Identifying the major bacteria causing intramammary infections in individual milk samples of sheep and goats using traditional bacteria culturing and real-time polymerase chain reaction.

Use of DNA-based methods, such as real-time PCR, has increased the sensitivity and shortened the time for bacterial identification, compared with traditional bacteriology; however, results should be interpreted carefully because a positive PCR result does not necessarily mean that an infection exists. One hundred eight lactating dairy ewes (56 Manchega and 52 Lacaune) and 24 Murciano-Granadina dairy goats were used for identifying the main bacteria causing intramammary infections (IMI) using traditional bacterial culturing and real-time PCR and their effects on milk performance. Udder-half milk samples were taken for bacterial culturing and somatic cell count (SCC) 3 times throughout lactation. Intramammary infections were assessed based on bacteria isolated in ≥2 samplings accompanied by increased SCC. Prevalence of subclinical IMI was 42.9% in Manchega and 50.0% in Lacaune ewes and 41.7% in goats, with the estimated milk yield loss being 13.1, 17.9, and 18.0%, respectively. According to bacteriology results, 87% of the identified single bacteria species (with more than 3 colonies/plate) or culture-negative growth were identical throughout samplings, which agreed 98.9% with the PCR results. Nevertheless, the study emphasized that 1 sampling may not be sufficient to determine IMI and, therefore, other inflammatory responses such as increased SCC should be monitored to identify true infections. Moreover, when PCR methodology is used, aseptic and precise milk sampling procedures are key for avoiding false-positive amplifications. In conclusion, both PCR and bacterial culture methods proved to have similar accuracy for identifying infective bacteria in sheep and goats. The final choice will depend on their response time and cost analysis, according to the requirements and farm management strategy.

Geographical distribution modelling for Neospora caninum and Coxiella burnetii infections in dairy cattle farms in northeastern Spain.

Maximum entropy ecological niche modelling and spatial scan statistic were utilized to predict the geographical range and to investigate clusters of infections for Neospora caninum and Coxiella burnetii in dairy cattle farms in Catalonia, northeastern Spain, using the Maxent and SaTScan programs, respectively. The geographical distribution of Neospora and Coxiella with the highest level of probability (P > 0·60) covers central Catalonia and spreads towards northeastern Catalonia which contains a high concentration of dairy cattle farms. The most important environmental factor that contributed to the ecological niche modelling was precipitation of driest month followed by elevation. Significant clusters (P < 0·001) were detected for Neospora and Coxiella infections in the western and eastern regions of Catalonia, respectively.

Spectroscopic study of the dispiro-1,2,4,5-tetroxane (cyclohexanone diperoxide).

The aim of this work is to present results derived from experimental IR and UV spectra and theoretical studies of DPCH, in order to get a more deeper insight on the physicochemical properties of this compound to gain a more deep knowledge of its action, helping in the design of new compounds with antimalaric effects. Experimental results are analyzed on the basis of theoretical calculations, which allow to derive suitable interpretations of spectral data.

Effects of the solvent and temperature on the 2:1 catechol-Al(III)-complex.

The influence of temperature and solvent effects on the stability of the complex formed by two molecules of 1,2-dihydroxybenzene and one molecule of AlCl3 were experimentally and theoretically studied, by means of UV spectroscopic methods and Density Functional Theory methods. The changes of the stability constant with the temperature were analyzed using the van't Hoff equation, while the variations with the permittivity of the reaction medium were explained with an equation proposed by us. The experimental and theoretical data obtained allowed proving that the increase in the hydrogen-bond donor ability of the solvents favors a higher thermodynamic stability of the reactants with respect to the complex and, therefore a decrease in the corresponding stability constant. The non-planar structure proposed for the 2:1 ligand-metal complex is coherent with the small batochromic shift experimentally observed. In the complex molecule, the planes containing the phenyl rings are tilted by approximately 89 degrees with each other. It was concluded that the complexation reaction is an endothermic process in which the solvent-solute interactions play an essential role.

Experimental preparation and UV/IR spectroscopic characterization of 1,3-dibutanal-1,2,4,5-tetroxane.

We report the experimental preparation of the 1,3-butanal-1,2,4,5-tetroxane by oxidation of glutataldehyde with oxygen peroxide in presence of concentrated sulfuric acid, following the Bayer and Viller method modified by Jorge et al. The UV and IR spectra are studied from the experimental and theoretical standpoint. A rather complete vibrational assignment was performed and the nature of the electronic transitions was discussed in detail.

Calorimetric and computational study of enthalpy of formation of 3,6-dibutanoic-1,2,4,5-tetroxane.

