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A Baerheim

Publications and source records attributed to A Baerheim.

53 records · Page 3Linked to original sources
PubMed1994

[Does garlic protect against vampires? An experimental study].

Vampires are feared everywhere, but the Balkan region has been especially haunted. Garlic has been regarded as an effective prophylactic against vampires. We wanted to explore this alleged effect experimentally. Owing to the lack of vampires, we used leeches instead. In strictly standardized research surroundings, the leeches were to attach themselves to either a hand smeared with garlic or to a clean hand. The garlic-smeared hand was preferred in two out of three cases (95% confidence interval 50.4% to 80.4%). When they preferred the garlic the leeches used only 14.9 seconds to attach themselves, compared with 44.9 seconds when going to the non-garlic hand (p < 0.05). The traditional belief that garlic has prophylactic properties is probably wrong. The reverse may in fact be true. This study indicates that garlic possibly attracts vampires. Therefore to avoid a Balkan-like development in Norway, restrictions on the use of garlic should be considered.

Animals↗
PubMed1994

Signs of subclinical eating disorders in teenage girls.

OBJECTIVE: To study possible indicators for subclinical eating disorders among teenage girls. DESIGN: A descriptive cross-sectional study based on two anonymous self-report questionnaires. SETTING: Girls aged 15 to 19 years in secondary high school in Bergen, Norway. SUBJECTS: 100 girls, mean age 16.6 years, were included. One girl fulfilled DSM-III-R criteria for bulimia nervosa, and was therefore excluded from analysis. Ten girls fulfilled criteria for subclinical eating disorders. MAIN OUTCOME MEASURES: The Eating Disorder Examination Questionnaire and a 48-item questionnaire designed for the study were used. Attitudes towards own body size/weight, food habits, and somatic symptoms were studied. RESULTS: Girls with subclinical eating disorders experienced their own body as fatter and were more unhappy with their weight than girls without eating problems. They more often skipped breakfast or lunch, reported more dyspeptic problems and regurgitation, and had a larger weight fluctuation than girls without eating problems. CONCLUSION: Questions about main meals may serve as neutral opening questions for the general practitioner when case finding in eating disorders. Obviously unrealistic feelings about body size/weight indicate the need to enquire more closely about symptoms of eating disorders.

Adolescent↗
PubMed1994

Vaginal application of lactobacilli in the prophylaxis of recurrent lower urinary tract infection in women.

OBJECTIVE: To examine whether vaginal application of Lactobacillus casei v. rhamnosus reduces the reinfection rate in cystitis-prone women. DESIGN: A controlled, randomized, double-blind clinical trial. SETTING: Division for General Practice, University of Bergen, Norway. INTERVENTION: Vaginal application of lactobacilli twice weekly. SUBJECTS: 47 women, aged 18-50 years, reporting three or more episodes of distal urinary symptoms during the previous 12 months, of which at least one episode had been medically verified as a lower UTI. MAIN OUTCOME MEASURE: The incidence rate of lower UTI during 6 months' follow-up. RESULTS: No difference in infection rate between the two groups; the incidence rate ratio between the treatment group and the placebo group was 1.41 (95% confidence interval 0.88-1.98). Lactobacilli were not found more frequently periurethrally in the treatment group than in the control group. CONCLUSION: It is still uncertain whether vaginal application of lactobacilli reduces the infection rate in cystitis-prone women.

Adolescent↗
PubMed1992

Factors provoking lower urinary tract infection in women.

Our aim was to evaluate possible risk factors, other than sexual activity, for urinary tract infection (UTI) in women. A case-control study was designed. 50 cases and 50 controls were included. A larger fraction of cases than controls reported that episodes of the following preceded the UTI: voluntary deferred voiding (Odds ratio 5.0, 95% confidence interval 1.7; 20.1), cold hands (4.7, 1.3; 25.3), cold feet (5.8, 2.0; 22.8) and cold buttocks (5.5, 1.2; 51.0). Cold body parts should be further evaluated as a possible risk factor for UTI in UTI-prone women.

Acute Disease↗
PubMed1992

Symptomatic lower urinary tract infection induced by cooling of the feet. A controlled experimental trial.

We conducted an open, non-randomized experimental study as a first step to find out whether cooling of the feet may cause symptomatic lower urinary tract infection (UTI) in cystitis-prone women. Twenty-nine healthy women, aged 19-68 (mean 42.5) years, who had had three or more symptomatic episodes of UTI during the previous 12 months were included. They registered symptoms and carried out a strip urinalysis at each urination during a control period of 72 hours. Their lower legs and feet were then immersed in increasingly cold water for 30 minutes. Another 72-hour period of registration followed. Six subjects developed acute distal urinary symptoms at a mean of 55 (95% confidence interval 50 to 61) hours after the cooling, compared with none in the control period. Five of the six had bacteriologically verified lower UTI (P = 0.03 v. the control period). Cooling of the feet seems to provoke symptomatic lower UTI in cystitis-prone women.

Adolescent↗
PubMed1992

Evaluation of urine sampling technique: bacterial contamination of samples from women students.

