Fifty-nine isolates of Staphylococcus aureus and a single strain of Staphylococcus intermedius were typed by arbitrarily primed PCR (AP-PCR). To study reproducibility and discriminatory abilities, AP-PCR was carried out in seven laboratories with a standardized amplification protocol, template DNA isolated in a single institution, and a common set of three primers with different resolving powers. The 60 strains could be divided into 16 to 30 different genetic types, depending on the laboratory. This difference in resolution was due to differences in technical procedures (as shown by the deliberate introduction of experimental variables) and/or the interpretation of the DNA fingerprints. However, this did not hamper the epidemiologically correct clustering of related strains. The average number of different genotypes identified exceeded those of the more traditional typing strategies (F. C.

Cervical scrapes from 80 women with a positive cytology result were tested for the presence of human papillomavirus (HPV) using the polymerase chain reaction (PCR) and compared to the results obtained with the modified filter in situ hybridisation (FISH) and the Southern-blot techniques.The sensitivity of the modified FISH and the Southern-blot was similar, and HPV was detected in 46% of the patients. The sensitivity of the PCR appeared to be higher, and HPV was detected in 70% of the patients. HPV-DNA could be detected in 46 of the 68 patients with mild dysplasia, in 6 of the 8 patients with severe dysplasia, and in all 4 patients with carcinoma in situ. In 18 patients (21%) more than one HPV type could be detected by the PCR.The control group consisted of 100 women involved in a triennial checkup programme, who had normal smear results and no history of cervical lesions. HPV was detected in 5% of the women by the PCR.The PCR technique detected HPV in a high proportion of the cervical scrapes from women with a positive cytology result. These results give further evidence for an important role of HPV in the pathogenesis of cervical cancer.

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Introduction Urokinase receptor (uPAR, CD87), a glycosylphosphatidylinositol-anchored protein, is considered to play an important role in inflammation and fibrinolysis. The Gram-negative bacterium Burkholderia pseudomallei is able to survive and replicate within leukocytes and causes melioidosis, an important cause of pneumonia-derived community-acquired sepsis in Southeast Asia. We here investigated the expression and function of uPAR both in patients with septic melioidosis and in a murine model of experimental melioidosis. Methods Using a translational approach we conducted a patient study in patients with culture-confirmed sepsis caused by B. pseudomallei, in vitro experiments using wild-type (WT) and uPAR knockout (KO) cells, and mouse studies using WT and uPAR KO mice inoculated with B. pseudomallei. Results uPAR mRNA and surface expression was increased in patients with septic melioidosis in/on both peripheral blood monocytes and granulocytes as well as in the pulmonary compartment during experimental pneumonia-derived melioidosis in mice. uPAR-deficient mice intranasally infected with B. pseudomallei showed an enhanced growth and dissemination of B. pseudomallei when compared with WT mice, corresponding with increased pulmonary and hepatic inflammation. uPAR KO mice demonstrated significantly reduced neutrophil migration towards the pulmonary compartment after inoculation with B. pseudomallei. Further in vitro experiments showed that uPARdeficient macrophages and granulocytes display a markedly impaired phagocytosis of B. pseudomallei. Additional studies showed that uPAR deficiency did not influence hemostatic and fibrinolytic responses during severe melioidosis. Conclusions These data suggest that uPAR is crucially involved in the host defense against sepsis caused by B. pseudomallei by facilitating the migration of neutrophils towards the primary site of infection and subsequently facilitating the phagocytosis of B. pseudomallei. P2 A comparison of acute lung inflammation in Klebsiella pneumoniae B5055-induced pneumonia and sepsis in BALB/c mice