bluuebunny/crossref_metadata_2025_split huggingface dataset:
Multicenter Comparative Evaluation of Six Commercial Systems and the National Committee for Clinical Laboratory Standards M27-A Broth Microdilution Method for Fluconazole Susceptibility Testing of
Candida
Species
Authors: Morace G. , Amato G. , Bistoni F. , Fadda G. , Marone P. , Montagna M. T. , Oliveri S. , Polonelli L. , Rigoli R. , Mancuso I. , La Face S. , Masucci L. , Romano L. , Napoli C. , Tatò D. , Buscema M. G. , Belli C. M. C. , Piccirillo M. M. , Conti S. , Covan S. , Fanti F. , Cavanna C. , D'Alò F. , Pitzurra L. 
Published: October 2002

ABSTRACT

Fluconazole susceptibility among 800 clinical
Candida
isolates (60%
C. albicans
) and two control strains (
C. krusei
ATCC 6258 and
C. parapsilosis
ATCC 22019) was tested with the NCCLS M27-A method (gold standard) and six commercial products (Candifast, disk, Etest, Fungitest, Integral System Yeasts, and Sensititre YeastOne). Results were classified as susceptible, susceptible-dose dependent, or resistant using M27-A breakpoints or, for Fungitest, Integral System Yeasts, and Candifast, as susceptible, intermediate, or resistant, according to the manufacturers' instructions. Concordance with NCCLS M27-A results was analyzed with the χ
2
test. Intra- and interlaboratory reproducibility was also evaluated. NCCLS M27-A (90.1%), Etest (93.1%), Sensititre YeastOne (93.1%), disk (96.7%), Fungitest (92.6%), Integral System Yeasts (40.6%), and Candifast (6.0%) classified the indicated percentages of
C. albicans
isolates as susceptible. Among non-
C. albicans
strains, the percentages of susceptible isolates were as follows: NCCLS M27-A, 74.0%; Etest, 83.8%; Sensititre YeastOne, 64.1%; disk, 60.6%; Fungitest, 76.6%; Integral System Yeasts, 28.3%; and Candifast, 27.4%. All methods except Candifast and Integral System Yeasts showed good agreement with NCCLS M27-A results for both
C albicans
and non-
C. albicans
isolates. Intralaboratory reproducibility was excellent for NCCLS M27-A, Etest, Sensititre YeastOne, disk, and Fungitest (88 to 91%). Similar results emerged from the interlaboratory reproducibility evaluation. Our findings indicate that some commercial methods can be useful for fluconazole susceptibility testing of clinical
Candida
isolates. Those characterized by a lack of medium standardization and/or objective interpretative criteria should be avoided. Particular caution is necessary when testing is being done for clinical and epidemiological purposes.
Simple and Rapid Differentiation ofMycobacterium tuberculosisH37Ra fromM. tuberculosisClinical Isolates through Two Cytochemical Tests Using Neutral Red and Nile Blue Stains
Authors: Soto Carlos Y. , Andreu Núria , Gibert Isidre , Luquin Marina 
Published: October 2002

ABSTRACTThe attenuatedMycobacterium tuberculosisstrain H37Ra is one of the most commonly used controls forM. tuberculosisidentification in the clinical laboratory and is a source of false-positive results forM. tuberculosisas a consequence of cross-contamination. Therefore, the ability to discriminate between H37Ra and real clinical isolates has important public health implications. To date, differentiation of H37Ra fromM. tuberculosisclinical isolates is possible only by IS6110genotyping and spoligotyping. In the 1950s, some authors reported that the virulent strain H37Rv andM. tuberculosisclinical isolates were able to fix basic dyes in their anionic forms, while H37Ra was not. We have studied the different techniques described forM. tuberculosiscytochemical staining and have chosen the best of these, introducing certain modifications in order to increase their discriminative power and reproducibility. We describe cytochemical staining ofM. tuberculosiscells with neutral red and Nile blue, which differentiates H37Ra from virulent strains. This method could be used as an easy laboratory tool for distinguishing between H37Ra and realM. tuberculosisclinical isolates.
Assessment of Mycobacterial, Propionibacterial, and Human Herpesvirus 8 DNA in Tissues of Greek Patients with Sarcoidosis
Authors: Gazouli M. , Ikonomopoulos J. , Trigidou R. , Foteinou M. , Kittas C. , Gorgoulis V. 
Published: October 2002

