The submandibular space was the most frequently encountered location of deep neck space infections. Mediastinitis was found in five patients. The most frequent causative bacteria were Streptococcus and Bacteroides species. All patients underwent intravenous antibiotic treatment and surgical therapy. Mediastinotomy was inevitable in five cases and thoracotomy in one case. All patients survived.

Aims: To evaluate different methods that are useful for rapid and definitive discrimination of Bacillus anthracis from other bacteria of the Bacillus cereus group in environmental samples like letters claimed to contain anthrax spores. Methods and Results: Characterized strains and bacteria from environmental samples were analysed by microbiological and molecular methods (PCR and restriction analysis). Environmental isolates often shared several microbiological features with B. anthracis, e.g. lack of b-haemolysis and phospholipase C activity, and only the gamma phage assay was specific for B. anthracis. PCR assays targeting markers from the virulence plasmids exclusively detected B. anthracis, but other PCR targets were also detected in nonanthrax isolates. Additionally, the restriction pattern in an AluI restriction analysis of the SG-749 fragment is not 100% specific. The loci used for multiple-locus variable-number tandem repeat analysis of B. anthracis are also present in other members of the B. cereus group, but amplicon sizes are usually different. Conclusions: Environmental samples often contain borderline isolates closely related to B. anthracis both on microbiological and genetic levels. Real-time PCR targeting plasmidal and chromosomal markers should be used for rapid and definitive exclusion of a virulent strain of B. anthracis in such samples. Significance and Impact of the Study: This study gives an overview of the current microbiological and molecular methods used for identification of B. anthracis and shows that most assays have limits when borderline isolates present in environmental samples are analysed.

Purpose. To compare efficacy of balloon kyphoplasty in restoring vertebral height and correcting kyphosis in patients having vertebra plana with or without osteonecrosis. Methods. 12 women and 3 men (mean age, 76 years), who had a complete vertebra plana with or without osteonecrosis (n=8 vs n=7), underwent balloon kyphoplasty. No external manoeuvres were performed before or during balloon kyphoplasty, except for positioning the patients in a prone posture on the operating table. The anterior, middle, and posterior vertebral height and the kyphotic angle were measured pre-and post-operatively with a digital imaging system. The vertebral height was measured as a percentage of the adjacent normal vertebral height. Results. Respectively in vertebra plana patients with or without osteonecrosis, the mean corrections of (1) kyphosis were 10º and 4º (p=0.099), (2) anterior vertebral height were 33% and 5% (p<0.001), (3) middle vertebral height were 38% and 18% (p=0.004), and (4) posterior vertebral height were 19% and 2% (p=0.031).

Petridou et al. [1] have reported an increase in infant leukemia in Greek children born between 1/7/86 and 31/12/87 and have linked this increase to in utero radiation exposure due to the Chernobyl accident. Subsequently, Michaelis et al. [2] have reported a similar trend for Germany but found that it was not correlated to the levels of contamination. For Belarus, which was much more severely affected, a similar but much weaker trend is found.

The results of this study provide important results in the field of hydrogen peroxide decontamination when analysing the effect on spores other than those of G. stearothermophilus.