Induction of hyphae in cultures of Pityrosporum by cholesterol and cholesterol esters.

The effect of cholesterol and cholesterol esters on Pityrosporum cultures has been studied. A mixture of 0.25% to 2.0% of cholesterol:cholesteryl stearate:glyceryl monostearate (2.0:1.5:2.0) added to Bacto Yeast Morphology Agar plus oleic acid was able to induce hyphae in cultures of both Pityrosporum orbiculare and P. ovale. This result is discussed with respect to the cholesterol effect on cell membranes and to the occurrence of cholesterol and cholesterol esters in the scaling patches of Pityriasis versicolor.

Autoreactive response in seronegative homosexual men at high risk for HIV infection.

Peripheral autoreactive T cell response was evaluated by limiting dilution analysis of autologous mixed lymphocyte reaction cultures in 15 subjects at high risk for HIV infection and in 20 normal individuals. The two groups did not show a quantitative difference of peripheral autoreactive T cells, but they showed different kinetics. While controls provided a straight line passing through the origin, the majority of high risk individuals showed a curve with a limited linear portion at high cell concentration, indicating that different mechanisms regulate the autoreactive response in the two groups studied. A follow-up study performed in three high risk and three normal individuals revealed a time-dependent increase of peripheral autoreactive T cells only in high risk subjects. Such increase correlates with the decrease of CD4+ cell number and CD4+/CD8+ cell ratio. Furthermore, the proliferative response of the same three subjects to gp160 peptides suggests a specific cellular reactivity to HIV components. This work has potential importance in understanding some of the early events in HIV infection.

Detection of HIV-1 genome in leukocytes of human colostrum from anti-HIV-1 seropositive mothers.

In order to obtain more information about the presence of HIV-1 in mononuclear cells of colostrum, research was carried out on both the HIV-1 genome in the cellular fraction of colostrum and the viral antibody in cell-free colostrum of eight anti-HIV-1 seropositive asymptomatic mothers. In five cases cell fractions of the colostrum harbored HIV-1 genome by DNA-DNA and DNA-RNA in situ hybridization, whereas viral antibody were detected in all cell-free colostrum specimens. The data confirms the colostrum as a possible route of HIV-1 infection.

DNA heterogeneity of Staphylococcus aureus strains evaluated by SmaI and SgrAI pulsed-field gel electrophoresis in patients with impetigo.

To our knowledge, no studies have previously been carried out on the heterogeneity and intrafamily colonization of impetigo Staphylococcus aureus strains obtained by powerful discriminating methods such as pulsed-field gel electrophoresis (PFGE). To explore this topic, macrorestriction patterns of S. aureus strains were analyzed after SmaI and SgrAI digestion. The two enzymes provided superimposable results. A total of ninety-seven S. aureus strains was found in the 26 families whose lesions and nasal and pharyngeal samples were examined. There were 39 strains which were different by PFGE, and of these, 24 were found in the lesions. Although 85% of impetigo patients showed nasal colonization and 58% showed pharyngeal colonization, only 54% of the patients had the same PFGE strain in the lesion and in the nose, and 35% in the lesion and the pharynx. In half of the 26 families, at least one member (mother, father, or relative) presented a S. aureus strain identical, by PFGE, to strains isolated in patients' lesions. Nineteen percent of mothers, 15% of fathers, and 19% of the other relatives presented nasal colonization with strains identical to those isolated in the children's lesions. Lesional strains showed higher antimicrobial resistance than nonlesional isolates.

Serum IL-10 levels in HIV-positive subjects: correlation with CDC stages.

