The paper reports the results of the survey of the mosquito fauna in the Maliuc area (Danube delta) in 1983-1985. 16 mosquito species have been recorded in the area during the investigations: Anopheles maculipennis--complex, An. hyrcanus, Uranotaenia unguiculata, Coquillettidia richiardii, Culiseta annulata, Aedes vexans, Ae. cinereus, Ae. caspius, Ae. dorsalis, Ae. excrucians, Ae. flavescens, Ae. leucomelas, Ae. intrudens, Culex pipiens, C. martinii, Cx. modestus. They have been captured by light traps, on human bait, with entomological hand net and within an indoor resting site (building). Six types of habitats of adult mosquitoes, taking into account the characteristics of the soil and vegetation have been identified in the area. The quantitative and qualitative differences of the mosquito fauna within these six habitats have been recorded. Also, the suitable capture methods within every habitat have been established.
CFA/I antigen was isolated and purified from E. coli, mutant 279 B-1-14, serotype 0128:H12, and had the following biochemical and biological features: a) amino-acid content was similar to that of purified antigen prepared from strain H10407; b) latex particles sensitization with purified CFA/I antigen produced bovine and human erythrocytes group A/II hemagglutination in carbohydrates presence; c) purified anti-CFA/I specific antibodies agglutinated CFA/I-positive enterotoxigenic E. coli strains; d) 3H-leucine-labelled CFA/I antigen adhered to rabbits intestinal mucosa at significant values; e) intestinal mucosa pretreating with purified CFA/I antigen, followed by 3H-leucine labelled enterotoxigenic bacteria infection, had a least 3 local effects: 1) intestinal mucosa protection against parental enterotoxigenic bacteria; 2) inhibition of CFA/I-positive bacteria adherence to intestinal mucosa; 3) release of approximately 96% intraluminally inoculated bacteria.
HeLa S3 tumoral cells were used as an experimental model for studying the association of photodynamic therapy (PDT) and antitumoral agents. Tumoral monolayer cultures were incubated 18 hours at 37 degrees C with Photofrin II, trypsinized and suspended in Eagle medium supplemented with 10% FCS and then treated with antitumoral agents 90 minutes before He-Ne laser exposure. The tumoral cells were exposed to antitumoral agents in the following concentrations (equivalent to ED70): adriamycin (0.0297 micrograms); mitomycin C (0.0199 micrograms); 5-FU (0.4937 micrograms) and vinblastine (0.0109 micrograms) per 10(5) cells. Macromolecular syntheses (DNA, RNA and proteins) were investigated by use of radioactive precursors: 3H-thymidine, 3H-uridine and 3H-leucine, as expressed in percent referring to Photofrin II-pretreated controls; they were exposed to He-Ne laser but not treated with antitumoral agents. All experiments were followed for 72 hours incubation at 37 degrees C. The conclusions of the results of PDT associated with antitumoral agents sustain the following aspects: a) the antitumoral agents activity (adriamycin, mitomycin C, 5-FU, vinblastine) was more noticeable when applied 90 minutes before He-Ne laser irradiation; b) inhibition of radioactive precursors uptake in DNA, RNA and proteins was accompanied by suppression of in vitro tumoral cells development and c) PDT association with antitumoral agents could manifest at least three positive effects upon animals; 1) PDT potentiating effects with antitumoral agents; 2) suppressing effects on tumoral macromolecular synthesis; 3) antitumoral agents cytotoxic elimination (due to the low doses used).
The presence of Bhanja virus was notified for the first time in our country in 1986, by the serological study performed on human and domestic animals sera. In 1988 four Bhanja virus strains from Dermacentor ticks were isolated in Alba and Caraş-Severin counties. A high percent of domestic animals, originating in this region, presents antibodies to the isolated strains and also to Bhanja virus reference strain.
The paper reports the results of the survey of the mosquito fauna in the Maliuc area (Danube delta) in 1983-1985. 16 mosquito species have been recorded in the area during the investigations: Anopheles maculipennis--complex, An. hyrcanus, Uranotaenia unguiculata, Coquillettidia richiardii, Culiseta annulata, Aedes vexans, Ae. cinereus, Ae. caspius, Ae. dorsalis, Ae. excrucians, Ae. flavescens, Ae. leucomelas, Ae. intrudens, Culex pipiens, C. martinii, Cx. modestus. They have been captured by light traps, on human bait, with entomological hand net and within an indoor resting site (building). Six types of habitats of adult mosquitoes, taking into account the characteristics of the soil and vegetation have been identified in the area. The quantitative and qualitative differences of the mosquito fauna within these six habitats have been recorded. Also, the suitable capture methods within every habitat have been established.
