Publications
| Title | Abstract | Year(sorted descending) Filter | PMID Filter |
|---|
| infectious complications the year after autologous bone marrow transplantation or peripheral stem cell transplantation for treatment of breast cancer. | few studies have examined the specific incidence of infections after autologous bone marrow transplantation (bmt) or peripheral stem cell transplantation (psct) for treatment of breast cancer. we reviewed the medical records of 127 consecutive patients who underwent autologous bmt or psct for breast cancer at the university of pennsylvania medical center from 1 may 1991 through 31 march 1995 and through 1 year of follow-up. the mean duration of neutropenia after transplantation was 10 days. init ... | 2001 | 11170946 |
| performance of two rapid, single-use immunoassays for the detection of clostridium difficile toxin a. | two rapid, single-use immunoassays for c. difficile toxin a, the clearview c. diff a (wampole laboratories, cranbury, n.j.) and the immunocard toxin a assays (meridian diagnostics inc., cincinnati, ohio) were compared to the cytotoxin assay for their ability to detect c. difficile toxin in fecal specimens. a total of 537 specimens were tested and 47 (8.8%) were positive by the cytotoxin assay. the sensitivity, specificity, positive predictive value, and negative predictive value of the toxin a a ... | 2001 | 11173187 |
| derivation and validation of guidelines for stool cultures for enteropathogenic bacteria other than clostridium difficile in hospitalized adults. | the yield of in-hospital stool cultures performed more than 72 hours after admission is low, and a commonly used policy dictates that laboratories reject these cultures to save costs. however, enteropathogenic bacteria other than clostridium difficile (epb) may cause nosocomial illness that would be missed by use of such a "3-day rule." | 2001 | 11176841 |
| clostridium difficile toxins disrupt epithelial barrier function by altering membrane microdomain localization of tight junction proteins. | the anaerobic bacterium clostridium difficile is the etiologic agent of pseudomembranous colitis. c. difficile toxins tcda and tcdb are udp-glucosyltransferases that monoglucosylate and thereby inactivate the rho family of gtpases (w. p. ciesla, jr., and d. a. bobak, j. biol. chem. 273:16021-16026, 1998). we utilized purified reference toxins of c. difficile, tcda-10463 (tcda) and tcdb-10463 (tcdb), and a model intestinal epithelial cell line to characterize their influence on tight-junction (tj ... | 2001 | 11179295 |
| fecal leukocyte stain has diagnostic value for outpatients but not inpatients. | the methylene blue stain for fecal leukocytes (fl) is widely used as an adjunct to slower but more accurate tests of diarrheal etiology, such as stool culture (scx) or toxin assays for clostridium difficile. prior studies investigating the utility of fl for predicting scx and c. difficile toxin assay (cdta) results did not evaluate the importance of inpatient versus outpatient status. we conducted a study of patients who submitted a stool specimen to the stanford hospital microbiology laboratory ... | 2001 | 11136781 |
| clostridium difficile-associated diarrhea in a va medical center: clustering of cases, association with antibiotic usage, and impact on hiv-infected patients. | a case-control study of patients with stools assayed for clostridium difficile toxin over a 24-month period at a veterans affairs hospital found that the majority of cases (70.6%) occurred in temporal clusters. clustering was particularly evident on a designated human immunodeficiency virus (hiv) unit. thirty-four (75.5%) of 45 hiv-infected patients with c difficile-associated diarrhea (cdad) died during their hospitalization. third-generation cephalosporins were the antibiotics most strongly as ... | 2001 | 11198022 |
| evaluating the ct diagnosis of clostridium difficile colitis: should ct guide therapy? | the purpose of this study was to further characterize the ct findings of clostridium difficile colitis and to provide for the first time a diagnostic sensitivity, specificity, positive predictive value, and negative predictive value to help clinicians decide whether antibiotic treatment is warranted on the basis of ct findings while awaiting stool test results (which may take as long as 48 hr). | 2001 | 11222194 |
| thymic emigrants isolated by a new method possess unique phenotypic and functional properties. | t cells that emigrate from the thymus have primarily been studied in vivo using fluorescent dye injection of the thymus. this study examined the properties of thymocytes that emigrate from cultured thymic lobes in organ culture. under these conditions, thymic emigrants displayed the expected phenotype, that of mature thymocytes expressing high levels of t-cell receptor (tcr-alphabeta) and either cd4 or cd8, and were observed to emigrate within 24 hours of positive selection. emigration was inhib ... | 2001 | 11222381 |
| clarithromycin and risk of clostridium difficile-associated diarrhoea. | 2001 | 11222572 | |
| yield of vancomycin-resistant enterococci and multidrug-resistant enterobacteriaceae from stools submitted for clostridium difficile testing compared to results from a focused surveillance program. | it has been suggested that a method of performing surveillance for vancomycin-resistant enterococci (vre) is to screen specimens submitted for clostridium difficile testing. we compared this approach to our focused surveillance program of high-risk units during october 1997 to compare the yield of vre and multidrug-resistant enterobacteriaceae (mdre) with both methods. of the stools submitted for c. difficile testing, 14% were positive for vre or mdre, whereas rectal swabs from routine surveilla ... | 2001 | 11230446 |
| molecular characterization of flid gene encoding flagellar cap and its expression among clostridium difficile isolates from different serogroups. | the flid gene encoding the flagellar cap protein (flid) of clostridium difficile was studied in 46 isolates belonging to serogroups a, b, c, d, f, g, h, i, k, x, and s3, including 30 flagellated strains and 16 nonflagellated strains. in all but three isolates, amplification by pcr and reverse transcription-pcr demonstrated that the flid gene is present and transcribed in both flagellated and nonflagellated strains. pcr-restriction fragment length polymorphism (rflp) analysis of amplified flid ge ... | 2001 | 11230454 |
