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[Epidemiologic analysis of human Leptospirosis in Poland in 1995-2002. I. Clinical features and laboratory diagnosis].

The aim of the study was to formulate the case definition of Leptospirosis for surveillance in Poland. There were also discussed the laboratory criteria appropriate for epidemiological situation of leptospirosis in our country. The study based on statistical data and information from 66 epidemiological investigation cards of leptospira cases reported in Poland between 1995 and 2002. We analyzed the course of the disease, clinical symptoms as well as the status of laboratory confirmation.

Diagnosis, Differential↗

Laboratory diagnosis of radicular and pseudoradicular syndromes in cerebrospinal fluid (CSF): reliability of methods in consideration of pathogenetic aspects. Report on section "CSF diagnosis" of 4th Klagenfurter Neurology Workshop Conference on radicular and pseudoradicular syndromes, Klagenfurt, Austria, August 28-29, 1992.

Laboratory tests may be used to confirm the clinical differentiation of pseudoradicular syndromes and radicular syndromes. In the presence of pseudoradicular syndromes, CSF and blood samples yield no positive results with either non-specific or specific methods. Radicular syndromes give rise to positive findings; using non-specific methods they can be subdivided into inflammatory and non-inflammatory forms, with and without blood-nerve barrier impairment. Non-specific quantities of CSF routine diagnosis are total protein, albumin, leukocyte counts and differential cell count, L-lactate, intrathecal -IgG, -IgA, -IgM and immunoglobulin-class oligoclonal bands. Oligoclonal bands enable the highly sensitive differentiation of non-inflammatory from subacute-chronically inflammatory forms of radicular syndromes. Most of the specific quantities are the subject of current research, e.g. bacterial antigens, D-lactate, cultivation tests, polymerase chain reaction tests and pathogen-specific oligoclonal bands. Pathomechanisms affecting the permeability of the blood-nerve barrier to increasing concentrations of protein and to leukocyte subsets possibly explain the CSF findings in radicular and pseudoradicular syndromes.

Diagnosis, Differential↗

The hyponatremic patient: a systematic approach to laboratory diagnosis.

Hyponatremia (serum sodium level less than 134 mmol/L) is a common electrolyte disturbance. Its high prevalence and potential neurologic sequelae make a logical and rigorous differential diagnosis mandatory before any therapeutic intervention. A history of concurrent illness and medication use as well as the assessment of extracellular volume status on physical examination may provide useful clues as to the pathogenesis of hyponatremia. Measurement of the effective serum tonicity (serum osmolality less serum urea level) is the first step in the laboratory evaluation. In patients with normal or elevated effective serum osmolality (280 mOsm/kg or greater), pseudohyponatremia should be excluded. In the hypo-osmolar state (serum osmolality less than 280 mOsm/kg), urine osmolality is used to determine whether water excretion is normal or impaired. A urine osmolality value of less than 100 mOsm/kg indicates complete and appropriate suppression of antidiuretic hormone secretion. A urine sodium level less than 20 mmol/L is indicative of hypovolemia, whereas a level greater than 40 mmol/L is suggestive of the syndrome of inappropriate antidiuretic hormone secretion. Levels of hormones (thyroid-stimulating hormone and cortisol) and arterial blood gases should be determined in difficult cases of hyponatremia.

Acidosis↗

Influence of canine brain decomposition on laboratory diagnosis of rabies.

Canine brains infected with rabies virus were submitted to decomposition by being left at room temperature of 25 to 29 degrees C for up to 168 h. At 24 h intervals, brain fragments were analyzed by immunofluorescence (IF) and by the mouse intracerebral inoculation (MI) test to confirm the diagnosis of rabies and to measure the putrefaction effect on the accuracy of the diagnosis. Forty eight h after the beginning of the experiment, the MI test showed signs of impairment with four negative results, while after 72 h, 100% of the results were negative to the MI test and only one result was negative to the IF test, indicating that the threshold period for accurate diagnosis is 24 to 48 h before putrefaction. The authors recommend the shipment of suspected cases of rabies to the laboratory for confirmation, but the use of putrid materials for diagnosis is meaningless because of false-negative results.

