No abstract

No abstract

Both high-dose dual therapy and quadruple therapy are effective in curing H. pylori infection resistant to both metronidazole and clarithromycin in patients who experienced previous treatment failures.

SUMMARY BackgroundThe clinical management of Helicobacter pylori infected patients who failed standard eradication therapies remains a challenge.

Respiratory diseases due to Mycoplasma pneumoniae are still confirmed with serological methods, although during the acute phase of M. pneumoniae disease indicative parameters are frequently negative. This result is true not only for serodiagnosis based on tests for the presence of cold hemagglutinin (the first but unspecific acute-phase parameter; these are positive in only about 50% of cases) but also for serodiagnosis based on CF tests, particle agglutination tests, or even enzyme-linked immunoassays that test for "early" IgM antibodies. Whereas the sensitivity of the different tests is difficult to improve, advances in specificity were obtained with use of more defined protein antigen preparations of M. pneumoniae cells. Even more problematic than negative titers in the first serum samples and delayed positive titers in the convalescent-phase sera are false-negative results with sera from immunocompromised patients, which limit the value of serological approaches for diagnosis of M. pneumoniae infections in particular risk groups. This review summarizes the use and the limitations of various serological approaches but also refers to alternative methods that are suitable for diagnosis of acute-phase M. pneumoniae disease or cases in which seroconversion has not occurred.

Sediment samples from four reservoirs of different trophic state were compared with regard to chemical gradients in the pore water, composition of microbial communities and extracellular enzyme activities. The trophic state was clearly reflected by steep vertical concentration gradients of ammonium and alkalinity in the pore water. A high concentration of these parameters indicated a high microbial in situ activity in the more eutrophic reservoirs. However, the total number of bacteria in sediments seemed hardly to be influenced by the trophic conditions in the water column. Differences in the microbial composition of the sediments became evident by comparative 16S rDNA analysis of extracted DNA and by fluorescence in situ hybridization. Although a high proportion of the cells detectable with the EUB probe could not be identified at the subdomain level, members of the L-Proteobacteria constituted an important fraction in the sediments of the more eutrophic reservoirs, whereas Q-subgroup Proteobacteria were most frequently detected in sediment samples from the dystrophic Muldenberg reservoir. The assessment of extracellular enzyme activities (esterases, phosphatases, glucosidases and aminopeptidases, respectively) in sediment samples of the four reservoirs revealed specific patterns of metabolic potentials in accordance with the trophic state and characteristics of the catchment.

The neutrophil killing capability is reduced in HD patients while the amount of neutrophils that phagocyte and produce ROS remains unchanged. Functional impairment of uraemic neutrophils is therefore mainly a result of their reduced capability to kill microorganisms intracellularly.

M. pneumoniae infections showed a strong epidemic peak, but Chlamydia spp. were consistently detected throughout the year.