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Biomedical subjects

F J Méndez

Publications and source records attributed to F J Méndez.

At least 19 recordsLinked to original sources
PubMed2005

Involvement of adenovirus in clinical mononucleosis-like syndromes in young children.

Although Epstein-Barr virus (EBV) commonly causes infectious mononucleosis (IM) or IM-like syndromes, other agents can be implicated. In this study, viral and parasitic screening was performed to determine the etiological agent of pediatric IM-like syndromes in 38 children. Adenovirus was the agent most frequently detected (47.3%), followed by EBV (31.5%) and cytomegalovirus (2.6%). Although the statistically significant difference between viral detection rates observed in patients who fulfilled clinical and hematological criteria and detection rates in those who presented clinical symptoms only (91.6% vs. 64.3%) indicates that hematological abnormalities are common in viral IM-like syndromes, the existence of syndromes of viral etiology without hematological criteria cannot be discarded. A further analysis showed an absence of lymphocytosis in adenovirus infections as well as a low number (14.3%) of EBV infections associated with increased neutrophils. These data suggest the usefulness of appropriate virological techniques for the detection of adenovirus in pediatric IM-like syndromes.

Adenovirus Infections, Human↗
PubMed2003

Septicaemia due to Corynebacterium striatum: molecular confirmation of entry via the skin.

Septicaemia due to Corynebacterium striatum occurs infrequently. A case of C. striatum septicaemia with a known skin focus is reported in a 69-year-old male with ischaemia, refractory anaemia and treated for thyroid cancer. The characterization and typing of blood and cutaneous isolates was carried out using biochemical and DNA molecular typing methods to analyse the isolates. This is the first reported case with a documented source.

Aged↗
PubMed2001

Postural hygiene program to prevent low back pain.

STUDY DESIGN: A quasi-experimental study with 3 x 4 design was performed. OBJECTIVE: To improve the level of knowledge and motor skills and thereby avert the development of painful symptoms. SUMMARY OF BACKGROUND DATA: Despite the fact that low back pain affects a high percentage of the population, little research has been carried out to prevent low back pain through health education. METHODS: The participants in this study were 106 third-grade (9-year-old) students. The program included 11 sessions. The teacher attended the placebo group sessions. No intervention was used with the control group. RESULTS: The level of knowledge and motor skills in the experimental group showed a significant increase immediately after the intervention finished, and at 6- and 12-month intervals after completion of the postural hygiene program (P = 0.00). Some positive changes were generalized to natural situations (P = 0.00). In an independent health check carried out by the local school health services 4 years after application of the postural hygiene program, the results tended slightly to favor the experimental condition over the control conditions (placebo + no intervention). A greater number of the control subjects required medical treatment for low back pain, although this difference was only marginally significant (P = 0.07). CONCLUSIONS: The findings from this study support the hypothesis that programs involving practice and motivating strategies impart health knowledge and habits more efficiently than those restricted to the mere transmission of information.

Child↗
PubMed2001

A specific and ultrasensitive chemiluminescent sandwich ELISA test for the detection and quantitation of pneumolysin.

A chemiluminescent sandwich ELISA test has been developed for the detection and quantitation of pneumolysin. The test is based on a mouse monoclonal as the capture antibody and on rabbit polyclonal IgGs as detection antibodies, in combination with an anti-rabbit IgG alkaline phosphatase conjugate. The estimated detection limit of the purified recombinant toxin in phosphate-buffered saline with 0.05% Triton X-100 is around 5 pg ml(-1), with averaged intra- and inter-assay variation coefficients of 7% and 13.5%, respectively. The assay has been applied to the quantitation of pneumolysin in pneumococcal isolates, providing, for the first time, a direct measurement of the amount of the toxin produced by different strains, a variation has been found in their pneumolysin content. The test is highly specific as no other purified toxins or human pneumonia- or meningitis-associated bacteria yielded false-positive results. This specific and highly sensitive method could help in the diagnosis of human infections.

Bacterial Proteins↗
PubMed1999

The conserved undecapeptide shared by thiol-activated cytolysins is involved in membrane binding.

