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K Van den Abbeele

Publications and source records attributed to K Van den Abbeele.

15 recordsLinked to original sources
PubMed1996

Human meniscal proteoglycan metabolism in long-term tissue culture.

For the purpose of human meniscal allografting, menisci have been maintained viable in in vitro culture. The influence of long-term tissue culture on the extracellular matrix metabolism of the meniscus has been studied. Fetal calf serum (FCS) was used as a supplement for the growth factors necessary to maintain optimal meniscal cell metabolism. A series of semilunar cartilage samples was cultured under serum-free conditions since foreign proteins could be responsible for immunological problems after eventual allografting. The proteoglycan metabolism in human menisci cultured in FCS-supplemented and in serum-free culture media was compared. To rule out any influence of topographical variations in glycosaminoglycan (GAG) content on proteoglycan (PG) metabolism, GAG concentrations within the tissue were determined, and sulphate (35S) incorporation was studied in tissue samples with a comparable biochemical composition. Sulphate incorporation was preserved when 20% FCS was added to the nutrient medium. The meniscal tissue fibroblasts continued to produce 35S-PG during 4 weeks of culture. The PG molecules were shown to consist of PG-aggregates, monomers and a low molecular-weight PG population. Newly synthesized GAG consisted of approximately 55% chondroitin 4- and 6-sulphate and 33% dermatan sulphate. In the presence of serum, 35S incorporation in PG and in the PG-aggregate fraction significantly increased during the first 2 weeks and then decreased during the following 2 weeks of in vitro culture. Newly synthesized PG-aggregates were almost entirely accumulated in the tissue during these weeks. In the 3rd week the values for this parameter decreased slightly. 35S-PG synthesis dramatically declined after 4 weeks of in vitro culture. Catabolism probably resulted in increased proportions of 35S-PG in the incubation media. In the absence of serum, 35S-PG production also increased in the 2nd week of culture. However, 35S activity was almost exclusively found in small PG, and this material apparently diffused to the incubation media. Consequently, catabolism is higher, and the immobilization of 35S-PG is poor when FCS is not added to the culture media. Our findings suggest that menisci are maintained in viable condition and may serve for allografting at least during 2 weeks of tissue culture.

Adult↗
PubMed1996

Rhodococcus equi infection in 3 AIDS patients.

Three cases of AIDS complicated by Rhodococcus equi infection are reported. At least one of the patients acquired his Rhodococcus infection in Africa. Despite the fact that the R. equi strains were susceptible to tetracycline, erythromycin, amikacin, co-trimoxazole, rifampicin and vancomycin, these antibiotics were clinically not successful. A clinical improvement was observed in only one patient during teicoplanin and imipenem-cilastatin treatment. Multicentre clinical trials are needed to determine the optimal treatment of R. equi infections in AIDS patients.

AIDS-Related Opportunistic Infections↗
PubMed1995

Comparison of human immunodeficiency virus biological phenotypes isolated from cerebrospinal fluid and peripheral blood.

Quantitative human immunodeficiency virus (HIV) cultures were carried out on cerebrospinal fluid (CSF), peripheral blood mononuclear cells (PBMCs), and plasma from patients with HIV in order to compare the infectious HIV load. The HIV strains isolated were studied for syncytium-inducing (SI) capacity, using the MT-2 cell line, in order to compare the HIV strain phenotype of blood and CSF isolates. Forty-two patients with HIV-1 infection were enrolled in the study, 33 of whom had neurological symptoms and 9 of whom were without neurological symptoms. HIV was isolated from 16 (38%) of the 42 CSF cultures, with a low mean titer of 6.3 +/- 3.4 tissue-culture-infective doses (TCID) per milliliter. Patients with HIV-positive CSF culture had a viral load in PBMCs of 40.5 +/- 15.5 TCID per 10(6) PBMC and in plasma of 104.7 +/- 9.3 per milliliter. Two (15%) of the 13 CSF isolates were SI strains, compared to 17 (56.6%) of the 30 PBMC isolates and 13 (54%) of the 24 plasma isolates (P < 0.05). Five of the nine patients from whom CSF and blood strains were obtained had the same viral biological phenotype. This study suggests that different HIV variants may be found in different body fluids and/or cells.

Adult↗
PubMed1995

Severe myoclonus in a patient recovering from falciparum malaria.

Isolated myoclonus has rarely been reported as a complication of Plasmodium falciparum malaria. We describe the development of chaotic myoclonic jerks in an afebrile and conscious patient, the fourth day of treatment with quinine for P. falciparum infection. The myoclonus finally resulted in a generalized tonic-clonic seizure and coma, which resolved without further antimalarial treatment.

Adult↗
PubMed1994

Nosocomial septicaemias in a cardiologic ward. A case-control study.

