| [viral gastroenteritis in children]. | purpose of the trial: to establish the involvement of viruses in the aetiology of diarrhoeal disorders in children, the incidence of individual viruses in various age groups and in different seasons, the impact of the aetiological agent on the clinical picture, the severity of the disorder, therapy and duration of hospital stay. the significance of intestinal viruses as nosocomial pathogens,a comparison of the sensitivity of latex agglutination and electron microscopy in the diagnosis of rotavir ... | 2005 | 16025426 |
| uk launches inquiry into clostridium difficile outbreak. | | 2005 | 16027424 |
| probiotic therapy for the prevention and treatment of clostridium difficile-associated diarrhea: a systematic review. | the recent increase in the number and severity of cases of nosocomial clostridium difficile-associated diarrhea (cdad) has prompted interest in the use of probiotics for the prevention and treatment of this disease. we performed a systematic review of randomized controlled trials to assess the effectiveness of probiotic therapy. | 2005 | 16027434 |
| campylobacter jejuni pancolitis mimicking idiopathic ulcerative colitis. | campylobacter jejuni is the most common cause of community-acquired acute bacterial diarrhea. campylobacter diarrhea is usually accompanied by fever and abdominal pain. campylobacter diarrhea is usually watery. nausea, vomiting, headache, and myalgias may also be present. tenesmus is a common feature. the majority of patients with campylobacter diarrhea have some component of segmental colitis, usually beginning in the small bowel and progressing distally to the cecum and colon. c. jejuni is a r ... | 2005 | 16027651 |
| cytomegalovirus colitis mimicking ischemic colitis in an immunocompetent host. | cytomegalovirus (cmv) causes infections in healthy individuals and compromised hosts. in compromised hosts, cmv may cause encephalitis, pneumonia, hepatitis, colitis, and so forth. in immunocompetent hosts, cmv mononucleosis is the most common clinical manifestation and cmv colitis is rare. we present a case of an 82-year-old immunocompetent man who presented with community-acquired bloody diarrhea. a computed tomography scan of the abdomen revealed pan-colitis. his age and abdominal pains sugge ... | 2005 | 16027652 |
| can the law help hewitt take mrsa to the cleaners? | | 2005 | 16032959 |
| diarrhea in liver transplant recipients: etiology and management. | diarrhea is common after liver transplantation (lt). the true incidence of diarrhea in liver transplant recipients is unknown but possibly ranges from 10% to 43% based on a few published studies in other solid organ and bone marrow transplantation. infectious etiologies, including cytomegalovirus (cmv), clostridium difficile, and occasional atypical intestinal infections, are the most common causes. diarrhea is also a frequent side effect of immunosuppressive medications. to variable extents, my ... | 2005 | 16035068 |
| clostridium difficile toxin a induces intestinal epithelial cell apoptosis and damage: role of gln and ala-gln in toxin a effects. | the aim of this study was to investigate the effect of clostridium difficile toxin a (txa) on intestinal epithelial cell migration, apoptosis, and transepithelial resistance and to evaluate the effect of glutamine (gln) and its stable derivative, alanyl-glutamine (ala-gln), on txa-induced damage. migration was measured in rat intestinal epithelial cells (iec-6) 6 and 24 hr after a razor scrape of the cell monolayer. cell proliferation was indirectly measured utilizing the tetrazolium salt wst-1. ... | 2005 | 16047471 |
| effect of antibiotic treatment on growth of and toxin production by clostridium difficile in the cecal contents of mice. | in mice, subcutaneous administration of antibiotics that disrupt the anaerobic microflora (i.e., clindamycin, piperacillin-tazobactam, and ceftriaxone) facilitated in vitro growth of and toxin production by clostridium difficile in cecal contents, whereas antibiotics that cause minimal disruption of the anaerobic microflora (i.e., levofloxacin, cefepime, and aztreonam) did not. | 2005 | 16048976 |
| structural basis for the function of clostridium difficile toxin b. | toxin b is a member of the family of large clostridial cytotoxins which are of great medical importance. its catalytic fragment was crystallized in the presence of udp-glucose and mn2+. the structure was determined at 2.2 a resolution, showing that toxin b belongs to the glycosyltransferase type a family. however, toxin b contains as many as 309 residues in addition to the common chainfold, which most likely contribute to the target specificity. a superposition with other glycosyltransferases sh ... | 2005 | 16054646 |
| anisomycin induces cox-2 mrna expression through p38(mapk) and creb independent of small gtpases in intestinal epithelial cells. | cyclooxygenase (cox)-2 expression in intestinal epithelial cells is associated with colorectal carcinogenesis. cox-2 expression is induced by numerous growth factors and gastrointestinal hormones through multiple protein kinase cascades. here, the role of mitogen activated protein kinases (mapks) and small gtpases in cox-2 expression was investigated. anisomycin and sorbitol induced cox-2 expression in non-transformed, intestinal epithelial iec-18 cells. both anisomycin and sorbitol activated p3 ... | 2005 | 16054711 |
| activity of selected oxidizing microbicides against the spores of clostridium difficile: relevance to environmental control. | clostridium difficile is an increasingly common nosocomial pathogen, and its spores are resistant to common environmental surface disinfectants. many high-level disinfectants (eg, aldehydes) are unsuitable for environmental decontamination because they need several hours of contact to be sporicidal. this study tested the potential of selected oxidative microbicides to inactivate c. difficile spores on hard surfaces in relatively short contact times at room temperature. | 2005 | 16061137 |
