PubMed Health⌕ Search

Biomedical subjects

G Agius

Publications and source records attributed to G Agius.

At least 37 records · Page 2Linked to original sources
PubMed1994

Unclassifiable high grade malignant T-cell lymphoma with clonal evolution.

We report a case of leukemic malignant T-cell lymphoma with mixed small and large cells. The small cells displayed a mature CD8-positive phenotype, a diploid DNA distribution by cell cycle analysis, and structural karyotypic abnormalities. Large cells were near triploid, showed additional structural cytogenetic abnormalities and a more immature membrane phenotype without CD8 expression. Altogether, these data provide suggestive evidence for a clonal evolution from a mature small cell T-cell lymphoma to a more immature large cell proliferation.

Aged↗
PubMed1993

Influenza epidemic among a community of elderly people in spite of vaccination.

An outbreak of influenza occurred in a nursing home of 81 vaccinated elderly people. The clinical attack rate was 73%. The responsibility of an A/H3N2 strain was proved in 12 patients and 2 staff members of the 15 investigated persons. The vaccine was effective in reducing mortality but not morbidity. An antigenic drift between the wild and the vaccine strains was involved in the inefficiency of the vaccination.

Aged↗
PubMed1993

Polymerase chain reaction amplified HTLV-I, HIV-1 and HIV-2 DNA fragments in subjects with mixed retroviral infections.

Serum and peripheral blood mononuclear cells from eight patients from the Ivory Coast with positive screening test results for retroviral infections were studied by serology (ELISA, Western blot (WB), synthetic peptide test), cell co-culture, and polymerase chain reaction (PCR). Two HIV-2 infections with indeterminate interpretation on HIV-1 WB were detected, two were clear dual HIV-1/HIV-2 infections, three were ambiguous mixed HIV-1/HIV-2 infections, and one was a triple retroviral infection by HTLV-I, HIV-1 and HIV-2. Four slow/low HIV-1 strains were isolated at the expense of HTLV-I and HIV-2 strains. The ELISA tests were found to be very sensitive. Indeterminate WB interpretations were frequent (HTLV-I, four; HIV-1, three; HIV-2, two). PCR provided clear evidence of multiple retroviral infections in three cases and enabled interpretation of indeterminate WB samples in three cases. One sample presented a puzzling pattern with positive PCR results for HIV-1 and HIV-2 associated with negative or indeterminate serological results. Thus, our data emphasise the need to analyse serological as well as virological markers to gain better insight on mixed retroviral infections, especially in endemic areas such as West Africa.

Base Sequence↗
PubMed1991

Evaluation of closed sterile prefilled humidification.

A closed sterile prefilled humidifier ('Aquapak 310') and a multiple-use humidifier ('Nebal 2') were evaluated in hospital departments to determine their susceptibility to bacterial contamination and cost. No bacterial contamination was found in the 389 samples of 'Aquapak 310' water. However, 54/164 (32.9%) samples of 'Nebal 2' water were found to be contaminated. Pseudomonas aeruginosa was the bacterium most often isolated. The cost analysis was highly influenced by the average use time. In the haemodialysis and respiratory medicine departments the average use times for the 'Aquapak 310' +/- SD were 61.6 +/- 36.2 days and 4.1 +/- 1.7 days, respectively. Using the 'Aquapak 310' system, there was a 51% financial saving in the haemodialysis department but a 2% loss in the respiratory medicine department. In these two departments we found a similar cost saving as far as staff time was concerned (88% vs. 89%). The major difference came from the cost of consumables: 26% saving in the haemodialysis department vs. 70% loss in the respiratory medicine department. Use of the prefilled sterile humidifiers represents a three-fold benefit, a lower infection risk for the patient, an important financial saving in the haemodialysis department and a decreased staff work load.

Cost-Benefit Analysis↗
PubMed1991

[Q fever and fetal death in utero. Two cases].

Some cases of late abortion occurring after a Coxiella burneti infection, more often with a chronic evolution, have already been mentioned in the literature. We reported here two cases of early abortion, contemporaneous of an acute infection due to C. burneti. Two patients, after a contact, before and at the beginning of the pregnancy, with an animal susceptible to contaminate human beings by C. burneti, presented no clinical symptom characteristic of Q fever. The fetal death for the two cases was found out at the 17th week of amenorrhoea. All the investigations in order to search for an abortion etiology remained negative. Only, the specific serologies showed an acute infection due to C. burneti.

Adult↗
PubMed1990

An epidemic of respiratory syncytial virus in elderly people: clinical and serological findings.

In 1984-1985, an outbreak of respiratory syncytial virus (RSV) infection occurred in two geriatric wards. Among 68 patients (mean age +/- SD = 82.5 +/- 12.5 with respiratory signs, 52 had signs caused by RSV infection. Among all patients, the clinical and serological attack rates were 61.2% and 75.0%, respectively. The most frequent clinical presentation was intensive coughing (96.1%) and fever (96.1%) associated with expectorate (63.5%). The duration of the respiratory symptoms was 5 to 7 days. The disease gradually resolved, although in eight (15.4%) patients complications occurred. For periods of up to 1 year after infection, 172 sera were obtained and tested by complement fixation test (CFT), fluorescent assays for titrating specific IgG, IgA, and IgM, and Western blotting. Specific IgM appeared in six (11.5%) of the infected patients and peaked 2 to 6 months after infection, and there was no significant correlation with severity of clinical symptoms. However, higher peak G and A antibody responses were observed in persons with rales (CFT: P = 0.008; IgG: P = 0.042; IgA: P = 0.020), cough (IgG: P = 0.034), sputum (IgG: P = 0.030), dyspnea (CFT: P = 0.024), conjunctivitis (CFT: P = 0.025), and bronchitis (CFT: P = 0.018). The temporal patterns of IgA and CFT results were found to be similar, whereas IgG peaked later, i.e., between 2 and 6 months. The patients with the most severe symptoms had the highest antibody titers obtained by conventional tests and by Western blots. Thus, RSV can be an epidemic pathogen among elderly persons, although this illness is usually mild.

