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J Colomina

Publications and source records attributed to J Colomina.

23 records · Page 2Linked to original sources

[Nephrotic syndrome associated with ampulloma].

A patient is reported who presented simultaneously classic nephrotic syndrome and adenocarcinoma of the Vater ampulla. Morphological study of the renal biopsy revealed changes characteristic of membranous glomerulonephritis and subepithelial deposits. These deposits stained specifically for IgG and C'3 with a granular pattern, but deposits of CEA-antiCEA immune complexes were not found in glomerular capillaries. The association of nephrotic syndrome with lymphoproliferative diseases and a large variety of solid tumors, like carcinoma of the breast, bronchogenic, colon and stomach has been communicated, but the present case constitutes the first known association with adenocarcinoma of the Vater ampulla.

Adenocarcinoma↗

[Systemic cryptococcosis and pneumocystosis in an HIV-positive patient].

Cryptococcosis is one of the most common opportunistic infections in AIDS patients. Neurological symptoms are the most frequent clinical presentation of this fungal infection, and pulmonary involvement is clinically much less evident. We report the case of a patient who was treated in the emergency room for acute respiratory failure but who did not survive. Microbiologic and histopathologic studies demonstrated simultaneous pulmonary infections with Cryptococcus neoformans and Pneumocystis carinii. We discuss this clinical presentation of cryptococcosis with no neurological manifestations, and the importance of concurrent infections by several opportunistic organisms that may go unrecognized.

AIDS-Related Opportunistic Infections↗

Evaluation of reverse transcription and polymerase chain reaction (RT/PCR) for the detection of rotaviruses: applications of the assay.

Our aim was to evaluate the reverse transcription and polymerase chain reaction (RT/PCR) technique for the detection of rotavirus shedding by infected children as a routine diagnostic procedure, in comparison to the enzyme-linked immunosorbent assay (ELISA), electron microscopy (EM) and polyacrylamide gel electrophoresis (PAGE) of rotavirus double-stranded RNA. Two-hundred and twenty stool specimens were collected from infants and young children with diarrhoea, and 10-20% faecal suspensions were made. Several methods of rotavirus dsRNA extraction were assayed. Electrophoretic analysis of viral RNA was carried out on 10% polyacrylamide gels followed by silver staining. RT/PCR was performed using oligonucleotide primers specific for both 3' and 5' ends of the rotavirus gene encoding VP7 which are highly conserved among group A rotaviruses. Following RNA extraction with phenol-chloroform and ethanol precipitation, RT/PCR could detect rotaviral RNA in only 11 of 25 samples known to contain rotaviruses by conventional methods. The purification of RNA extracts by CF11 cellulose and the application of the RNAID method were equally effective in extracting RNA and/or removing inhibitory substances from the faecal samples. RT/PCR led to the detection of 66 positive samples from 220 specimens tested (30%), whilst 64 specimens were positive by ELISA (29%), 59 (26.8%) by PAGE and 56 (25.4%) by EM. In our study, RT/PCR was 100 times more sensitive than the ELISA test in detecting rotaviruses serially diluted in a faecal suspension. Although RT/PCR is theoretically much more sensitive than ELISA, PAGE and EM for detection of rotaviruses, great care must be taken to remove inhibitory substances from the enzymatic reactions. We do not consider that RT/PCR should replace immunoassays with high sensitivity and specificity for rotavirus testing in faecal samples, although this technique has other applications, like the search for rotavirus in different clinical specimens (sera, cerebrospinal fluid, respiratory secretions, etc.) and in environmental samples, as well as the typing of viral strains using serotype-specific primers.

Child↗

[Enzymatic activities of Campylobacter jejuni, C. coli, and C. lari].

Susceptibility to nalidixic acid has been considered for a long time as an important test in the identification of the different species of the genus Campylobacter. However, due to the increasing development of resistance new laboratory tests are needed to carry out an accurate identification to the species level in combination with other typing schemes. We have evaluated the enzymatic activity of 180 Campylobacter spp. strains isolated from clinical specimens performing the Api ZYM system (bioMérieux) in order to assay whether different enzymatic patterns could help to characterize these microorganisms. Thirteen of the 19 enzymatic activities detected by the system (lipase-C14, valine arylamidase, cystine arylamidase, trypsin, chymiotrypsin, alpha-galactosidase, beta-galactosidase, beta-glucuronidase, alpha-glucosidase, beta-glucosidase, N-acetyl-beta-glucosaminidase, alpha-manosidase and alpha-fucosidase) were negative for all the strains tested, whereas 3 enzymes (alkaline phosphatase, acid phosphatase and naphtol-A-S-BI-phosphohydrolase) were detected in 96.6% of the strains. Esterase-C1, esterase lipase-C8 and leucin arylamidase showed a variable reactivity depending on isolates. Enzymatic activity patterns clearly differentiate all the C. lari strains from other Campylobacter species. No significant differences were detected among the enzymatic activities of C. jejuni and C. coli strains. Our study suggests that the Api ZYM system is easy to perform and a valuable method to be applied in the characterization of the campylobacteria as a complement to other biotyping and serotyping schemes.

Anti-Infective Agents↗