| rho gtpases regulate rhabdom morphology in octopus photoreceptors. | in the cephalopod retina, light/dark adaptation is accompanied by a decrease/increase in rhabdom size and redistribution of rhodopsin and retinochrome. rearrangements in the actin cytoskeleton probably govern changes in rhabdom size by regulating the degradation/formation of rhabdomere microvilli. photopigment movements may be directed by microtubules present in the outer segment core cytoplasm. we believe that rhodopsin activation by light stimulates rho and rac signaling pathways, affecting th ... | 2005 | 16079005 |
| neutropenic enterocolitis in an advanced epithelial ovarian cancer patient treated with paclitaxel/platinum-based chemotherapy: a case report and review of the literature. | literature data show that neutropenic enterocolitis is a rare but severe complication that can occur in cancer patients treated with chemotherapy and especially with taxanes. | 2005 | 16080485 |
| involvement of a small gtp binding protein in hiv-1 release. | there is evidence suggesting that actin binding to hiv-1 encoded proteins, or even actin dynamics themselves, might play a key role in virus budding and/or release from the infected cell. a crucial step in the reorganisation of the actin cytoskeleton is the engagement of various different gtp binding proteins. we have thus studied the involvement of gtp-binding proteins in the final steps of the hiv-1 viral replication cycle. | 2005 | 16080789 |
| inhibition of clostridium perfringens by a novel strain of bacillus subtilis isolated from the gastrointestinal tracts of healthy chickens. | the objectives of this study were to isolate beneficial strains of microorganisms from the gastrointestinal tracts of healthy chickens and to screen them against clostridium perfringens, a causative agent of necrotic enteritis in poultry. one of the bacteria isolated, a strain of bacillus subtilis, was found to possess an anticlostridial factor that could inhibit the c. perfringens atcc 13124 used in this study. the anticlostridial factor produced by b. subtilis pb6 was found to be fully or part ... | 2005 | 16085801 |
| eradication of enteric helicobacters in mongolian gerbils is complicated by the occurrence of clostridium difficile enterotoxemia. | outbred mongolian gerbils from a united states commercial source were examined for colonization with naturally occurring enterohepatic helicobacter spp. helicobacter spp. were identified in the cecum and colon by culture and by using genus-specific primers in polymerase chain reaction (pcr) assays. nutritionally balanced triple-antibiotic wafers (containing amoxicillin, metronidazole, and bismuth) used previously to eliminate helicobacter infections in mice were administered in an attempt to era ... | 2005 | 16089175 |
| probiotics for recurrent clostridium difficile disease. | | 2005 | 16091446 |
| reduction in nosocomial transmission of drug-resistant bacteria after introduction of an alcohol-based handrub. | to assess quantitatively the clinical impact of using an alcohol-based handrub (abhr) in the hospital environment, measuring impact as the incidence of new, nosocomial isolates of drug-resistant organisms. | 2005 | 16092747 |
| inhibition of rac gtpase triggers a c-jun- and bim-dependent mitochondrial apoptotic cascade in cerebellar granule neurons. | rho gtpases are key transducers of integrin/extracellular matrix and growth factor signaling. although integrin-mediated adhesion and trophic support suppress neuronal apoptosis, the role of rho gtpases in neuronal survival is unclear. here, we have identified rac as a critical pro-survival gtpase in cerebellar granule neurons (cgns) and elucidated a death pathway triggered by its inactivation. gtp-loading of rac1 was maintained in cgns by integrin-mediated (rgd-dependent) cell attachment and tr ... | 2005 | 16092944 |
| infectious disease surveillance update. | | 2005 | 16094737 |
| luxs/autoinducer-2 quorum sensing molecule regulates transcriptional virulence gene expression in clostridium difficile. | toxigenic clostridium difficile ccug19126 produces the autoinducer-2 (ai-2) quorum sensing molecule that induces bioluminescence in vibrio harveyi bb170 reporter strain. ai-2-containing cell-free supernatants from mid-log phase c. difficile and escherichia coli dh5alpha expressing recombinant luxs(cd) upregulated the transcript levels of tcda (7-10-fold), tcdb (4-6-fold), and tcde (2-3-fold) in early-log c. difficile. in contrast, no induction occurred when cells were exposed to sterile medium o ... | 2005 | 16098481 |
| preoperative oral antibiotics in colorectal surgery increase the rate of clostridium difficile colitis. | bowel preparation traditionally consists of cathartics, oral antibiotics, and intravenous antibiotics. we hypothesize that the use of oral antibiotics in bowel preparation results in a higher rate of postoperative clostridium difficile colitis. | 2005 | 16103284 |
| clostridium perfringens type a & antibiotic associated diarrhoea. | clostridium perfringens type a (cpa) isolates produce lethal necrotizing antigens and the heat resistant forms of the organism are associated with pathogenic outcome in humans. cpa has also been implicated in antibiotic associated diarrhoea (aad). we therefore undertook this study to investigate the presence of cpa in stool samples of patients with aad in a tertiary care setting in north india. | 2005 | 16106091 |
