Within an epidemiological survey on Chronic Obstructive Pulmonary Disease, before reporting data on the prevalence of bronchial asthma we checked the group of subjects defined as "pathological" by means of a suitable questionnaire and a group of "normals" as a control. We evaluated the sensitivity and specificity of the questionnaire, in comparison with a clinical evaluation made by two physicians and controlled the relationship among their results, non-specific bronchial hyperreactivity and skin tests. In particular the correspondence between diagnosis made by physicians from a clinical evaluation and that obtained by questionnaire was not satisfactory. We suggest the importance of employing physicians for an epidemiological approach to asthma, in absence of a valid objective criterion.
Axenomycins are a new group of macrolide antibiotics isolated from the fermentation broth of
Streptomyces lisandri
n.sp. They exhibit anthelmintic activity against tapeworms (
Cestoda
). Three different fractions, A, B, and D, have been obtained, the most active fraction being axenomycin D. The activities of the axenomycin complex and axenomycin D against
Hymenolepis nana
in mice,
Taenia pisiformis, Dipylidium caninum
, and
Diphyllobothrium
sp. in dogs, and
Moniezia expansa, M. benedeni
, and
Avitellina centripunctata
in lambs were studied in experimentally and naturally infected animals. Axenomycins were effective and well tolerated by the oral route. Worm reduction rates after a single oral dose were 90 to 100% with 5 to 10 mg of axenomycin D/kg and 50 to 100% with 20 mg of axenomycin complex/kg.
Cryptococcoma is a rare entity, characterized by solid, space-occupying masses, usually found in the brain. It has been reported in the setting of "paradoxical" immune reconstitution inflammatory syndrome. A case of retroperitoneal cryptococcoma in a HIV-infected woman with a clinical history of disseminated cryptococcosis on antifungal maintenance therapy is described.
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