ABSTRACT

The causes of sarcoidosis are unknown. In this study, we report the presence of
Mycobacterium tuberculosis
complex and
Propionibacterium granulosum
DNA in a significant proportion of Greek patients with sarcoidosis. Human herpesvirus 8 DNA was not detected in sarcoid tissues from Greek patients. Our findings are discussed.
Effects of Repeated Subculturing and Prolonged Storage at Room Temperature of Enterohemorrhagic
Escherichia coli
O157:H7 on Pulsed-Field Gel Electrophoresis Profiles
Authors: Iguchi Atsushi , Osawa Ro , Kawano Junichi , Shimizu Akira , Terajima Jun , Watanabe Haruo 
Published: October 2002

ABSTRACT

Three clinical strains of enterohemorrhagic
Escherichia coli
O157:H7 which were subcultured repeatedly or stored at room temperature over a 25-week period showed appreciable variations in their pulsed-field gel electrophoresis fragment patterns. The variations could be explained by a couple of spontaneous genetic events at most and thus did not invalidate the genetic lineage of the strains.
Identification and Expression of Human Cytomegalovirus Transcription Units Coding for Two Distinct Fcγ Receptor Homologs
Authors: Atalay Ramazan , Zimmermann Albert , Wagner Markus , Borst Eva , Benz Christine , Messerle Martin , Hengel Hartmut 
Published: October 2002

ABSTRACTCellular receptors for the Fc domain of immunoglobulin G (IgG) (FcγRs) comprise a family of surface receptors on immune cells connecting humoral and cellular immune responses. Several herpesviruses induce FcγR activities in infected cells. Here we identify two distinct human cytomegalovirus (HCMV)-encoded vFcγR glycoproteins of 34 and 68 kDa. A panel of HCMV strains exhibited a slight molecular microheterogeneity between Fcγ-binding proteins, suggesting their viral origin. To locate the responsible genes within the HCMV genome, a large set of targeted HCMV deletion mutants was constructed. The mutant analysis allowed the identification of a splicedUL119-UL118mRNA to encode vFcγR gp68 andTRL11/IRL11to encode vFcγR gp34. Both vFcγRs are surface resident type I transmembrane glycoproteins. Significant relatedness of sequences in the extracellular chain of gpUL119-118 and gpTRL11 with particular immunoglobulin supergene family domains present in FcγR I and FcγRs II/III, respectively, indicates a different ancestry and function of gpUL119-118 and gpTRL11. The HCMV-encoded vFcγRs highlight an impressive diversification and redundancy of FcγR structures.
Human Cytomegalovirus UL84 Localizes to the Cell Nucleus via a Nuclear Localization Signal and Is a Component of Viral Replication Compartments
Authors: Xu Yiyang , Colletti Kelly S. , Pari Gregory S. 
Published: October 2002

ABSTRACT

The UL84 open reading frame encodes a protein that is required for origin-dependent DNA replication and interacts with the immediate-early protein IE2 in lytically infected cells. Transfection of UL84 expression constructs showed that UL84 localized to the nucleus of transfected cells in the absence of any other viral proteins and displayed a punctate speckled fluorescent staining pattern. Cotransfection of all the human cytomegalovirus replication proteins and
ori
Lyt, along with pUL84-EGFP, showed that UL84 colocalized with UL44 (polymerase accessory protein) in replication compartments. Experiments using infected human fibroblasts demonstrated that UL84 also colocalized with UL44 and IE2 in viral replication compartments in infected cells. A nuclear localization signal was identified using plasmid constructs expressing truncation mutants of the UL84 protein in transient transfection assays. Transfection assays showed that UL84 failed to localize to the nucleus when 200 amino acids of the N terminus were deleted. Inspection of the UL84 amino acid sequence revealed a consensus putative nuclear localization signal between amino acids 160 and 171 (PEKKKEKQEKK) of the UL84 protein.
Genetic Diversity within Human Erythroviruses: Identification of Three Genotypes
Authors: Servant Annabelle , Laperche Syria , Lallemand Francis , Marinho Valérie , De Saint Maur Guillemette , Meritet Jean François , Garbarg-Chenon Antoine 
Published: October 2002

