Nasopharyngeal microbiota in infants with acute otitis media

Interspecies interactions of the nasopharyngeal microbiota are likely to be involved in the pathogenesis of acute otitis media (AOM). Capturing the breadth of microbial interactions requires a detailed description of the microbiota during health and AOM.

16S rRNA terminal restriction fragment length polymorphism for the characterization of the nasopharyngeal microbiota

A novel non-culture based 16S rRNA Terminal Restriction Fragment Length Polymorphism (T-RFLP) method using the restriction enzymes Tsp509I and Hpy166II was developed for the characterization of the nasopharyngeal microbiota and validated using recently published 454 pyrosequencing data. 16S rRNA gene T-RFLP for 153 clinical nasopharyngeal samples from infants with acute otitis media (AOM) revealed 5 Tsp509I and 6 Hpy166II terminal fragments (TFs) with a prevalence of >10%. Cloning and sequencing identified all TFs with a prevalence >6% allowing a sufficient description of bacterial community changes for the most important bacterial taxa. The conjugated 7-valent pneumococcal polysaccharide vaccine (PCV-7) and prior antibiotic exposure had significant effects on the bacterial composition in an additive main effects and multiplicative interaction model (AMMI) in concordance with the 16S rRNA 454 pyrosequencing data. In addition, the presented T-RFLP method is able to discriminate S. pneumoniae from other members of the Mitis group of streptococci, which therefore allows the identification of one of the most important human respiratory tract pathogens. This is usually not achieved by current high throughput sequencing protocols. In conclusion, the presented 16S rRNA gene T-RFLP method is a highly robust, easy to handle and a cheap alternative to the computationally demanding next-generation sequencing analysis. In case a lot of nasopharyngeal samples have to be characterized, it is suggested to first perform 16S rRNA T-RFLP and only use next generation sequencing if the T-RFLP nasopharyngeal patterns differ or show unknown TFs.

Combined effect of 25-OH vitamin D plasma levels and genetic vitamin D receptor (NR 1I1) variants on fibrosis progression rate in HCV patients

Decreased vitamin D levels have been described in various forms of chronic liver disease and associated with advanced fibrosis. Whether this association is a cause or consequence of advanced fibrosis remains unclear to date.

The vitamin D receptor gene bAt (CCA) haplotype impairs the response to pegylated-interferon/ribavirin-based therapy in chronic hepatitis C patients

Chronic hepatitis C infection is a major cause of end-stage liver disease. Therapy outcome is influenced by 25-OH vitamin D deficiency. To further address this observation, our study investigates the impact of the vitamin D receptor (NR1I1) haplotype and combined effects of plasma vitamin D levels in a well-described cohort of hepatitis C patients.

Frei oder unfrei? Die Sklaverei im Spiegelbild römischer Juristentexte

Die Sklaven spielten eine erhebliche Rolle im täglichen Rechtsverkehr des antiken Roms, wo sie ihren Eigentümer vertraten und für ihre Rechnung Geschäfte schlossen. Aufgrund des peculiums, ein dem Sklaven zur Verfügung gestelltes Sondervermögen waren eben diese Sklaven ein wichtiger Bestandteil des Wirtschaftslebens. Manche Digestenstellen beweisen jedoch erhebliche Schwierigkeiten der Verkehrsteilnehmer, den Status ihrer unfreien Kontrahenten zu erkennen. Ferner stellte sich die Frage wer für die Schulden des Sklaven haften sollte, war der Sklave der Gewalt zweier oder mehrerer Herrn unterstellt (vgl. Ulp. 29 ed. D. 15.1.19.1-2).

Strong Impact of Smoking on Multimorbidity and Cardiovascular Risk Among Human Immunodeficiency Virus-Infected Individuals in Comparison With the General Population.

Background.  Although acquired immune deficiency syndrome-associated morbidity has diminished due to excellent viral control, multimorbidity may be increasing among human immunodeficiency virus (HIV)-infected persons compared with the general population. Methods.  We assessed the prevalence of comorbidities and multimorbidity in participants of the Swiss HIV Cohort Study (SHCS) compared with the population-based CoLaus study and the primary care-based FIRE (Family Medicine ICPC-Research using Electronic Medical Records) records. The incidence of the respective endpoints were assessed among SHCS and CoLaus participants. Poisson regression models were adjusted for age, sex, body mass index, and smoking. Results.  Overall, 74 291 participants contributed data to prevalence analyses (3230 HIV-infected; 71 061 controls). In CoLaus, FIRE, and SHCS, multimorbidity was present among 26%, 13%, and 27% of participants. Compared with nonsmoking individuals from CoLaus, the incidence of cardiovascular disease was elevated among smoking individuals but independent of HIV status (HIV-negative smoking: incidence rate ratio [IRR] = 1.7, 95% confidence interval [CI] = 1.2-2.5; HIV-positive smoking: IRR = 1.7, 95% CI = 1.1-2.6; HIV-positive nonsmoking: IRR = 0.79, 95% CI = 0.44-1.4). Compared with nonsmoking HIV-negative persons, multivariable Poisson regression identified associations of HIV infection with hypertension (nonsmoking: IRR = 1.9, 95% CI = 1.5-2.4; smoking: IRR = 2.0, 95% CI = 1.6-2.4), kidney (nonsmoking: IRR = 2.7, 95% CI = 1.9-3.8; smoking: IRR = 2.6, 95% CI = 1.9-3.6), and liver disease (nonsmoking: IRR = 1.8, 95% CI = 1.4-2.4; smoking: IRR = 1.7, 95% CI = 1.4-2.2). No evidence was found for an association of HIV-infection or smoking with diabetes mellitus. Conclusions.  Multimorbidity is more prevalent and incident in HIV-positive compared with HIV-negative individuals. Smoking, but not HIV status, has a strong impact on cardiovascular risk and multimorbidity.

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