| clostridium difficile-associated diarrhea in 200 canadian children. | clostridium difficile-associated diarrhea is a major problem in adults. the present study was conducted to assess risk factors and outcomes in children with c difficile-associated diarrhea. | 2005 | 16107901 |
| audit is important part of drug safety and regulation. | | 2005 | 16110086 |
| [diagnostic tests: clostridium difficile]. | | 2005 | 16111229 |
| treatment of clostridium difficile-associated disease: old therapies and new strategies. | clostridium difficile-associated disease (cdad) causes substantial morbidity and mortality. the pathogenesis is multifactorial, involving altered bowel flora, production of toxins, and impaired host immunity, often in a nosocomial setting. current guidelines recommend treatment with metronidazole; vancomycin is a second-line agent because of its potential effect on the hospital environment. we present the data that led to these recommendations and explore other therapeutic options, including ant ... | 2005 | 16122678 |
| [comparison of rapid tests of toxin a and glutamate dehydrogenase and culture for detection of clostridium diffcile]. | clostridium difficile is a major cause of antibiotics-associated diarrhea (aad), and accounts for 15-20% of all the cases. especially, aad caused by c. difficile is called as c. difficile-associated diarrhea (cdad). diagnosis of cdad is made by identification of c. difficile in the feces obtained from the patients with diarrhea after administration of antibiotics. we herein compared 3 methods, detection of toxin a and glutamate dehydrogenase (gdh) as well as culture for c. difficile. two hundred ... | 2005 | 16124706 |
| genomics of clostridial pathogens: implication of extrachromosomal elements in pathogenicity. | the recently decoded genomes of the major clostridial toxin-producing pathogens clostridium perfringens, clostridium tetani, clostridium botulinum and clostridium difficile have provided a huge amount of new sequence data. recent studies have focused on the identification and investigation of pathogenic determinants and the regulatory events governing their expression. the sequence data revealed also the genomic background of virulence genes, as well as the contribution of extrachromosomal eleme ... | 2005 | 16125440 |
| toxic megacolon complicating escherichia coli o157 infection. | toxic megacolon is a well known complication in inflammatory bowel disease such as ulcerative colitis or crohn's disease. the development of toxic megacolon as a complication of infectious colitis is rare. however it is recognised as a complication of enteric infections caused by clostridium difficile, campylobacter jejuni, shigella, salmonella species, cytomegalovirus and amoebae. we describe a case of necrotising haemorrhagic ileo-colitis in a previously fit and healthy young adult female caus ... | 2006 | 16126276 |
| pseudomembranous colitis associated with chemotherapy with 5-fluorouracil. | pseudomembranous colitis is frequently associated with antibiotics and more rarely with chemotherapeutic agents such as 5-fluorouracil. the objective of this study is to show that it is possible to confuse this infection with chemotherapy associated toxicity. we present a 54 year old woman who underwent surgery for colorectal cancer and in the first cycle of chemotherapy with 5-fluorouracil developed pseudomembranous colitis. we detected the toxin b of clostridium difficile in stools and we bega ... | 2005 | 16131450 |
| [role of obligate anaerobes in infections in hospitalized patients and therapeutic options]. | monitoring of prevalence and antibiotic susceptibility of strictly anaerobic bacteria, causing infections in hospitalized patients, constitutes a part of a program for prudent use of antibiotics. the aim of the study was to assess prevalence of strictly anaerobic bacteria in patients hospitalized in a tertiary care hospital in 2001-2002 with reference to empiric antibiotic therapy. the most common gram-positive bacteria were clostridium difficile--27.7%, peptostreptococcus spp. and peptoniphilus ... | 2005 | 16134392 |
| [a 74-year-old woman with severe abdominal pain]. | | 2005 | 16137479 |
| clostridium difficile associated diarrhoea: diagnosis and treatment. | | 2005 | 16141157 |
| comparison of the efficacy of ramoplanin and vancomycin in both in vitro and in vivo models of clindamycin-induced clostridium difficile infection. | treatment of clostridium difficile infection (cdi) is limited primarily to either metronidazole or vancomycin. we compared vancomycin and a novel glycolipodepsipeptide, ramoplanin, in both hamster and in vitro gut models of clindamycin-induced cdi. | 2005 | 16143709 |
| molecular analysis of colonized bacteria in a human newborn infant gut. | the complex ecosystem of intestinal microflora is estimated to harbor approximately 400 different microbial species, mostly bacteria. however, studies on bacterial colonization have mostly been based on culturing methods, which only detect a small fraction of the whole microbiotic ecosystem of the gut. to clarify the initial acquisition and subsequent colonization of bacteria in an infant within the few days after birth, phylogenetic analysis was performed using 16s rdna sequences from the dna i ... | 2005 | 16145549 |
| clostridium difficile--a new threat to public health? | | 2005 | 16156003 |
| clostridium difficile: responding to a new threat from an old enemy. | | 2005 | 16156321 |
| varying rates of clostridium difficile-associated diarrhea at prevention epicenter hospitals. | clostridium difficile-associated diarrhea (cdad) causes substantial healthcare-associated morbidity. unlike other common healthcare-associated pathogens, little comparative information is available about cdad rates in hospitalized patients. | 2005 | 16156322 |