192 patients, 72 women and 120 men, aged 18-75, presenting genital herpes, were followed. Among these, 122 formed the test batch, exclusively with Antiherpin, and 70 represented the control batch, treated with other therapeutic preparations. Antiherpin was administered by percutaneous route, by scarification. The following results were obtained: in the test batch 68.02% recoveries, 30.33% improvements and 1.64% statu quo; in the control batch no recoveries were recorded: only 60% statu quo but also 40% aggravations. However, after Antiherpin treatment beginning, even in this batch favourable results were obtained: in statu quo category, 66.7% recoveries, 30.9% improvements were obtained, 2.4% being not influenced by the treatment; in aggravation category 50% recoveries, 42.9% improvements were obtained, 7.1% maintaining their statu quo. During Antiherpin treatment, no case of adverse reaction was recorded, the preparation being very well tolerated by the organism. The above mentioned results prove Antiherpin efficacy in the treatment and prevention of genital herpes, even in the case of the patients previously being administered another treatment type.
206 sera collected from different groups of subjects were analyzed by immunoenzymatic methods regarding the content of Mycobacterium tuberculosis specific antibodies and mycobacterial antigens. The results underlined that two assays offered improved serologic diagnosis of tuberculosis over a single antibody test. BCG vaccination interferes with serologic tests for tuberculosis when polyspecific antibodies or mixture of common and specific antigens are used as immunologic reagents. A mycobacterial antigens circadian variation in correlation with vesperal fever in tuberculous patients was not revealed. The mycobacterial antigens seem to become undetectable, in sera, after 6 months of efficient treatment.
"Two-assay" tests (TAT), immunoenzymatic determination of both specific antibodies and mycobacterial antigens in sera of tuberculous and non-tuberculous subjects, was undertaken in our territorial conditions, where BCG vaccination is systematically applied and the prevalence of tuberculous infection is relatively high. The sensitivity of the method, calculated on 42 patients with active pulmonary tuberculosis and on 39 patients with post-tuberculosis syndromes is high, i.e. 0.952. The specificity of the method separately calculated for 44 young subjects (under 21 years old), for 78 healthy adults and for 201 lung diseased patients, bacteriologically not ascertained as tuberculosis at the moment of sera prelevation, varied between 0.830 and 0.489. "TAT", performed with crude immunologic reagents, produces false-positive reactions in early BCG vaccinated subjects. Method specificity low values in pulmonary non-tuberculous patients group may be partially explained by the difficulty in establishing the real relationships, in time, between host and mycobacteria, by the bacteriological method imperfections or sample prelevating methods. Our results certainly underestimate the diagnosis value of "TAT".
Of 12,930 Salmonella serotype typhimurium strains, phage typed during 1985-1988, 45.68% were "nontypable" by Anderson's set; the percent of typable strains decreased from 54.17 in 1986 to 30.54 in 1988. Of 90 phage patterns of sensitivity, 22 were currently encountered. Phage types 1, 18 and 104 were most frequent to strain of both human and non-human origin. In food generating S. typhimurium outbreaks, phage types 1 and 36 were prevalent. Except lysotypes 198 and 95, isolated from "single cases" in man only, all other phage types were common in man and animals, too. Introducing other typing methods to serotype typhimurium "nontypable" strains (by Anderson's set) was considered necessary for epidemiological purposes.
Electron optic study of inflammation infiltrating cells in juvenile periodontopathic tissue showed the presence of "nuclear-body"-type structures and of nuclear and cytoplasmic virus-like inclusions, which predominated in cells presenting degenerative modifications commonly encountered in malignant cells. Their significance is discussed.
Enlarged mesenteric lymph nodes were collected from ninety buffaloes and sixty cattle slaughtered at Faisalabad abattoir. Among these, salmonellae were isolated from lymph nodes of 32 (21.33%) animals. Maximum preponderance of salmonellosis was recorded in animals over two years of age. Enlargement, pale to dark red in color, increased consistency and even calcification were the main gross pathological lesions. Histopathological lesions included thickened capsule, typical lymphofollicular reaction, accumulation of oedematous fluid and haemorrhages.
830 sera from leptospirosis-suspect patients and 133 sera from investigations were analysed by the new test--rapid slide agglutination with Patoc antigen, inactivated at 60 degrees C for 15 minutes, in parallel with two standard tests--CFT with merthiolated Patoc antigen and MAR with 17-23 live pathogenic antigens. The new serotest proved efficient for selecting the cases of disease or leptospira infection, acute or recent form, not older than 2 years, both by its sensitivity and specificity and also by its rapid and economical character. In the present paper, the technology of preparation and control of Patoc antigen, inactivated at 60 degrees C for 15 minutes, is described.
499 N. meningitidis strains were studied, 454 being isolated from CSF and blood and 45 from nasopharynx. Meningococcal serogroup A was prevalent in 1986-1988, having a decreasing tendency from 84.90% in 1987 to 45.0% in 1989. Serogroup C increased from 0.86% in 1986 to 15% in 1989. All strains, examined by diffusiometric method, were sensitive to ampicillin, cephalotin, chloramphenicol and rifampin. For tetracycline, resistance ranged from 2.28 to 6.0% in 1987-1989. The frequency of 52.0-72.14% resistant to sulphamides strains seems to be due to serogroup A prevalence. Six N. meningitidis strains, isolated in 1989, proved to be moderately resistant to penicillin with MIC greater than or equal to 0.1 mcg/ml. The results indicate the necessity of a continuous surveillance of meningococcal infection, both from the point of view of serogroup circulation and also of antibiotics sensitivity.