A thermochemical a rather simple experimental technique method, is used to determine the enthalpy of the formation of 3,6-dibutanoic-1,2,4,5-tetroxane. The study is complemented with suitable theoretical calculations at the semiempirical and ab initio levels. A particular satisfactory agreement between both ways is found for the ab initio calculation at the 6-311G basis set level. Some possible extensions of the present procedure are pointed out.

Seroprevalence of varicella among children and adolescents in Valencia, Spain. Reliability of the parent's reported history and the medical file for identification of potential candidates for vaccination.

This study assessed the seroprevalence of varicella antibodies in children and adolescents in Spain and evaluated the reliability of two methods for detecting susceptible individuals: (1) parental-reported history of varicella and (2) medically-documented histories maintained by the pediatrician. A total of 186 children (6 to 15 years of age) were recruited in 13 pediatric offices of Valencia, Spain. A brief case report form was completed including previous history of varicella referred by the parents, and a 5 mL blood sample was obtained. The pediatrician medical file was reviewed for antecedent of varicella. The overall prevalence of varicella antibodies was 84% and 88% in the 6-9 years and 10-15 years age brackets, respectively. The predictive value of a negative history of varicella disease was 48% by parental recall (52% "false negative"), and only 26% by medical record (74% "false negative"). However, the positive predictive value of a positive parental reported history or a positive medically-documented history was 95%. The most effective strategy for varicella vaccination of older children and adolescents in Spain will be to immunize those individuals with a lack of positive (unknown or negative) history of disease.

[Epidemiology and burden of acute otitis media in Valencia (Spain)]. / Epidemiología e impacto de la otitis media aguda en la Comunidad Valenciana.

OBJECTIVE: To assess the burden (incidence, treatment and complications) of acute otitis media (AOM) and otitis media with effusion (OME) in children younger than 5 years of age from Valencia, Spain. SUBJECT AND METHODS: We performed a retrospective cohort study of 1,399 children followed-up for the first 5 years of life. Seventeen pediatricians reviewed the medical records of their patients born in 1995 and 1996 and followed-up from birth until the age of 5 years. For each child, the number of otitis episodes, treatment, complications, and surgical interventions was obtained. RESULTS: There were 2,961 episodes of AOM in the first 5 years of life (2.23 cases/child). Four hundred seventy-six cases (16.1 %) occurred before 1 year of age and 1,346 between the first and second year of life (45.5 %). By the third year of life, 59.8 % had had at least one episode. In most children (80.9 %), diagnosis was made in primary care and required a median of 1.81 visits/episode for follow-up. A total of 94.5 % were treated with antibiotics (amoxicillin-clavulanate 38.8 %, cefuroxime 14.3 %, clarithromycin 8.2 % and amoxicillin 5.9 %) and 8.5 % required a change of antibiotic therapy. Two hundred seventeen children (15.2 %) had at least one episode of OME. Twenty-six patients (1.8 %, 95 % CI: 1.2-2.7 %) required insertion of ventilation tubes. Twenty-four patients (1.7 %) had secondary hypoacusis. There was one case of meningitis and two cases of chronic otorrhea. No cases of mastoiditis were recorded. CONCLUSIONS: The incidence of AOM in Valencia is 40,014 episodes/100,000 children younger than 5 years/year (95 % CI: 39,700-40,300). It represents a significant burden due to the large number of visits, antibiotic use, associated surgical procedures and need for auditory rehabilitation.

Epidemiología e impacto de la otitis media aguda en la Comunidad Valenciana / Epidemiology and burden of acute otitis media in Valencia (Spain)

Objetivo: Estimar el impacto (incidencia, tratamiento y complicaciones) de la otitis media aguda (OMA) y la otitis media serosa (OMS) en los niños menores de 5 años de la Comunidad Valenciana (España). Sujetos y métodos: Cohorte retrospectiva de 1.399 niños seguidos durante los primeros 5 años de vida. Diecisiete pediatras revisaron las historias clínicas de sus pacientes nacidos en 1995 y 1996, controlados desde su nacimiento hasta los 5 años. Se obtuvo de cada niño el número de episodios de otitis, tratamiento, complicaciones e intervenciones quirúrgicas requeridas. Resultados: Hubo 2.961 episodios de OMA en los primeros 5 años de vida (2,23 casos/niño), 476 casos (16,1 por ciento) antes del año y 1.346 entre el primer y segundo año (45,5 por ciento). Al tercer año, el 59,8 por ciento habían presentado al menos un episodio. La mayoría de casos (80,9 por ciento) se diagnosticaron en atención primaria, con 1,81 visitas/episodio de media para su seguimiento. El 94,5 por ciento de los episodios fueron tratados con antibiótico (amoxicilina-ácido clavulánico 38,8 por ciento, cefuroxima-axetilo, 14,3 por ciento; claritromicina, 8,2 por ciento, y amoxicilina 5,9 por ciento). El 8,5 por ciento requirió cambio a un segundo antibiótico. Presentaron al menos un episodio de OMS 217 niños (15,2 por ciento). Necesitaron implantación de tubos de ventilación 26 pacientes (1,8 por ciento, intervalo de confianza del 95 por ciento (IC 95 por ciento), 1,2-2,7). Presentaron hipoacusia secundaria 24 niños (1,7 por ciento). Hubo un caso de meningitis y dos de otorrea crónica. No hubo mastoiditis. Conclusiones: La incidencia de OMA en la Comunidad Valenciana es de 40.014 episodios/100.000 niños menores de 5 años/año (IC 95 por ciento, 39.700-40.300). Supone un gran impacto sanitario por el elevado número de visitas, uso antibiótico, cirugía asociada y necesidad de rehabilitación auditiva (AU)