| phylogenetic analyses of two "archaeal" genes in thermotoga maritima reveal multiple transfers between archaea and bacteria. | the genome sequence of thermotoga maritima revealed that 24% of its open reading frames (orfs) showed the highest similarity scores to archaeal genes in blast analyses. here we screened 16 strains from the genus thermotoga and other related thermotogales for the occurrence of two of these "archaeal" genes: the gene encoding the large subunit of glutamate synthase (gltb) and the myo-inositol 1p synthase gene (ino1). both genes were restricted to the thermotoga species within the thermotogales. th ... | 2001 | 11230537 |
| requirement for rho gtpases and pi 3-kinases during apoptotic cell phagocytosis by macrophages. | in vivo, apoptotic cells are removed by surrounding phagocytes, a process thought to be essential for tissue remodeling and the resolution of inflammation [1]. although apoptotic cells are known to be efficiently phagocytosed by macrophages, the mechanisms whereby their interaction with the phagocytes triggers their engulfment have not been described in mammals. here, we report that primary murine bone marrow-derived macrophages (using alpha(v)beta(3) integrin for apoptotic cell uptake) extend l ... | 2001 | 11231156 |
| resistance to induced apoptosis in the human neuroblastoma cell line sk-n-sh in relation to neuronal differentiation. role of bcl-2 protein family. | much evidence suggests that apoptosis plays a crucial role in cell population homeostasis that depends on the expression of various genes implicated in the control of cell life and death. the sensitivity of human neuroblastoma cells sk-n-sh to undergo apoptosis induced by thapsigargin was examined. sk-n-sh were previously differentiated into neuronal cells by treatments with retinoic acid (ra), 4 beta-phorbol 12-myristate 13-acetate (pma) which increases protein kinase c (pkc) activity, and stau ... | 2001 | 11231287 |
| p-hydroxyphenylacetate decarboxylase from clostridium difficile. a novel glycyl radical enzyme catalysing the formation of p-cresol. | the human pathogenic bacterium clostridium difficile is a versatile organism concerning its ability to ferment amino acids. the formation of p-cresol as the main fermentation product of tyrosine by c. difficile is unique among clostridial species. the enzyme responsible for p-cresol formation is p-hydroxyphenylacetate decarboxylase. the enzyme was purified from c. difficile strain dmsz 1296(t) and initially characterized. the n-terminal amino-acid sequence was 100% identical to an open reading f ... | 2001 | 11231288 |
| impact of nosocomial infection on length of stay and functional improvement among patients admitted to an acute rehabilitation unit. | to identify factors predictive of length of stay (los) and the level of functional improvement achieved among patients admitted to an acute rehabilitation unit for the first time, with special reference to the role of nosocomial infection. | 2001 | 11232883 |
| liver abscess caused by clostridium difficile. | we report the first case of an infected cyst and liver abscess caused by clostridium difficile. it recurred 11 months later, despite therapy with vancomycin and percutaneous drainage. administration of metronidazole following percutaneous drainage achieved a favorable outcome. | 2001 | 11234983 |
| five-year surveillance of patients with communicable diseases nursed in isolation. | during a five year surveillance program of patients with communicable diseases nursed in isolation, we gathered information on 2880 patients who were nursed in isolation for 28 145 days, from january 1994 to december 1998. the mean number of patients nursed in isolation was 575.4 (range, 427-709) per year. on average 2.4% of patients admitted yearly to the university medical center (umc) were nursed in isolation. the mean number of days nursed in isolation was 9.8 days per patient.1996 was a pea ... | 2001 | 11247681 |
| delivery of proteins into living cells by reversible membrane permeabilization with streptolysin-o. | the pore-forming toxin streptolysin o (slo) can be used to reversibly permeabilize adherent and nonadherent cells, allowing delivery of molecules with up to 100 kda mass to the cytosol. using fitc-labeled albumin, 10(5)-10(6) molecules were estimated to be entrapped per cell. repair of toxin lesions depended on ca(2+)-calmodulin and on intact microtubules, but was not sensitive to actin disruption or to inhibition of protein synthesis. resealed cells were viable for days and retained the capacit ... | 2001 | 11248053 |
| clostridium difficile--associated diarrhea: a review. | clostridium difficile causes 300 000 to 3 000 000 cases of diarrhea and colitis in the united states every year. antibiotics most frequently associated with the infection are clindamycin, ampicillin, amoxicillin, and cephalosporins, but all antibiotics may predispose patients to c difficile infection. the clinical presentation varies from asymptomatic colonization to mild diarrhea to severe debilitating disease, with high fever, severe abdominal pain, paralytic ileus, colonic dilation (or megaco ... | 2001 | 11252111 |
| pancytopenia and colitis with clostridium difficile in a rheumatoid arthritis patient taking methotrexate, antibiotics and non-steroidal anti-inflammatory drugs. | methotrexate (mtx) is widely used despite its side-effects. we describe a rheumatoid arthritis (ra) patient taking low-dose mtx who developed severe pancytopenia and colitis with clostridium difficile after the administration of antibiotics for acute pyelonephritis. our case suggests that low-dose mtx may seriously interact with antibiotics and that these side-effects should always be considered when ra patients are treated with mtx and antibiotics. | 2001 | 11254248 |
| endogenous corticosteroids modulate clostridium difficile toxin a-induced enteritis in rats. | we examined the role of glucocorticoids in acute inflammatory diarrhea mediated by clostridium difficile toxin a. toxin a (5 microg) or buffer was injected in rat ileal loops, and intestinal responses were measured after 30 min to 4 h. ileal toxin a administration increased plasma glucocorticoids after 1 h, at which time the toxin-stimulated secretion was not significant. administration of the glucocorticoid analog dexamethasone inhibited toxin a-induced intestinal secretion and inflammation and ... | 2001 | 11254479 |