| risk factors for acquisition of clostridium difficile-associated diarrhea among outpatients at a cancer hospital. | clostridium difficile-associated diarrhea (cdad) is an important infection in hospital settings. its impact on outpatient care has not been well defined. | 2005 | 16156323 |
| clostridium difficile among hospitalized patients receiving antibiotics: a case-control study. | clostridium difficile is the most common cause of infectious nosocomial diarrhea and can be found in up to 30% of asymptomatic hospitalized patients. our primary aim was to compare the clinical characteristics of hospitalized patients who received antibiotics and developed c. difficile-associated diarrhea (cdad) with those of hospitalized patients who received antibiotics and did not develop the disease. | 2005 | 16156324 |
| spatial and temporal analysis of clostridium difficile infection in patients at a pediatric hospital in california. | to examine the usefulness of temporal and spatial analysis in identifying nosocomial transmission of clostridium difficile among pediatric patients hospitalized on four wards at the children's hospital of central california from september 8, 1998, to january 16, 1999. | 2005 | 16156325 |
| change of the donor substrate specificity of clostridium difficile toxin b by site-directed mutagenesis. | the large cytotoxins of clostridia species glycosylate and thereby inactivate small gtpases of the rho family. clostridium difficile toxins a and b and clostridium sordellii lethal toxin use udp-glucose as the donor for glucosylation of rho/ras gtpases. in contrast, alpha-toxin from clostridium novyi n-acetylglucosaminylates rho gtpases by using udp-n-acetylglucosamine as a donor substrate. based on the crystal structure of c. difficile toxin b, we studied the sugar donor specificity of the toxi ... | 2005 | 16157585 |
| c. difficile may have killed 2000 in quebec: study. | | 2005 | 16179430 |
| mortality attributable to nosocomial clostridium difficile-associated disease during an epidemic caused by a hypervirulent strain in quebec. | since 2002 an epidemic of clostridium difficile-associated disease (cdad) caused by a hypervirulent toxinotype iii ribotype 027 strain has spread to many hospitals in quebec. the strain has also been found in the united states, the united kingdom and the netherlands. the effects of this epidemic on mortality and duration of hospital stay remain unknown. we measured these effects among patients admitted to a hospital in quebec during 2003 and 2004. | 2005 | 16179431 |
| outbreak from a high-toxin intruder: clostridium difficile. | | 2005 | 16182878 |
| toxin production by an emerging strain of clostridium difficile associated with outbreaks of severe disease in north america and europe. | toxins a and b are the primary virulence factors of clostridium difficile. since 2002, an epidemic of c difficile-associated disease with increased morbidity and mortality has been present in quebec province, canada. we characterised the dominant strain of this epidemic to determine whether it produces higher amounts of toxins a and b than those produced by non-epidemic strains. | 2005 | 16182895 |
| gastrointestinal bacteria generate nitric oxide from nitrate and nitrite. | denitrifying bacteria in soil generate nitric oxide (no) from nitrite as a part of the nitrogen cycle, but little is known about no production by commensal bacteria. we used a chemiluminescence assay to explore if human faeces and different representative gut bacteria are able to generate no. bacteria were incubated anaerobically in gas-tight bags, with or without nitrate or nitrite in the growth medium. in addition, luminal no levels were measured in vivo in the intestines in germ-free and conv ... | 2005 | 16183308 |
| toxigenic c. difficile induced inflammatory marker expression by human intestinal epithelial cells is asymmetrical. | clostridium difficile infection of the intestinal epithelium and consequent pseudomembranous colitis is an important cause of morbidity and mortality. pathogenesis has been ascribed exclusively to toxin production. using in vitro models of human intestinal epithelial layers, we show that exposure to toxigenic c. difficile upregulates epithelial expression of il-8 and icam-1, two molecules important in neutrophil chemoattraction and adhesion and subsequent inflammation. il-8 production was also s ... | 2006 | 16185718 |
| in vitro activities of doripenem and comparator agents against 364 anaerobic clinical isolates. | the in vitro activities of doripenem against 364 anaerobic isolates were measured and compared to those of ertapenem, imipenem, meropenem, ceftriaxone, and levofloxacin. all of the carbapenems were active against nearly all bacteroides fragilis group isolates. doripenem was either comparable to or slightly less active than imipenem and meropenem against most isolates but more active than the other penems against clostridium difficile. doripenem appears to have excellent activity against a broad ... | 2005 | 16189137 |
| evidence for clostridial implication in necrotizing enterocolitis through bacterial fermentation in a gnotobiotic quail model. | despite extensive research, the pathogenesis of neonatal necrotizing enterocolitis (nec) remains elusive. the aim of our work was to investigate the role of bacterial strains involved in nec in gnotobiotic quails as experimental model. six groups of germ-free quails that were fed a lactose diet were associated with klebsiella pneumoniae, clostridium perfringens, c. difficile, c. paraputrificum, or c. butyricum (two strains). implantation level, incidence of cecal lesions, production of short-cha ... | 2005 | 16189185 |