A comparative study of etiological diagnosis in lower respiratory tract infections (LRTI), by conventional bacteriological methods and by pneumococcal antigen direct detection in sputum was performed. This work followed the establishing of rapid methods place, respectively of coagglutination (CoA), counterimmunoelectrophoresis (CIE), within the methodology of bacteriological diagnosis in lower respiratory tract infections presenting pneumococcal etiology. The results of investigations performed on 84 sputa from LRTI patients proved the utility of CoA method in determining a rapid etiological diagnosis, important for applying an emergence targetted antibiotherapy. CoA method, with the reagents in use, covering only 10 out of 83 serological types of S. pneumoniae in not capable of replacing conventional methods of bacteriological diagnosis; they complete each other, increasing the efficiency of etiological diagnosis in LRTI. CIE method is less sensitive and more difficult to perform, being less useful in rapid etiological diagnosis of LRTI.
Investigation of the incidence of peste des petits ruminants (PPR) disease in goats revealed seasonality in the natural occurrence of PPR disease in the environment. Tissue culture rinderpest vaccine was shown effective in protecting goats against the disease. The optimal time for vaccinating goats against PPR disease was when the least number of animals were incubating the disease. In the tropical humid zone, as in West Africa, the optimal time for vaccination against the PPR disease is from late November to middle of December.
The interactions between HeLa S3 tumoral cells and human fibroblasts after nitrogen-laser irradiation (337.1 nm) have been studied by using an in vitro cell invasion model. For the quantitative and morphological evaluation of nitrogen-laser radiation action upon tumoral adhesion to the fibroblast monostrate, we used: a) 3H-thymidine labelling of HeLa S3 tumoral cells; b) morphological modifications studies by phase contrast and scanning electron microscopy. The results emphasized the following aspects: 1. In non-irradiated cell cultures we noticed three interaction stages: adhesion, tumoral spreading and displacement with fibroblasts destruction; on the other side, we found a reduced adhesion to non-irradiated human fibroblasts of laser irradiated tumoral cells. 2. Significant percent increasing of non-irradiated tumoral cells adhesion to fibroblast monostrate, irradiated with various laser fluences (e.g. 0.2 kJ/m2--48.1%; 0.8 kJ/m2--63.8% and for 1.6 kJ/m2--79.5%). This phenomenon evidenced the close interrelation between irradiation fluences and tumoral adhesion rates. 3. The importance of numerical ratio between tumoral cells and fibroblasts in tumoral adhesion and invasion processes (e.g. ratio 1:10 tumoral adhesion reached 8.1%; in 1:5--25.9%; in 1:1--59.4% and for 2:1--83.9%). 4. Marked cytotoxic effects for both cell types after exposure to high and very high laser fluences (1.6--6.4 kJ/m2). Our results emphasize near UV-laser irradiation effects upon some of tumoral adhesion and invasion mechanisms and demonstrate the interrelations between cell populations manifesting a different vital potential.
Serological typing of Pseudomonas aeruginosa strains (228 strains) by slide coagglutination, using our own reagents (5 polyvalent and 22 monovalent ones, corresponding to the 22 serotypes in Meitert-Meitert scheme), led to identical results obtained by conventional slide agglutination. Utilization of live Ps. aeruginosa cells suspensions, killed by boiling or autoclaving, showed a 100% concordance of results, when using the second and the third suspension types and a 97.37% one between them and the live cells suspension. We noticed that reactions intensity was higher when using bacterial suspensions, boiled for 2.5 hours, in comparison with autoclaved cells suspensions, 30 minutes at 120 C. Compared to conventional slide agglutination, the slide coagglutination presents more advantages, being simple, rapid, specific and economical.
Investigations of anti-tetanus response, in 404 subjects, most of them aged 60, being non-immunized for at least 10 years, stressed out the fact that 28.7% were not protected and 6.18% presented a protecting titer of 0.01 IU/ml, evaluated by "in vivo" protection test in mice. Some subjects were immunized with unadsorbed Tetanus vaccine (10 Lf/0.1 ml/dose) by i.d. route, using Jet-injector, and the others with adsorbed Tetanus vaccine (0.5 ml/dose), by i.m. route, using the needle and syringe. The vaccines were well tolerated and adverse reactions were not recorded. After 30 days, a single vaccine dose produced a protecting effect in 97.45% of non-protected subjects, belonging to i.d. immunized group, and also in 93.33% belonging to i.m. immunized group. 30 days after the administration of a second dose, protection set up in all subjects, no matter of vaccine type and administration route used. For a continuous reduction of tetanus morbidity, the authors suggest a specific periodical immunization of non-protected persons, selected by serological screening, using unadsorbed Tetanus vaccine, administered by i.d. route by means of the Jet-injector.
