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At least 289 records · Page 16Linked to original sources
PubMed2002

Detection of Shiga toxins, intimin and enterohemolysin in Escherichia coli strains isolated from children in eastern Slovakia.

Fifty Escherichia coli strains isolated from stool samples of 51 healthy children, 143 strains isolated from stool samples of 327 children with diarrhea and 24 strains isolated from stool samples of 21 children with suspected hemolytic uremic syndrome were examined for the presence of Shiga toxin-producing E. coli virulence factors (shiga toxin 1 and 2, intimin and enterohemolysin) and their genes. Vero-cell assay and latex agglutination were used for detection of Shiga toxin 1 and 2, TSB agar with washed erythrocytes was used for detection of enterohemolysin; genes encoding shiga toxin 1 and 2, intimin and enterohemolysin were detected using multiplex PCR. The presence of E. coli strains harboring genes encoding shiga toxin 1 and 2 (12 strains), intimin (34 strains) and enterohemolysin (12 strains) was demonstrated.

Adhesins, Bacterial↗
PubMed2004

Otomycoses of candidal origin in eastern Slovakia.

Mycological analysis of swabs and scraping samples from the external ear canals of 40 patients with clinically diagnosed otomycosis (10 neonates, 30 adults) revealed the presence of fungi as etiological agents. They were investigated microscopically using 20 % potassium hydroxide, and by cultivation on Sabouraud's glucose agar. The Candida species were identified using the germ-tube test, micromorphology observations of colonies on rice agar, and particularly by the commercial kit AUXAcolor. The following Candida species were identified in the aural material examined: C. albicans (n = 21; 52.5 %), C. parapsilosis (11; 27.5), C. tropicalis (3; 7.5), C. krusei (3; 7.5), C. guilliermondii (2; 5.0). The above yeasts were present in samples together with Staphylococcus epidermidis (31), S. aureus (16), alpha-hemolytic streptococci (14), Neisseria spp. (14), Proteus mirabilis (3), Pseudomonas aeruginosa (3), Escherichia coli (1) and Haemophilus influenzae (1). The most frequent predisposing factors for otomycosis were swimming in public pools and/or bath, spa and diabetes mellitus.

Adult↗
PubMed2004

Antibiotic resistance and virulence factors among clinical and food enterococci isolated in Slovakia.

The resistance to antibiotics and the distribution of virulence factors in enterococci isolated from traditional Slovak sheep cheese bryndza was compared with strains from human infections. The occurrence of 4 enterococcal species was observed in 117 bryndza-cheese isolates. The majority of strains were identified as E. faecium (76 %) and E. faecalis (23 %). Several strains of E. durans and 1 strain of E. hirae were also present. More than 90 % of strains isolated from 109 clinical enterococci were E. faecalis, the rest belonged to E. faecium. The resistance to 6 antimicrobial substances (ampicillin, ciprofloxacin, higher concentration of gentamicin, nitrofurantoin, tetracycline and vancomycin) was tested in clinical and food enterococci. A higher level of resistance was found in clinical than in food strains and E. faecium had a higher resistance than E. faecalis; no resistance to vancomycin was detected. The occurrence of 3 virulence-associated genes, cylA (coding for hemolysin), gelE (coding for gelatinase) and esp (coding for surface protein) was monitored. Differences were found in the distribution of cylA gene between clinical and bryndza-cheese E. faecalis strains; in contrast to clinical strains (45 %), cylA gene was detected in 22 % of food isolates. The distribution of 2 other virulence factors, gelE and esp, was not significantly different in the two groups of E. faecalis strains. cylA and gelE genes were not detected in E. faecium but more than 70 % of clinical E. faecium were positive for esp, even thought none of the 79 E. faecium cheese isolates contained this gene.

Animals↗
PubMed1994

Serum copper and zinc in industrial centers in Slovakia.

The association between serum copper and zinc concentrations and age, sex, and other risk factors of cardiovascular disease in randomly selected adult volunteers aged 19-59 were investigated. There was a positive relationship between copper and age in both sexes, but zinc was negatively correlated with age in males only. Serum zinc was positively related to HDL-cholesterol in males. Serum copper was positively related to total cholesterol and LDL-cholesterol but negatively correlated to HDL-cholesterol in males. A positive relationship to body mass index was observed in females only. Subjects have been divided into a control group and a group with marked risk factors of cardiovascular disease. The levels of zinc were not different, whereas the levels of copper in both males and females were significantly higher in the risk group. Our results suggested a positive relationship between serum copper and cumulation of more factors of cardiovascular disease, however, their causal effect in human has to be investigated further.

