Biomedical subjects

Miroslav Förstl

Publications and source records attributed to Miroslav Förstl.

5 recordsLinked to original sources

PubMed2006

Clinical aspects and luteal phase assessment in patients with recurrent vulvovaginal candidiasis.

OBJECTIVE: This study was undertaken to characterize the patients with recurrent vulvovaginal candidiasis. STUDY DESIGN: Basic data of personal history and history of recurrent vulvovaginal candidiasis, lower genital tract symptoms and signs in 50 patients were analyzed in this longitudinal follow-up study including the determination of midluteal serum progesterone and urinary pregnanediol levels during the luteal phase in 84 cycles (recurrent vulvovaginal candidiasis) and 60 cycles (healthy controls). RESULTS: All patients suffered primary idiopathic form of recurrent vulvovaginal candidiasis. Frequently, there was a striking discrepancy between severe symptoms and clinical finding, which was often negligible or normal. There was no redness and no or minimum discharge in 52% of culture documented attacks. In contrast to the healthy controls, the patients had significantly lower levels of progesterone (p<0.01) as well as those of urinary pregnanediol (p<0.05). CONCLUSION: Culture positive attacks in patients with recurrent vulvovaginal candidiasis represented rather a form of vulvovaginal discomfort than attacks of vulvovaginal candidiasis with typical inflammatory changes. Significantly lower progesterone levels in the RVVC patients as compared to the healthy controls suggest a link between an altered hormonal status and one of possible causes of RVVC in these women.

Adolescent↗

PubMed2005

[Comparison of the detection of anaerobic bacteria in haemoculture systems BACTEC Lytic/10 Anaerobic/F, BacT/Alert FAN Anaerobic and BacT/Alert FN Anaerobic].

The purpose of this study is to deal with the problem of anaerobic cultivation of clinical specimens and consider the possibility of using semi-automated blood culture instruments. The Bactec Lytic, BacT/Alert FAN Anaerobic and BacT/Alert FN Anaerobic bottles were inoculated with Bacteriodes fragilis, Clostridium perfringens, Peptostreptococcus anaerobius and Feingoldia magna strains. The times to detection (TTD) for positive bottles were evaluated with reference to the number of inoculated bacteria. Inoculation with the same suspension of equal bacterial strain resulted in shorter TTD values for all the Bactec Lytic bottles as compared with the BacT/Alert FAN Anaerobic or BacT/Alert FN Anaerobic bottles, respectively. Statistically significant differences were recorded (p=0,05) by Bacteroides fragilis and Clostridium perfringens species. Feingoldia magna was submitted to culture in the Bactec Lytic alone. The anaerobic blood culture bottles are deemed acceptable for application in the culture of anaerobc isolates drawn from other samples except for blood (namely when prompt delivery of the sample to the laboratory is impossible and the sample can suffer damage), however, only a limited range of microorganisms can be taken into account for the detection purposes. The Bactec Lytic bottles are more appropriately designed for the detection of anaerobic bacterial species compared to the BacT/Alert FAN Anaerobic and BacT/Alert FN Anaerobic bottles. They achieve faster growth parametres and provide more successful readings of anaerobic bacteria culture and detection.

Bacteria, Anaerobic↗

PubMed2005

[Experience with the PCR method in chlamydia detection.].

PURPOSE OF THE STUDY: The study was intended to summarize and evaluate the results in patients with a suspected infection by the genus Chlamydia, investigated with an in-house method of nested PCR (polymerase chain reaction). The study worked with data from patients living in eastern Bohemia, who were examined in the years 2001-2003 at the Dept. of Molecular Biology, a research laboratory shared by the Institute of Clinical Microbiology and the Institute of Clinical Biochemistry and Diagnostics. MATERIAL AND METHODS: 291 explorations were done in 2001, in 2002 already 562 and in 2003 their figure reached 760. The total number of samples received for investigation during that period was 1 613. 1 587 were actually investigated, 26 were unsuitable and could not be used. More than 70 % of all investigations were done with three types of material: urine (41.8 % of all the investigated samples), BAL (15.3 % of all the investigated samples) and whole blood (14.9 % of all the investigated samples). The investigations were carried out with the in-house nested PCR method, which uses primers from the MOMP(ompA) area of the genus Chlamydia spp. RESULTS: Total positivity was 5.67 %, in 1.26 % of the samples the resulted was considered uncertain and 93.07 % of the investigated samples were negative. In men PCR positivity was 6.11 %, in women 5.35 %. The major proportion of positive samples was from the age groups 70-79 years (11.67 %), 10-19 years (6.51 %) and 40-49 years (6.45 %). Overall positivity in smears from the urogenital system was 6.48 %, from urine 3.92 %, from BAL 10.70 % and from whole blood 5.51 %. KEYWORDS: nested PCR, Chlamydia spp., detection.

