Evaluating the impact of synthetic herbicides on soil dwelling macrobes and the physical state of soil in an agro-ecosystem.

This study evaluated three herbicides active ingredients: Paraquat, Glyphosate and 2,4-D Amine in commercial formulations as Frankoquat, Roundup and Agriherb respectively under field conditions to determine their influence on soil dwelling macrobes and the physical state of soil. Herbicides were serially diluted to three treatment concentrations for each plus three controls. Herbicide concentrations were applied to the demarcated field on three consecutive occasions in splits. Macrobes extraction from soil was done under a stereo microscope at 20 × magnification. The Simpson's diversity index was used to calculate the soil macrobes diversity. Soil water content, bulk density and total porosity of sampled soils were determined. The study revealed that both herbicides and non-herbicides treatment had no statistical significance (p > 0.05) on the soil dwelling macrobes. Also, a Simpson's index of diversity, estimated as 53.46%, showed how the experimental area is lowly diverse in the specific soil dwelling macrobes identified. Significant correlations existed between the soil water content, bulk density, total porosity and number of soil macrobes at p < 0.05. This level of significance showed in most instances for Frankoquat herbicide concentration treatments as well as Roundup. For Agriherb and control treatments the correlations were present but majority was not significant. In most situations, the soil dwelling macrobes decreased with increasing soil physical conditions. Thus, the dynamics in soil physical properties affected macrobes abundance in soil, with the slightest influence coming from the herbicides concentrations used in the experiment. The study recommended that Frankoquat and Roundup herbicides could be used to control weeds on farmer's field because, their influence were slightly felt on the soil macrobes and also, quite a number soil dwelling macrobes recovered after application.

HIV treatment and care among Italian inmates: a one-month point survey.

BACKGROUND: HIV infection, with an estimated prevalence be between 2 and 50 times those of the general adult population is a major health challenge for prison authorities worldwide. Since no nationwide surveillance system is present in Italy, data on HIV prevalence and treatment in prisons are limited to only a few and small observational studies. We aimed to estimate HIV prevalence and obtain an overview on diagnostic and therapeutic activities concerning HIV infection in the Italian penitentiary system. METHODS: We piloted a multi-centre cross-sectional study investigating the prevalence of HIV infection and assessing HIV-related medical activities in Italian correctional institutions. RESULTS: A total of 15,675 prisoners from 25 institutions, accounting for approximately one-fourth of the prison inmates in Italy, were included in the study, of whom, 97.7 % were males, 37.1 % foreigners and 27 % had a history of intravenous drug addiction. HIV-tests were available in 42.3 % of the total population, with a known HIV Infection proportion of 5.1 %. In the month prior to the study, 604 of the 1,764 subjects who entered prison were tested for HIV, with a HIV-positive prevalence of 3.3 %. Among the 338 HIV-positive prisoners, 81.4 % were under antiretroviral treatment and 73.5 % showed undetectable HIV-RNA. In 23/338 (6.8 %) a coinfection with HBV and in 189/338 (55.9 %) with HCV was also present. Among the 67 (19.8 %) inmates with HIV who did not receive HIV treatment, 13 (19.5 %) had T-CD4+ count <350 cells/mm(3) and 9 (69.2 %) of these had refused the treatment. The majority of the inmates with HIV-infection were on a PI-based (62.5 %) or on NNRTIs-based (24.4 %) regimen. Only a minority of patients received once daily regimens (17.2 %). CONCLUSIONS: Although clinical and therapeutic management of HIV infection remains difficult in Italian prisons, diagnostics, treatment and care were offered to the majority of HIV-infected inmates. Specific programs should be directed towards the prison population and strict cooperation between prison and health institutions is needed to increase HIV treatment.

Evaluation of the Abbott Real-Time HIV-1 quantitative assay with dried blood spot specimens.

The Abbott Real-Time HIV-1 assay was evaluated for its performance in quantification of human immunodeficiency virus type 1 (HIV-1) RNA in dried blood spot (DBS) samples. In total, 169 blood samples with detectable plasma HIV-1 RNA were used to extract RNA from paired DBS and liquid plasma samples, using the automated Abbott m Sample Preparation System (m2000sp). HIV-1 RNA was then quantitated by the m2000rt RealTime analyser. RNA samples suitable for real-time PCR were obtained from all but one (99.4%) of the DBS samples and HIV-1 RNA was detected in 163/168 (97.0%) samples. The correlation between HIV-1 RNA values measured in paired DBS and plasma samples was very high (r = 0.882), with 78.5% and 99.4% of cases differing by <0.5 and 1.0 log, respectively. Retesting of DBS replicates following 6 months of storage at 2-8 degrees C showed no loss of HIV-1 RNA in a subset of 89 samples. The feasibility of DBS testing coupled with automated sample processing, and the use of a latest-generation FDA-approved real-time PCR-based system, represents an encouraging first step for viral load measurement in reference centres in developing countries where access to antiretroviral therapy is expanding.

