Gene/Protein Disease Symptom Drug Enzyme Compound
Pivot Concepts:   Target Concepts:
Query: UMLS:C0851341 (infestation)
 10,121 document(s) hit in 31,850,051 MEDLINE articles (0.00 seconds)

A total of 1 368 bedbugs of the species Cimex lectularius L were collected mainly from huts in villages or on farms at 6 localities in the northern Transvaal. They were tested in pools of 10 for the presence of hepatitis B surface antigen (HBsAg). None of 20 pools from Pietersburg was HBsAg-positive, but 32 out of 120 pools from the 5 other localities were HBsAg-positive. Estimated infection rates per 1 000 bugs were 17,1 (Messina), 24,9 (Waterpoort), 28,4 (Letaba), 54,5 (Potgietersrus) and 67,0 (Louis Trichardt), with an overall rate of 30,6. Seventeen out of 57 pools of the engorged bugs (infection rate 34,8) and 14 out of 62 pools of the unengorged bugs (infection rate 25,3) were HBsAg-positive. These very high infection rates, even in unengorged bugs, suggest that C. lectularius could be a vector of hepatitis B virus in the Transvaal, and that the varying degrees of infestation could explain the markedly different HBsAg-positive frequencies previously shown in sera collected from different population groups in that province.
 ...
PMID:Infection of the common bedbug (Cimex lectularius L) with hepatitis B virus in South Africa. 67 26

This retrospective case review sought to report the findings of a health screening of 100 international adoptees. Included were the 1st 100 children who attended the Outpatient Inter-Country Adoption Clinic at the Royal Children's Hospital in Melbourne. A medical history was taken and a thorough physical examination and series of screening investigations were performed on all children. The children range in age from 2 months-16 years (median=5 months; mean=2.8 years). The countries most represented were Korea with 36 children and India with 21. 30 children fell below the 3rd Australian centile for both height and weight. Abnormalities on physical examination included hepatosplenomegaly (13 children), scabies (6), and severe dental caries (6). Parasitic infestation of the stools was found in 23 children, a positive Mantoux test result in 9 (3 with active tuberculosis), anemia in 12, elevated hepatic transaminase levels in 9, and positive hepatitis B surface antigen and e antigen in 2. I child had acquired syphilis. Screening for human immunodeficiency virus antibody gave negative results in all children. These international adoptees constitute a special pediatric subgroup which require assessment and screening as soon as possible after arrival in their adoptive country.
 ...
PMID:Health screening of international adoptees. Evaluation of a hospital based clinic. 154 38

Surgically resected specimens, consisting of tumor and adjacent non-neoplastic liver tissue, were obtained from 40 patients with primary liver cancer at Zhong Shan Hospital, Shanghai Medical University, the People's Republic of China, between March 1983 and July 1984. All were hepatocellular carcinomas (HCC), one being admixed with cholangiocarcinoma. The relationship of hepatitis B virus (HBV) markers with iron and ferritin was evaluated in liver tissues from patients with primary liver cancers. The serum HBsAg (Hepatitis B surface antigen) positive rate was 80.0% (32/40). Cirrhosis was observed in 97.5% (39/40). HBsAg was identified in 82.5% (33/40) of uninvolved liver, and 35.0% (14/40) of HCC tissues (P less than 0.001). HBcAg (hepatitis B core antigen) was detected in 25.0% (10/40) of liver, and 7.5% (3/40) of HCC tissues (P less than 0.05). Stainable iron was found in 65.0% (26/40) of unaffected livers, and 10.0% (4/40) of HCC tissues (P less than 0.001). Ferritin was demonstrated in 75% (30/40) of non-neoplastic liver, and 40% (16/40) of HCC tissues (P less than 0.001). Twenty-two of 33 HCC patients (66.7%) with HBsAg positive cells in their livers also showed stainable iron. Of 16 patients positive for ferritin in HCC cells, iron was found in only two. Iron was found in nine of ten patients with HBcAg in non-neoplastic hepatocytes (P = 0.056); a finding compatible with the hypothesis that iron accumulates in cells replicating HBV. The other results indicate that: immunohistologic ferritin in HCC is not due to increased stainable iron; tumor cells may produce ferritin; polyclonal antibodies to human liver ferritin react better with non-neoplastic hepatocytes than with HCC cells; the high prevalence of HBsAg and cirrhosis in HCC suggests that HBV plays a major etiologic role in hepatocarcinogenesis in China; and one case of HCC is attributed to Schistosoma japonicum infestation via cirrhosis.
 ...
PMID:Iron, ferritin, hepatitis B surface and core antigens in the livers of Chinese patients with hepatocellular carcinoma. 302 1

After the first in vitro cultivation of Plasmodium falciparum 21 years ago, the prospect of anti-malarial vaccination arose many hopes, but, in the end, it so far has mainly given rise to doubts and disappointments. Technically, the problem is particularly difficult. Plasmodium falciparum has a very complex antigenic structure with several hundreds, if not several thousands, of different epitopes for each of the four main evolutive stages of the parasite (sporozoites, merozoites, gametocytes, ookinetes) which correspond to different phase of the infection and could be a target for vaccination. Many of these epitopes are stage-specific and some of them vary from one strain to another. Adjuvants also play a major role and can qualitatively modify the type of immune response. The immune mechanisms also differ according to the final goal: anti-Plasmodium infection or anti-disease vaccine. Over the last few years, the first clinical assays have been carried out with the Spf66 vaccine, a synthetic complex protein directed against sporozoites and merozoites. In adults and children, the first results in South America and in East Africa were modest but encouraging. Unfortunately they were not confirmed by further studies in West Africa and South-East Asia. Two new types of vaccines are under preliminary clinical evaluation. One is directed against ookinetes of Plasmodium falciparum (Pfs25 and Pfs28) and can stop the transmission from the mosquito. The other is an anti-sporozoite vaccine with a new immunogen (RTS,S) in which the circumsporozoite protein is fused to the hepatitis B surface antigen and can protect against infestation. New prospects and improvements are offered by the technique of DNA vaccines and will probably also result from better knowledge of cellular and molecular biology of the parasite which is being extensively studied (genomic structure). If new promising perspectives exist, it is particularly important to be careful to avoid such disappointments as those caused, in the past, by a too-optimistic and over-publicized presentation of some preliminary results. It is now certain that one or several malaria-vaccines will be available, but no one can seriously say when, for whom and how. In any case, it is unrealistic to hope that vaccine(s) alone will be able to eradicate such an epidemiologically complex disease as malaria. It is probable that only the coordinated use of all the techniques available (anti-vectorial protection and fight, chemoprophylaxis and chemotherapy, vaccination) will lead to success.
 ...
PMID:[Vaccination against malaria. Disappointments and hopes]. 955 23

We report two cases of hepatocellular carcinoma with prominent lymphocytic infiltration, which has been described as a subtype of hepatocellular carcinoma with good prognosis. One case showed lymphoid follicles and dense lymphocytic infiltrates within the tumor and its periphery, and the other case showed marked lymphocytic infiltration in the cancerous tissue. Piecemeal necrosis of cancer cells and atypical reactive changes were evident. The two cases were seronegative for hepatitis B surface antigen, antibody to hepatitis C virus, and Epstein-Barr virus DNA. One of the cases showed Clonorchis infestation. The prognostic significance of lymphocytic stroma in hepatocellular carcinoma requires further investigation.
 ...
PMID:[Hepatocellular carcinoma with lymphoid stroma: report of two cases]. 1881 63