Gene/Protein Disease Symptom Drug Enzyme Compound
Pivot Concepts:   Target Concepts:
Query: UMLS:C0036690 (sepsis)
 59,461 document(s) hit in 31,850,051 MEDLINE articles (0.00 seconds)

Antibodies against the major capsular polysaccharide of Cryptococcus neoformans, glucuronoxylomannan (GXM), and a minor secreted polysaccharide, galactoxylomannan (GalXM), were surveyed by indirect enzyme immunoassay (EIA) in patients with cryptococcosis, with other mycoses, and in normal controls. Measurement of IgG levels against GalXM revealed cross reactions in candidiasis patients that were reduced by adsorption with Candida albicans cell walls. Measurement of IgM levels were subject to fewer cross reactions. The combination of adsorption with C albicans cell walls and measurement of IgM detected antibodies in 12 of 55 cryptococcosis patients. An end point equal to or greater than a titer of 1/16 excluded reactions in normals and limited cross reactivity in candidiasis patients to below 7%. This test has potential diagnostic significance in cryptococcosis patients who show no evidence of cryptococcal antigen circulating in the cerebrospinal fluid or serum. Reactions in this IgM assay were not spuriously due to rheumatoid factor. The major capsular GXM was much less serologically active and was subject to cross reactions with agents of bacterial sepsis. The specificity of the GalXM is directed mainly by the mannose and to a lesser extent by galactosyl residues.
 ...
PMID:Enzyme immunoassay detection of IgM to galactoxylomannan of Cryptococcus neoformans. 638 77

In 1979 and 1980, an apparent increase in the occurrence of disseminated fungal infections was observed. The clinical features of such infections in very low-birth weight infants are poorly described, and diagnosis is often delayed. Over a 24-month period, a discrete group of ten clinically diagnosed and four autopsy-diagnosed cases of systemic fungal infections in very low-birth-weight infants was observed. Prior to developing systemic fungal illness, these infants required prolonged total parenteral nutrition, central arterial or venous catheters, and multiple courses of broad-spectrum antibiotics for documented or suspected bacterial sepsis. The clinically diagnosed disseminated fungal infection (ten infants) was noted at a mean age of 33 days with one or more of the following: respiratory deterioration, abdominal distension, guaiac positive stools, carbohydrate intolerance, candiduria, endophthalmitis, meningitis, abscesses, erythematous rash, temperature instability, and hypotension. These signs and symptoms were seen as chronic or were intermittent in clinical course. In contrast, the autopsy-diagnosed disseminated fungal infection (four infants) was present at an earlier age with fewer recognizable predisposing factors and a more acute onset of infection. Nevertheless, in both groups the diagnosis of systemic candidal infection was delayed, due to an inability to consistently recover the organism from blood, CSF, or urine. The neonatologist caring for the very low-birth-weight infant needs to become more aware of these clinical entities. A high index of suspicion and ancillary diagnostic evaluation, such as retinoscopy or tissue biopsy, may be indicated in the critically ill, culture-negative patient.
 ...
PMID:Disseminated fungal infections in very low-birth-weight infants: clinical manifestations and epidemiology. 642 Jul 64

The effectiveness of miconazole was evaluated in 9 documented fungal infections, 4 of which were candidal sepsis. All patients were receiving therapy for hematological malignancies. Miconazole revealed the excellent effect in 3 patients with candidal esophagitis and 1 patient with candidal sepsis and esophagitis. Twelve patients who received miconazole for presumed or documented fungal infection were evaluated for toxicity. No particular side effects, except for only 1 case of mild hepatic dysfunction, were observed. Miconazole is apparently an effective antifungal agents for treatment of systemic fungal infection in patients with hematological malignancies.
 ...
PMID:[Therapeutic effect of miconazole on fungal infection in patients with hematological malignancies]. 673 93

The clinical picture of 3 infants with systemic candidiasis who recovered spontaneously is described and a correlation is made between the clinical findings and laboratory data. The clinical picture is similar to that of 16 patients who died, some with septicemia of bacterial origin. The authors consider predisposing factors favoring the development of systemic mycotic infection such as: use of multiple antibiotics, continuous use of catheters, deficiency of IGA (in one patient). The diagnosis was suspected due to the prolonged course, the ill-defined toxic and infectious manifestations, the poor or lack of response to antibiotics and the negativity of bacterial blood cultures. The presence of Candida in various sites and cultures with positive serologic tests for Candida confirmed the diagnosis. Some considerations about antimycotic therapy are made and some circumstances that make the spontaneous cures of mycosis possible are considered.
 ...
PMID:[Systemic candidiasis in the newborn. Report of 3 cases]. 698 53

