control group. Plaque index, bleeding on probing [BOP], probing pocket depth and clinical attachment loss were measured and recorded. FBS was determined for both groups and its levels higher than 126 indicated diabetes, while levels between 110 and 126 were considered as pre-diabetic state. Both descriptive and analytic analyses were applied. P-value of less than 0.05 was considered statistically significant
Results: spearman correlation test results indicate a direct relation between FBS and BOP in the control group [r = 0.382, p = 0.015]
Conclusions: our results are in agreement with previous studies in demonstrating the increase in blood glucose levels associated with periodontal tissue inflammation in the chronic periodontitis patients
ABSTRACT
Background: laryngeal tumors are uncommon and account for 2% of all human malignancies. Timely diagnosis of these lesions improves patients' outcomes. The incidence of laryngeal carcinoma has been increasing within recent years, mostly due to increased tobacco and alcohol usage. Accordingly, we studied the epidemiologic characteristics of different types of laryngeal tumors
Materials and methods: this was a retrospective, noncomparative case-series. All pathologic report sheets regarding laryngeal diseases in Imam Khomeini Hospital, Tabriz, obtained from patients between 1377 and 1380 were retrospectively reviewed. Tumor type, age and sex were recorded and analyzed using descriptive methods
Results: seventy neoplastic lesions were observed: 44 malignancies [41 cases of squamus cell carcinoma], and one malignant melanoma, papillary carcinoma and adenocarcinoma], 24 benign tumors [21 polyps and three papillomas] and two preneoplastc lesions [one carcinoma in-situ and one medium-grade dysplasia]. Sixty-six patients were males [89%] and the average age was 58 years. The majority of patients were in their seventh decade of life at the time of the disease
Conclusion: our statistics are generally similar to those observed in other countries, including senile and gender-related distribution of the disease as well as relative frequency of different tumor types. Further analytic studies with larger patient population seem to be mandatory to elucidate the effect of epidemiologic risk factors on the occurrence of laryngeal tumors