The roundworm Strongyloides stercoralis in children, dogs, and soil inside and outside a segregated settlement in Eastern Slovakia: frequent but hardly detectable parasite.

A comparative study was carried out to evaluate the Strongyloides stercoralis infections in children and dogs inside and outside the segregated settlement in Medzev, Eastern Slovakia, and a survey of the soil within the settlement was included. Applying the Koga agar plate (KAP) culture method and microscopy examination of stool samples collected from 60 Roma and 21 nonRoma children, no larvae of S. stercoralis were detected but eggs of three nematodes (Ascaris lumbricoides, Trichuris trichiura, and Enterobius vermicularis) and cysts of two protozoan endoparasites (Giardia duodenalis and Cryptosporidium spp.) were often found. However, immunoenzymatic assay (ELISA) for the evidence of IgG antibodies against S. stercoralis showed 33.3% seroprevalence in Roma children and 23.8% prevalence in children from the majority population, attending the same school. Eosinophilia was regularly present in children with exclusive infection of S. stercoralis (eight cases) as well as in individuals suffering from mixed infections of S. stercoralis and some of the above listed parasites (16 cases); high eosinophil counts sometimes, but not always, occurred in parasitized children lacking S. stercoralis antibodies. A comparison of S. stercoralis in dogs from the settlement (40 dogs) and from a distant dog shelter (20 dogs) did not reveal remarkable differences: the direct microscopy of faecal samples revealed rhabditiform larvae in 13.3% of the dogs from the settlement (4/30) and in 10.0% of the dogs from the shelter (2/20). Out of blood samples collected from the second dog group, 55% of the dogs contained antibodies against S. stercoralis. In the soil collected from 14 various locations within the settlement, S. stercoralis larvae were observed in two samples (14.3%); however, 13 samples (92.9%) were positive for human or dog endoparasites of the genera Ancylostoma, Ascaris, Toxocara, Toxascaris, Trichuris, and Hymenolepis.

[Hemangioblastoma cerebellum during pregnancy]. / Hemangioblastom mozecku v tehotenství.

OBJECTIVE: Authors describe a case of woman in the age of 27 years, 36th+0 week of pregnancy, who was hospitalized for headache and vomittin. Magnestic resonance showed the cystic expansion in the left hemisphere of cerebellum with the overpressure in the IV. ventricle and wiht the beginning obstructive hydrocephalus. STUDY TYPE: Case report. SETTING: Hospital of Uherské Hradiste, Inc., Gynecology and Maternity Department. METHOD: Own observation.

[Potentiation of the effects of anxiolytics with magnesium salts]. / Potencování úcinku anxiolytik horecnatými solemi.

In a double blind trial the authors tested the assumption that magnesium potentiates by its specific action the therapeutic effect of anxiolytics. A group of 20 women treated on account of anxious depressive neurosis was divided into two sub-groups. The first was given anxiolytic and placebo, the second one anxiolytics and Mg-lactate in corresponding amounts. After 10 days the placebo and Mg-lactate were exchanged. Both groups were examined before treatment and then after 10 and 20 days of therapy by a series of psychological tests. It was revealed that the combination of anxiolytics and Mg-lactate leads to a more rapid reduction of psychopathological symptoms, in particular anxiety. In MAS and MHG tests the decline of anxiety was statistically significant at the level of p less than 0.05.