Candidosis was recognized retrospectively in the hearts of 20 of 8,975 patients (0.2%) who had complete postmortem examinations done in Central Kentucky and South Florida. This mycosis, characterized by myocardial micro-abscesses with yeasts and pseudohyphal elements in 18 patients, was the most common fungal cardiac infection. Noncaseating granulomas were seen in only one patient. Infective endocarditis due to Candida species was found in seven individuals and involved the mitral valve most frequently. The 20 infected persons varied in age from 20 days to 65 years, with a mean age of 37 years, and included 11 males and nine females. All had compromising, usually benign, underlying diseases complicated by antibiotic therapy for suspected or proven Gram-negative sepsis. Typically, these patients were extremely ill, and eight had recognized conduction disturbances including altered heart rates and rhythms. Deep candidosis was considered a major factor in every patient's death. Experimental deep candidosis in 12 infected, adult laboratory rats was characterized by similar haphazardly scattered myocardial microabscesses with fungal elements in eight (67%). Endocarditis in the rats was not seen in this intracardiac injection model. Widespread antibiotic exposure in patients who have compromising underlying diseases portends an increasing incidence of deep candidosis, which as the potential to infect any tissue, particularly the heart, and to create cardiac arrhythmias and death.
 ...
PMID:The potentially lethal problem of cardiac candidosis. 698 62

A 62-year-old woman with chronic active hepatitis receiving immunosuppressive drugs was initially admitted with sepsis secondary to an intra-abdominal abscess caused by Klebsiella pneumoniae. She had a stormy course despite adequate antimicrobial therapy. Her postoperative course was further complicated by a fungal infection. Blood, urine, and sputum cultures were positive for Trichosporon. Antifungal therapy was given but her condition deteriorated and she died. At autopsy, a disseminated fungal infection was found. Diagnosis and management of such infections in the immunosuppressed host are difficult.
 ...
PMID:Disseminated Trichosporon infection. Occurrence in an immunosuppressed patient with chronic active hepatitis. 718 29

Candidosis is the most common postmortem cerebral mycosis, yet is rarely appreciated clinically. From 8975 complete autopsies, 41 patients were identified with tissue verified deep candidosis. Nineteen of them (46 per cent) had cerebral candidal infections. There were eight males and 11 females, and 15 whites and four blacks. The age varied from 17 days to 82 years, with a mean age of 40 years. Cancer was observed in four (21 per cent). All 19 individuals had proven or suspected gram negative sepsis and had been treated with appropriate antibiotic therapy. Other predisposing factors included major surgery (63 per cent), steroid therapy (53 per cent), and deep venous lines (42 percent). Candida species was identified outside the brain in every patient and included the kidneys (90 per cent), heart (80 per cent), and other organs. Portals of entry appeared to be the gastrointestinal tract, deep venous lines, or both. In this autopsy population, candidosis occurred only in compromised patients and produced intracerebral microabscesses and noncaseating granulomas without diffuse leptomeningitis. Cerebral lesions occurred late in the disease, and were complicated by cardiac and renal candidosis, which contributed to the patient's death. With an increased awareness of the appropriate clinical setting, this iatrogenic mycosis can be handled properly and prevented from jeopardizing the patient.
 ...
PMID:Human cerebral candidosis--a postmortem evaluation of 19 patients. 720 51

