THE PRIMARY RESULT OF RESEARCH ON THE SERUM HOMOCYSTEINE AND VITAMINE B12 CONCENTRATION IN ELDERLY PATIENTS WITH HYPERTENSION

Objectives: To affirm the mean of serum homocysteine concentration in patient-control group. To affirm the mean of serum vitamine B12 concentration in patient-control group. To affirm the percentage of hyperhomocysteinemia in patient-control group. Methods: To affirm the serum homocysteine and vitamine B12 concentration in fasting (at least in 12 hours). To examine bilan lipid of the blood and to estimate some other risk factors in 128 elderly patients with hypertension (mean age ± 1SD, 72.4 ± 7.6, 60, 60 males, 68 females) and 132 control subjects (mean age ± 1SD, 71.8 ± 7.3, 63 males, 69 females) of similar age and sex were studied, corresponding, at the Tien Giang Central General Hospital (2017). Results: The mean of serum homocysteine concentration in patient group (18.46 ± 5.58 µmol/L) was higher than in control group (11.67 ± 2.65 µmol/L) (p<0.01). The mean of serum vitamine B12 concentration in patient group (539.64 ± 346.23pg/ ml) was the same in control group (556.86 ± 279.45pg/ml) (p>0.05). The percentage of hyperhomocysteinemia in patient group (71.88%) was higher than in control group (18.94%) (p<0.01). Conclusions: There was hyperhomocysteinemia in elderly patients with hypertension. The percentage of hyperhomocysteinemia in elderly patients with hypertension was higher than control group. Hyperhomocysteinemia in elderly patients with hypertension was a new risk factor of cardiovascular disease that is need to be controlled.

A Functional Collagen Adhesin Gene, acm, in Clinical Isolates of Enterococcus faecium Correlates with the Recent Success of This Emerging Nosocomial Pathogen

ABSTRACT Enterococcus faecium recently evolved from a generally avirulent commensal into a multidrug-resistant health care-associated pathogen causing difficult-to-treat infections, but little is known about the factors responsible for this change. We previously showed that some E. faecium strains express a cell wall-anchored collagen adhesin, Acm. Here we analyzed 90 E. faecium isolates (99% acm +) and found that the Acm protein was detected predominantly in clinically derived isolates, while the acm gene was present as a transposon-interrupted pseudogene in 12 of 47 isolates of nonclinical origin. A highly significant association between clinical (versus fecal or food) origin and collagen adherence (P ≤ 0.0003) was also demonstrated, and levels of adherence were highly correlated (r = 0.879) with the amount of cell surface Acm detected by whole-cell enzyme-linked immunosorbent assay and flow cytometry. Thirty-seven of 41 sera from patients with E. faecium infections showed reactivity with recombinant Acm, while only 4 of 30 community and hospitalized patient control group sera reacted (P ≤ 0.0003); importantly, antibodies to Acm were present in all 14 E. faecium endocarditis patient sera. Although pulsed-field gel electrophoresis indicated that multiple strains expressed collagen adherence, multilocus sequence typing demonstrated that the majority of collagen-adhering isolates, as well as 16 of 17 endocarditis isolates, are part of the hospital-associated E. faecium genogroup referred to as clonal complex 17 (CC17), which has emerged globally. Taken together, our findings support the hypothesis that Acm has contributed to the emergence of E. faecium and CC17 in nosocomial infections.

Agoraphobia and Parental Bereavement

The prevalence of parental bereavement was determined in 50 married female outpatients with a DSM-III diagnosis of agoraphobia and in a control group of married female outpatients diagnosed as having non-psychotic psychiatric disorders other than agoraphobia. The two groups were matched for age and overall severity of psychiatric symptoms. Compared with the general population, the patient control group reported a statistically significant excess of parental, but not maternal, bereavement. The agoraphobic group was significantly younger than the control group at the time of parental loss. These data, together with other reports, suggest a contribution of paternal bereavement before the age of 30 years to agoraphobia in married women and a contribution of recent parental bereavement to psychiatric disorder in general.