Adult↗
PubMed2004

Drug utilisation in outpatient children. A comparison among Tenerife, Valencia, and Barcelona (Spain), Toulouse (France), Sofia (Bulgaria), Bratislava (Slovakia) and Smolensk (Russia).

INTRODUCTION: Scarce information about comparative diagnostic and therapeutic patterns in paediatric outpatients of different countries is found in the literature. OBJECTIVE: To describe the similarities and differences observed in diagnosis and therapeutic patterns of paediatric patients of seven locations in different countries. DESIGN: Cross-sectional, prospective, international comparative, descriptive study. PATIENTS AND METHODS: A randomly selected sample of 12,264 paediatric outpatients seen in consultation rooms of urban and rural areas and attended by paediatricians or general practitioners of the participating locations. Data on patient demographic information, diagnosis and pharmacological treatment were collected using pre-designed forms. Diagnoses were coded using the ICD-9 and drugs according to the ATC classification. RESULTS: Among the ten most common diagnoses, upper respiratory tract infections are in the first position in all locations; asthma prevalence is highest in Tenerife (8.4%). Tonsillitis, otitis, bronchitis and dermatological affections are the most common diagnoses in all locations. Pneumonia is only reported in Sofia (3.8%) and Smolensk (2.3%). The average number of drugs prescribed per child varied from 1.3 in Barcelona to 2.9 in Smolensk. There are no great differences in the profile of pharmacological groups prescribed, but a considerable range of variations in antibiotic therapy is observed: prescription of cephalosporins is low in Smolensk (0.7%) and higher in the other locations, from 16.5% (Bratislava) to 28% (Tenerife). Macrolides prescriptions range from 12.6% (Toulouse) to 24.7% (Smolensk), except in Sofia where they drop to 5.6%. Trimethoprim and its combinations are used in Smolensk (23.3%), Sofia (11.8%) and Bratislava (8.7%). Check-up consultations are not recorded in Smolensk and Bratislava, whereas in Toulouse these visits account for 16.2% of all consultations and in the other locations the percentage varies from 6.1% (Tenerife) to 1.9% (Sofia). Homeopathic treatments are registered only in Toulouse. CONCLUSION: Except in asthma prevalence, there are no great differences in diagnostic maps among locations. Significant variations in the number of drugs prescribed per child and antibiotic therapies are observed. Areas for improvement have been identified.

Bulgaria↗
PubMed1998

Antioxidant status in vegetarians and nonvegetarians in Bratislava region (Slovakia).

The level of antioxidant vitamins (C, A, E) and the activity of a selenium-dependent glutathione peroxidase as indicators of antioxidant status and lipid peroxides as markers of oxidative damage were investigated in blood of 196 healthy middle-aged inhabitants of Bratislava region. The group consisted of 78 vegearians (32 men and 46 women) and 118 nonvegetarians (61 men and 57 women). The aim of the study was to compare the effect of the diet on the antioxidant status in vegetarians and nonvegetarians. The most important differences were found in the level of ascorbic acid and in the activity of selenium-dependent glutathione peroxidase; the ascorbic acid in serum was significantly higher, while the selenium and the activity of selenium-dependent glutathione peroxidase was lower both in plasma and erythrocytes of vegetarians.

Adult↗
PubMed2006

Plant bioassays for an in situ monitoring of air near an industrial area and a municipal solid waste: Zilina (Slovakia).

The process of a bioindication of genotoxic effects of complex mixtures on the environment using higher plants is very appropriate and effective. We present the results of an in situ indication of the genotoxic effects of polluted environment near Zilina city. For a more complex monitoring we used: the Tradescantia micronucleus (Trad-MCN) assay, the Tradescantia microspore test and an evaluation of the abortivity of the pollen grains of native plant species. We found significant differences in the frequency of the micronuclei when using the Trad-MCN test in local of Duben. The Tradescantia pollen abortivity test showed significant differences in the frequency of the abortive pollen grains between the exposed groups and the control group. By using native plant species in the pollen abortivity test we found significant differences in both of the two locations for the four following species during two consecutive years: Artemisia vulgaris, Melilotus albus, Trifolium pratense, Typha latifolia.

