Nerve, plexus and spinal cord: possible targets for non-invasive neuromagnetic measurements in man.

Somatosensory evoked neuromagnetic fields are recorded from peripheral nerves in the upper arm, from plexus brachialis at the ventral and dorsal thorax and from the dorsal horn of the cervical spinal cord ('P13m') at the upper lateral neck. Some perspectives for clinical applications are suggested.

Exploratory mapping of evoked neuromagnetic activity from human peripheral nerve, brachial plexus and spinal cord.

Upon conventional median nerve stimulation at the wrist early magnetic fields were recorded using a SQUID magnetometer. At the upper arm, mono- and biphasic compound nerve action fields were detected, depending on the subject's distribution of single fiber conduction velocities. At the upper thorax, brachial plexus fields reversed polarity at the level of Erb's point; their distribution was asymmetric, probably due to volume currents. At the upper lateral neck, fields from proximal plexus, spinal cord (P13m) and the primary somatosensory cortex contralateral to the sensor position were detected. The observed P13m field distribution agrees with the electrophysiological concept of a sagittal segmental dorsal horn generator.

Enterocytozoon bieneusi infection in an immunocompetent patient who had acute diarrhea and who was not infected with the human immunodeficiency virus.

Enterocytozoon bieneusi is a microsporidian species that has been detected exclusively in patients infected with human immunodeficiency virus (HIV) who are severely immunocompromised. We report what we believe is the first case of E. bieneusi infection in an HIV-negative patient with acute, self-limited diarrhea whose CD4+ cell count was not depressed.

Port-a-cath-related Fusarium oxysporum infection in an HIV-infected patient: treatment with liposomal amphotericin B.

The first case of Port-a-cath-related disseminated fusariosis in an HIV-infected patient is presented. Antifungal treatment with liposomal amphotericin B (AmBisome) in a dose of 2 mg kg-1 day-1 for 14 days was successful.

Blinded, externally controlled multicenter evaluation of light microscopy and PCR for detection of microsporidia in stool specimens. The Diagnostic Multicenter Study Group on Microsporidia.

The quality parameters for the detection of microsporidia in identical sets of 50 stool samples were determined for six laboratories where technicians used light microscopy and for six laboratories where technicians used PCR. The average overall sensitivities were 67% (89% for patient samples only) for the PCR laboratories and 54% (80% for patient samples only) for the light microscopy laboratories. Specificities were 98 and 95%, respectively. Differences in results were most apparent between the individual laboratories rather than between the two major methods used.