FRESH-CUT PRODUCE by ROBIN GWEN SALINSKY BROEKER (Under the Direction of Mark Harrison) ABSTRACT Foodborne botulism is a potentially lethal neuroparalytic illness resulting from ingesting C. botulinum neurotoxins. There is little information concerning the stability of preformed toxin on fresh produce. This research determined the stability of toxin type A on whole grape tomatoes, pre-cut lettu...

Botulinum toxin injections are the treatment of choice for the management of essential blepharospasm in adults. No cases of congenital blepharospasm have been described in the literature so far, and no cases of botulinum toxin injection in an infant have been reported. A 4-week-old girl was referred to our department with absent eye opening and spasmodically closed eyes. Pregnancy and delivery ...

Objective To evaluate the long-term effect of botulinum toxin type A (BTX-A) in the treatment of HFS. Methods A retrospective analysis of patients treated at the Movement Disorders Outpatient Clinic in the Neurology Service, Hospital de Clínicas, Federal University of Paraná, Curitiba, from 2009 to 2013 was carried out. A total of 550 BTX-A injections were administered to 100 HFS patients. ...

Botulinum toxin (BTX) is a powerful neurotoxin which blocks cholinergic transmission at the neuromuscular junction. Judiciously applied, it can reduce local muscle overactivity while maintaining the strength in other muscles. To date BTX has not been licensed for use in spasticity in the UK and the literature pertaining to clinical practice is still relatively scant. However, controlled trials ...

Incrimination of vacuum-packaged smoked fish in outbreaks of botulism has raised questions about the safety of this process in comparison with other methods of packaging foods. It has been suggested, for example, that Clostridium botulinum may grow better in a vacuum-packaged product than in one that is packaged without vacuum. To evaluate this possibility, sliced bologna was inoculated with sp...

It was previously postulated, based on indirect evidence, that Clostridium botulinum type B produces neurotoxin which is initially of low toxicity but which then becomes activated to highly toxic form by the action of an endogenous enzyme(s). The first direct in vitro experimental evidence in support of this hypothesis is presented here. The mildly active toxin (progenitor toxin) produced by C....

To determine whether the potency of botulinum toxin A (BTA) decreases after being reconstituted with normal saline and stored in refrigerator, we injected one side of the extensor digitorum brevis muscle with 2.5 units of botulinum toxin A that had been immediately reconstituted with saline, and the contralateral side with identical material that had been reconstituted and stored in a refrigera...

OBJECTIVE In recent years there has been an increasing use of the botulinum neurotoxins for the management of conditions characterised by detrusor overactivity. Early studies showed promising results in an area where few options previously existed between pharmacotherapy and surgery. This has led to an urgent need to assess the wide range of techniques and therapies available, as well as the ef...

We studied the safety and efficacy of 0 U, 50 U, 100 U, 150 U (five sites), 86 Usub and 100 Usub (three sites) botulinum toxin type A (BoNTA; BOTOX); Allergan, Inc., Irvine, CA, USA) for the prophylaxis of chronic tension-type headache (CTTH). Three hundred patients (62.3% female; mean age 42.6 years) enrolled. For the primary endpoint, the mean change from baseline in the number of TTH-free da...

The authors evaluated the long-term efficacy and safety of botulinum toxin type A (BTX-A) in poststroke spasticity patients who completed a 12-week placebo-controlled study and received multiple open-label treatments with 200 to 240 U BTX-A for 42 weeks. Significant and sustained improvements were observed for Disability Assessment and Ashworth scores. Adverse events were generally mild. This e...