Chlamydia Infections↗

PubMed2004

[Comparison of the results of in vitro antifungal susceptibility testing using the Fungitest kit and the disc diffusion test].

AIM OF STUDY: Substantial progress has been achieved in the field of in vitro antifungal susceptibility testing, including the interpretation of the test results towards the clinical practice. Reference methods for antifungal testing of yeasts (M27-A) and filamentous fungi (M38-P) are available now. There are several alternatives to these standard protocols as the potential candidates for a routine laboratory testing of antifungal drugs. The aim of the study is to compare the results of antifungal susceptibility testing obtained by Fungitest and disk diffusion method. MATERIALS AND METHODS: From 1997 to 2000, 134 strains of 16 yeast species from the patients with suspected or proven mycosis were evaluated in the mycology laboratory of the Department of Clinical Microbiology, Teaching Hospital in Hradec Krlové. All these strains were tested by both disc test on Sabouraud agar (pH = 5.6) and Fungitest. The agreement of the results of the both methods was determined for all antimycotics and fungal species tested in terms of the categories susceptible, intermediate and resistant strain. RESULTS: Overall, there was only 60.3 % agreement between these methods for all antifungal drugs with the best results for flucytosine (71.4 % agreement), further for ketoconazole (66.2 %), amphotericin B (60.2 %), fluconazole (57.9 %), itraconazole (52.6 %), and miconazole (50.5 %). The best overall agreement between the results for individual species was found with C. lusitaniae (73.9 %), C. pelliculosa (73.5 %), C. parapsilosis (71.7 %), and partly with C. albicans (67.5 %). The poorest results were associated with fluconazole-resistant yeasts Saccharomyces cerevisiae (30.0 %), C. krusei (32.5 %) and C. glabrata (47.7 %). Regressive analysis revealed a relative close relationship between the results of these methods for miconazole (R = 0.49, P < 0.001), fluconazole (R = 0.45, P < 0.001), itraconazole (R = 0.42, P < 0.001) and flucytosine (R= 0.37, P < 0.001), but not for amphotericin B (R = 0.10) and ketoconazole (R = 0.16). CONCLUSION: The comparison of the results of the disk test and Fungitest showed some discrepancies which were dependent on an antifungal drug, a yeast species and the test conditions. Sabouraud agar and the criteria for interpretation of the results of the disk test seemed to be main sources of the disagreement. A modified Mueller-Hinton agar (2 % glucose, methylene blue) as a recommended test medium in a proposed agar diffusion method M44-P is the way to the improvement of standardization and reproducibility of the test.

Antifungal Agents↗

PubMed2004

[Diagnostics of larval toxocariasis].

PURPOSE OF THE STUDY: The paper, conceived as a retrospective study, resumes the results of our own investigations of the presence of serum IgG antibodies against Toxocara canis (as a crossover also against T. cati) in the sera of patients suspected of presenting larval toxocariasis in the region of Eastern Bohemia of the Czech Republic in the years 1997-2002. Our aim was to determine the immunity rate of IgG, its relationship to age and sex, further the whole range of diagnoses, the frequency of demands for such an examination by physicians and the evaluation of our experience with the detection of low avidity IgG. MATERIAL AND METHODS: With a commercial diagnostic kit the ELISA method was used to detect the presence of IgG antibodies against T. canis in 2 994 sera. IgG avidity was determined in 92 positive samples with an avidity solution, which is included in the diagnostic kit and has been used in our laboratory since 2001. RESULTS: The immunity rate of larval toxocariasis in our set was 20.4 % (612 samples). With age this rate increases (in individual decades of life - 11.9; 8.3; 11.4; 17.9; 26.1; 29.8 and 34.2%). Up to adolescence positive findings predominate among boys (males 0-10 years 84.2 %; 11-20 years 76 %). In the third decade we see a dramatic change in favour of women (women 21-30 years - 74.6 %). In absolute figures the number of positive findings stagnates in men after the age of 30 years, while among women positive findings continue to grow - yet expressed in percentages there is signifinct change in the male-female ratio (beginning with the 4th decade we find among the women 61.2; 69.7; 72.6 and 64.8 %). Physicians' interest in the diagnosis of toxocariasis in the years 1997-2002 is confirmed by the significantly higher number of investigated samples (135; 446; 617; 422; 558; 816). This, however, does not go hand in hand with a higher proportion of IgG positivity. IgG avidity was investigated in 92 positive samples - low avidity was confirmed in six of them (6.5 %); the appropriate case histories are not a part of the study. CONCLUSIONS: Our results tally with the data published by other departments in the Czech Republic. They confirm that the methods used have, as before, their place in the diagnostic range of microbiological laboratories.

Adolescent↗