Prior to the general introduction of pneumothorax treatment for pulmonary tuberculosis the presence or absence of obliterative pleuritis or localized adhesions over the lung was almost entirely of academic interest. Such adhesions cause no symptoms and do not interfere appreciably with the function of the lung. It might even be maintained that the formation of adhesions is beneficial to the ind...

The aim of this study is to document the isolation of a hypermucoviscosity (HMV) phenotype of Klebsiella pneumoniae from 25 cases of suppurative pneumonia and pleuritis and two cases of abscesses in California sea lions (Zalophus californianus) from the central California coast, representing the first report of this zoonotic pathogen from the marine environment and only the second report in non...

Urokinase-type plasminogen activator (u-PA) is known to be secreted by malignant cells during proliferation and migration, and is associated with tumour cell invasion and metastasis. This study was undertaken to evaluate whether u-PA is significantly increased in carcinomatous pleural fluids compared to those due to other aetiologies, and to identify the cells in the pleural space that are invo...

PURPOSE This study was conducted to understand the in vivo and in vitro immune responses and to find whether there exists any difference in the systemic and localized immune responses in tuberculous pleuritis. METHODS The in vivo levels of IFN-gamma and IL-4 were compared in plasma (BL) and pleural fluid (PF) of 47 tuberculous (TB) and 31 nontuberculous pleuritis (Non-TB) patients. In vitro c...

Traditionally, Mycobacterium tuberculosis or granulomas have to be evidenced in the pleural cavity in order to establish a diagnosis of tuberculous pleuritis. In recent years, adenosine deaminase has aided tremendously in the diagnosis of tuberculous pleural effusion, often obviating the need for microbiologic or histologic verification of the diagnosis. However, the fact that the sensitivity o...