Aged↗
PubMed1990

Evaluation of two media for antibiotic susceptibility testing of anaerobic bacteria using the receiver operating characteristic procedure.

Wilkins-Chalgren agar and Meat-Yeast agar were evaluated as media for antibiotic susceptibility testing using 112 anaerobic bacterial strains. The results obtained with the two media using the diffusion method were compared with those obtained by the dilution method as reference method. The results were analyzed by the receiver operating characteristic (ROC) procedure allowing a graphic representation of sensitivity and specificity of the technique for each cut-off value. The area under the ROC curves was calculated to compare the accuracy of the two methods. Six antibiotics were tested including amoxicillin, cefoxitin, piperacillin, doxycycline and clindamycin. For amoxicillin and clindamycin, the two methods showed a high and identical discriminative power for distinguishing susceptible bacteria from the others. Diffusion in Wilkins-Chalgren agar appeared better than diffusion in Meat-Yeast agar for separating resistant bacteria from bacteria of intermediate susceptibility (amoxicillin p less than 0.005; clindamycin p less than 0.04). For other drugs, diffusion in Wilkins-Chalgren agar always had a discriminative power higher than that obtained with diffusion in Meat-Yeast agar for separating susceptible bacteria from the others (cefoxitin p less than 0.0005; piperacillin p less than 0.02; doxycycline p less than 0.05). The Wilkins-Chalgren agar medium thus appeared superior to the Meat-Yeast agar medium using the ROC evaluation method, which would deserve wider utilization in the field of microbiology.

Anti-Bacterial Agents↗
PubMed1990

Variable stringency hybridization of polymerase chain reaction amplified HIV-1 DNA fragments.

DNA isolated from the peripheral blood mononuclear cells of HIV-1 seropositive individuals was used for polymerase chain reaction (PCR) amplification of gag and envelope regions. Eight aliquots of the amplified DNA fragments have been subjected to Southern/dot blot analysis, hybridizing with 32P-labelled-BH10 (HIV-1 strain IIIB) at low stringency. After the filters had been autoradiographed, they were cut so that each hybridized band/dot could be subject to variable stringency washing using various ionic concentrations at a fixed temperature. The filter was reconstructed so that the effect of the variable stringency wash might be visualized following a second exposure to Kodak film. The level of activity for each band/dot was measured by counting the 32P or by densitometry analysis of the photographic record. The results allow a plot to be made of the decrease in bound radioactivity against ionic strength. By comparison with a standard curve obtained for HIV-1 strain IIIB amplified fragments subject to similar hybridization and analysis, an estimation of the degree of nucleotide mismatch relative to the BH10 DNA probe can be obtained. The technique provides a rapid means of characterizing PCR amplified fragments.

DNA, Viral↗
PubMed1990

In vitro characterization of a biologically active molecular clone of HIV-2NIH-Z containing a nef deletion and expressing a full-length transmembrane protein.

We have previously described the cloning and sequencing of a novel stain of human immunodeficiency virus type 2 (HIV-2) called HIV-2NIH-Z. A plasmid clone, pHIV2Z, containing the full-length provirus has now been constructed, and virus particles have been obtained upon transfection into COS-1 and H-9 cells. These particles can infect a number of T-cell lines and exert a cytopathic effect on fresh human and macaque peripheral blood lymphocytes. The cloned virus is biologically and morphologically indistinguishable from its parental uncloned strain as shown by restriction enzyme analysis, electron microscopy, and kinetics of infection. However, as shown by radioimmunoprecipitation assays, the cloned virus-infected cells express a full-length gp41 protein as predicted by the nucleotide sequence, whereas the wild-type parental strain expresses a truncated gp33 protein. Both the parental strain and the cloned virus possess a deletion encompassing the end of the nef gene within the U3 region which apparently does not affect their in vitro cytopathic and replicative capacities.

Acquired Immunodeficiency Syndrome↗
PubMed1990

[Evaluation of ELISA using A60 antigen from Mycobacterium bovis BCG: specific IGG and IGM in mycobacterial infections].

The authors have evaluated an ELISA (A60-Tb, Anda biologicals) allowing the detection of specific IgG and IgM against A60 antigen from Mycobacterium bovis BCG during mycobacterial infections. This study included sera from 110 african subjects and from 71 French subjects distributed in 4 clinical groups: 55 tuberculous patients (I), 41 leprous patients (II), 33 pneumopathies (III) and 52 healthy subjects (IV). Serological results were compared taking as reference for the diagnosis of tuberculosis the positivity of culture and/or that of a direct examination, and for leprosy the positivity of a direct examination associated either with a Mitsuda's reaction or with an histopathological examination. IgG were found to be more discriminative than IgM. Considering together the results of groups I and II, the authors found a sensitivity of 95.8 p. cent and a specificity of 75.3 p. cent with threshold of 200 U/ml for specific IgG. Anti-A60 antigen antibodies obtained for groups I and II were significantly higher (IgG: p less than 0.0001; IgM: p less than 0.001) than those observed in other groups. African subjects presented IgG titers higher than those obtained by French subjects (p less than 0.0001). IgM response was more frequent among group II (97.6 p. cent) than group I (21.8 p. cent). However, IgG (26.9 p. cent) and IgM titers (30.8 p. cent) were detected among group IV. This test would allow a control of therapeutic efficacy with an additional interest for classifying borderline forms of leprosy.

Adult↗