Air Pollutants↗
PubMed1995

Characterization of Yersinia enterocolitica isolated from the oral cavity of swine in Slovakia.

Yersinia enterocolitica was detected in 160 of 2760 examined samples that were prepared from dental cavity of 920 pigs. From the isolates 49 strains were characterized with respect to their genetic and phenotypic markers of virulence. All strains were belonging to serogroup 0:3, biovar 4. Forty-one isolates (84%) harboured the virulence plasmid detected by DNA colony hybridization. Of the other assays of virulence--autoagglutination, binding of crystal violet, pyrazinamidase activity, calcium dependence and Congo red binding--the latter two exhibited the best correlation with the detected presence of plasmid DNA.

Animals↗
PubMed1995

The cultural production of Bioterapia: psychic healing and the natural medicine movement in Slovakia.

Despite powerful opposition, natural medicine (NM) has achieved a toe-hold in the state-run biomedical system in the Slovak Republic. The physician-leader of the NM movement hopes to leverage his ministerial post as NM 'supreme expert' and his interlocking NM clinical and research facilities to achieve a complex, unified health care system under control of medical doctors. This health care model simultaneously reinforces biomedical hegemony and decenters classical medicine by substituting a bioenergetical paradigm. NM includes, among other diagnostic and healing modalities, acupuncture, herbal therapies, bee therapy, reflexology, iridology. However, its paradigmatic form is bioterapia, the focus of this paper. Bioterapia is a form of psychic healing or therapeutic touch. According to its practitioners, it is based on bioenergetic and information-processing principles. Conceptually, bioterapia unifies psyche, soma and energy dimensions of the human body and situates the human organism in an extended transpersonal social, physical and cosmological environment. Bioterapia is a scientized and medicalized reconstruction of a folk healing tradition whose appropriation simultaneously secularized and re-sacralized this tradition by re-locating its practice from lay healers to medical doctors, from the religious domain to the venerated scientific domain, from deviant science to normal science. The reconfiguration into bioterapia as part of the creation of an academic secular parapsychology in the former Soviet Bloc in the late 1960s, illustrates the use of the privileged discourse of science for a cultural production that seems to have both supported and subverted the regime.

Complementary Therapies↗
PubMed1994

A survey of anthelmintic resistance in Slovakia.

A survey of prevalence of anthelmintic resistant nematode strains was carried out in 77 sheep farms in the Slovak Republic. An egg hatch assay was used for the detection of resistance to the benzimidazole group of anthelmintics. Results could not be obtained from five farms because of low egg counts in faecal samples. On 64 farms, the effective dose (ED50) values were under 0.1 microgram ml-1 while on six farms, trichostrongylid populations with resistance to benzimidazoles were found. Their ED50 values ranged from 0.10 to 0.12 microgram ml-1.

Animals↗
PubMed2005

PCDDs, PCDFs and dioxin-like PCBs in food of animal origin (Slovakia).

The levels of 17 toxic polychlorinated dibenzo-p-dioxins (PCDDs), polychlorinated dibenzofurans (PCDFs) and 12 non-ortho and mono-ortho polychlorinated biphenyls (PCBs) in 73 foodstuff samples of animal origin collected from shops and small farms in selected districts of Slovak Republic are presented in this paper. The concentrations expressed as WHO-TEQ in analysed samples ranged for PCDDs/PCDFs from 0.25 pg/g fat in pork to 75 pg/g fat in cod liver. The TEQ concentrations of non-ortho PCBs were between 0.007 and 181 pg/g fat and mono-ortho PCBs between 0.0083 and 66.5 pg/g fat. The mean concentrations in freshwater fish and imported species of marine fish were 0.089 pg TEQ/g fresh weight for PCDDs/PCDFs, 0.17 pg TEQ/g fresh weight for non-ortho PCBs and 0.034 pg TEQ/g fresh weight for mono-ortho PCBs. The mean total concentration of PCDDs/PCDFs and dioxin-like PCBs in samples of infant milk formula imported from EU countries was 0.98 pg TEQ/g fat.

Animals↗