Salmonella and Shigella in freshly squeezed orange juice, fresh oranges, and wiping cloths collected from public markets and street booths in Guadalajara, Mexico: incidence and comparison of analytical routes.

A survey of the presence of Salmonella and Shigella in freshly squeezed orange juice and related samples was conducted in Guadalajara, Mexico. One hundred samples of freshly squeezed orange juice were collected from 49 street booths and 51 small food service establishments. In addition, 75 fresh orange samples, each consisting of five orange units, and 75 wiping cloths were collected from the same establishments from which juice had been collected. Salmonella was isolated from 14, 20, and 23% of samples of orange juice, orange surfaces, and wiping cloths collected from street vendors, while Shigella was isolated from 6, 17, and 5% of these samples. In general, the frequency of isolation of these pathogens in samples from juice serving establishments at public markets was significantly lower than that found among street vendors (P < 0.05). Salmonella enterica serotypes Agona, Typhimurium, and Anatum were found in orange juice, fresh oranges, and wiping cloth samples, while serotype Mexico was found on fresh oranges and in wiping cloths and serotypes Muenchen and Panama were found only in wiping cloth samples. Regarding Shigella species, Shigella sonnei was found in all three types of sample tested; Shigella dysenteriae was found in juice and orange samples, Shigella boydii in orange and wiping cloth samples, and Shigella flexneri on oranges only. Thirty-one percent and 39% of the juice samples showed aerobic plate counts of > or = 5.0 log CFU/ml and Escherichia coli counts of > 3.0 log CFU/ml, respectively. These high counts may indicate poor sanitation and potential exposure to fecal contamination either in the raw materials or during the orange-crushing and juice-serving process. These data may be useful for a further risk assessment of Salmonella or Shigella in unpasteurized, freshly squeezed juice.

Effects of apolipoprotein E genotype on outcome after ischaemic stroke, intracerebral haemorrhage and subarachnoid haemorrhage.

BACKGROUND: Rodent models of acute ischaemic stroke and head injury suggest that apolipoprotein E (APOE) genotype influences neuronal repair, regeneration and survival after brain injury. Possession of an APOE epsilon4 allele is associated with poor outcome after head injury in clinical studies. APOE might therefore influence outcome after acute stroke in humans. OBJECTIVE AND METHODS: To comprehensively search, identify, assess and carry out meta-analyses of studies reporting on the association between APOE and the combined outcome of death or dependency, or death alone, several months after ischaemic stroke, intracerebral haemorrhage (ICH) or subarachnoid haemorrhage (SAH). RESULTS: Main analyses included data from nine studies on 2262 patients (1453 with ischaemic stroke, 199 with ICH and 610 with SAH). Overall, epsilon4+ genotypes were not significantly associated with risk of death or dependency several months after stroke. However, there was significant heterogeneity between studies, and between the three pathological types of stroke. Epsilon4+ genotypes were associated with increased death or dependency after SAH (relative risk (RR) 1.40, 95% confidence interval (CI) 1.06 to 1.84), with a trend towards a similar association with ICH (RR 1.38, 95% CI 0.99 to 1.92), but not with ischaemic stroke (RR 0.98, 95% CI 0.85 to 1.12). Results were similar for death alone. CONCLUSIONS: APOE may differentially affect outcome after the three main pathological types of stroke. Further, large studies are needed to confirm or refute these findings, and to assess the possibility of an interaction between the effects of APOE and age.

Caracterización del factor de transferencia a partir de leucocitos no inducidos con virus Sendai / Characterization of the transfer factor obtained from Sendai virus non-induced leucocytes

El uso extensivo en la práctica clínica del factor de transferencia (FT) se ha visto limitado por aspectos relacionados con su caracterización bioquímica y la garantía de seguridad, pues este producto debre cumplir con las regulaciones que aseguran la inocuidad de los productos hemoderivados. El hecho de que su proceso de obtención dependa del procesamiento de donaciones de sangre con menos de 24 horas de almacenamiento limita su disponibilidad. Con el objetivo de incrementar la cantidad de unidades de FT disponibles para el tratamiento clínico, se realizó la caracterización de varios lotes de FT obtenidos de donaciones de hasta 48 horas; el producto fue pasteurizado, como garantía de la inactivación de posibles contaminantes virales. La evaluación de sus propiedades bioquímicas y de sus efectos biológicos permitió demostrar la identidad y potencia de este producto. Se demostró además su inocuidad mediante ensayos preclínicos de tolerancia local y toxicidad.

Caracterización del factor de transferencia a partir de leucocitos no inducidos con virus Sendai / Characterization of the transfer factor obtained from Sendai virus non-induced leucocytes

El uso extensivo en la práctica clínica del factor de transferencia (FT) se ha visto limitado por aspectos relacionados con su caracterización bioquímica y la garantía de seguridad, pues este producto debre cumplir con las regulaciones que aseguran la inocuidad de los productos hemoderivados. El hecho de que su proceso de obtención dependa del procesamiento de donaciones de sangre con menos de 24 horas de almacenamiento limita su disponibilidad. Con el objetivo de incrementar la cantidad de unidades de FT disponibles para el tratamiento clínico, se realizó la caracterización de varios lotes de FT obtenidos de donaciones de hasta 48 horas; el producto fue pasteurizado, como garantía de la inactivación de posibles contaminantes virales. La evaluación de sus propiedades bioquímicas y de sus efectos biológicos permitió demostrar la identidad y potencia de este producto. Se demostró además su inocuidad mediante ensayos preclínicos de tolerancia local y toxicidad. (AU)