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Biomedical subjects

F Harms

Publications and source records attributed to F Harms.

11 recordsLinked to original sources
PubMed2005

Therapy of focal viral encephalitis in children with aciclovir and recombinant beta-interferon - results of a placebo-controlled multicenter study.

Focal viral encephalitis in childhood is a rare but life-threatening disease. Animal experiments and case reports suggest a positive effect of an additional therapy with interferon-beta on the course of the disease. Therefore, we initiated a prospective, double-blind placebo-controlled study to investigate the benefit of a combination therapy of Aciclovir (ACV) and recombinant interferon-beta (rIFN-beta) in juvenile focal viral encephalitis. - Initial inclusion criterium was suspicion of focal viral encephalitis. Diagnosis was proven by demonstration of characteristic focal lesions in cerebral imaging or virological evidence of HSV in cerebrospinal fluid. Patients were treated with ACV plus rIFN-beta or ACV plus placebo. Neurological outcome was determined 21 days and 3 months after onset of the disease. - Initially 59 patients were enrolled in the study. Encephalitis was proven in 14 patients (7 ACV + rIFN-beta, 7 ACV + placebo). The study groups were balanced in terms of important prognostic criteria. 10 patients (5 ACV + rIFN-beta, 5 ACV + placebo) were cured or had slight defects, 4 patients (2 ACV + rIFN-beta, 2 ACV + placebo) showed moderate to severe defects. There was no significant difference in favour of the additive therapy with rIFN-beta.

Acyclovir↗
PubMed1995

Double-differential PCR for gene dosage estimation of erbB oncogenes in benign and cancer tissues and comparison to cellular DNA content.

Competitive and differential quantitative PCR methods circumvent the limiting factors of PCR which cause poor reproducibility. We describe the development and performance evaluation of another quantitative PCR method, double-differential PCR (ddPCR). The ddPCR method comprises the co-amplification of the single-copy gene HBB, the erbB-1, erbB-2 and erbB-3 oncogenes and the second single-copy reference gene SOD2 under equal reaction conditions. The ratio of band intensities of the PCR products in silver-stained polyacrylamide gels expresses the average gene copy number (AGCN) per cell of the erbB oncogenes. The coefficient of variability (CV) was less than 25% for an AGCN of 1. The PCR data were in correlation to the results from dot blotting. DNA image analysis did not reveal any correlation between DNA content and gene dosage deviation of the erbB oncogenes. The method was applied to normal breast tissue, benign breast diseases, breast cancer tissue and lymph node metastases. We suggest this method as being reproducible, low cost and rapid, and therefore suitable for clinical studies on erbB oncogene dosage estimation.

Base Sequence↗
PubMed1992

Improvement of rotavirus isolation in the cell culture by immune peroxidase staining.

Peroxidase-labeled monoclonal antibody against rotavirus group-specific antigen (inner capsid) was used for the detection of rotavirus by immunoperoxidase staining (IPS) in trypsin-free MA104 cells within 18 h post-inoculation with clinical specimens. One hundred and twenty-one fecal samples from children with acute gastroenteritis were evaluated by IPS, conventional virus isolation in cell culture and a commercially available group A-antigen ELISA (Rotazyme II, Abbott Laboratories). Fifty-eight (47.9%) stool samples were found positive by IPS. In contrast, rotavirus was isolated from only 4 (3.3%) fecal specimens by conventional cell culture (i.e. demonstration of a cytopathogenic effect). A total of 93 (76.9%) samples were positive by ELISA. IPS permits rapid detection of rotavirus infections and detects shedding of infectious virus. The method should be useful for the investigation of nosocomial spread of rotavirus infection in hospitals, contamination of environmental surfaces and desinfectants.

Cells, Cultured↗
PubMed1992

Multicenter evaluation of the novel ABN Western blot (immunoblot) system in comparison with an enzyme-linked immunosorbent assay and a different Western blot.

A new, modular Western blot (immunoblot) system for human immunodeficiency virus (HIV) antibodies (ABN WesPage; Wellcome) was compared with enzyme immunoassays (Wellcome, Behringwerke, and Abbott) and with a U.S. Food and Drug Administration (FDA)-licensed Western blot (DuPont) in a multicenter study. A total of 649 serum samples from HIV patients at different stages of the disease, as well as from high-risk patients, from patients with conditions unrelated to AIDS, and from healthy blood donors, were used in the evaluation along with nine seroconversion panels. For evaluation of Western blot reactivity, both Centers for Disease Control (CDC) and FDA criteria were used. With the DuPont Western blot as the reference assay, the overall sensitivity and specificity of the ABN WesPage were 100 and 99.1%, respectively, when indeterminate results were not taken into account and when both tests were interpreted in accordance with CDC criteria. The DuPont Western blot detected significantly more antibodies to pol and gag gene products than the ABN WesPage. The ABN WesPage showed a higher positive rate of detection of viral envelope band gp160. When both Western blots were interpreted in accordance with CDC criteria, the ABN WesPage and the DuPont Western blot yielded 9.3 and 10.4% indeterminate results, respectively. When the DuPont Western blot was interpreted in accordance with the manufacturer's instructions (FDA criteria), 25.7% of the samples tested were regarded as indeterminate. The choice of interpretation criteria is of paramount importance for the evaluation of HIV Western blot patterns.

AIDS Serodiagnosis↗
PubMed1992

[The detection of infectious rotaviruses by cell culture technique: use and evaluation of the immunoperoxidase assay].

In the present study, virus isolation was attempted in one hundred and twenty-one fecal samples of children suffering from acute gastroenteritis. Virus isolation was performed either conventionally by examination of cytopathogenic effect (CPE) or by immunoperoxidase staining (IPS) of rotavirus group specific antigen (inner capsid) in trypsin free MA104 cells within 18 h. Applying the conventional technique, rotavirus was isolated in only 4 (3.3%) fecal specimens. In contrast, IPS detected infectious virus in 49 (40.5%) stool samples. The specificity of IPS was confirmed by the results obtained with an antigen detection ELISA ("Rotazyme", Abbott, Wiesbaden) and gel electrophoresis of rotaviral RNA (electrophoretyping). ELISA and RNA gel electrophoresis detected rotavirus in 66 (54.4%) and 56 (46.3%) stool samples respectively. IPS enables rapid diagnosis of rotavirus infections in cell cultures applied to detect infectious viral particles in order to be used in the investigation of nosocomial outbreaks, material- and surface contamination and evaluation of disinfectants.

Acute Disease↗
PubMedDate not supplied

[Intrathecal interferon therapy in chronic echovirus meningoencephalitis in Bruton type agammaglobulinemia].

A 9-year-old body with X-linked agammaglobulinemia developed chronic enteroviral meningoencephalitis (CEMA) caused by echovirus type 6. Intravenous treatment with selected immunoglobulin charges containing high titers against echovirus type 6 or combination with beta-interferon did not result in improvement. After implantation of a Rickham reservoir and periodical administration of intraventricular and intravenous immunoglobulin the virus recurred rapidly each time treatment was stopped. After 20 months of treatment the patient received a combined therapy with beta-interferon and selected immunoglobulin. Both drugs were given by lumbar puncture, intravenously and via Rickham reservoir. Subsequently echovirus type 6 could not be isolated in culture or PCR. Cerebrospinal fluid pleocytosis disappeared. The remission is lasting for more than three years. Intrathecal and intraventricular beta-interferon therapy for CEMA is being reported for the first time. Facing the unfavourable prognosis of the disease this mode of treatment is a new therapeutic approach following failure of other therapies.

Agammaglobulinemia↗