INTRODUCTION Opsoclonus-myoclonus syndrome is a very rare neurological disorder associated with some viral infections and exceptionally with the West Nile virus. CASE PRESENTATION A 57-year-old Caucasian woman presented with fever, dizziness, balance difficulties, vomiting, dancing eye, altered speech, tremor, generalized myoclonus and failure to rise or stand. Our objective is to describe a ...

A recent outbreak of West Nile virus has allowed for observations as to the clinical course of this emerging pathogen during pregnancy. We present three cases of West Nile virus infection during pregnancy. Case 1 presented at term with focal subjective weakness and fever. With supportive care, her symptoms were resolved within 7 days, and she subsequently delivered an unaffected term infant. Ca...

a kinetic method developed for the determination of ultra-trace amounts of nitrite based on its catalytic effect on the reaction between potassium bromate and nile blue a in strongly acidic media is reported. the reaction was monitored spectrophotometrically by measuring the decrease in absorbance of nile blue a at 645 nm by the fixed-time method. the decrease in absorbance during the first 0.5...

MicroRNAs (miRNAs) are endogenous non-coding small RNAs which play important roles in the regulation of gene expression by cleaving or inhibiting the translation of target gene transcripts. Thereinto, some specific miRNAs show regulatory activities in gonad development via translational control. In order to further understand the role of miRNA-mediated posttranscriptional regulation in Nile til...

To construct a semen bank, the collection of donated semen has to be done and an important concern is the safety of collected semen. The contamination is a big problem. Basically, the infectious pathogens can exist within donated semen, hence, a good donor screening is very important. Although viruses have an indirect role in sperm quality, but the evidence in banked semen is presently lack. Th...

BACKGROUND AIMS Mesenchymal stromal cells (MSCs) are regenerative and immuno-privileged cells that are used for both tissue regeneration and treatment of severe inflammation-related disease. For quality control of manufactured MSC batches in regard to mature fat cell contamination, a quantitative method for measuring adipogenesis is needed. METHODS Four previously proposed methods were valida...

Entomological, veterinary, and human surveillance systems for West Nile virus (WNV) infection have been implemented in Italy since the first detection of the virus in 1998. These surveillance activities documented a progressive increase of WNV activity and spread in different regions and the emergence of new WNV lineages and strains. Italy is a paradigmatic example of the complex epidemiology o...

A West Nile virus (WNV) surveillance network including sentinel chickens was deployed in Thessaloniki county, Greece, from May to July 2011. For the first time in summer 2011, a chicken WNV isolate from 6 July was molecularly identified. The partial NS3 sequence was identical to that of the Nea Santa-Greece-2010 WNV lineage 2, detected in central Macedonia in 2010. This suggests that WNV is act...

To improve peoples’ living conditions, Western African countries need to considerably reinforce their electricity supply infrastructures. Retrofitting the existing installations and constructing new generation and transmission facilities require significant financial resources which are very difficult to attract due to the countries specific economic and political conditions. This paper discuss...

The ongoing outbreak of West Nile virus (WNV) infections in humans in Greece described in this issue of Eurosurveillance is a timely reminder that WNV is a reemerging pathogen in Europe [1]. So far, WNV has been documented in animals and humans in several countries across Europe, mainly in central Europe and in the Mediterranean region. Over the last 15 years, outbreaks in horses and/or humans ...