Thiol-activated cytolysins share a conserved hydrophobic, Trp-rich undecapeptide that is suggested to be involved in membrane binding and intercalation. The neutralizing monoclonal antibody PLY-5 recognizes all members of this toxin family and peptide mapping assigned its epitope to the undecapeptide motif. This antibody inhibited binding of the toxins to host cell membranes and the epitope was no longer available for binding when a preformed toxin/membrane complex was tested. These results confirm the model of cytolysin binding suggested by structural data.

Amino Acid Sequence↗
PubMed1999

Susceptibility of Candida species isolated from female prostitutes with vulvovaginitis to antifungal agents and boric acid.

The aim of this study was to determine the antifungal susceptibility of 108 Candida albicans and 23 Candida glabrata isolates obtained from female prostitutes with vulvovaginitis, a population for which available data is limited. Amphotericin B, flucytosine, and fluconazole were tested by broth microdilution, and boric acid was tested by the agar dilution method. The susceptibility patterns found in this population were the same as those in the general population. Candida glabrata required greater concentrations of boric acid for inhibition in vitro than did Candida albicans.

Antifungal Agents↗
PubMed1999

Epidemiological study of Streptococcus pneumoniae carriers in healthy primary-school children.

To obtain information on the Streptococcus pneumoniae carrier state in Spanish children, 332 healthy 6-year-old children from nine primary schools in northern Spain were screened. Thirty-six percent of the children had positive cultures yielding 128 strains. Seventy-one strains belonged to 14 serogroup/serotypes, the most frequent being 19, 23, 3, 24 and 11. Fifty-seven strains were nontypeable. The identification of strains with equivocal results was confirmed at species level by means of hybridisation with a specific probe, pneumolysin-mediated agglutination and a pathogenicity test in mice. Sixty-four percent of strains showed resistance to penicillin, 22% of these also being resistant to cefotaxime. More than 40% of the strains were resistant to trimethoprim-sulfamethoxazole, tetracycline and erythromycin. Twenty percent of the erythromycin-resistant strains were susceptible to clindamycin. Two strains were resistant to rifampicin and one strain was resistant to ofloxacin. All strains were susceptible to vancomycin. Previous antibiotic administration and having siblings under the age of 2 years correlated with the carriage of pneumococcus. There was no correlation with the carriage of antibiotic-resistant strains, or a record of previous infections, previous hospital admissions or having relatives with chronic respiratory disease.

Animals↗
PubMed1998

Endarteritis and mycotic aortic aneurysm caused by an oral strain of Actinobacillus actinomycetemcomitans.

Actinobacillus actinomycetemcomitans was isolated from blood cultures of a 33-year-old febrile patient with a previously undiagnosed coarctation of the aorta. Subgingival samples from diseased periodontal pockets revealed the presence of A. actinomycetemcomitans. An infected (mycotic) aortic aneurysm and endarteritis were diagnosed and surgically treated. The identity of blood and oral clinical isolates of A. actinomycetemcomitans was supported by genetic analysis, including fingerprinting by restriction fragment length polymorphism, ribotyping, and random amplified polymorphic DNA; biotyping; and antibiogram typing. These data strongly suggest that the periodontal pockets were the primary source of A. actinomycetemcomitans endarteritis in this case.

Actinobacillus Infections↗
PubMed1998

Vulvovaginal candidiasis in female sex workers.

Vulvovaginal candidiasis is a frequent inflammatory process in women but it has not been widely studied in female sex workers (FSWs). To estimate the frequency of Candida species infection in FSWs and to identify related risk factors and clinical findings, we carried out a retrospective study of 1923 FSWs over 11 years. We also performed a prospective study of 163 consecutive FSWs with a history of candidiasis during a 4-year period. Candida species were isolated in 1967 samples (18.5% of the total). Candida albicans (89.3%) was the most frequent species, followed by Candida glabrata (2.7%), Candida parapsilosis (1.2%) and Saccharomyces cerevisiae (0.4%). In the prospective study of 163 patients, we found vaginal discharge in 76.1% of cases, soreness in 52.1% and vulval pruritus in 32.5%. We identified 12 patients (7.4%) with recurrent vulvovaginal candidiasis. No statistical difference was found between recurrent vulvovaginitis and the use of oral contraceptives, oral sex, tight-fitting clothing and synthetic underwear. FSWs have the same prevalence of candidiasis as other groups of women described in published literature. The proportion of albicans and non-albicans species does not differ between women with recurrent and non-recurrent vulvovaginal candidiasis (VVC).