[True double dermoid cyst of the tongue]. / Doble quiste dermoide verdadero de lengua.

Dermoid cysts into ENT zone are specially infrequent--just the 7% of the organism--, and extremely rare if are located in the tongue. They are usually detected as midline acute swelling, and produce swallowing, speech and sleep disorders at neonatal period because of their congenital character. We present an eleven-year-old boy admitted at our Hospital bearing a submandibular and oral swelling, and dysphagia with odynophagia, finally diagnosed as an intralingual double dermoid cyst of the anterior two thirds. The history of frenulectomy due to a presumed ankyloglossia, the previous presence of a dorsal tumour in tongue with a difficult phonetic articulation, and the midline location of lesions made us to suspect on dermoid cysts of the tongue. Complete surgical excision were diagnostic and therapeutic, and the child recovered totally their mastication, swallowing and speech abilities. Pathophysiological aspects, treatment and the atypical course of the case are discussed.

Doble quiste dermoide verdadero de lengua / True double dermoid cyst of the tongue

Los quistes dermoides del entorno ORL son especialmente infrecuentes sólo el 7 por ciento de todo el organismo, resultando su localización en lengua particularmente rara. Comúnmente detectados por un proceso inflamatorio agudo de la línea media, su carácter congénito suele producir trastornos en la deglución, articulación de la palabra o en el sueño ya en el período neonatal. Presentamos el caso de un niño de 11 años que ingresó en nuestro Hospital por inflamación submandibular y de cavidad oral y disfagia con odinofagia, finalmente diagnosticado de doble quiste dermoide intralingual de los dos tercios anteriores. El antecedente de sección del frenillo por presunta anquiloglosia, la existencia de una tumoración en el dorso de la lengua previa al cuadro con dificultad en la articulación de algunos fonemas, y la localización medial de las lesiones hicieron sospechar en quistes dermoides congénitos de lengua. La exéresis completa de las lesiones resultó diagnóstica y terapéutica, y el niño recuperó totalmente su capacidad de masticación, deglución y conversación. Se discuten los aspectos fisiopatológicos, terapéuticos y la atípica evolución clínica de este caso (AU)

Dermoid cysts into ENT zone are specially infrequent--just the 7% of the organism--, and extremely rare if are located in the tongue. They are usually detected as midline acute swelling, and produce swallowing, speech and sleep disorders at neonatal period because of their congenital character. We present an eleven-year-old boy admitted at our Hospital bearing a submandibular and oral swelling, and dysphagia with odynophagia, finally diagnosed as an intralingual double dermoid cyst of the anterior two thirds. The history of frenulectomy due to a presumed ankyloglossia, the previous presence of a dorsal tumour in tongue with a difficult phonetic articulation, and the midline location of lesions made us to suspect on dermoid cysts of the tongue. Complete surgical excision were diagnostic and therapeutic, and the child recovered totally their mastication, swallowing and speech abilities. Pathophysiological aspects, treatment and the atypical course of the case are discussed (AU)

Prevalencia de portadores faríngeos de 'Streptococcus pyogenes' en escolares de la Comunidad Valenciana / Prevalence of pharyngeal carriage os "Streptococcus pyogenes" among elementary school children in the Community of Valencia, Spain