| characterization of a cell surface protein of clostridium difficile with adhesive properties. | our laboratory has previously shown that clostridium difficile adherence to cultured cells is enhanced after heat shock at 60 degrees c and that it is mediated by a proteinaceous surface component. the present study was undertaken to identify the surface molecules of this bacterium that could play a role in its adherence to the intestine. the cwp66 gene, encoding a cell surface-associated protein of c. difficile 79-685, was isolated by immunoscreening of a c. difficile gene library with polyclon ... | 2001 | 11254569 |
| saccharomyces boulardii stimulates intestinal immunoglobulin a immune response to clostridium difficile toxin a in mice. | saccharomyces boulardii is a nonpathogenic yeast that protects against antibiotic-associated diarrhea and recurrent clostridium difficile colitis. the administration of c. difficile toxoid a by gavage to s. boulardii-fed balb/c mice caused a 1.8-fold increase in total small intestinal immunoglobulin a levels (p = 0.003) and a 4.4-fold increase in specific intestinal anti-toxin a levels (p < 0.001). enhancing host intestinal immune responses may be an important mechanism for s. boulardii-mediated ... | 2001 | 11254650 |
| [diarrhea caused by adenovirus and astrovirus in hospitalized immunodeficient patients]. | acute or chronic diarrheal illness are common complications in immunosuppressed patients such as human immunodeficiency virus (hiv)-infected, bone marrow or solid organ transplanted patients and those with leukaemias or other immune deficiency disorders. due to the importance of recognizing the feasible etiologies of diarrhea in order to give the proper antimicrobial chemotherapy or to avoid a misdiagnosis of rejection in the case of transplanted patients, we have investigated adenovirus and ast ... | 2001 | 11256256 |
| oligomerization-dependent regulation of motility and morphogenesis by the collagen xviii nc1/endostatin domain. | collagen xviii (c18) is a triple helical endothelial/epithelial basement membrane protein whose noncollagenous (nc)1 region trimerizes a cooh-terminal endostatin (es) domain conserved in vertebrates, caenorhabditis elegans and drosophila. here, the c18 nc1 domain functioned as a motility-inducing factor regulating the extracellular matrix (ecm)-dependent morphogenesis of endothelial and other cell types. this motogenic activity required es domain oligomerization, was dependent on rac, cdc42, and ... | 2001 | 11257123 |
| analysis of the physicochemical interactions between clostridium difficile toxins and cholestyramine using liquid chromatography with post-column derivatization. | a potential therapy for antibiotic-associated pseudomembranous colitis is to bind clostridium difficile toxins a and b using cholestyramine, a hydrophobic anion exchange medium. frontal analysis in isotonic phosphate buffer was studied using post-column derivatization with o-phthalaldehyde, which gave a highly sensitive (> or =30 ng) flow-through analysis. following load (1.5-3.0 microg toxin/3.6 mg), toxin a was bound at a slightly higher capacity than b, due to slower kinetics. a salt gradient ... | 2001 | 11257520 |
| cell volume kinetics of adherent epithelial cells measured by laser scanning reflection microscopy: determination of water permeability changes of renal principal cells. | the water channel aquaporin-2 (aqp2), a key component of the antidiuretic machinery in the kidney, is rapidly regulated by the antidiuretic hormone vasopressin. the hormone exerts its action by inducing a translocation of aqp2 from intracellular vesicles to the cell membrane. this step requires the elevation of intracellular cyclic amp. we describe here a new method, laser scanning reflection microscopy (lsrm), suitable for determining cellular osmotic water permeability coefficient changes in p ... | 2001 | 11259291 |
| rho gtpases are involved in the regulation of nf-kappab by genotoxic stress. | a common cellular response to genotoxic agents and inflammatory cytokines is the activation of nf-kappab. here, we addressed the question of whether small gtpases of the rho family are involved in the stimulation of nf-kappab signaling by genotoxic agents or tnfalpha in hela cells. inhibition of isoprenylation of rho proteins by use of the hmg-coa reductase inhibitor lovastatin attenuated uv-, doxorubicin-, and tnfalpha-induced degradation of ikappabalpha as well as drug-stimulated dna binding a ... | 2001 | 11262181 |
| [clostridium difficile-associated diarrhea--a growing problem in geriatric care]. | from 1994 to 1998 the incidence of clostridium difficile-associated diarrhoea (cdad) in the department of geriatric medicine, huddinge university hospital increased from 0.5% to 2.2% of all admissions. corresponding figures for the whole hospital were 0.3% and 0.6%, respectively. the increase in cdad at the department of geriatric medicine was parallel with a more than doubled consumption of antibiotics. all geriatric patients with cdad had been treated with antibiotics before onset of diarrhoea ... | 2001 | 11265569 |
| in vitro activity of telithromycin (hmr 3647) against 502 strains of anaerobic bacteria. | in a previous study, we compared hmr 3004 with azithromycin, clarithromycin, erythromycin and roxithromycin against 502 anaerobic bacteria using nccls-approved procedures. this report extends this study by reporting the activity of telithromycin (hmr 3647) against these strains. telithromycin inhibited 10% of bacteroides fragilis, 50% of other b. fragilis group organisms and 93% of other bacteroides spp. telithromycin inhibited all porphyromonas spp. and 98% of prevotella spp. activity against b ... | 2001 | 11266423 |
| an inhibitory role of rho in the vasopressin-mediated translocation of aquaporin-2 into cell membranes of renal principal cells. | vasopressin regulates water reabsorption in renal collecting duct principal cells by a camp-dependent translocation of the water channel aquaporin-2 (aqp2) from intracellular vesicles into the cell membrane. in the present work primary cultured inner medullary collecting duct cells were used to study the role of the proteins of the rho family in the translocation of aqp2. clostridium difficile toxin b, which inhibits all members of the rho family, clostridium limosum c3 toxin, which inactivates ... | 2001 | 11278652 |
