AIM The study was designed to assess the possibility of using circulating miRNAs (serum miRNAs) as diagnostic biomarkers in colorectal cancer (CRC) and to identify their possibility as candidates for targeted therapy. METHODS The study involved two sample sets: 1- a training set which included 90 patients with colorectal related disease (30 with CRC, 18 with inflammatory bowel disease (IBD), ...

Heteroresistance to beta-lactam antibiotics has been mainly described for staphylococci, for which it complicates diagnostic procedures and therapeutic success. This study investigated whether heteroresistance to penicillin exists in Streptococcus pneumoniae. Population analysis profile (PAP) showed the presence of subpopulations with higher penicillin resistance in four of nine clinical pneumo...

BACKGROUND Invasive pneumococcal disease (IPD) continues to occur at high rates among Australian Aboriginal people. The seven-valent pneumococcal conjugate vaccine (7vPCV) was given in a 2-4-6-month schedule from 2001, with a 23-valent pneumococcal polysaccharide vaccine (23vPPV) booster at 18 months, and replaced with 13vPCV in July 2011. Since carriage surveillance can supplement IPD surveill...

Streptococcus pneumoniae is an important pathogen in both children and the elderly, but previous studies in China have provided limited information about invasive pneumococcal disease (IPD). A total of 240 IPD S. pneumoniae strains (from 105 children and 135 adults) were collected from 12 cities in China in 2005-2011. Their phenotypes and genetic characteristics were analyzed. Streptococcus pne...

BACKGROUND Simple parapneumonic effusion is a pleural effusion associated with lung infection (i.e., pneumonia). Streptococcus pneumoniae remains the most common pathogen causing parapneumonic effusions. In Morocco, the pneumococcal conjugate vaccine 13-valent (PCV13) was introduced in the national immunization program in October 2010 in 2 + 1 schedule for prevention of pneumococcal disease, an...

BACKGROUND A village-randomized trial of a seven-valent pneumococcal-conjugate-vaccine (PCV-7) conducted in rural Gambia showed a decrease of vaccine-type (VT) and a non-significant increase in non-vaccine-type (NVT) nasopharyngeal carriage of pneumococci two years after vaccination. Here, we report findings four years after vaccination. METHODS PCV-7 was given to all children below 30 months...

The main virulence factor of Streptococcus pneumoniae is the capsule. The polysaccharides comprising this capsule are encoded by approximately 15 genes and differences in these genes result in different serotypes. The aim of this study was to investigate the sequence diversity of the capsular genes of serotypes 6A, 6B, 6C, 19A and 19F and to explore a possible effect of vaccination on variation...

OBJECTIVE To provide guidance for clinical disease prevention and treatment, this study examined the epidemiology, antibiotic susceptibility, and serotype distribution of Streptococcus pneumoniae (S. pneumoniae) associated with invasive pneumococcal diseases (IPDs) among children less than 14 years of age in Shenzhen, China. MATERIALS AND METHODS All the clinical strains were isolated from ch...

The maintenance of an intimate interaction between plant-biotrophic fungi and their hosts over evolutionary times involves strong selection and adaptative evolution of virulence-related genes. The highly specialised maize pathogen Ustilago maydis is assigned with a high evolutionary capability to overcome host resistances due to its high rates of sexual recombination, large population sizes and...

OBJECTIVES Studies were performed to assess resistance mechanisms, multidrug resistance (MDR), genetic relatedness, serotype distribution, heptavalent pneumococcal conjugate vaccine (PCV7) coverage and pili virulence factors among macrolide-resistant Streptococcus pneumoniae (MRSP) isolated from respiratory samples submitted to hospital laboratories across Canada from 1998 to 2008. METHODS Is...