Nosocomial septicaemias were studied in a cardiologic ward at the University Hospital of Antwerp, Belgium. The incidence of nosocomial infections was found to be 2.7 per 1,000 admissions per year. A case-control study suggested that in contrast with coronarography and pacemaker implantation, percutaneous transluminal coronary angioplasty may be a risk factor for nosocomial septicaemia (OR 4.5, 95% confidence interval 0.7-33.4).

Aged↗
PubMed1994

Atypical varicella zoster infection in persons with HIV infection.

Four patients with HIV infection and severe immunodeficiency are described who developed atypical varicella zoster lesions. Three of the patients presented with chronic varicella zoster lesions. In two of them such lesions were hyperkeratotic. All three patients had been treated initially with subtherapeutic doses of acyclovir. In one of the patients the lesions were clinically resistant to high dose acyclovir treatment and disappeared only when renal insufficiency developed during foscarnet-famcyclovir treatment. One patient developed a disseminated varicella zoster infection.

AIDS-Related Opportunistic Infections↗
PubMed1994

Two AIDS patients with life-threatening pancreatitis successfully treated, one with ganciclovir the other with foscarnet.

Two AIDS patients, clinically suspected to have cytomegalovirus (CMV) pancreatitis are described. The first patient was successfully treated with ganciclovir 10 mg/kg/day. This patient refused ganciclovir maintenance treatment and developed 3 other episodes of pancreatitis which responded each time to ganciclovir. The second patient was successfully treated with foscarnet 200 mg/kg/day followed by maintenance foscarnet treatment 100 mg/kg/day. No pancreatitis relapse was observed.

AIDS-Related Opportunistic Infections↗
PubMed1989

Application of gas-liquid chromatography to the routine identification of nonfermenting gram-negative bacteria in clinical specimens.

A total of 430 strains of glucose-nonfermenting gram-negative bacteria representing 35 species were analyzed for their cellular fatty acid composition by gas-liquid chromatography (GLC). On the basis of qualitative differences in their cellular fatty acid composition, these bacteria could be divided into 19 distinct chromatographic groups. Eight Pseudomonas species, Achromobacter xylosoxidans, group Vd, and Agrobacterium radiobacter were identified from their fatty acid compositions alone. The other glucose-nonfermenting gram-negative bacterial species studied here, classified within nine distinct GLC groups, were easily recognized by using the GLC fatty acid analysis supplemented with a limited number of conventional biochemical tests. The results support the hypothesis that bacterial fatty acid composition is rather specific and that qualitative GLC fatty acid analysis can be adapted in the clinical laboratory either to provide additional criteria for differentiation of closely related groups or to serve as a rapid and highly reproducible method for their routine identification.

Acinetobacter↗
PubMedDate not supplied

Choledochocele: diagnosis by magnetic resonance imaging.

The value of magnetic resonance imaging (MRI) and magnetic resonance cholangiopancreatography (MRCP) is demonstrated in a case of a 22-year-old female with a small choledochocele clinically presenting with acute cholecystitis and pancreatitis. Previous abdominal sonography and computed tomography were not diagnostic. MRI and MRCP showed a cystic dilatation of the distal common bile duct, intramurally located in the second portion of the duodenum and protruding into the duodenal lumen. These findings allowed a confident diagnosis of a choledochocele.

Adult↗
PubMedDate not supplied

Changing epidemiological and clinical aspects of imported malaria in Belgium.

BACKGROUND: In the early nineties the increase of imported malaria in some European countries was temporarily halted, but it resumed in 1994. More Africans, more European travelers, and fewer long-term residents were counted amongst patients. A shift towards more subacute disease has been noted. This study intends to assess whether the same trends were observed in Belgium. METHODS: Clinical and epidemiological data of 128 patients treated for malaria in 1997 at the Institute of Tropical Medicine and the University Hospital of Antwerp were compared with 209 malaria patients treated in 1988/1989. Risk factors for clinical presentation and parasitemia were analysed. RESULTS: In Belgium the number of reported imported malaria cases remained almost stable between 1988 and 1997. In 1997, there were more African patients, less infections from Central Africa, and 50% less residents. Less patients reported prophylaxis use. The causative agent shifted from Plasmodium falciparum to other species. Subacute and atypical malaria became less frequent. In both years, there were no deaths, and severe malaria did not increase significantly. Mefloquine disappeared almost as a curative treatment, and was replaced by quinine, with or without a long acting agent, or by halofantrine. The ethnic origin, nor the use of chemoprophylaxis, influenced disease characteristics. In 1988, malaria attacks in the previous months predisposed to subacute disease; longer residence, and attacks in the previous months, protected against high parasitemia; longer symptom duration correlated with absence of fever, and with splenomegaly. None of these risk factors was correlated with severe malaria. CONCLUSION: The incidence of subacute malaria dropped significantly in the last decade. Although this presentation is almost limited to residents, the decline in malaria can not be explained by an overall shorter duration of stay, since the decline in this particular clinical presentation of malaria was also spectacular in residents. Apparently, insufficient treatment of malaria attacks in the previous months is the only independent risk factor.

Adult↗