| surveillance for resistance to metronidazole and vancomycin in genotypically distinct and uk epidemic clostridium difficile isolates in a large teaching hospital. | | 2005 | 16195254 |
| activation of protein kinase d3 by signaling through rac and the alpha subunits of the heterotrimeric g proteins g12 and g13. | pkd is the founding member of a novel protein kinase family that also includes pkd2 and pkd3. pkd has been the focus of most studies up to date, but little is known about the mechanisms that mediate pkd3 activation. here, we show that addition of aluminum fluoride to cos-7 cells cotransfected with pkd3 and galpha13 or galpha12 induced pkd3 activation, which was associated with a transient plasma membrane translocation of cytosolic pkd3. treatment with clostridium difficile toxin b blocked pkd3 a ... | 2006 | 16198087 |
| [life-threatening infections with a new strain of clostridium difficile]. | three men, aged 39, 73, and 66 years, respectively, developed an infection with a new strain ofclostridium difficile, ribotype 027.c.difficile-associated diarrhoea (cdad) occurred in two patients after multiple abdominal surgery and in the third patient one week after autologous haematopoietic cell transplantation. within a few days, despite antibiotic therapy, all three patients developed severe (pseudomembranous) colitis with sepsis for which admission to the intensive care unit was required. ... | 2005 | 16201595 |
| [clostridium difficile ribotype 027, toxinotype iii in the netherlands]. | recently, two dutch hospitals reported outbreaks of clostridium difficile ribotype 027, toxinotype iii. this strain, which was seen earlier in the united states, canada and the united kingdom, produces large amounts of toxins due to a defect in the toxin-regulating gene and causes severe diarrhoea. antibiotic use, especially use of fluoroquinolones, is a risk factor. control of outbreaks is hampered by the fact that clostridium forms spores that can survive for a very long time in the environmen ... | 2005 | 16201596 |
| emergence of fluoroquinolones as the predominant risk factor for clostridium difficile-associated diarrhea: a cohort study during an epidemic in quebec. | since 2002, an epidemic of clostridium difficile-associated-diarrhea (cdad) associated with a high case-fatality rate has involved >30 hospitals in the province of quebec, canada. in 2003, a total of 55% of patients with cdad at our hospital had received fluoroquinolones in the preceding 2 months. it has been suggested that massive use of proton pump inhibitors might have facilitated this epidemic. | 2005 | 16206099 |
| multilocus sequence analysis and comparative evolution of virulence-associated genes and housekeeping genes of clostridium difficile. | a multilocus sequence analysis of ten virulence-associated genes was performed to study the genetic relationships between 29 clostridium difficile isolates of various origins, hosts and clinical presentations, and selected from the main lineages previously defined by multilocus sequence typing (mlst) of housekeeping genes. colonization-factor-encoding genes (cwp66, cwp84, fbp68, flic, flid, groel and slpa), toxin a and b genes (tcda and tcdb), and the toxin a and b positive regulator gene (tcdd) ... | 2005 | 16207902 |
| variability of clostridium difficile surface proteins and specific serum antibody response in patients with clostridium difficile-associated disease. | pathogen attachment is a crucial early step in mucosal infections. this step is mediated by important virulence factors, such as surface proteins. clostridium difficile surface proteins have been identified as (i) adhesins (the flagellar cap protein flid; the flagellin flic; and the cell wall protein cwp 66 with a two domain-structure [cw 66 n-terminal and cwp 66 c-terminal domains]) and (ii) protease (the cwp 84 protein). to address the roles of these proteins in the pathogenesis of clostridium ... | 2005 | 16207956 |
| prospective multicenter evaluation of a new immunoassay and real-time pcr for rapid diagnosis of clostridium difficile-associated diarrhea in hospitalized patients. | in a prospective multicenter study, 367 fecal samples from 300 patients with diarrhea were tested for clostridium difficile-associated diarrhea (cdad) with a new immunochromatography assay for toxins a and b (ictab), a real-time pcr on the toxin b gene, and the cell cytotoxicity assay. twenty-three (6.2%) of the 367 fecal samples were positive by the cell cytotoxicity assay. with the cell cytotoxicity assay as the "gold standard," the sensitivity, specificity, positive predictive value, and nega ... | 2005 | 16208012 |
| use of a selective enrichment broth to recover clostridium difficile from stool swabs stored under different conditions. | the recovery of clostridium difficile from the stools of patients with c. difficile-associated diarrhea was evaluated by use of an enrichment broth (cycloserine-cefoxitin fructose broth supplemented with 0.1% sodium taurocholate [tccfb]) and was compared to that from selective agar (cycloserine-cefoxitin fructose agar [ccfa]) and alcohol shock followed by inoculation onto blood agar (as-ba). tccfb was superior to ccfa and as-ba, and neither the storage time nor the storage temperature affected t ... | 2005 | 16208013 |
| detection of clostridium difficile and its toxin a (tcda) in stool specimens from hospitalised patients. | the study has been carried out to determine the frequency of c. difficile recovery in stool cultures and the rate of c. difficile toxin a detection in faecal specimens of patients with nosocomial diarrhoea. clinical specimens comprised 4414 stool samples collected from 1998 to 2002 from adult patients hospitalised in different wards of a university-affiliated hospital (1200 beds) and suspected of c. difficile-associated disease (cdad). there have been 1308 (29.6%) specimens positive for c. diffi ... | 2005 | 16209104 |
