No abstract

It was recently proposed that Candida parapsilosis represents a complex composed of three closely related species, i.e., C. parapsilosis sensu stricto, C. orthopsilosis, and C. metapsilosis. The aim of this study was to describe the distribution of C. parapsilosis complex isolates among clinical samples. We also evaluated antifungal susceptibility profiles, in vitro presence of lipase and secreted aspartyl proteinase, as well as their ability to grow in total parenteral nutrition (TPN) solution, and biofilm production. A total of 413 non-C. albicans Candida isolates were obtained from various clinical samples between 2010 and 2011 in a Turkish Tertiary Care Hospital. Of them, 42 were identified as members of the C. parapsilosis complex. Among these, 38 (90.5%) were C. parapsilosis sensu stricto, 3 (7.1%) C. metapsilosis, and 1 (2.4%) C. orthopsilosis. All isolates recovered from blood were found to be C. parapsilosis sensu stricto and C. metapsilosis. In phenotypic tests, all 42 isolates grew in TPN solution and, although 26.2% of C. parapsilosis sensu stricto-isolates were capable of forming biofilms in vitro, neither C. orthopsilosis nor C. metapsilosis isolates were able to do so. Acid proteinase activity was detected in 31% of isolates and lipase activity in 33%. All isolates were sensitive to voriconazole, caspofungin, and anidulafungin, with only a single C. parapsilosis sensu stricto isolate showing dose-dependent susceptible to fluconazole. While the number of C. metapsilosis and C. orthopsilosis isolates remained low, there were no significant differences in antifungal MIC as compared to C. parapsilosis sensu stricto.

The occurrence of cagA and vacA alleles among Helicobacter pylori isolates from Turkish patients and their relationship with ulcer disease outcome was investigated. Among isolates from 47 patients with peptic ulcer disease and 51 patients with non-ulcer dyspepsia, 72.3% and 44.4%, respectively, were cagA-positive (p 0.019). Most (88.8%) isolates were typed as vacA s1, and all of these were subtype s1a. The commonest (51.0%) vacA genotype was s1a m1. The results of multivariate analysis indicated that infection with cagA-positive H. pylori was the only variable associated with an increased risk of peptic ulcer disease (odds ratio, 3.01; 95% confidence interval, 1.27-7.10; p 0.012).

The presence of a family history of beef allergy, beef specific IgE value, and skin test result positivity are independently associated with positive DBPCFC results, and combined evaluation of these three parameters increased the positive predictive power of the tests.

The results indicate that children with UDT are exposed to high levels of oxidative stress and inflammatory reaction. This could negatively affect the future fertility in these children.

Background:Lyme borreliosis is a tick-borne, multi-systemic infectious disease that is thought to be wide spread in Turkey even though studies on its seroprevalence are limited.Aims:To determine the seroprevalence of Lyme borreliosis in part of north-eastern Tur-key (in the city of Trabzon), and to identify possible relationships between seropositivity and various factors such as location, gender, age group, occupation, income, and educational level.Study Design:Retrospective cross-sectional study.Methods:A total of 884 blood samples collected from provincial and district health centers serving a population of about 800,000 were included in this study. ELISA was used to determine the anti-Borrelia IgG antibody levels in the samples. Samples that yielded positive results by ELISA were further subjected to western blot (WB).Results:IgG antibodies were found in 128 samples (14.5%). Statistical analysis revealed significant differences between age groups and educational levels in terms of the incidence of seropositivity, whereas location, gender, occupational group and income level had no effect (p<0.001, p<0.001, p=0.948, p=0.645, p=0.131, p=0.080 respectively).Conclusions:The risk of contracting Lyme borreliosis in Trabzon is high, and necessary measures need to be taken to avoid the spread of disease.

This study presents data on species distribution and antifungal susceptibility profiles of Candida bloodstream isolates obtained from a Turkish Tertiary Care Hospital during a 4-year period. All hospitalized patients who had ≥ 1 blood culture positive for yeast during their hospital stay from January 2005 through 2009 were included in this study. All isolates were identified to species level using CHROMagar and ID 32 C. Fluconazole and voriconazole antifungal susceptibility testing was performed using the disk diffusion method according to CLSI M44-A. In vitro activity of amphotericin B was determined by the Etest. Of all 166 yeast isolates, C. albicans was the dominant species (34.3%), followed by Candida parapsilosis (28.9%) and C. tropicalis (8.4%). All of the 48 C. parapsilosis strains were identified as C. parapsilosis sensu stricto. Resistance to fluconazole was more common among C. krusei isolates. Voriconazole resistance was absent. One C. lusitaniae strain showed a high amphotericin MIC (4 μg/ml). Our survey indicated an increase of some non-C. albicans Candida species in our hospital while antifungal resistance was uncommon.

Abstract:Helicobacter pylori causes various diseases such as chronic gastritis, peptic ulcer and gastric cancer. While majority of the people infected with H. pylori is asymptomatic, 15-20 % of them develop such diseases. The main factors, which determine the development of H. pylori related diseases might be bacterial virulence, host genetic and environmental factors. The aim of this study was to reveal the factors that play a role in the disease development in patients with refl ux esophagitis and peptic ulcer, infected with Helicobacter pylori. Environmental factors such as medical agents, smoking and body mass index were evaluated. The factors specifi c to bacteria such as vacA, CagA, babA and iceA virulence genotypes and the host factors such as IL-1, IL-2, IL-4, IL-6, IL-10, IL-12, interferon-γ, TNF-α, ve TGF-β 1 gene polymorphisms were compared between the two groups. H. pylori infected twenty fi ve patients with refl ux esophagitis and peptic ulcer were enrolled in the study. There was no statistical difference between the two groups regarding environmental factors. IL-2 -330T +166T (p=0.037) and IL10 -1082A; -819C (p=0.049) gene polymorphisms were signifi cantly more common in the group of patients with peptic ulcer compared to the group with refl ux esophagitis. In both groups of patients, either with refl ux esophagitis or peptic ulcer, multiple H. pylori virulence genotypes (cagA, vacA, babA) (mean values 74 %, 78 %, 54 % respectively) were observed. In this study, we revealed that cytokine gene polymorphisms may play a role in the development peptic ulcer while H. pylori virulence genotypes seem to be crucial for the development of associated diseases (Tab. 4, Ref. 51). Text in PDF www.elis.sk.