HIV-1 infection and the HIV gp120 have been shown to induce an IL-10 increase in cultured peripheral blood mononuclear cells. Furthermore, the expression of this cytokine has been reported to increase in lymphnodes of infected patients along the disease course, and a shift from the TH-1 towards the TH-0/TH-2 phenotypes (with subsequent IL-10 release) has been hypothesized to underly AIDS progression. In this study the serum IL-10 levels found in 30 HIV-negative controls and in 65 HIV-positive patients, untreated with AZT and negative for HBsAg and HCV-Ab have been compared, using a commercial, competitive ELISA method based on a polyclonal anti-IL-10 serum. With this test, HIV-positive sea showed IL-10 levels significantly higher than those found in the controls. In addition the IL-10 levels progressively increased in the subsequent CDC stages, without further changes from the stage III to the stage IV. Accordingly, patients evaluated two times in CDC stage II, with a time interval of at least one year, showed significant IL-10 increases, even more pronounced when the same patients passed from CDC stage II to stage III. Furthermore, a significant, negative correlation was observed between the circulating IL-10 levels and the patients' CD4/CD8 ratios. These data may be important from a clinical point of view since IL-10 monitoring could be considered as a surrogate marker for evaluating the disease progression. In addition, several immunological abnormalities present in HIV positive patients, such as the monocyte/macrophage impairment and the hypergammaglobulinemia could be related to the enhanced IL-10 expression.

Apoptosis in HIV infection: protective role of IL-2.

Peripheral blood mononuclear cells from HIV-infected subjects have been demonstrated by different methods to die by apoptosis after short time in culture. In the present study the percentages of apoptotic cells have been measured by propidium iodide staining and flow cytometry in PBMC from healthy controls (15) and HIV-infected subjects with asymptomatic (10) or advanced (15) disease, with or without anti-viral treatment. The percentage of apoptosis significantly correlated with clinical stage (CDCII: 15.85% +/- 9.17, CDCIV: 22.6% +/- 5.97, P < 0.001) and the CD4/CD8 CD3 cell ratio. R = -0.57, P = 0.012), while no differences were found in relation to AZT therapy. By adding IL-2 to the cultures the percentages of apoptosis of PBMC from HIV-infected patients were significantly reduced in all experiments.

In vitro adherence of Neisseria gonorrhoeae to human epithelial cells.

Gonococcal adherence was studied in vitro using buccal epithelial cells (BEC). In smears stained with the Gram method, a progressive decrease in gonococcal adherence to the BEC after some culture passages was observed. There was a parallel decrease to almost total disappearance in the number of fimbriated bacteria. An electron microscopy study showed that adherence to the epithelial cells was mediated by fimbriae and, in part, by a polysaccharide component of the bacterial cell wall which seems to guarantee persistent adherence ability, even after the loss of fimbriae.

Seroprevalence of anti-human parvovirus B19 antibodies in patients attending a centre for sexually transmitted diseases.

The aim of this study was to establish the serological prevalence of anti-human Parvovirus B19 (HP-B19) antibodies in a group of 321 patients attending a Centre for Sexually Transmitted Diseases (STDs) and epidemiologically examine whether this virus may also be sexually transmitted. For this purpose, the serum prevalence of anti-HP-B19 evaluated in STD patients (39%) was compared with that of 164 healthy blood donors (10%, p < 0.001), using commercially available ELISA methods detecting the anti-VP1 reactivity of the sera. The same STD patients were also analyzed for serum reactivities against 4 STD-causing microorganisms, namely T. pallidum (TPHA), HBV (HBcAb), HCV (HCV-Ab) and HIV (HIV-Ab), to observe possible associations with the serum anti-HP-B19 reactivity. These tests were also carried out with commercially available kits. The results suggest that the serum anti-HP-B19 antibody prevalence in patients with STDs is increased, also independently of their intravenous drug addition and varies with the reactivity pattern determined. In addition, as expected for a STD, the anti-HP-B19 prevalence is increased in homobisexual patients compared with heterosexuals.

Detection of JC and BK viral genome in specimens of HIV-1 infected subjects.