Adolescent↗
PubMed1997

Effects of a behavioral intervention on treatment adherence and stress management in adolescents with IDDM.

OBJECTIVE: To evaluate the effects of a behavioral program to increase treatment adherence and to improve stress management in adolescents with IDDM. RESEARCH DESIGN AND METHODS: A quasi-experimental pretest-posttest design with a nonequivalent control group was used. Eighteen subjects were assigned to the experimental group, which received the program, while nineteen subjects made up the control group, which received routine medical care. During the 12 intervention sessions with diabetic adolescents, different procedures were applied: instruction, blood glucose discrimination training, role-playing, relaxation exercises, self-instructions, problem-solving strategies, and homework, among others. RESULTS: The results show significant changes in the experimental group in variables related to diabetes information (patients and their parents), adherence, daily hassles, uneasiness and likelihood of response in social interactions, skills and frequency of glycemic analyses, blood glucose estimate errors, and negative family support (parents). The program had no effect on either dietary and physical exercise or glycemic control. The improvements, which were maintained at a follow-up carried out 13 months after finishing the program, were: patients' information about physiopathology (P = 0.000), diet (P = 0.000), physical exercise (P = 0.048), glucose testing (P = 0.030), and insulin (P = 0.000), barriers to adherence frequency (P = 0.000), severity of daily hassles (P = 0.006), and degree of uneasiness in social interaction (P = 0.000). CONCLUSIONS: This research introduces the novelty of integrating several behavioral procedures within a wide-ranging package that affects aspects implied in diabetes control such as treatment adherence and stress management. The testing of similar programs on samples of subjects with glycemic control difficulties would be useful.

Adolescent↗
PubMed1996

Functional analysis of pneumolysin by use of monoclonal antibodies.

We have produced a panel of monoclonal antibodies to pneumolysin, the membrane-damaging toxin from Streptococcus pneumoniae. We have used these antibodies to identify three regions of the toxin sequence that are involved in the lytic mechanism of this toxin. Two of these sites probably form the cell binding site of this toxin. Antibodies to the third site inhibit the lytic action of this toxin but not the binding of this toxin to cells. This site is engaged in the oligomerization process involved in the formation of pores in cell membranes. Two of these epitopes are also present in the related toxin perfringolysin O.

Animals↗
PubMed1995

Comparison of seven phenotyping methods for Candida albicans.

Seven different phenotyping methods for strain differentiation of Candida albicans (auxonotyping, enzymotyping, resistotyping, Phongpaichit's morphotyping, Hunter's morphotyping and Odds and Abbott's biotyping method-1980 and 1983 versions) were compared on a single population of 94 strains. 77.6% of the strains belonged to auxonotyping 1, 59.6% to enzymotyping A, 34% to resistotyping B and 30.8% to BC, 40.4% to Phongpaichit's morphotyping 000,000 and 40.4% to Hunter's morphotyping 'No fringe/Smooth surface'. Using biotyping systems (1980 and 1983 versions), the most frequent biotypes were 145 (29.8%) and 147 (31.9%) respectively. The Discriminatory Index of Hunter and Gaston was employed to carry out comparisons among the different systems. The best discriminatory results, although far from ideal, were found using Phongpaichit's morphotyping (DI = 0.827) and Odds and Abbott's method (DI = 0.815 and 0.831--1980 and 1983 versions). A good discriminatory result was also found using Hunter's morphotyping method together with the biotyping of Odds and Abbott (1983 version). These approximated the ideal (DI = 0.950) and showed minimal difficulty in interpretation. The proposed combined method revealed high discrimination among the vulvovaginal strains, and suggested the absence of transmissible pathogenic strains.