| probiotics and nutraceuticals: non-medicinal treatments of gastrointestinal diseases. | the demonstration that immune and epithelial cells can discriminate between different microbial and bioactive plant species has extended the known mechanism(s) of action of nutraceuticals and probiotics beyond simple nutrition and/or antimicrobial effects. the progressive unravelling of these plant and bacterial effects on systemic immune and intestinal epithelial cell function has led to new credence for the use of probiotics and nutraceuticals in clinical medicine. level i evidence now exists ... | 2005 | 16214413 |
| increase of faecal bifidobacteria due to dietary oligosaccharides induces a reduction of clinically relevant pathogen germs in the faeces of formula-fed preterm infants. | in a previous study on formula-fed preterm infants, we were able to demonstrate that dietary oligosaccharides (a mixture of 90% galacto-oligosaccharides and 10% fructo-oligosaccharides in a concentration of 1 g/dl) stimulate the growth of faecal bifidobacteria. in the present explorative analysis of this study, we focus on the effect of the dominance of bifidobacteria on the presence of clinically relevant pathogens (staphylococcus aureus, staphylococcus epidermidis, staphylococcus haemolyticus, ... | 2005 | 16214763 |
| postoperative methicillin-resistant staphylococcus aureus enteritis following hysterectomy: a case report and review of the literature. | following a hysterectomy a 43-year-old woman developed colicky abdominal pain and profuse postoperative diarrhoea. examination was unremarkable and initial investigations revealed a normal plain abdominal x-ray initially, but later there was some small bowel dilatation and evidence of raised inflammatory markers. no cause was identified at exploratory laparotomy 2 days post operation. flexible sigmoidoscopy was normal. the patient was empirically treated with oral vancomycin for presumed clostri ... | 2005 | 16215435 |
| specific risk factors for clostridium difficile-associated diarrhea: a prospective, multicenter, case control evaluation. | clostridium difficile is a toxin-producing bacterium that is responsible for toxicity to the colonic mucosa, causing inflammation, necrosis, and, in some extreme cases, intestinal dilation and perforation. c difficile-associated diarrhea (cdad) occurs when patients have a reduction in their natural gastrointestinal flora that allows for the proliferation of and toxin production by c difficile. | 2005 | 16216661 |
| infections caused by clostridium difficile in kidney or liver graft recipients. | antibiotic-associated diarrhea is defined as otherwise unexplained diarrhea which occurs in association with the administration of antibiotics. the incidence of this diagnosis increases worldwide due to augmentative usage of broad spectrum antibiotics. clostridium difficile is the most common identifiable pathogen, leading to antibiotic-associated diarrhea. the aim of the article was to describe our own experience in diagnostics and treatment of infections caused by c. difficile in solid organs ... | 2005 | 16218037 |
| synbiotics and the mucosal barrier in critically ill patients. | outcome in severe and critical illnesses is strongly related to premorbid conditions: the strength of the mucosal barriers, the innate immune system, and the built-in resistance to disease. early risk factors and determinants of poor outcome are factors such advanced age; impaired premorbid health status, especially diabetes and high body mass index (obesity); and immunosuppressive treatments. combined supplementation of bioactive fibers and lactic acid bacteria (synbiotics) directly and indirec ... | 2005 | 16220051 |
| a staff nurse's perspective of infection control problems. | earlier this month astonishing figures causing major concern were released from the department of health (doh) showing the number of cases of clostridium difficile in the over 65s in hospitals in england. this article focuses upon what is already known about infection control and concludes that a greater collaborative approach to infection control is needed, with a prudent use of broad spectrum antibiotics and a greater use of precautionary isolation measures based on patient symptoms, if infect ... | 2005 | 16224329 |
| the association between rhob and caspase-2: changes with lovastatin-induced apoptosis. | because cytoskeletal actin is regulated, in part, by rho, and because rho and caspases are involved in apoptosis, we sought to determine whether there was an association between rhob and caspase-2. a rhob-caspase-2 association was consistently demonstrated in neonatal mouse cardiomyocytes with western blotting, either after immunoprecipitation with rhob followed by immunoblotting with caspase-2, or in reciprocal experiments after immuno precipitation with caspase-2 and immunoblotting with rhob ( ... | 2005 | 16234849 |
| interventions to improve antibiotic prescribing practices for hospital inpatients. | up to 50% of antibiotic usage in hospitals is inappropriate. in hospitals infections caused by antibiotic-resistant bacteria are associated with higher mortality, morbidity and prolonged hospital stay compared with infections caused by antibiotic-susceptible bacteria. clostridium difficile associated diarrhoea (cdad) is a hospital acquired infection that is caused by antibiotic prescribing. | 2005 | 16235326 |