ABSTRACT

B19 virus is a human virus belonging to the genus
Erythrovirus
. The genetic diversity among B19 virus isolates has been reported to be very low, with less than 2% nucleotide divergence in the whole genome sequence. We have previously reported the isolation of a human erythrovirus isolate, termed V9, whose sequence was markedly distinct (>11% nucleotide divergence) from that of B19 virus. To date, the V9 isolate remains the unique representative of a new variant in the genus
Erythrovirus
, and its taxonomic position is unclear. We report here the isolation of 11 V9-related viruses. A prospective study conducted in France between 1999 and 2001 indicates that V9-related viruses actually circulate at a significant frequency (11.4%) along with B19 viruses. Analysis of the nearly full-length genome sequence of one V9-related isolate (D91.1) indicates that the D91.1 sequence clusters together with but is notably distant from the V9 sequence (5.3% divergence) and is distantly related to B19 virus sequences (13.8 to 14.2% divergence). Additional phylogenetic analysis of partial sequences from the V9-related isolates combined with erythrovirus sequences available in GenBank indicates that the erythrovirus group is more diverse than thought previously and can be divided into three well-individualized genotypes, with B19 viruses corresponding to genotype 1 and V9-related viruses being distributed into genotypes 2 and 3.
The Antiviral Efficacy of the Murine Alpha-1 Interferon Transgene against Ocular Herpes Simplex Virus Type 1 Requires the Presence of CD4+, α/β T-Cell Receptor-Positive T Lymphocytes with the Capacity To Produce Gamma Interferon
Authors: Carr Daniel J. J. , Noisakran Sansanee 
Published: October 2002

ABSTRACTAlpha/beta interferons (IFN-α/βs) are known to antagonize herpes simplex virus type 1 (HSV-1) infection by directly blocking viral replication and promoting additional innate and adaptive, antiviral immune responses. To further define the relationship between the adaptive immune response and IFN-α/β, the protective effect induced following the topical application of plasmid DNA containing the murine IFN-α1 transgene onto the corneas of wild-type and T-cell-deficient mice was evaluated. Mice homozygous for both the T-cell receptor (TCR) β- and δ-targeted mutations expressing no αβ or γδ TCR (αβ/γδ TCR double knockout [dKO]) treated with the IFN-α1 transgene succumbed to ocular HSV-1 infection at a rate similar to that of αβ/γδ TCR dKO mice treated with the plasmid vector DNA. Conversely, mice with targeted disruption of the TCR δ chain and expressing no γδ TCR+cells treated with the IFN-α1 transgene survived the infection to a greater extent than the plasmid vector-treated counterpart and at a level similar to that of wild-type controls treated with the IFN-α1 transgene. By comparison, mice with targeted disruption of the TCR β chain and expressing no αβ TCR+cells (αβ TCR knockout [KO]) showed no difference upon treatment with the IFN-α1 transgene or the plasmid vector control, with 0% survival following HSV-1 infection. Adoptively transferring CD4+but not CD8+T cells from wild-type but not IFN-γ-deficient mice reestablished the antiviral efficacy of the IFN-α1 transgene in αβ TCR KO mice. Collectively, the results indicate that the protective effect mediated by topical application of a plasmid construct containing the murine IFN-α1 transgene requires the presence of CD4+T cells capable of IFN-γ synthesis.
Seasonal variations in incidence of fractures among elderly people
Authors: Bulajic-Kopjar Marija 
Published: October 2002

Objective—To investigate seasonal variations in the incidence of fall related fractures among people 65 years and older.Population and methods—A prospective, population based cohort study was performed on people aged 65 years and older followed up from 1990 to 1997, a total of 459 904 person years. Cases were identified through a prospective registration system.Results—There were 10 992 (2390 per 100 000 person years) fall related fractures. The risk was higher in the colder seasons (October through March) among people aged 65–79 years (relative risk (RR) = 1.39, 95% confidence interval (CI) 1.32 to 1.47) and in people aged 80 years and older (RR = 1.17, 95% CI 1.09 to 1.22). For arm fractures, the RR was 1.69 (95% CI 1.56 to 1.83) among people aged 65–79 years and 1.30 (95% CI 1.13 to 1.43) among those aged 80 years and older. The RR for hip fractures was 1.27 (95% CI 1.15 to 1.37) among people aged 65–79 years and 1.08 (95% CI 1.00 to 1.15) for people aged 80 years and older. Slipping on ice and snow seems to entirely explain the excessive incidence of hip and arm fractures during winter months.Conclusion—Season affects the incidence of all types of fractures in elderly people. Slipping on ice and snow seems to be a causal mechanism behind the seasonal effect. Preventive measures targeting this causal mechanism are likely to reduce the risk of fracture, but the size of the effect is difficult to estimate with certainty.
A multifaceted approach to improving motor vehicle restraint compliance
Authors: Hanfling Marcus J , Mangus Lorna G , Gill Anne C , Bailey Rick 
Published: October 2002