| microbes and microbial toxins: paradigms for microbial-mucosal interactions ii. the integrated response of the intestine to clostridium difficile toxins. | clostridium difficile, the major etiologic factor of antibiotic-associated diarrhea and colitis, mediates its effects by releasing two large protein exotoxins, toxins a and b. a major toxin effect is related to the disassembly of actin microfilaments, leading to impairment of tight junctions in human colonocytes. the mechanism of actin disaggregation involves monoglucosylation of the signaling proteins rho a, rac, and cdc 42, which control stress fiber formation directly by toxins a and b. an im ... | 2001 | 11208538 |
| clostridium difficile colitis following antibiotic prophylaxis for dental procedures. | clostridium difficile-induced diarrhea and colitis are common complications of therapeutic courses of antibiotics in the hospital setting. we report a case of clostridium difficile colitis following antibiotic prophylaxis for endocarditis prior to dental procedures in the community setting. the infection necessitated hospital admission and a prolonged hospital stay. dental practitioners must be aware of the significance of the disease and the risk associated with antibiotics, whether they are us ... | 2001 | 11209501 |
| role of antibody response in outcome of antibiotic-associated diarrhoea. | 2001 | 11213086 | |
| association between antibody response to toxin a and protection against recurrent clostridium difficile diarrhoea. | we have reported that symptom-free carriers of clostridium difficile have a systemic anamnestic immune response to toxin a. the aim of this study was to determine whether an acquired immune response to toxin a, during an episode of c. difficile diarrhoea, influences risk of recurrence. | 2001 | 11213096 |
| molecular and genomic analysis of genes encoding surface-anchored proteins from clostridium difficile. | the gene slpa, encoding the s-layer precursor protein in the virulent clostridium difficile strains c253 and 79--685, was identified. the precursor protein carries a c-terminal highly conserved anchoring domain, similar to the one found in the cwp66 adhesin (previously characterized in strain 79--685), an slh domain, and a variable n-terminal domain mediating cell adherence. the genes encoding the s-layer precursor proteins and the cwp66 adhesin are present in a genetic locus carrying 17 open re ... | 2001 | 11292772 |
| clostridium difficile infection, hospital geography and time-space clustering. | to analyse spatial and temporal relationships of clostridium difficile-associated disease in an inner-city hospital, we retrospectively evaluated 283 episodes of confirmed c. difficile diarrhoea in the chelsea and westminster hospital between 1995 and 1998, against a background of relatively stable case mix, antibiotic usage and admission numbers, using knox analysis to determine the presence of disease clustering in time and space. we found five time-space clusters on four medical wards and bet ... | 2001 | 11294965 |
| evaluation of six commercial assays for the rapid detection of clostridium difficile toxin and/or antigen in stool specimens. | to evaluate six commercially available assays for the detection of clostridium difficile toxin and/or antigen in stool samples: one latex agglutination test (culturette brand cdt, becton dickinson), two elisas (culturette brand toxin cd, becton dickinson, and ridascreen c. difficile toxin a/b, r-biopharm), two chromatographic assays (clearview c. difficile a, oxoid, and colorpac toxin a, becton dickinson) and one enzyme immunoassay for the simultaneous detection of c. difficile common antigen an ... | 2001 | 11298143 |
| when are stool cultures indicated for hospitalized patients with diarrhea not caused by clostridium difficile (c-diff)? | 2001 | 11300978 | |
| extracolonic manifestations of clostridium difficile infections. presentation of 2 cases and review of the literature. | clostridium difficile is most commonly associated with colonic infection. it may, however, also cause disease in a variety of other organ systems. small bowel involvement is often associated with previous surgical procedures on the small intestine and is associated with a significant mortality rate (4 of 7 patients). when associated with bacteremia, the infection is, as expected, frequently polymicrobial in association with usual colonic flora. the mortality rate among patients with c. difficile ... | 2001 | 11307591 |
| glutaraldehyde-induced colitis. | to describe the etiology and clinical course of acute colitis occurring after flexible endoscopy. | 2001 | 11308232 |
| laboratory-based surveillance for vancomycin-resistant enterococci: utility of screening stool specimens submitted for clostridium difficile toxin assay. | to study vancomycin-resistant enterococci (vre) gastrointestinal colonization prevalence in high-risk hospitalized patients and to assess the cost and utility of this laboratory-based surveillance. | 2001 | 11310695 |
| protozoan enteric infection in aids related diarrhea in thailand. | the aim of this study was to determine the prevalence of enteric protozoa and other pathogens in aids patients with diarrhea in bangkok, thailand. of 288 consecutive patients screened in the 10 month period between november 1999-august 2000 inclusive, 55 (19.2%) had cryptosporidium spp, 13 (4.5%) had isospora oocyst, 11 (3.8%) had giardia lamblia, 3 (0.9%) had entamoeba histolytica, and 1 (0.3%) had iodamoeba butschlii infection. the prevalence of microsporidia was 11% in this study. of 251 pati ... | 2001 | 12041580 |
| nonfunctional gut? try a probiotic food. | this month's nutrition column discusses the problem of antibiotic-associated diarrhea. the overgrowth of the "good" bacteria, clostridium difficile, can cause severe abdominal pain, fever, and diarrhea. this article examines the benefits of including probiotics in a meal plan when the use of antibiotics is medically indicated. | 2001 | 11982180 |
