Invasive candidiasis, defined as candidemia and disseminated candidiasis, is the most common fungal infection in hospitalized patients. In the current study, we used Fourier transform infrared (FT-IR) spectroscopy as a rapid, non-perturbing technique to investigate the effects of disseminated candidiasis on mouse liver tissues at the molecular level. The results revealed that the infection caused compositional changes in the tissues by decreasing the lipid content and the ratio of the saturated lipids to unsaturated lipids. An increase in the lipid/protein ratio was also observed. In addition, investigation of the olefinic band at 3014 cm(-1) showed that lipid peroxidation took place in the infected samples. These results indicate that FT-IR spectroscopy is a promising technique for the evaluation and diagnosis of disseminated candidiasis.

BackgroundWe studied the beta-lactamases of an E. aerogenes isolate recovered from the blood of a two-year-old patient. The isolate demonstrated a disk-diffusion phenotype typical for an AmpC-ESBL co-producer.MethodsMicrobiology studies were performed according to standard protocols. The resistance gene was identified by transconjugation and cloning experiments.ResultsBy transconjugation only a narrow spectrum beta-lactamase (TEM-1) encoded on a small plasmid was transmitted. The ESBL was cloned and expressed in an E. coli host. Sequence analysis of the recombinant plasmid revealed blaSHV-12 associated to the insertion sequence, IS26.ConclusionThis is the first study demonstrated the occurrence of SHV-12 in Nigeria.

This study was designed to compare the prevalence and clinical characteristics of 'cold-induced headache' between migraine and episodic tension-type headache patients. Seventy-six migraine and 38 episodic tension-type headache patients were included in the study. An experimental model of an 'ice-cream headache' was developed for the study. The pain occurrence period, its location and quality were recorded for each patient who felt pain in their head during the test procedure. Pain in the head occurred in 74% of migraine and 32% of 'tension-type headache' patients. Although the most frequent pain location was the temple in both groups of patients, this rate was greater than twofold in migraine patients when compared with episodic tension-type headache patients. While headache quality was throbbing in 71% of migraine patients, it was so in only 8% of the episodic tension-type headache patients. Considering all the results, it seems that 'cold-stimulus headache' is not only more frequent in migraine patients, but also its location and quality differ from 'tension-type headache'.

Idiopathic stabbing headache (ISH) and ice cream headache occur due to paroxysmal firing of trigeminal pathways and a defect in pain control mechanisms. Any defect in pain control mechanisms appears to be localized to the affected areas. Therefore, we compared ISH and experimentally induced ice cream headache localizations in the same group of migraine sufferers to investigate similarities and differences between these headaches. The percentage of ice cream headache localizations restricted to ‘in front of the vertex/on the vertex’ was 94%, while it was 45% for ISH. The percentage of ice cream headache occurrence behind the vertex was 6% and 55% for ISH. Due to the widespread distribution of ISH in the head, there might be irritation of various branches of the trigeminal nerve, while the restricted localizations of ice cream headache suggest irritation of a certain branch or branches of the trigeminal nerve, e.g. in the oropharynx. Either widespread or restricted irritation of trigeminal pathways causes either ISH or ice cream headache, in which intermittent deficits in central pain control mechanisms seem to be playing the key role.

We report on a 47-year-old-woman who developed sudden complete loss of vertical saccades, smooth pursuit, and vestibular eye movements bilaterally. MRI revealed a unilateral midbrain infarct involving the rostral interstitial nucleus of the medial longitudinal fasciculus (riMLF) and the interstitial nucleus of Cajal (INC) and spared the posterior commissure (PC). The lesion is presumed to have interrupted the pathways involved in vertical gaze just before they decussate, inducing an anatomically unilateral but functionally bilateral lesion. Previous reports of bidirectional vertical gaze palsy have shown lesions involving the PC or both riMLFs. This case is the first to show that a unilateral lesion of the riMLF and the INC that spares the PC may cause complete bidirectional vertical gaze palsy.

Objectives: The influence of regular and intense practice of an asymmetric sport such as tennis on nerves in the elbow region was examined. Methods: The study included 21 male elite tennis players with a mean (SD) age of 27.5 (1.7) years and 21 male non-active controls aged 26.4 (1.9) years. Anthropometric measurements (height, weight, limb length, and perimeters of arm and forearm) were determined for each subject, and range of motion assessment and radiographic examination carried out. Standard nerve conduction techniques using constant measured distances were applied to evaluate the median, ulnar, and radial nerves in the dominant and non-dominant limb of each individual. Results: The sensory and motor conduction velocities of the radial nerve and the sensory conduction velocity of the ulnar nerve were significantly delayed in the dominant arms of tennis players compared with their non-dominant arms and normal subjects. There were no statistical differences in the latencies, conduction velocities, or amplitudes of the median motor and sensory nerves between controls and tennis players in either the dominant or non-dominant arms. However, the range of motion of the upper extremity was significantly increased in tennis players when compared with control subjects. Tennis players were taller and heavier than control subjects and their dominant upper limb lengths were longer, and arm and forearm circumferences greater, than those of the control subjects. Conclusions: Many of the asymptomatic tennis players with abnormal nerve conduction tests in the present study may have presymptomatic or asymptomatic neuropathy similar to subclinical entrapment nerve neuropathy.

This paper presents the use of recurrent neural networks (RNNs) for diagnosis of carpal tunnel syndrome (CTS) (normal, right CTS, left CTS, bilateral CTS). The RNN is trained with the Levenberg-Marquardt algorithm. The RNN is trained on the features of CTS (right median motor latency, left median motor latency, right median sensory latency, left median sensory latency). The multilayer perceptron neural network (MLPNN) is also implemented for comparison the performance of the classifiers on the same diagnosis problem. The total classification accuracy of the RNN is significantly high (94.80%). The obtained results confirmed the validity of the RNNs to help in clinical decision-making.

An intensive care unit (ICU)-based OXA-23-producing multiple-drug resistant Acinetobacter baumannii (MDRAB) outbreak was detected between October 2005 and October 2006. A total of 47 patients were infected/colonized with the outbreak strain. Clinical data were available from 37 patients. The all-cause mortality rate among the patients exposed to the epidemic strain was 35% (13/37). The outbreak strain and the resistance determinants were characterized both by microbiological methods and by molecular techniques. Cloning and sequencing experiments identified ISAbaI-associated bla(oxa-23) on the chromosome. Screening of imipenem-resistant Acinetobacter isolated from the ICU during the outbreak period with PCR identified 97 isolates as positive for the ISAbaI-bla(oxa-23) structure. Pulsed-field gel electrophoresis and plasmid analyses with selected nonrepetitive isolates revealed the clonality. Disk diffusion on cloxacillin-supplemented agar media and the real-time PCR experiments showed that outbreak isolates are overexpressing the ampC enzyme. This study highlights the occurrence of OXA-23-producing and ampC-overexpressing MDRAB in ICUs.