Human polyomaviruses JC and BK are ubiquitous in healthy human adults, persist as latent viruses and can be reactivated in the immunodeficient host giving different pathologies. Due to the experimental evidence of their potential oncogenicity and neurotropism, as well as to the enhanced viral production induced by co-infection with HIV-1, a possible role of these polyomaviruses has been suggested in AIDS-associated progressive multifocal leucoencephalopathy (PML) and Kaposi's sarcoma. JCV and BKV DNA was detected by PCR in urine and in peripheral blood mononuclear cells (PBMC) using primers specific for structural (VP1) and regulatory (R) regions. In HIV-positive subjects BKV and JCV sequences were found respectively in 8.1% and 31.6% of urine samples whereas in PBMC the positivity increased to 22.8% for JCV and in 51.1% for BKV. Our results indicated that, at DNA level, the presence of BKV and JCV in urine and PBMC was higher in HIV-1 positive subjects than in HIV-1 negative subjects and that, in contrast with JCV, BKV positivity was inversely related to blood CD4-level. Intravenous drug users (IVDU) showed significant increases in both BKV and JCV positivity, while an increased JCV viruria was found in homo-bisexuals compared to heterosexuals. The high prevalence of viral DNA in PBMC of both healthy and HIV-positive individuals agrees with the hypothesis that lymphocytes may represent a viral latency site permitting the establishment of virus persistence in affected organs, or a vehicle for the spread of the infection to different tissues.

Risk factors for hepatitis B virus infection among homosexual men attending a sexually transmitted diseases clinic in Italy.

Prevalence of and risk factors for hepatitis B virus (HBV) infection were determined among 252 homosexual men with no history of intravenous drug use (median age 33 years, range 18-77) treated at a sexually transmitted disease (STD) clinic in Rome. The overall prevalence of antibodies to HBV core antigen (anti-HBc) was 50.8%, a rate nearly nine times as high as the 5.8% found recently in a national sample of young male adults, aged 18-26 years, and twice as high as the 22% found in heterosexuals attending the same clinic over the same period of time. Multiple logistic regression analysis showed that the risk of anti-HBc positivity was independently associated with increasing age, five or more sexual partners in the previous year, positive HIV serology and positive syphilis serology. Lower level of schooling, lack of condom use, history of non-ulcerative STD, current or past history of genital herpes, and positive anti-HCV serology were not associated with anti-HBc positivity. These findings corroborate the importance of sexual transmission of HBV in homosexual men. Behavioural factors, such as multiple sexual partners, probably enhance the efficiency of this mode of HBV transmission.

[Seborrhea-like dermatitis in the acquired immunodeficiency syndrome. Clinical, histological, and microbiological aspects and biochemical findings]. / La dermatite seborroica-like nella sindrome da immunodeficienza acquisita. Aspetti clinici, istologici, microbiologici e rilievi biochimici.

Seventy-six patients diagnosed as having seborrheic dermatitis (SD) were divided into two groups: group A (n = 22) otherwise healthy subjects (HIV negative) and group B (n = 54) HIV positive (ARC and AIDS cases). Thirty normal healthy subjects without SD were considered as control (group C). The three groups were subjected to the following analyses: A) skin surface lipids (SSL) and fatty acid pattern of cholesterol esters, wax esters, triglycerides and free fatty acids fractions in the affected areas; B) plasma levels of Vitamin E and fatty acids of phospholipids; C) erythrocyte glutathione peroxidase (3 cases for each group); D) frequency of Pityrosporum species in the affected areas; E) skin biopsy in the affected areas (2 cases for each group). Histological findings paralleled those reported in the Literature. SSL composition, fatty acid pattern and frequency of Pityrosporum species did not show significant variation among the 3 groups. On the contrary the blood levels of Vitamin E, polyunsaturated fatty acids of phospholipids and glutathione peroxidase were found significantly lower in A and B groups than in the controls.

[Anti-Borrelia burgdorferi antibodies in chronic erythema migrans, benign lymphadenosis cutis, scleroderma and scleroatrophic lichen]. / Anticorpi anti-Borrelia burgdorferi nell'eritema cronico migrante, nella lymphadenosis cutis benigna, nella sclerodermia e nel lichen scleroatrofico.