| ecological effects of linezolid versus amoxicillin/clavulanic acid on the normal intestinal microflora. | twelve healthy subjects (6 females, 6 males; age range 18-40 y) participated in this trial. linezolid was given as 600 mg tablets b.i.d. for 7 d and amoxicillin/clavulanic acid as 1000 mg tablets o.d. for 7 d. the washout period between the administration of the 2 antibacterial agents was 4 weeks. faecal samples were collected prior to administration (days -2 and -1), during administration (days 4 and 8) and after administration (days 14, 21 and 35) for microbiological analyses. the samples were ... | 2001 | 11868762 |
| diagnostic tests for healthcare epidemiology. | diagnostic tests are important tools for surveillance in healthcare epidemiology. recent studies regarding the use of diagnostic tests for detecting the following epidemiologically important conditions or pathogens are reviewed: vancomycin-resistant enterococci, legionella, influenza, ventilator-associated pneumonia, clostridium difficile, bloodstream infection, and tuberculosis. | 2001 | 11964863 |
| molecular typing methods for the epidemiological identification of clostridium difficile strains. | toxigenic clostridium difficile is the etiologic agent of c. difficile-associated diarrhea (cdad), the most common cause of nosocomial diarrhea. cross-infection between patients and transmission through the environment and medical personnel are important factors in the acquisition of cdad. in order to understand differences in epidemiology and pathogenesis, a number of typing schemes have been developed. we will review the typing methods used to study the epidemiology of c. difficile infections ... | 2001 | 11901801 |
| [epidemiology. epidemics of clostridium difficile in geriatrics]. | 2001 | 11992965 | |
| phospholipid analogue profiles of peptostreptococcus, micromonas, and finegoldia species analysed by fast atom bombardment mass spectrometry. | species of peptostreptococcus cause a variety of infections, primarily abscesses of soft tissues, joints, and mucous membranes. the aim of this study was to compare the phospholipid analogue profiles of peptostreptococcus species, represented by p. anaerobius, p. asaccharolyticus, p. indolicus, p. lacrimalis, and p. prevotii; micromonas micros (p. micros) and finegoldia magna (p. magnus). after anaerobic growth on blood-faa, lipids extracted by chloroform-methanol (2:1 v/v) were purified, then a ... | 2001 | 15049457 |
| prevalence of clostridium difficile-associated diarrhoea among hospitalized jordanian patients. | we investigated stool specimens of 400 patients at jordan university hospital (300 patients with clinical diarrhoea and 100 controls without diarrhoea) for the presence of clostridium difficile or its toxin. we found a 9.7% prevalence rate of c. difficile or its toxin in stools of patients with diarrhoea. the prevalence of other potential enteric pathogens, such as salmonella spp. (2.3%), shigella spp. (1.0%) and entamoeba histolytica (2.7%), was significantly less. prevalence of c. difficile or ... | 2001 | 15332775 |
| minimizing the threat of c. difficile. | learn the signs and symptoms of clostridium difficile-associated diarrhea (cdad), outline infection control measures to help stop its spread and review treatment regimens. | 2000 | 15127529 |
| non-antibiotic therapy for clostridium difficile infection. | treatment of clostridium difficile infection with metronidazole or vancomycin is successful in the majority of cases, but relapse occurs in 15% to 20% of patients, and in some the infection can remain chronic for months or years. the use of non-antibiotic therapies for this infection is theoretically attractive, as they would enable the normal colonic microflora to be reconstituted which is a requirement for permanent eradication of this pathogen. over the past decade a number of non-antibiotic ... | 2000 | 11964789 |
| [up-to-date clinical and experimental basis for the use of probiotics] | objective: to evaluate the potential of probiotics or biotherapeutic agents for the prevention and/or treatment of selected intestinal infections. methods: medline database was searched for all relevant articles between 1990 and february 1998. bibliographies of articles were also used. all animal experiments and placebo-controlled human studies were reviewed in order to provide information on the mechanisms of action, potential efficacy, or adverse effects of these biotherapeutic agents. results ... | 2000 | 14676925 |
| clostridium difficile colitis in older adults in long-term facilities and the community: do their outcomes differ? | to determine if older adults from long-term care facilities (ltcf) have a greater risk of death than older people in the community after the development of clostridium difficile (cd) colitis during hospitalization. | 2000 | 12818032 |
| clostridial enterocolitis. | equine clostridial enterocolitis is being recognized with increasing frequency. it has been identified in foals with diarrhea, antibiotic-associated enterocolitis, or nosocomial enterocolitis. the sporadic occurrence of clostridial enterocolitis, the variety of types of clostridia involved, and the difficulty of experimentally reproducing the disease suggest that it is a poorly defined multifactorial syndrome. the risk factors associated with susceptibility to colonization and progressive infect ... | 2000 | 11219344 |
| bovine milk antibodies for health. | the immunoglobulins of bovine colostrum provide the major antimicrobial protection against microbial infections and confer a passive immunity to the newborn calf until its own immune system matures. the concentration in colostrum of specific antibodies against pathogens can be raised by immunising cows with these pathogens or their antigens. immune milk products are preparations made of such hyperimmune colostrum or antibodies enriched from it. these preparations can be used to give effective sp ... | 2000 | 11242458 |
| [role of the microbiology laboratory in the diagnosis of nosocomial diarrhea]. | diarrhea that occurs in hospitalized patients is frequent and may be due to infectious or noninfectious causes. in adults with nosocomial diarrhea, the most commonly detected agent is clostridium difficile; in children, rotaviruses are predominant. various studies have shown that bacterial enteric pathogens (e.g. salmonella spp., shigella spp., campylobacter spp...) or parasites are common causes of community-acquired diarrhea but rarely cause nosocomial enteritis. stool cultures for these patho ... | 2000 | 11244602 |