Infective endocarditis due to Staphylococcus aureus involving three cardiac valves. A case study.

A 20-year-old woman, diagnosed with coarctation of the aorta, situs viscerum inversus, and bicuspid aortic valve, underwent corrective surgery for the coarctation. After a postoperative neurological state that suggested a spinal lesion, corticosteroid therapy was initiated and the patient was discharged early from the unit to begin a motor rehabilitation program. Following the dehiscence of the thoracotomy surgical wound, a severe infective clinical picture, sustained by methicillin-resistant S. Aureus (MRSA), became evident with a diagnosis of bacterial endocarditis involving the aortic, mitral and tricuspid valves and caused the patient's death due to septic shock complicated by ARDS. According to the authors, the early discharge of the patients after such a complex operation, the eccessive lengthening of the steroid therapy that would have contribuited to delay the diagnosis, causing the lack of preventing identification of the first signs of infection and the impossibility for the patient to have another operation (involving 3 valves) are conclusive elements that led to the above mentioned complications.

[Deep venous thrombosis. Evaluation of a non-invasive diagnostic procedure based on compression ultrasonography and measurement of D-dimer plasma levels]. / Trombosi venosa profonda. Validazione di una procedura diagnostica non invasiva basata su ultrasonografia con compressione associata a dosaggio dei D-dimeri plasmatici.

BACKGROUND: Clinical diagnosis of deep venous thrombosis (DVT) of the leg is unreliable. An accurate diagnosis is important for therapeutic decision since anticoagulant treatment, though potentially dangerous, is useless in case of a false positive diagnosis, whereas a false negative diagnosis may lead to withdrawal of an extremely necessary anticoagulation. Contrast venography is still recognized as the gold standard method for the diagnosis of DVT, but in recent years a variety of accurate non-invasive methods has been developed. The ultrasound compression sonography (CUS) is considered a simple non invasive test highly sensitive and specific for proximal DVT in symptomatic outpatients, though non adequately sensitive and specific for isolated calf DVT. Plasma D-dimer levels (DD, fibrin degradation products) have a high negative predictive value for DVT. The aim of this study, performed in outpatients with suspected leg DVT, was to validate, versus venography, a non-invasive, easy to perform and fast diagnostic procedure based on a combination of CUS and D-dimer test. End points of the procedure were: confirmation or exclusion of proximal DVT; suspicion of isolated calf DVT in which case the test would be repeated in a few days to detect any possible proximalization of thrombosis. MATERIALS AND METHODS: Sixty-eight consecutive outpatients, 37 male, with clinically suspected first episode of leg DVT were eligible and examined with CUS, DD test and venography. RESULTS: The results showed that the diagnostic procedure under examination has a high sensibility and specificity for DVT. CONCLUSIONS: It can thus be recommended as routine diagnostic procedure in symptomatic outpatients with suspected DVT reserving venography special cases only.

Decline of HBsAg antibodies after immunization with hepatitis B vaccines and after natural infection.

The long-term persistence of anti-HBsAg above 10 mUI is conventionally believed to protect against natural infection with hepatitis B virus, while it is not yet clear what is the clinical significance of the fall to below 10 mUI in antibody levels. In our opinion, an important method for evaluating the effectiveness of the vaccine lies in comparing the duration of vaccine-immunity with that following the disease, the later being held to provide life-long protection. In this view, we examined the sera samples of 69 subjects (56 healthy people, and 13 drug-addicts) previously affected from HBV infection looking for anti-HBsAg with an Elisa method. The subjects were aged between 4 months and 73 years and had all suffered from acute fully recovered icteric hepatitis in the previous 2 to 10 years. All the drug addicts (13 males) and 4 healthy children from the group had no or negligible levels of antibodies; 3 out of 8 old people (60 or more yrs old) showed no antibodies only 4-5 yrs after having been infected. In the remaining group of 44 healthy people 14 cases were observed which had antibody levels 10 mUI, regardless of age, sex or occupation; the greater the time between the infection and the test, the greater the probability of finding negligible antibody levels. We conclude that the reduction in antibody levels may not be indicative of a loss of immunity: many of our cases have shown low or undetectable antibody levels, a few years after full recovery from an acute attack of hepatitis B.

[Kaposi's sarcoma: on its frequent association with lymphoreticular neoplasms and diabetes mellitus]. / Sarcoma di Kaposi: sulla frequente associazione con neoplasie linforeticolari e diabete mellito.

Kaposi's sarcoma (K.S.) is associated relatively frequently with diabetes mellitus and with a second often lymphoreticular neoplasia. On the basis of the three cases reported, which presented an association of diabetes mellitus, chronic lymphatic leukaemia, Hodgkin's lymphoma and K.S., the relationship between neoplastic diseases, immunological and lymphoproliferative disorders and virus infections is considered.