Candida albicans↗
PubMed1994

Survey of bacteraemia in a Spanish hospital over a decade (1981-1990).

The aetiology, epidemiology and in-vitro antibiotic susceptibility of bacteraemic isolates in a Spanish hospital, over a decade (1981-1990), were reviewed. A total of 4363 possible episodes were microbiologically confirmed (incidence: 15.7 cases per 1000 admissions). A slight increase in the number of Gram-positive cocci and anaerobes over the last 4 years was found. The most frequent species (annual range) were: Escherichia coli (13.5%-18.9%), Staphylococcus aureus (10.5%-17.8%), Klebsiella spp. (3.0%-9.4%), Enterococcus faecalis (3.0%-8.2%), Pseudomonas aeruginosa (2.5%-5.8%) and Streptococcus pneumoniae (1.8%-5.6%). Males were more affected than females (ratio 1.7:1). The portal of entry was known in 2126 episodes, of which the most frequent were urinary and gasto-intestinal tracts (24.4% and 19.4% respectively). Bacteraemia was associated with rapidly and ultimately fatal underlying diseases in 7.2% and 15.1% of the cases respectively. The hospital location of patients was: medical ward 46.0%, surgical ward 22.7%, paediatric ward 16.9%, and intensive care unit 14.4%.

Adolescent↗
PubMed1993

[The clinical significance of culturing Toxoplasma gondii on blood and other organic media].

BACKGROUND: The aim of this study was to determine the value of the Toxoplasma gondii culture in blood and in other organic fluids in HIV positive and negative patients. METHODS: Retrospective analysis (October 1990-May 1992) was carried out including all patients with positive cultures for T. gondii admitted to the Hospital Central of Asturias. The parasite was identified by monoclonal antibodies against the tachyzoite membrane. All patients with positive cultures were treated with pyrimethamine and sulphadiazine. RESULTS: Three hundred two samples from 256 patients, seropositive and seronegative for HIV, were analyzed. Of the seropositive group 8/45 (18%) had positive cultures for T. gondii versus 9/211 (4.3%) of the seronegative group (p = 0.002). Of the 19 positive samples, 15 were from blood, 3 from bronchoalveolar lavage and one from the vitreous fluid. Four out of 9 patients (44%) with AIDS and encephalic toxoplasmosis (ET) had blood cultures positive for T. gondii. Another 4 patients with AIDS presented toxoplasmenia without visceral involvement. Of the 9 HIV seronegative patients (3 immunodepressed patients), 4 had pulmonary toxoplasmosis, one ocular toxoplasmosis, and other clinical forms of toxoplasmosis were seen in the remaining 4. All the patients evolved to cure except 2 cases coinfected by cytomegalovirus who died. CONCLUSIONS: The identification of Toxoplasma gondii may be performed by blood cultures in half of the patients with AIDS and encephalic toxoplasmosis and in an undetermined percentage of the other clinical forms both in immunocompetent and immunodepressed subjects. In addition, toxoplasmemia has been registered in AIDS patients preceding any other organic seating of the parasite. Early antitoxoplasma therapy may, therefore, be effective.

AIDS-Related Opportunistic Infections↗
PubMed1992

Survey of Escherichia coli septicemia over a six-year period.

Escherichia coli was the most frequent species isolated from blood cultures in the Hospital Covadonga of Oviedo (Spain) over a six-year period (474 episodes, 15.3% of the total septicemias and 2.7 episodes per 1,000 patients). Escherichia coli strains were susceptible in greater than 95% of episodes to cefoxitin, cefotaxime, gentamicin, tobramycin and amikacin. In a series of 72 episodes, microbiological features and host factors were studied. No endemic stains were found. Type 1 fimbria was detected in 73.6% of strains and P-fimbriae in 12.5%, without correlation between P-fimbria and urinary infection; 84.7% of the strains were resistant to decomplement human serum; 61.1% produced aerobactin and 20.8% were hemolytic. Factors such as age, hospital location, metastatic focus and surgical treatment were significantly correlated with morbidity and mortality. The global mortality rate was 18%, and in 8.3% of cases was directly associated with septicemia.

Adult↗