| [epidemiology, risk factors and prevention of clostridium difficile nosocomial infections]. | clostridium difficile is responsible for 10-25% of cases of antibiotic-associated diarrhea (aad) and for virtually all cases of antibiotic-associated pseudo-membranous colitis (pmc). this anaerobic spore-forming bacterium has been identified as the leading cause of nosocomial infectious diarrhea in adults. pathogenesis relies on a disruption of the normal bacterial flora of the colon, a colonization by c. difficile and the release of toxins a and b that cause mucosal damage and inflammation. inc ... | 2000 | 11244603 |
| [nosocomial diarrhea in adults due to microorganisms other than clostridium difficile]. | nosocomial diarrhea of the adult is to the largest extend caused by clostridium difficile. however, one must not underestimate the importance of other bacteria such as salmonella or shigella, which are most common in developing countries. other viruses and parasites can equally be responsible for causing such infections. | 2000 | 11244604 |
| [pediatric nosocomial diarrhea]. | nosocomial diarrhea are an important cause of childhood morbidity and mortality. rotavirus has been recognized as the most important cause of nosocomial gastroenteritidis particularly in infants during winter months. nosocomial diarrhea are also, caused by bacterial pathogen like clostridium difficile, salmonella, shigella, campylobacter. clostridium difficile toxin assay should be considered for patients who are receiving antibiotics. modifications of hygiene procedures and preventive measures ... | 2000 | 11244605 |
| clostridium difficile infection: risk factors, medical and surgical management. | clostridium difficile has become recognized as a cause of nosocomial infection which may progress to a fulminant disease. | 2000 | 11279333 |
| fusidic acid disk diffusion testing of clostridium difficile can be calibrated using single-strain regression analysis. | single-strain regression analysis (sra) was employed to calibrate the disk diffusion antibiotic susceptibility test for fusidic acid and clostridium difficile. mic determinations of 40 clinical isolates of c. difficile were performed with the e-test. the disk diffusion test was standardized according to the swedish reference group for antibiotics (srga). disks used for sra contained 1.5, 5, 15, 50 and 150 microg fusidic acid and the routine disk contained 50 microg fusidic acid. a control strain ... | 2000 | 11200373 |
| clostridium difficile, disinfectant, and elemental diet. | 2000 | 11145517 | |
| clostridium difficile and vancomycin-resistant enterococcus: the new nosocomial alliance. | the aims of this study were to determine the frequency of the association between clostridium difficile (c. difficile) and vancomycin-resistant enterococcus (vre) and delineate the role of c. difficile coinfection as a predictor of vre infection versus colonization and adverse outcome. | 2000 | 11151886 |
| regulation of intercellular tight junctions by zonula occludens toxin and its eukaryotic analogue zonulin. | the intestinal epithelium represents the largest interface between the external environment and the internal host milieu and constitutes the major barrier through which molecules can either be absorbed or secreted. there is now substantial evidence that tight junctions (tj) play a major role in regulating epithelial permeability by influencing paracellular flow of fluid and solutes. tj are one of the hallmarks of absorptive and secretory epithelia. evidence now exists that tj are dynamic rather ... | 2000 | 11193578 |
| effects of clostridium difficile toxins on epithelial cell barrier. | clostridium difficile is the primary agent responsible for many patients with antibiotic-associated diarrhea and almost all patients with pseudomembranous colitis following antibiotic therapy. c. difficile infection is the most frequent form of colitis in hospitals and nursing homes and affects millions of patients in the united states and abroad. the first event in the pathogenesis of c. difficile infection involves alterations of the indigenous colonic microflora by antibiotics, followed by co ... | 2000 | 11193598 |
| [diarrhea of nosocomial origin in an adult population]. | 2000 | 11196591 | |
| therapeutic efficacy of oral lactobacillus preparation for antibiotic-associated enteritis in guinea pigs. | enteritis is a potential complication of antimicrobial agent use, particularly in certain species of rodents. the organism most frequently implicated in this disease is clostridium difficile. anecdotal information suggests that administration of yogurt or other lactobacillus-containing products in conjunction with antimicrobial agents will prevent or minimize the effects of antibiotic-associated enteritis. we wanted to determine whether a single subcutaneous injection of clindamycin phosphate co ... | 2000 | 11178313 |
| postpartum clostridium sordellii infection associated with fatal toxic shock syndrome. | clostridium bacteria are anaerobic gram positive spore-form-ing bacilli, known to cause distinct clinical syndromes such as botulism, tetanus, pseudomembranous colitis and myonecrosis. the natural habitats of clostridium species are soil, water and the gastrointestinal tract of animals and humans. in 5-10% of all women, clostridium species are also found to be normal inhabitants in the microbial flora of the female genital tract. in case of a non-sexually transmitted genital tract infection, clo ... | 2000 | 11130102 |
| clostridium difficile toxins a and b can alter epithelial permeability and promote bacterial paracellular migration through ht-29 enterocytes. | clostridium difficile toxins a and b are the widely recognized etiologic agents of antibiotic-associated diseases ranging from diarrhea to pseudomembranous colitis. we hypothesized that c. difficile toxins may alter intestinal epithelial permeability and facilitate bacterial penetration of the intestinal epithelial barrier. experiments were designed to clarify the effects of c. difficile toxins a and b on the flux of inert particles across ht-29 enterocyte monolayers, and to correlate these resu ... | 2000 | 11131913 |