| glutamine depletion potentiates leucocyte-dependent inflammatory events induced by carrageenan or clostridium difficile toxin a in rats. | this research investigated the effect of glutamine (gln) depletion on leucocyte-dependent inflammatory events. rats were treated intraperitoneally, 16 hr prior to the peak of every parameter evaluated, with either 0.9% nacl, methionine-sulphoximine (mso, an inhibitor of endogenous gln synthesis, 25 mg/kg) or with mso + gln (mso as above plus gln 3 g/kg in three doses). mso-induced gln depletion increased paw oedema induced both by carrageenan (cg) and by clostridium difficile toxin a (txa) (66.2 ... | 2005 | 16236122 |
| inhibition of hippocampal synaptic transmission by impairment of ral function. | large clostridial cytotoxins and protein overexpression were used to probe for involvement of ras-related gtpases (guanosine triphosphate) in synaptic transmission in cultured rat hippocampal neurons. the toxins tcda-10463 (inactivates rho, rac, cdc42, rap) and tcsl-1522 (inactivates ral, rac, ras, r-ras, rap) both inhibited autaptic responses. in a proportion of the neurons (25%, tcda-10463; 54%, tcsl-1522), the inhibition was associated with a shift from activity-dependent depression to facili ... | 2005 | 16237331 |
| fulminant pseudomembranous colitis of the left colon successfully treated by surgical resection. | pseudomembranous colitis is the classical and most dramatic manifestation of clostridium difficile infection. surgery is required for patients with perforation and for those who fail to respond to medical treatment. this is a report of a patient with severe pseudomembranous inflammation confined to the left colon, which was successfully treated by surgical resection. | 2005 | 16245233 |
| how should we respond to the highly toxogenic nap1/ribotype 027 strain of clostridium difficile? | | 2005 | 16247100 |
| prevalence of clostridium difficile toxins a and b and clostridium perfringens enterotoxin a in stool samples of patients with antibiotic-associated diarrhea. | antibiotic-associated diarrhea (aad) is a major nosocomial as well as a community health problem. clostridium difficile toxins (cdt) can be detected in only 10-25% of patients with aad. the role of clostridium perfringens enterotoxin a (cpent) as a cause of aad remains to be elucidated. we, therefore, prospectively investigated the prevalences of both cpent and cdt in stool samples of patients with aad. | 2005 | 16258864 |
| beating the bugs. | | 2005 | 16259465 |
| treatment of recurrent clostridium difficile-associated disease. | recurrent clostridium difficile-associated disease (rcdad) is a difficult treatment problem--once a patient has one recurrence of the disease the likelihood of further recurrences is markedly increased. repeat antibiotics are usually indicated, either metronidazole or vancomycin. tapering and pulsing the antibiotic dose after a 10-day standard course decreases the incidence of recurrences compared with abruptly stopping antibiotics after a simple 10-day course. if recurrences continue after two ... | 2004 | 16265042 |
| bacterial diarrhea in persons with hiv infection, united states, 1992-2002. | to describe trends in bacterial diarrhea among human immunodeficiency virus (hiv)-infected persons during 1992-2002, we examined data from a longitudinal record review study of persons with hiv infection who were receiving medical care in >100 medical facilities in 9 major united states cities. | 2005 | 16267735 |
| bacterial diarrhea in hiv-infected patients: why clostridium difficile, and why now? | | 2005 | 16267736 |
| increased rate of dna recovery from united kingdom epidemic clostridium difficile pcr ribotype 1 strains stored cryogenically. | we noted that some clostridium difficile isolates are nonrecoverable after frozen storage and so used molecular typing analysis to characterize dna from these strains. the recovery rate of c. difficile pcr ribotype 1 was statistically significantly greater than that of other strains. this observation has implications for c. difficile epidemiological studies. | 2005 | 16272523 |
| [relapsing infections with clostridium difficile]. | two women, aged 78 and 85 years, presented with watery diarrhoea and fever after a course of antibiotic therapy. pseudo-membranous colitis was diagnosed, which was adequately treated. in both patients the c. difficile colitis relapsed, which was successfully treated with a pulse and tapering scheme of vancomycin. c. difficile infection is a frequent cause of antibiotic-associated diarrhoea. clinical presentation can vary in severity. cytotoxin testing, immunoassay and endoscopy are important too ... | 2005 | 16277125 |
| viral etiology and incidence of acute gastroenteritis in young children attending day-care centers. | the purpose of the study was to investigate the frequency, morbidity and cause of acute gastroenteritis in children attending day-care centers in denmark. | 2005 | 16282929 |
| quebec's official numbers: 409 c. difficile deaths. | | 2005 | 16301691 |
| detection and quantification of four species of the genus clostridium in infant feces. | to determine the composition of clostridium in the feces of infants approximately 30 days old, we have developed a detection and quantification method of clostridium paraputrificum, clostridium perfringens, clostridium tertium, and clostridium difficile by species-specific primers. c. perfringens and c. difficile were detected in four fecal samples from 22 infants (18.2%), whereas c. paraputrificum was detected in three samples (16.7%). c. tertium was detected in two samples (9.1%). moreover, th ... | 2005 | 16301809 |
| intravenous immunoglobulin for resistant clostridium difficile infection. | clostridium difficile (cd)-associated diarrhoea and colitis may relapse in up to 20% of treated patients. we present a patient who failed to respond over a 6-month period to treatment either singly or in combination with metronidazole, vancomycin, rifampicin, cholestyramine and probiotics. her diarrhoea rapidly resolved after a 3-day course of intravenous immunoglobulin. this treatment may compensate for a failed immune response to cd toxin and should be considered for relapsing cd-associated di ... | 2006 | 16303776 |