Animals↗

[Laboratory diagnosis of osteoporosis].

Bone is biologically a highly active tissue whose cells are embedded in a complex network of systemically acting hormones and local mediators. The mechanisms of action involved are as yet only partially understood. With the increase in life expectancy and the resultant change of the population's age structure, diseases of the musculoskeletal system and bones have increased in importance. Thus, research is directed to a greater extent toward bone metabolism and the most frequent bone disease, osteoporosis. Until a few decades ago, the diagnosis of a bone disease was based principally on clinical and radiological methods. Laboratory methods only included the measurement of total alkaline phosphatase activity and calcium and phosphate balance. The development and introduction of new biochemical markers of bone metabolism in recent years led to a considerable increase in available laboratory methods. To evaluate the activity of osteoblastic synthesis, alkaline phosphatase and other bone-forming markers with higher tissue specificity such as bone alkaline phosphatase, osteocalcin, and several collagen propeptides are used. Bone degradation (calcium and hydroxyproline were the only markers until several years ago) can now be detected quickly and reliably with many new serological and urinary markers. Pyridinium derivatives and telopeptides as products of the metabolic activity of osteoclasts have been proved efficacious in diagnosis and therapy control.

Adult↗

Clinical and laboratory diagnosis of nutritional problems.

The objective of this article is to familiarize the dentist with clinical signs and laboratory methods used in diagnosing nutritional deficiencies, and to indicate which laboratory methods may be useful to the clinician in cases of suspected nutritional deficiency. It should be noted that the suggested laboratory methods were selected on the basis of their applicability for the clinical situation as well as their reliability as indicators of nutritional status. Therefore these suggested methods of choice may not in every instance be the most accurate of all indicators of nutritional status for a particular nutrient. The dentist who wishes to utilize one of the laboratory methods has a number of options. He can take the appropriate sample in his office, or refer the patient directly to a clinical laboratory for the simpler analyses, or refer his patient to a physician for appropriate metabolic testing. The first option may be more appropriate for the dentist practicing in areas where a clinical laboratory is not within reasonable distance. In this instance the dentist should contact the laboratory for specific information, such as sample volume and special instructions for taking, handling, and shipping the sample. The second option is available to the dentist practicing in an urban area where clinical laboratory facilities are readily available. Finally, the dentist should work in conjunction with a physician when complex metabolic testing is required.

Anthropometry↗

Laboratory diagnosis of Ebola and Marburg hemorrhagic fever.

The control of Filovirus outbreaks can be greatly enhanced by timely laboratory confirmation of infection or the identification of alternative disease processes. The status of current laboratory diagnostics for Ebola and Marburg virus infections is discussed in terms of the assays available and their interpretation. In addition, the role of field-based laboratory support and its limitations and capabilities in an outbreak response setting, especially in regards to real-time PCR and immunofiltration assays, is presented.

Animals↗

[Possibilities in the virological laboratory diagnosis of CNS infections].

Viral infections of the central nervous system (CNS) are investigated by the use of a great lot of laboratory methods preferring organ-specific patients' material, f. e. cerebrospinal fluid (CSF). Beside of the improvement of virus isolation procedures, antigen tests and assays on nucleic acid will get more importance for rapid viral diagnosis. Pathognomonic intrathecal antibody formation can be demonstrated by immunoglobulin class and subclass differentiation in CSF specimens. However, some of the slow virus diseases must still be retrospectively analysed by the means of a neuropathological laboratory.

Antibodies, Viral↗

Laboratory diagnosis of toxigenic Clostridium difficile by polymerase chain reaction: presence of toxin genes and their stable expression in toxigenic isolates from Japanese individuals.