| clostridium difficile toxin and faecal lactoferrin assays in adult patients. | clostridium difficile is the primary aetiological agent of antibiotic-associated diarrhoea. the faecal lactoferrin (fl) assay is a simple in vitro test which is highly sensitive to the presence of a marker of polymorphonuclear cells. we evaluated the use of the fl assay in conjunction with the c. difficile toxin assay in faecal samples obtained from 231 adult patients. the relationship between c. difficile toxin and fl in both negative and positive status was highly significant statistically (p ... | 2000 | 11165926 |
| comparison of the e test to the reference agar dilution method for antibiotic susceptibility testing of clostridium difficile. | 2000 | 11168094 | |
| in vitro activity of an evernimicin derivative, sch27899, against anaerobic bacteria and propionibacterium acnes. | the in vitro activity of sch27899, a novel oligosaccharide antimicrobial agent, was compared with those of representatives of six classes of antimicrobial agents (piperacillin, clarithromycin, clindamycin, vancomycin, sitafloxacin and metronidazole) against clinical isolates of anaerobic bacteria and propionibacterium acnes. against peptostreptococcus: spp. and clostridium difficile, sch27899 was the most potent (mic(90) < 0.125 mg/l) of the agents examined. besides these gram-positive anaerobes ... | 2000 | 10980176 |
| bacterial infections of the colon. | the colon is a common site of infection for a heterogeneous group of bacterial pathogens. the presentation of disease in the colon is generally in the form of distinct syndromes, and it is important for physicians to recognize the causative organisms, because specific treatment is highly effective. the flouroquinolones have emerged as the treatment of choice for most food-borne bacterial pathogens. resistance to these agents is not a major issue at present except in campylobacter. clostridium di ... | 2000 | 11097742 |
| novel targets for the pharmacotherapy of diarrhoea: a view for the millennium. | acute diarrhoea continues to carry a high morbidity and mortality worldwide. intestinal infection is the major cause of acute diarrhoea although the prevalence of individual pathogens varies according to geographic location. in many countries in the industrialized world, reports of intestinal infections continue to increase; these are largely related to waterborne and foodborne outbreaks. acute diarrhoea may be due to increased intestinal secretion, commonly as a result of infection with enterot ... | 2000 | 11100992 |
| [recurrent clostridium difficile enterocolitis]. | pseudomembranous enterocolitis generally occurs after antibiotic treatment. the standard treatment is oral metronidazol or vancomycin. nevertheless, relapses of clostridium difficile enterocolitis are observed in 10-25% of cases. factors associated with recurrences include endogenous reinfection by spore formation, selective igg1 or iga deficiency or infection with mutated strains of clostridium difficile. recurrent clostridium difficile enterocolitis may be treated with repeat oral vancomycin c ... | 2000 | 11103440 |
| enterotoxins and the enteric nervous system--a fatal attraction. | although there has been extensive investigation of the biochemical consequences of the interactions between bacterial enterotoxins and intestinal epithelial cells and the mechanisms by which they induce intestinal secretion, relatively little attention has been given to other aspects of the host response to these enterotoxins. there is now compelling evidence that the enteric nervous system has a major role in enhancing the secretory state induced by cholera toxin, the e. coli enterotoxins and p ... | 2000 | 11111932 |
| treatment and prevention of antibiotic associated diarrhea. | mild or severe episodes of antibiotic-associated diarrhea (aad) are common side effects of antibiotic therapy. the incidence of aad differs with the antibiotic and varies from 5 to 25%. the major form of intestinal disorders is the pseudomembranous colitis associated with clostridium difficile which occurs in 10-20% of all aad. in most cases of aad discontinuation or replacement of the inciting antibiotic by another drug with lower aad risk can be effective. for more severe cases involving c. di ... | 2000 | 11118872 |
| inhibition of protein isoprenylation impairs rho-regulated early cellular response to genotoxic stress. | activation of c-jun n-terminal kinases (jnks) and nuclear factor-kappab (nf-kappab) are early cellular responses to genotoxic stress involved in the regulation of gene expression. pretreatment of cells with the hydroxymethyl glutaryl-coa reductase inhibitor lovastatin blocked stimulation of jnk1 activity by uv irradiation and by treatment with the alkylating compound methyl methanesulfonate but did not affect activation of extracellular signal-regulated kinase 2 by uv light. lovastatin also atte ... | 2000 | 11093778 |
| [the risk factors for clostridium difficile infection in elderly patients. a case-control study]. | to study the main risk factors associated with clostridium difficile infection in a geriatric unit. | 2000 | 11093871 |
| [nosocomial diarrhea due to clostridium difficile]. | 2000 | 11093872 | |
| leukocytosis and clostridium difficile-associated diarrhea. | 2000 | 11095311 | |
| "flora power"-- fecal bacteria cure chronic c. difficile diarrhea. | 2000 | 11095314 | |
| leukocytosis as a harbinger and surrogate marker of clostridium difficile infection in hospitalized patients with diarrhea. | clostridium difficile is the etiological agent of antibiotic-associated diarrhea and pseudomembranous colitis and is a leading cause of nosocomial diarrhea. the objective of the study was to examine if leukocytosis could be a harbinger and surrogate marker of c. difficile infection in hospitalized patients. | 2000 | 11095331 |
| treatment of recurrent clostridium difficile-associated diarrhea by administration of donated stool directly through a colonoscope. | 2000 | 11095355 | |
| asymptomatic carriage of clostridium difficile and serum levels of igg antibody against toxin a. | clostridium difficile infection can result in asymptomatic carriage, mild diarrhea, or fulminant pseudomembranous colitis. we studied whether antibody responses to c. difficile toxins affect the risks of colonization, diarrhea, and asymptomatic carriage. | 2000 | 10666429 |