Objectives—To increase proper use of seat belts and car seats, thereby reducing morbidity and mortality from motor vehicle collisions.Setting—The Vehicle Injury Prevention program community intervention was implemented in Houston, Texas. Effectiveness data are limited to “target area one”, an impoverished neighborhood in northeast Harris County.Methods—This multifaceted public health education campaign brought together six segments of the community: education, health, government, law enforcement, private industry, and the media, to improve restraint use. It was evaluated by observation of proper restraint use before and nine months after implementation. Trained, independent observers made observations of occupants in the target area and at two comparison sites. Pre-post differences in restraint compliance were calculated by a standard binomial proportion test.Results—Motorists in target area one significantly improved their restraint use by 15% (p<0.05) from 39% pre-intervention to 54% post-intervention, whereas use in the comparison neighborhoods remained unchanged.Conclusions—Implementation of a public health education program, combined with economic incentives to increase vehicle restraint use, can be successful with multifaceted community support.
Description of Missouri children who suffer burn injuries
Authors: Quayle K S , Wick N A , Gnauck K A , Schootman M , Jaffe D M 
Published: October 2002

Objective—This study uses Missouri's inpatient and outpatient E code data system to describe the demographic characteristics of Missouri children who suffered burn injuries during 1994 and 1995.Methods—Retrospective review of Missouri E code data.Results—Altogether 8404 children aged 0–14 years were treated for burn injuries in Missouri hospitals during 1994 and 1995. The rate of burn injury in Missouri children was 339 per 100 000/year. African-American boys 0–4 years living in urban counties were at increased risk. In addition, African-American girls ages 0–4 years living in counties with a high poverty rate had raised burn injury rates. Burns from hot objects and scalds from hot liquids caused more than half of the burns.Conclusions—Hospital based E coding has proven an invaluable tool for the study of burns and will, no doubt, prove equally useful for other injuries.
Toddler drowning in domestic swimming pools
Authors: Blum C , Shield J 
Published: October 2002

Aims—To identify how toddlers who drowned gained access to private swimming pools; to recommend preventive strategies to reduce the incidence of toddler drowning and near drowning.Method—The study reviewed critically all completed investigations into the drowning deaths of toddlers aged 1–4 years reported to the state coroner (n=33) as a result of unintentional submersion incidents in domestic swimming pools in Victoria, Australia, from 1 January 1992 to 31 December 1997.Results—There was a predominance of 1 year olds, and boys. Forty six per cent of the children drowned in the three summer months. The majority of pools were in-ground; most were located on the child's home property. Over half the pools lacked fencing of any kind; of those that did have fences, only three appear to have met Australian standards.Conclusions—More than half of the children studied drowned in unfenced pools and spas. In not one case did a child gain unaided access to a pool fitted with a fully functional gate and fence that met the Australian standard. Where children gained access to fenced pools, the majority did so via faulty or inadequate gates, or through gates that were propped open. This finding highlights the need for pool owners to install Australian standard approved fences and gates, and to maintain existing fences and gates regularly. Door locks and supervision were inadequate primary prevention strategies.
Use of protective equipment by in-line skaters: an observational study: Table 1
Authors: Beirness D J , Foss R D , Desmond K J 
Published: October 2002

Objective—To determine the extent of protective equipment use (that is, helmets, wrist guards, elbow pads, knee pads) in a representative sample of in-line skaters.Setting—Fifteen municipalities throughout the province of British Columbia.Method—A province-wide observational survey was conducted in the summer of 1999. Skaters were observed at four types of sites (commuter, recreational, neighbourhood, general community) in 15 municipalities to provide a representative sample of in-line skaters.Results—The observed use of protective equipment by the 877 in-line skaters was relatively low: wrist guards 25%, helmets 13%, elbow pads 14%, and knee pads 10%.Conclusion—Despite the availability of relatively inexpensive protective equipment, few in-line skaters take advantage of the opportunity to protect themselves from injury. Policies and programs that serve to increase the use of protective equipment by in-line skaters are needed to help reduce the frequency of skating related injuries.
Evaluation of the Latrobe Valley Better Health Injury Prevention Program
Authors: Day L M , Ozanne-Smith J , Cassell E , Li L 
Published: October 2002