Fungal infections of the heart are infrequent postoperative complications in children, yet, when present are often fatal. Children autopsied at The Johns Hopkins Hospital from 1889 to the present were studied for cardiac fungal infection. Among the 14 children so identified, 8 developed cardiac fungal infection after surgery. All postoperative cardiac infections were caused by Candida species. All were autopsied since 1959. Gastrointestinal surgery was performed in 6 patients and cardiac surgery in 2. Candida infection was not confined to the endocardium; endocarditis developed in 2 patients, pericarditis in 1, and myocarditis in 5. None received cytotoxic agents or corticosteroids. Two patients died from direct cardiac involvement. Other deaths were related to Candida sepsis or bronchopneumonia. A clinical diagnosis of cardiac fungal infection was never made. Prolonged administration of multiple antibiotics, central venous catheterization, prematurity and immune deficiency predisposed to cardiac and systemic candidiasis. Clinical features facilitating early diagnosis are discussed. Removal of central venous catheters infected with Candida did not eliminate the source of continued sepsis, since Candida-laden vegetations related to the catheter adhered to the superior vena cava and endocardial surface. Postoperative cardiac candidiasis is a relatively new and persistent problem of early diagnosis and therapy. The post-surgical pediatric patient has major predisposing factors for cardiac candidiasis, which, if unrecognized, may be a source for continued dissemination or may in itself be the cause of death.
 ...
PMID:Postoperative Candida infections of the heart in children: clinicopathologic study of a continuing problem of diagnosis and therapy. 738 69

The granulocyte colony-stimulating factor (G-CSF) has been shown to accelerate recovery from severe neutropenia and to decrease the incidence of documented infections after intensive chemotherapy in cancer patients. However, the routine prophylactic use of G-CSF is expensive. This study was conducted to determine the role of G-CSF as adjunct therapy for septicemia following neutropenia caused by chemotherapy in children with acute leukemia. Fifty consecutive episodes of septicemia were studied involving 34 episodes of Gram-negative, 7 episodes of Gram-positive, 5 episodes of polymicrobial bacterial septicemia, one episode of fungemia, and 3 episodes of disseminated fungal infection. In the first 25 episodes, G-CSF was not used (group A). For the next 16 episodes, G-CSF 200 micrograms per square meter per day subcutaneously was given immediately after the septicemia was documented until the absolute neutrophil count was maintained at more than 1,500 per cubic millimeter (group B). Thereafter, G-CSF at the same dose as that of group B was prophylactically used in all the children who received high-dose cytosine arabinoside-containing regimens. Nine episodes of septicemia occurred (group C). The incidences of mortality per episode of septicemia in groups A, B, and C were 12.0% (3/25), 12.5% (2/16) and 0% (0/9), respectively. Statistically, there was no difference between the three groups overall and in pair-wise comparisons (all P > 0.5). The durations of G-CSF administration in group B ranged from 6 to 26 days with a median of 12 days and the durations of G-CSF administration in group C ranged from 10 to 23 days with a median of 19 days. With or without G-CSF, there may be no significant difference in the mortality of septicemia following neutropenia caused by chemotherapy in children with acute leukemia.
 ...
PMID:Role of granulocyte colony-stimulating factor as adjunct therapy for septicemia in children with acute leukemia. 753 94

Immunotherapy can be defined as treatment directed at augmenting host immune defence mechanisms. Non-antimicrobial therapies and immunoprophylaxis in bone marrow transplantation (BMT) can be subdivided into three broad categories: passive immunotherapy with intravenous immunoglobulin (IVIG); cytokine therapy; and anti-endotoxin-directed treatments. Most studies using IVIG in BMT are prophylactic and suffer from variability in study design, type of IVIG and dosing regimens. Various effects on viral and bacterial infections and graft-versus-host disease (GVHD) have been reported but few if any have shown benefit in terms of improved patient survival. Moreover the immunomodulatory effect of immunoglobulin G preparations is frequently overlooked. With the exception of cytomegalovirus (CMV) pneumonitis, there is little evidence of benefit in the treatment of established infections and the relative benefits of hyperimmune preparations are poorly established. The development of haemopoietic growth factors has led to the widespread use of cytokines in BMT. The benefits of these agents both in the prevention of fever and infection and as adjuvants to standard antimicrobial therapy in established infection (e.g. invasive mycoses) are rapidly becoming apparent. Both human recombinant granulocyte-macrophage colony-stimulating factor (rhGM-CSF) and granulocyte colony-stimulating factor (rhG-CSF) have been shown to accelerate granulocyte recovery following BMT and reduce fever days, antibiotic usage and hospitalization. RhGM-CSF appears superior in these respects. The roles of interleukin 1 (IL1), IL3, IL6 and interferons are also under evaluation. As with the much publicised studies using anti-endotoxin antibodies as therapy in sepsis, there is little evidence of benefit in the few studies performed in BMT patients.(ABSTRACT TRUNCATED AT 250 WORDS)
 ...
PMID:Immunotherapy and immunoprophylaxis in bone marrow transplantation. 756 Sep 54


<< Previous 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 10 Next >>