| analysis of the pathogenicity locus in clostridium difficile strains. | the genes for clostridium difficile toxins a and b (tcda and tcdb) are part of a 19.6-kb pathogenicity locus (paloc) that includes the genes tcdd, tcde, and tcdc. to determine whether the c. difficile paloc is a stable and conserved genetic unit in toxigenic strains, a multiplex polymerase chain reaction was used to analyze 50 toxigenic, 39 nontoxigenic, and 2 toxin-defective isolates. the respective amplicons were identified for tcda-e in the toxigenic isolates; these were absent in the nontoxi ... | 2000 | 10669352 |
| polarization of chemoattractant receptor signaling during neutrophil chemotaxis. | morphologic polarity is necessary for chemotaxis of mammalian cells. as a probe of intracellular signals responsible for this asymmetry, the pleckstrin homology domain of the akt protein kinase (or protein kinase b), tagged with the green fluorescent protein (phakt-gfp), was expressed in neutrophils. upon exposure of cells to chemoattractant, phakt-gfp is recruited selectively to membrane at the cell's leading edge, indicating an internal signaling gradient that is much steeper than that of the ... | 2000 | 10669415 |
| new method to generate enzymatically deficient clostridium difficile toxin b as an antigen for immunization. | the family of the large clostridial cytotoxins, encompassing clostridium difficile toxins a and b as well as the lethal and hemorrhagic toxins from clostridium sordellii, monoglucosylate the rho gtpases by transferring a glucose moiety from the cosubstrate udp-glucose. here we present a new detoxification procedure to block the enzyme activity by treatment with the reactive udp-2', 3'-dialdehyde to result in alkylation of toxin a and b. alkylation is likely to occur in the catalytic domain, beca ... | 2000 | 10678912 |
| enhancement of the migration of metastatic human breast cancer cells by phosphatidic acid. | phosphatidic acid (pa), lysophosphatidic acid (lpa), and sphingosine 1-phosphate (spp) are naturally occurring phospholipids which induce a variety of effects as extracellular messengers. in this study, we compared the effects of these phospholipid signaling molecules on the migration of invasive and noninvasive breast cancer cell lines, an index of the metastatic potential of these cells. as previously demonstrated, invasive mda-mb-231 breast cancer cells exhibited increased constitutive (nonst ... | 2000 | 10679229 |
| in vitro activities of novel trans-3,5-disubstituted pyrrolidinylthio-1beta-methylcarbapenems with potent activities against methicillin-resistant staphylococcus aureus and pseudomonas aeruginosa. | the in vitro activities of the novel 1beta-methylcarbapenems j-111, 225, j-114,870, and j-114,871, which have a structurally unique side chain that consists of a trans-3,5-disubstituted 5-arylpyrrolidin-3-ylthio moiety at the c-2 position, were compared with those of reference antibiotics. among isolates of both methicillin-resistant staphylococcus aureus (mrsa) and methicillin-resistant coagulase-negative staphylococci (mrcons), 90% were inhibited by j-111,347 (prototype), j-111,225, j-114,870, ... | 2000 | 10681308 |
| p21-activated kinase 1 phosphorylates the death agonist bad and protects cells from apoptosis. | bad is a critical regulatory component of the intrinsic cell death machinery that exerts its death-promoting effect upon heterodimerization with the antiapoptotic proteins bcl-2 and bcl-x(l). growth factors promote cell survival through phosphorylation of bad, resulting in its dissociation from bcl-2 and bcl-x(l) and its association with 14-3-3tau. survival of interleukin 3 (il-3)-dependent fl5.12 lymphoid progenitor cells is attenuated upon treatment with the rho gtpase-inactivating toxin b fro ... | 2000 | 10611223 |
| clostridium difficile-associated diseases. the clinical courses of 18 fatal cases. | severe cases of clostridium difficile-associated diseases with sepsis seem to be rare, as are case reports about the pathogen involved and sepsis. our objective was to investigate the frequency and the clinical courses of severe cases of c. difficile-associated diseases with a fatal outcome in our hospital. | 2000 | 10872133 |
| usefulness of simultaneous detection of toxin a and glutamate dehydrogenase for the diagnosis of clostridium difficile-associated diseases. | the aim of this study was to evaluate an immunoassay (triage; biosite diagnostics, bmd, france) for detecting both a specific antigen of clostridium difficile (glutamate dehydrogenase [gdh]) and toxin a. evaluation of the test was carried out in 304 fecal samples from patients suspected of having clostridium difficile-associated diseases. the results with gdh and toxin a were compared with those of a culture and cytotoxicity assay (toxin b). the prevalence rates for toxin b-positive and culture- ... | 2000 | 10947228 |
| re: probiotics and c difficile diarrhea. | 2000 | 10950076 | |
| in vitro and in vivo activities of nitazoxanide against clostridium difficile. | we have used the hamster model of antibiotic-induced clostridium difficile intestinal disease to evaluate nitazoxanide (ntz), a nitrothiazole benzamide antimicrobial agent. the following in vitro and in vivo activities of ntz in the adult hamster were examined and compared to those of metronidazole and vancomycin: (i) mics and minimum bactericidal concentrations (mbcs) against c. difficile, (ii) toxicity, (iii) ability to prevent c. difficile-associated ileocecitis, and (iv) propensity to induce ... | 2000 | 10952564 |
| images in clinical medicine. pseudomembranous colitis. | 2000 | 10954764 | |
| [pseudomembranous colitis caused by clostridium difficile]. | 2000 | 10958059 | |
| toxic pseudomembranous colitis in a patient with ulcerative colitis. | toxic colitis is a severe disease that may be caused by several inflammatory and/or infectious diseases. ulcerative colitis is one of the most frequent causes of toxic colitis in the united states. toxic megacolon complicating clostridium difficile colitis is a rare occurrence with significant morbidity and mortality. case report: a 52-year-old male presented with rectal bleeding and tenesmus. he had been treated for amebiasis with metronidazole, and had improved. two weeks later, symptoms recur ... | 2000 | 10961591 |