BACKGROUND Healthcare workers (HCWs) represent a tuberculosis (TB) risk group for a wide range of tasks in healthcare, even in countries with low TB incidence, like Italy. Latent Tuberculosis Infection (LTBI) screening programs are an important tool for TB prevention in these setting. METHODS A retrospective study under a LTBI screening program among HCWs at the Siena University Hospital (Ita...

Background As healthcare workers (HCWs), medical trainees are at a high-risk for acquisition of tuberculosis (TB) infection and disease. To our knowledge, there are no published data about TB infection among medical trainees in Tunisia.To determine the tuberculin skin test (TST) positivity and tuberculin conversion among a group of medical trainees in different departments at our institution. ...

BACKGROUND Short sleep duration is associated with an increased risk of cardiovascular disease and all-cause mortality, although a relationship with atherosclerosis in the elderly remains unclear. METHODS Eighty-six volunteers aged ≥65 years (mean, 73.6 ± 4.9 years) were evaluated for insomnia. Total sleep time (TST) and sleep efficiency were measured by actigraphy. Subjective symptoms were a...

Patients treated with tumor necrosis factor (TNF)-alpha-antagonizing medication are at increased risk of developing active tuberculosis (TB), brought about mainly by reactivation of latent infection. Thus, screening for latent TB infection (LTBI) prior to administration of anti-TNF-alpha-therapy is required. For a long time, the tuberculin skin test (TST) was the only means of diagnosing LTBI, ...

The authors determined the positive predictive value (PPV) for progression to tuberculosis (TB) of two interferon-gamma release assays (IGRAs), QuantiFERON-TB Gold In-tube (QFT-GIT) and T-SPOT.TB, and the tuberculin skin test (TST) in immigrants contacts. Immigrant close contacts of sputum smear-positive TB patients were included when aged > or =16 yrs and their TST result was > or =5 mm 0 or 3...

In the present study, we investigated plasma corticosterone levels of genetically modified mice lacking noradrenaline transporter (NET(-/-)), in response to the forced swim test (FST) and tail suspension test (TST). FST strongly increased the plasma corticosterone level in the first minute after the test (significantly only in NET(+/+) mice), while TST was without any significant effect in both...

We compute thermal spin transfer (TST) torques in Fe-MgO-Fe tunnel junctions using a first principles wave-function-matching method. At room temperature, the TST in a junction with 3 MgO monolayers amounts to 10(-7) J/m(2)/K, which is estimated to cause magnetization reversal for temperature differences over the barrier of the order of 10 K. The large TST can be explained by multiple scattering...

BACKGROUND Studies examining the transmission of multidrug-resistant tuberculosis (MDR-TB) strains have yielded conflicting results. METHODS We examined transmission of MDR-TB strains using contact tracing data from a low incidence setting. Contacts of MDR-TB cases diagnosed in British Columbia, Canada, from 1990-2008 were identified through a provincial tuberculosis (TB) registry. Tuberculin...

BACKGROUND Migrant farmworkers are among the highest-risk populations for latent TB infection (LTBI) in the United States with numerous barriers to healthcare access and increased vulnerability to infectious diseases. LTBI is usually diagnosed on the border using the tuberculin skin test (TST). QuantiFERON-TB Gold In-Tube (QFT-GIT) also measures immune response against specific Mycobacterium tu...

BACKGROUND Interferon-gamma release assays (IGRA) are more specific than the tuberculin skin test (TST) for the diagnosis of Mycobacterium tuberculosis infection. Data on sensitivity are controversial in HIV infection. METHODS IGRA (T-SPOT.TB) was performed using lymphocytes stored within 6 months before culture-confirmed tuberculosis was diagnosed in HIV-infected individuals in the Swiss HIV...