Objetivo: Determinar la prevalencia de portadores de estreptococo betahemolítico del grupo A (EBHGA) en niños escolares de la Comunidad Valenciana al comienzo del in-vierno.Material y métodos: Estudio transversal. Se aleatorizaron 36 aulas escolares (clusters), de 1.° a 6.° de EGB de 50 colegios de las provincias de Valencia y Castellón, y se obtuvo un exudado faríngeo en al menos 7 niños sanos de cada aula que no habían recibido antibioticoterapia en los 10 días previos. Las torundas se sembraron en agar sangre y las colonias betahemolíticas crecidas fueron identificadas como EBHGA mediante las pruebas de sensibilidad a bacitracina y aglutinación con un antisuero específico adsorbido a partículas de látex. Resultados: Se obtuvieron 252 muestras de exudado faríngeo, de las que se aisló EBHGA en 4 casos (1,6 por ciento; IC 95 por ciento: 0,60-3,85 por ciento). No se produjo más de un caso en una misma aula. Conclusiones: La prevalencia de portadores de EBHGA en escolares, en una muestra representativa de la Comunidad Valenciana, es menor de la descrita en otros estudios (AU)

Anaemia during pregnancy as a risk factor for infant iron deficiency: report from the Valencia Infant Anaemia Cohort (VIAC) study.

A prospective cohort study with a 1-year follow-up of 156 neonates was carried out specifically designed to test the hypothesis that there is a positive relationship between iron deficiency during pregnancy and the development of the same disease in newborn infants. Exposure was defined as being born of a mother with ferropenic anaemia at delivery, and cases as the infants who developed iron deficiency during their first year of life. A statistically significant positive association was detected with an odds ratio of 6.57 (95% confidence limits 1.81-25.97). A stratified analysis was also performed to control the effect of potential confounders such as socio-economic variables, feeding practices and other factors linked with the iron status of infants. This second analytical procedure showed no alteration in the association detected in the simple analysis but that there was a statistically significant strong interaction between the quantity of cow's milk intake and the ferropenic status of the mother. These results show a relationship between iron deficiency of the mother at delivery and the development of iron deficiency in the infants. These new findings could be important in the development of new prevention programmes applied to pregnant women.

Sweat gland carcinoma of the hand (malignant acrospiroma).

A case of malignant acrospiroma of the hand is reported. This rare sweat gland carcinoma recurs locally in 50% of patients, with distant metastases occurring in 60% of patients. The prognosis for 5-year disease-free survival is less than 30%. Although the histopathologic findings of tumor-free margins and negative regional lymph node dissection indicate a good prognosis in most carcinomas, they do not guarantee a good prognosis in malignant acrospiroma because of the aggressive characteristics of this tumor.

[Histiocytosis X: localized and disseminated forms. Apropos of 13 cases]. / Histiocitosis X: formas localizadas y diseminadas. A propósito de 13 casos.

The authors present a study of 13 patients, between 7 months and 4 years of age diagnosed, of histiocytosis X, nine of them with a disseminated form and 4 with a localized form. The clinical and histopathologic types of presentation are analyzed, applying the usual scores of prognostic evaluation, with emphasis on the low mortality rate (one death), considering that there are several patients with bad prognostic scores. This is explained by the positive effect of chemotherapy used in these cases.

[Granulocyte-macrophage precursor cells in umbilical cord blood]. / Progenitores granulocito-macrofágicos en sangre de cordón umbilical.

Authors study growth patterns of granulocytic-macrophagic progenitors in umbilical cord blood of 21 full-term newborns, using collagen gel culture method. Predominantly they obtain pure macrophagic colonies or mixed granulocytic colonies. After 7 days of incubation mean and SD of clusters in 103.22 +/- 75.88, and mean and SD of colonies is 34.26 +/- 23.1. After 14 days clusters falls down until 47.2 +/- 30.48, but colonies goes up to 74.2 +/- 32.78. Lineal regression analysis shows a correlation coefficient of 0.809 between 7 days and 14 days colonies. These results demonstrate the different behaviour between myelopoietic progenitor from umbilical cord blood and same progenitor from adult blood and are probably related to different nature of both progenitors.

Results of a prospective randomized study of hepatic artery infusion with 5-fluorouracil versus intravenous 5-fluorouracil in patients with hepatic metastases from colorectal cancer: A Central Oncology Group study.

In a controlled, prospectively randomized trial, 74 patients with hepatic metastases from colorectal cancer were randomized to either intra-arterial hepatic artery infusion with 5-fluorouracil (5-FU) or systemic chemotherapy with 5-FU. In 61 acceptable patients, there was no significant difference in terms of response rate, time to progression, duration of the response, and survival rate. Though the response rate for the intra-arterial infusion arm was slightly higher than for the systemic arm, the difference was not significant, and the intra-arterial infusion arm was associated with a greater incidence of nausea, vomiting, diarrhea, in addition to complications of femoral-arterial thrombosis, bleeding, and infection at the catheter site not seen in patients treated by systemic chemotherapy. Patients with an objective response to chemotherapy on either treatment arm survived twice as long as the nonresponders. Long-term survival in one patient, 77 months, can occasionally be achieved in patients with hepatic metastases.