| horizontal transfer of erythromycin resistance from clostridium difficile to butyrivibrio fibrisolvens. | this study demonstrates for the first time the in vitro transfer of the erythromycin resistance gene erm(b) between two obligate anaerobes, the human spore-forming pathogen clostridium difficile and the rumen commensal butyrivibrio fibrisolvens, suggesting that this event might occur also in the natural environment. | 2005 | 16304188 |
| human mucosa/submucosa interactions during intestinal inflammation: involvement of the enteric nervous system in interleukin-8 secretion. | interleukin-8 (il-8) is a key chemokine upregulated in various forms of intestinal inflammation, especially those induced by bacteria such as clostridium difficile (c. difficile). although interactions between different mucosal and submucosal cellular components have been reported, whether such interactions are involved in the regulation of il-8 secretion during c. difficile infection is unknown. moreover, whether the enteric nervous system, a major component of the submucosa, is involved in il- ... | 2005 | 16309465 |
| efficacy of daptomycin compared to teicoplanin in the treatment of clostridium difficile colitis in hamsters. | | 1989 | 16312372 |
| antibacterial activity of rifaximin against clostridium difficile, campylobacter jejunii and yersinia spp. | | 1989 | 16312377 |
| severe clostridium difficile-associated disease in populations previously at low risk--four states, 2005. | clostridium difficile is a spore-forming, gram-positive bacillus that produces exotoxins that are pathogenic to humans. c. difficile-associated disease (cdad) ranges in severity from mild diarrhea to fulminant colitis and death. antimicrobial use is the primary risk factor for development of cdad because it disrupts normal bowel flora and promotes c. difficile overgrowth. c. difficile typically has affected older or severely ill patients who are hospital inpatients or residents of long-term-care ... | 2005 | 16319813 |
| a predominantly clonal multi-institutional outbreak of clostridium difficile-associated diarrhea with high morbidity and mortality. | in march 2003, several hospitals in quebec, canada, noted a marked increase in the incidence of clostridium difficile-associated diarrhea. | 2005 | 16322602 |
| an epidemic, toxin gene-variant strain of clostridium difficile. | recent reports suggest that the rate and severity of clostridium difficile-associated disease in the united states are increasing and that the increase may be associated with the emergence of a new strain of c. difficile with increased virulence, resistance, or both. | 2005 | 16322603 |
| the new clostridium difficile--what does it mean? | | 2005 | 16322604 |
| role of cdc42 in neurite outgrowth of pc12 cells and cerebellar granule neurons. | inactivation of rho gtpases inhibited the neurite outgrowth of pc12 cells. the role of cdc42 in neurite outgrowth was then studied by selective inhibition of cdc42 signals. overexpression of ack42, cdc42 binding domain of ack-1, inhibited ngf-induced neurite outgrowth in pc12 cells. ack42 also inhibited the neurite outgrowth of pc12 cells induced by constitutively activated mutant of cdc42, but not rac. these results suggest that cdc42 plays an important role in mediating ngf-induced neurite out ... | 2006 | 16328953 |
| frequency and possible infection control implications of gastrointestinal colonization with methicillin-resistant staphylococcus aureus. | methicillin-resistant staphylococcus aureus (mrsa) is a major cause of health care-associated infections. multiple factors, including transmission from unrecognized reservoirs of mrsa, are responsible for failure to control the spread of mrsa. we conducted prospective surveillance to determine the frequency of gastrointestinal colonization with mrsa among patients and its possible impact on nosocomial transmission of mrsa. stool specimens submitted for clostridium difficile toxin a/b assays were ... | 2005 | 16333087 |
| rapid and simple method for detecting the toxin b gene of clostridium difficile in stool specimens by loop-mediated isothermal amplification. | we applied the loop-mediated isothermal amplification (lamp) assay to the detection of the toxin b gene (tcdb) of clostridium difficile for identification of toxin b (tcdb)-positive c. difficile strains and detection of tcdb in stool specimens. tcdb was detected in all toxin a (tcda)-positive, tcdb-positive (a(+)b(+)) and tcda-negative, tcdb-positive (a(-)b(+)) c. difficile strains but not from tcda-negative, tcdb-negative strains. of the 74 stool specimens examined, a(+)b(+) or a(-)b(+) c. diff ... | 2005 | 16333105 |
| images in clinical medicine. pseudomembranous colitis associated with clostridium difficile. | | 2005 | 16339097 |
| an active surveillance study of vancomycin-resistant enterococcus in queen elizabeth hospital, hong kong. | to assess the rate of faecal vancomycin-resistant enterococcus colonisation in high-risk patients in a regional hospital. | 2005 | 16340023 |
| continuation of antibiotics is associated with failure of metronidazole for clostridium difficile-associated diarrhea. | metronidazole is first-line therapy for c. difficile-associated diarrhea primarily because of its low cost relative to vancomycin. currently, it is unknown which patients will fail metronidazole therapy. our goal was to prospectively evaluate risk factors for metronidazole failure. | 2006 | 16340634 |