Search

Byline: Nursel. Dilek, Aziz. Dilek, Kazim. ?ahin, Ne?e. Kaklikkaya, Yunus. Saral Background: Iron is an essential nutrient for mammals. Accelerated loss of nutrients through hyperproliferation and desquamation from the skin [...]

Copyright of Mediterranean Journal of Infection, Microbes & Antimicrobials is the property of Galenos Yayinevi Tic. LTD. STI and its content may not be copied or emailed to multiple sites or posted to a listserv without the copyright holder's express written permission. However, users may print, download, or email articles for individual use. This abstract may be abridged. No warranty is given about the accuracy of the copy. Users should refer to the original published version of the material for the full abstract. (Copyright applies to all Abstracts.)

Copyright of Turkish Bulletin of Hygiene & Experimental Biology / Türk Hijyen ve Deneysel Biyoloji is the property of Refik Saydam National Public Health Agency and its content may not be copied or emailed to multiple sites or posted to a listserv without the copyright holder's express written permission. However, users may print, download, or email articles for individual use. This abstract may be abridged. No warranty is given about the accuracy of the copy. Users should refer to the original published version of the material for the full abstract. (Copyright applies to all Abstracts.)

The aim of the present report was to evaluate the prevalent species of airborne fungi in the outdoor environment in the city of Trabzon, Turkey. The area is surrounded by high mountains running parallel to the Black Sea, and has a mostly rainy and temperate climate together with a most varied and widespread flora. Air samples were collected in four seasons by means of the gravitational settling method using petri dishes with SDA culture media. Those fungi colonies that formed after an incubation period of 7–10 days at 25 °C were determined on the basis of micro and macromorphological features. With respect to seasons, it was found that in Summer Penicillium, Alternaria and Fusarium, in Autumn and Winter Penicillium and in Spring and Summer Alternaria were the most prevalent fungal genera. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The aim of this study was to investigate the concordance between COBAS Taqman 48 (Roche Molecular Systems, Pleasanton, CA, USA) and VERSANT HCV RNA 3.0 (Bayer Diagnostics, Terrytown, NY) test systems for the detection of hepatitis C virus (HCV) load. Plasma samples taken from 42 patients with chronic HCV infection between 15 May-15 June 2006, were included to the study, and HCV-RNA levels have been searched with the use of the two above mentioned systems. Thirteen of the samples (30.9%) yielded negative and 26 (61.9%) samples yielded positive results by both of the systems. Two samples that were found negative by COBAS system, displayed 3.38 and 3.41 log10 IU/ml HCV-RNA by VERSANT system, respectively, while one sample that was found negative by VERSANT system, displayed 2.52 log10 IU/ml HCV-RNA by COBAS system. The correlation and linearity of the tests were found high according to Pearson correlation analysis [(r = 0.904, p < 0.0005), (R2 = 0.817)]. The viral load values detected by COBAS AmpliPrep/COBAS Taqman 48, were higher than the values obtained by VERSANT HCV-RNA 3.0, with a mean of 0.33 log10 IU/ml. In conclusion, both of the systems yielded similar results, however, since HCV viral load values may differ in different systems, the follow-up of viral load should be done by the same system for a particular patient.

The most common type of candidiasis involves mucosal sites such as the oral cavity, the gastrointestinal tract and the vagina. Among many of virulence factors, the production of secretory aspartyl proteinase (Sap) by Candida albicans (C. albicans) has gained much attention, and factors leading to Sap induction are thus under intense study. The aim of this study was to examine whether some microorganisms such as Lactobacillus, Gardnerella vaginalis (G. vaginalis), human immunodeficiency virus type-1 (HIV-1) and human herpes simplex virus type-2 (HSV-2) had any Sap inducing effect on C. albicans. Here we showed that among the microorganisms tested in vitro only HIV-1 induced Sap production from C. albicans.

Transfusion of blood and blood products is a widely used method for therapy in medicine, however it may result with the transmission of infectious agents from donor to recipient. In order to achieve safe blood transfusions and to minimize post-transfusion infections, several screening tests for infectious agents are routinely done all around the world as well as in our country. In this study, HBsAg, anti-HCV, anti-HIV and syphilis reagin antibody tests results have been retrospectively evaluated for 33.766 blood donors during January 1, 1997 to December 31, 2000 in Blood Center of Farabi Hospital, Black Sea Technical University. Testing for HBsAg, anti-HIV and anti-HCV has been done by using commercially available micro and/or macro enzyme immunoassays, and syphilis reagin antibody test by latex agglutination (RPR) method. The indeterminate results were confirmed by retesting of sera with microparticle enzyme immunoassay and Western blot methods. As a result, in 1331 (3.94%) subjects HBsAg, in 250 (0.74%) subjects anti-HCV, and in 161 (0.47%) subjects RPR were found positive. Twenty samples which have had the results in gray-zone for anti-HIV, have been found negative with the confirmation tests.