ABSTRACT
Acute rheumatic fever (ARF) carditis is treated with steroids, which can cause changes in the cellular immune response, especially decreased CD3 (+) T cells. Nosocomial infections due to steroid use for treatment of ARF carditis or secondary to the changes in the cellular immune response have not been reported in the literature. Sphingomonas paucimobilis is a Gram‑negative bacillus causing community‑ and hospital‑acquired infections. It has been reported as causing bacteraemia/sepsis, pneumonia or peritonitis in patients with malignancies, immunosuppression or diabetes. We present a case with S. paucimobilis bacteraemia/sepsis and shock after administration of steroids for treatment of ARF carditis. We suggest early identification of the causative agent and appropriate adjustments of the treatment plan to avoid shock and possible mortality. This is the first reported case of S. paucimobilis bacteraemia/sepsis in the setting of steroid use for ARF carditis.
ABSTRACT
It has been reported that mental stress causes abnormality of spermiogram parameters. We investigated the effect of psychological stress on the L-arginine-nitric oxide (NO) pathway. Semen samples were collected from 29 healthy fourth semester medical students just before (stress) and 3 months after (non-stress) the final examinations. Psychological stress was measured by the State Anxiety Inventory questionnaire. After standard semen analysis, arginase activity and NO concentration were measured spectrophotometrically in the seminal plasma. Measurements were made in duplicate. During the stress period, sperm concentration (41.28 ± 3.70 vs 77.62 ± 7.13 x 10(6)/mL), rapid progressive motility of spermatozoa (8.79 ± 1.66 vs 20.86 ± 1.63 percent) and seminal plasma arginase activity (0.12 ± 0.01 vs 0.22 ± 0.01 U/mL) were significantly lower than in the non-stress situation, whereas seminal plasma NO (17.28 ± 0.56 vs 10.02 ± 0.49 æmol/L) was higher compared to the non-stress period (P < 0.001 for all). During stress there was a negative correlation between NO concentration and sperm concentration, the percentage of rapid progressive motility and arginase activity (r = -0.622, P < 0.01; r = -0.425, P < 0.05 and r = -0.445, P < 0.05, respectively). These results indicate that psychological stress causes an increase of NO level and a decrease of arginase activity in the L-arginine-NO pathway. Furthermore, poor sperm quality may be due to excessive production of NO under psychological stress. In the light of these results, we suggest that the arginine-NO pathway, together with arginase and NO synthase, are involved in semen quality under stress conditions.