The tick-borne encephalitis virus (TBEV) causes a life-threatening disease named Tick-borne encephalitis (TBE). The clinical symptoms associated with TBE range from non-specific to severe inflammation of the central nervous system and are very similar to the clinical presentation of other viral meningitis/encephalitis. In consequence, TBE is often misclassified by clinical physicians, mainly in the non-identified high-risk areas where none or only a few TBE cases have been reported. Considering this situation, we hypothesized that among persons from northern Serbia who recovered from viral meningitis or encephalitis, there would be evidence of TBEV infection. To test this hypothesis, in this observational study, we evaluated the seroreactivity against TBEV antigens in patients from northern Serbia who were hospitalized due to viral meningitis and/or viral encephalitis of unknown etiology. Three cases of seroreactivity to TBEV antigens were discovered among convalescent patients who recovered from viral meningitis and/or encephalitis and accepted to participate in the study (n = 15). The clinical and laboratory findings of these patients overlap with that of seronegative convalescent patients. Although TBE has been a notifiable disease in Serbia since 2004, there is no active TBE surveillance program for the serologic or molecular screening of TBEV infection in humans in the country. This study highlights the necessity to increase the awareness of TBE among physicians and perform active and systematic screening of TBEV antibodies among patients with viral meningitis and/or encephalitis.
This paper presents a meander type displacement inductive sensor, developed in printed circuit board (PCB) technology. It also describes design, realization and the input inductance measurement of sensor. The displacement in two directions (less than 0.5 mm) can be detected by using two sensor's elements (i.e. two pairs of meander coils). In each pair, one of the coils is fixed, and between its terminals the input inductance was measured, while other coil is short-circuited. If one coil is moved above the other in directions of x-and z-axes, coupling between coils will change, as well as input inductance, which serves as a measure of displacement. In order to achieve better linearity of the sensor, gap is inserted in the middle of each conductive segment of fixed coils. Four sets of inductive sensors were realized: without gap and with three different gaps: 0.25 mm, 0.51 mm and 0.76 mm. In addition, a simple model of the inductive sensor is proposed. Using this model, the input inductance of displacement sensor was calculated and compared with measured values. A good agreement was found.
Objective. To test if the direct immunofluorescence can be used for the detection of Borrelia afzelii in brain tissue during the standardization of the animal model of neuroborreliosis in NMRI mice. Methods. The study was performed on 15 mice of NMRI strain. All mice were subcutaneously inoculated with 100 ml of BSK-H medium containing the local isolate of Borrelia afzelii. Animals were sacrificed after inoculation at III (n = 4), IV (n = 6) and V (n = 5) weeks, by cervical dislocation. In the sampled brains of mice, the presence of Borrelia was detected by direct immunofluorescence (DIF) and chain polymerization reaction (PCR). Results. The first brain tested positive for Borrelia three weeks after the inoculation. The bacteria were detected in 1 out of 4 brains (25%). After that, there was a growth in the percentage of positive results. The data showed that 3 out of 6 brains (50%) were found positive on Borrelia presence by the end of the fourth week. Whereas, in 3 out of 5 brains (60%) Borrelia was detected five weeks following the inoculation. Conclusion. According to the preliminary results, direct immunofluorescence appeared to be a practical, low budget method for following the kinetics of neuro-infection. NMRI mice could be considered as an adequate animal model for neuroborreliosis. Thus, more research is needed on the topics of infection kinetics for the period after fifth week post inoculation, as well as sensitivity and specificity of direct immunofluorescence.
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