Objective—To evaluate the Latrobe Valley Better Health Injury Prevention Program, a regional community based intervention in south east Victoria, Australia.Method—The evaluation design was quasiexperimental including pre-intervention and post-intervention observations in a predominately town dwelling population of approximately 76 000. There was no comparison community. Process measures included key informant interviews. Impact evaluation utilised self reported changes in injury risk and protective factors, gathered by a random household telephone survey. Outcome evaluation was based on five years of emergency department injury surveillance data for the Latrobe Valley.Results—The program built strategic partnerships, increasing the emphasis on local safety. Activities were implemented in the targeted areas of home, sport, and playground injuries. Some 47 000 educational contacts were made with the community and at least 6000 resource items distributed. There were significant increases in home safety knowledge. Some changes in the areas of playground and sport safety were achieved after partnership development with relevant agencies. Poisson regression models showed significant decreases in the presentation rate for all home injury and for the more severe home injuries.Conclusion—This study clearly demonstrates the difficulty of conducting robust evaluation in the absence of readily available and reliable data and adequate budgets. The Latrobe Valley Better Health Program activities contributed to structural, environmental, and organisational changes that have the potential to reduce injury. The extent of this contribution beyond that made by the statewide injury prevention strategy is not able to be determined.
Maternal use of baby walkers with young children: recent trends and possible alternatives: Table 1
Authors: DiLillo D , Damashek A , Peterson L 
Published: October 2002

Objectives—To examine recent trends in baby walker and exersaucer use, and to assess maternal motivations for choosing to use or not use these devices with children.Setting—Small, Midwestern city in the United States.Methods—Retrospective telephone survey with a sample of 329 mothers who provided information about their use of walkers and exersaucers with 463 children born in Columbia, Missouri between January 1994 and April 1999.Results—Baby walker use in the sample declined fairly steadily from 1994 to 1999, whereas exersaucer use increased during the same period. Altogether 88% of mothers were aware of the injury risks associated with walkers, and this knowledge was the most commonly reported reason for abstaining from walker use. Remarkably, 38% of participants with knowledge of walker risks nevertheless used these devices. Participants reported many reasons for using walkers and exersaucers, including child entertainment, perceived developmental benefit, easy availability, and improved safety of exersaucers.Conclusions—Public knowledge of the hazards of walkers seems to be high, and this awareness is a likely factor in many caregivers' decisions not to use them. Future interventions should focus particular attention on those caregivers who continue to use walkers despite knowledge of the associated risks. In addition to persuasive interventions, alternatives to walkers should be encouraged. Exersaucers represent one viable alternative, and should be promoted as such by the media, pediatricians, and other child care professionals.
Use of narrative analysis for comparisons of the causes of fatal accidents in three countries: New Zealand, Australia, and the United States
Authors: Williamson A , Feyer A-M , Stout N , Driscoll T , Usher H 
Published: October 2002

Objectives—To investigate the utility of narrative analysis of text information for describing the mechanism of injury and to compare the patterns of the mechanism of injury for work related fatalities in three countries.Methods—Three national collections of data on work related fatalities were used in this study including those for New Zealand, 1985–94 (n=723), for Australia, 1989–92 (n=1220), and for the United States, 1989–92 (16 383). The New Zealand and Australian collections used the type of occurrence standard code for the mechanism of injury, however the United States collection did not. All three databases included a text description of the circumstances of the fatality so a text based analysis was developed to enable a comparison of the mechanisms of injury in each of the three countries. A test set of 200 cases from each country dataset was used to develop the narrative analysis and to allow comparison of the narrative and standard approaches to mechanism coding.Results—The narrative coding was more useful for some types of injury than others. Differences in coding the narrative codes compared with the standard code were mainly due to lack of sensitivity in detecting cases for all three datasets, although specificity was always high. The pattern of causes was very similar between the two coding methods and between the countries. Hit by moving objects, falls, and rollovers were among the five most common mechanisms of workplace fatalities for all countries. More common mechanisms that distinguished the three countries were electrocutions for Australia, drowning for New Zealand, and gunshot for the United States.Conclusion—Narrative analysis shows some promise as an alternative approach for investigating the causes of fatalities.