Fiftyone patients with a diagnosis of erythema chronicum migrans (ECM), lymphadenosis cutis benigna (LABC), systemic progressive sclerosis, localized scleroderma and lichen sclerosus et atrophicans were investigated in order to obtain serological evaluation of Borrelia burgdorferi circulating antibodies. In addition sera from 9 patients with pellagroid erythema, prurigo and panniculitis were performed: in these dermatoses there was no evidence of a possible borrelia relationship. Indirect immunofluorescence assay was used for serologic testing. Elevated IgG antibody titers were detected in one female patient with localized scleroderma (1:128) and in one male patient with LABC (1:64). Serologic testing was not positive in the other 58 patients. The very small number of patients with positive antibodies in our study would indicate that Borrelia burgdorferi infection is sporadic in Lazio.

Isolation of keratomycetes from the soil of wild animal cages and enclosures in the zoo of the Parco Nazionale d'Abruzzo, Italy.

The keratinophilic fungi present in the soil of wild animal cages and enclosures in the zoo of the "Parco Nazionale d'Abruzzo", at Pescasseroli, Italy were studied. The goal of the investigation was to determine what species of such fungi existed in wild animal habitats in that area and what variation there may be in their frequency in connection with the seasons. The most prevalent fungus was Trichophyton ajelloi, followed in decreasing order by the Chrysosporium species (C. keratinophilum, C. tropicum, C. state of Ctenomyces serratus). The Microsporums were relatively rare. The perfect forms Arthroderma uncinatum, A. quadrifidum, Nannizzia cajetani and Ctenomyces serratus were isolated from plates containing their corresponding imperfect forms. The recurrence of the species present in the soil of each cage and enclosure in April and in July was remarkable.

Isolation of dermatophytes and correlated species from the soil of public gardens and parks in Rome.

Looking for dermatophytes and other keratinophilic fungi in the soil of parks and gardens in large towns is very interesting because of the relationship between the number of people living in the area and the presence of such fungi in the soil. As compared with other cities in Italy, Rome offers prime conditions for this kind of research. It has a high population density (10,000 inhabitants per sq/km2), and many parks and gardens, where it is possible to carry out soil studies. It was noted that in 35 sites the number of the isolated species of keratomycetes was 2.6 times higher than the number of all other species of fungi and that species found most often were Microsporum gypseum, Trichophyton ajelloi, M. cookei, and Chrysosporium spp. It is of particular interest that Nannizzia cajetani and N. grubya were isolated directly from the soil for the first time in Italy and that Diheterospora spp. were isolated from almost all of the samples. Keratinic matter in soils evidently influences the biological cycle of the dermatophytes and other keratinophilic fungi, but at present the methods of soil analysis are not yet specific enough to establish a well-defined relationship.

Etiology of ringworm of the scalp, beard and body in Rome, Italy.

From 1972 to 1977 the authors examined 1,311 patients in Rome affected by ringworm of the scalp, beard and body, comparing their findings with a study made in Milan between 1969 to 1973 and with earlier Italian studies from 1900 to date. It appears that at the beginning of the century scalp ringworm was usually caused by Trichophyton violaceum and T. tonsurans, whereas Microsporum canis was rarely found. Today the Trichophyton species are rarely isolated, whereas Microsporum species, particularly M. canis (88.9% of the cases in Rome, 74.6% in Milan), predominate in the etiology of scalp ringworm. Ringworm of the beard in Rome is mainly caused by T. mentagrophytes (50% of the cases) and T. verrucosum (25%). In Milan the frequency of T. verrucosum is 51.2% and of T. mentagrophytes 38.5%. Ringworm of the body today is mainly due to M. canis (47.8% of the cases in Rome and 65.7% of those in Milan). These ringworms in Rome and Milan are caused mostly by the zoophilic dermatophytes that have supplanted the anthropophilic dermatophytes, which were the main cause of dermatomycoses in the early years of this century. This change, particularly evident after World War II, appears to result from improved socio-economic and hygienic conditions, with resulting decrease of infections through interhuman contacts, and from increased numbers of pet animals and consequent increase of stray cats and dogs, which result in increase of infections of animal origin.