Clostridium difficile causes pseudomembranous colitis and antibiotic-associated diarrhea. The definitive diagnosis of C. difficile infection is finally accomplished by the isolation of toxigenic C. difficile. However, only a small number of Japanese clinical laboratories are able to reach a definitive diagnosis of C. difficile infection, probably because simple reliable assays for toxins in the isolates are not available. In this study, we examined the compatibility of a polymerase chain reaction (PCR) assay and tissue culture assay to identify toxigenic C. difficile, in toxigenic and nontoxigenic C. difficile isolates from Japanese patients and healthy carriers. The specificity of PCR primers was demonstrated by restriction endonuclease digestion and seminested PCR in C. difficile VPI 10463 strain. No PCR product was amplified in the eight other clostridial species used to check the specificity of the PCR assay. The detection limit was 10(3) cells. Both toxin A and toxin B genes (the genes encoding the major virulence factors of C. difficile) were detected in 58 toxigenic C. difficile isolates, which showed a wide range of cytotoxic activity in tissue culture assays. Neither of the toxin genes was carried by 40 nontoxigenic strains of C. difficile. The results of this study strongly suggest that a definitive diagnosis of C. difficile infection can be accomplished by PCR detection of the toxin genes rather than by tissue culture assay of isolates.

Adult↗

Laboratory diagnosis of the neuromuscular glycogen storage diseases.

Of the 12 known genetic disorders of glycogen metabolism, five consistently involve the neuromuscular system. Pompe's disease is a generalized, fatal, lysosomal storage disease caused by absence of acid maltase. Structurally abnormal glycogen accumulates in Forbes-Cori and Andersen's diseases, resulting from deficient debranching and branching enzymes, respectively. Exercise intolerance, muscle cramps, and myoglobinuria characterize McArdle's syndrome or myophosphorylase deficiency. In Tauri's disease, absence of phosphofructokinase leads to glycogen accumulation indirectly owing to a metabolic block in glycolysis. Diagnosis of the symptomatic patient, antenatal diagnosis, and detection of heterozygous genetic carriers are accomplished using a variety of laboratory methods. Tissue enzyme assays, chemical analysis of glycogen, and studies of carbohydrate metabolism are available. Recent advances in biophysics, such as nuclear magnetic resonance, have opened up a new approach for the study of metabolic diseases.

Adolescent↗

[Laboratory diagnosis of Lyme borreliosis].

Three stages can be observed in Lyme borreliosis: the acute stage (with dermal and systemic disease), an intermediate stage (with neurological and cardiovascular complaints and myositis), and a chronic stage (with arthritis, low back pain, dermatological and neurological complaints). If no acute stage with erythema chronicum migrans is seen, laboratory tests must provide the diagnosis. In the so-called two-test protocol at least two different tests must be positive for a definite diagnosis. Because culture is difficult, serology (demonstration of specific IgM and IgG antibodies against spirochaetal antigens) is the preferred technique. Cross reactions, antigenic variations and differences in antigenic expression in American and European strains may cause false-negative and false-positive results with the current tests. Moreover, previous use of antibiotics can interfere with the production of specific antibodies, and the effect of therapy is not correlated with height and behaviour of antibody titres. Additional investigation with immunoblot techniques, demonstrating specific antibody patterns may be valuable. An interesting alternative, not yet fully developed, is detection of specific antigens in tissues.

Antibodies, Bacterial↗

[The potentials of immunological laboratory diagnosis].

Clinicians of different profiles often direct their patients to immunological tests because of a high incidence of various immunopathological syndromes, such as immunodeficiencies and allergic and autoimmune diseases. The efficacy of an immunological study depends on the task of the laboratory verification of the tentative clinical diagnosis, on the disease stage, and planned treatment. Biological material for investigation is collected depending on the task of the study and localization of the pathological process. It is not only the traditional material-blood, but other biological fluids of the organism as well. The choice of an adequate and informative complex of methods is also determined by the tasks of investigation. Special attention is paid now to methods for assessing the cytokine status of the organism. Interpretation of the results is the most intricate step of immunological tests because the notion of "immunological norm" is ambiguous and it is necessary to take account of the individual shifts of immunological parameters in the course of disease.

Humans↗