In vivo fluorescence diagnostics and photodynamic therapy of gastrointestinal superficial polyps with aminolevulinic acid. A clinical and spectroscopic study.

In the present study initial results of clinical study related to the treatment of patients having different types of precancerous lesions in the area of esophagus, stomach and intestine by photodynamic therapy (PDT) based on aminolevulinic acid (ALA-PDT) are reported. The procedure was performed by laser fibre system with the light guides introduced through biopsy channel of an endoscope. In addition, in vivo fluorescent diagnostics and spectral analyses of biopsies were performed. Each patient had a positive response to therapy. In two cases there was a total response and in other five cases more than sixty percent of suspected area was removed. Additionally, sigilocellular carcinoma of stomach was revealed in one case. It appears from the results of this study, that the treatment of precancerous lesions with ALA-PDT could be successful treatment modality.

Spectral unmixing of flavin autofluorescence components in cardiac myocytes.

We applied linear unmixing approach to reveal individual components of intrinsic flavin fluorescence signal recorded in living cardiac cells by spectrally resolved confocal microscopy. Responses of whole-cell autofluorescence to modulators of cell metabolism and respiration were used as a tool of separation of its components; their spectral profiles, estimated by principal component analysis, correspond to free FAD and FAD bound to different enzymes of electron transport chain.

First strains of the genus Kluyvera in Czechoslovakia.

Fourteen of 21 strains isolated from stools, urine specimens and the hospital environment were identified as Kluyvera. All of these 14 strains corresponded with the literary description of the genus Kluyvera and were identical with two reference strains except that one of them failed to utilize sodium acetate within 7 days. One strain (No. 23441) produced massive growth on Jordan's tartrate, which some Kluyvera do. Important in differentiating indole- and Simmons' citrate-negative Kluyvera strains from Escherichia vulneris (two other of our 21 strains) is negative ornithin decarboxylase and negative Christensen citrate in the latter. Three strains were identified as Citrobacter, where especially indole-positive and urease-negative strains may be reminiscent of Kluyvera. An aberrant strain, No. 25115, which alone failed to grow at 42 degrees C and by some characters differed from Kluyvera, E. vulneris and Enteric Group 10, was identified as E. coli.