A urine specimen is traditionally sampled using the clean-catch midstream technique, but this technique is poorly documented. The aim of this study was to evaluate the bacterial content of urine samples taken using individual steps of the clean-catch midstream technique, or combinations of steps. One hundred and ten women students provided a total of 864 early morning urine samples, using a different sampling technique each morning. Holding the labia apart during sampling more than halved the percentage of samples containing 10(5) colony-forming units per ml or more, and increased the percentage of uncontaminated samples, compared with passing urine without employing any of the precautions. Cleaning the perineum or using the midstream technique resulted in percentages no different from urination without employing any precautions. It is therefore recommended that women should be instructed to carry out the simplest effective urine sampling technique: holding the labia apart.

Adult↗
PubMed1991

[Ratfish (chimaera monstrosa) sting].

A fisherman was accidentally stung on his right calf by the spine of a ratfish (chimaera monstrosa). Adjacent to the wound was a swelling, with a bluish skin colour the first day. The fisherman experienced an immediate burning pain and during the following days developed numbness of the calf and the back of the thigh. He needed crutches for three weeks, and the symptoms lasted for nine weeks. The treatment consists of rinsing the wound and removing foreign material, and submerging the afflicted limb as soon as possible in water as hot as the patient can tolerate for at least 30 minutes.

Adult↗
PubMed1991

Bacteriological findings in urine specimens from women. Association with urinary tract symptoms and sampling methods.

Urine sampling techniques were recorded in 147 women who brought a sample of urine voided at home to the general practitioner's surgery. Seventy-two women had lower urinary tract symptoms, and 75 had no symptoms at all. Eighty-nine (61%) had taken a midstream specimen, 77 (52%) had cleansed the periurethral area, and 15 (10%) had held the labia apart during micturition. Combinations of these techniques were used by 71 women while 40 (27%) had used no specific technique. The bacterial content of the urine (defined as the number of different bacterial strains found) was not reduced by either cleansing or by taking a midstream specimen, but it was significantly reduced in the women who had held the labia apart during voiding (p less than 0.05). Urine samples from women with symptoms had significantly lower bacterial content than those from patients who were free of symptoms (p less than 0.01). Women should be encouraged to ensure the free flow of urine by holding the labia apart during urine sampling.

Adult↗
PubMed1990

Morbidity and mortality in talc-exposed workers.

Cancer incidence and cause-specific mortality were studied in a male cohort of 94 talc miners and 295 talc millers, exposed to non-asbestiform talc with low quartz content. No excess risk was found compared with national age-specific incidence. Six cases of lung cancer occurred versus 6.49 expected (miners: observed 2, expected 1.27; millers: observed 4, expected 5.22). There were 3 deaths due to non-malignant respiratory disease against 10.9 expected (miners: observed 1, expected 2.5; millers: observed 2, expected 8.4). Mesothelioma, tuberculosis, or pneumoconiosis were not recorded as causes of death. Pneumoconiosis was noted as a contributory cause in three cases (silicosis two, talcosis one). Further follow-up will reduce any potential impact of "healthy worker" selection.

Cause of Death↗
PubMed1990

Intravenous urography versus ultrasonography in evaluation of women with recurrent urinary tract infection.

Intravenous urography and ultrasonography were compared prospectively in 120 women with recurrent urinary tract infection. The median age was 44 years (range 15-85). There was good correlation between the two methods in detecting hydronephrosis, calculi greater than or equal to 5 mm, and major post-pyelonephritic scarring. Urography was superior in detecting small cortical scars, slight caliceal dilatation, and less than or equal to 4 mm calculi. Based on the good results, low cost, and absence of radiation hazards or contrast media reactions, we conclude that ultrasonography may replace urography when a radiological screening of the upper urinary tract is deemed necessary in women with recurrent urinary tract infection.

Adolescent↗
PubMed1990

Home-voided urine specimens in women. Diagnostic agreement with clean-catch midstream specimens.

One hundred and fifty women who brought a home-voided urine sample to a general practitioner were asked at the same consultation to provide another sample under controlled conditions. Seventy-three women had lower urinary tract symptoms and 77 were asymptomatic. The two samples were analysed for pyuria (greater than or equal to 5 leucocytes/HPF) and bacteriuria (greater than or equal to 10(4) v. greater than or equal to 10(5) cfu/ml). The agreement when diagnosing pyuria and bacteriuria was estimated by Kappa (K). The home-voided sample was taken with adequate sampling technique by only 12% of women. Moreover, its bladder incubation time was twice that of the surgery sample (5.4 h v. 2.4 h). There was, however, no difference in the distribution of pyuria or bacteriuria between the paired samples. Agreement, which was high for the diagnosis of pyuria (K = 0.80), was significantly lower for the diagnosis of bacteriuria (K = 0.52, P less than 0.01). A home-voided sample seems sufficient in the diagnosis of the dysuria-pyuria syndrome in women.

Adolescent↗
PubMed1989

Quantification of pyuria by two methods correlation and interobserver agreement.

The aim of this study was to correlate the results of two methods of quantifying pyuria and to compare the diagnostic reliability of the two methods in terms of interobserver agreement. Three independent observers counted leucocytes in 56 urine samples by using high-power-field (HPF) microscopy on centrifuged urine sediment and by using a Bürker haemocytometer on uncentrifuged urine. The commonly accepted diagnostic level of ten leucocytes/mm3 in the haemocytometer was found to be equivalent to two leucocytes/HPF. This agrees with other reports but contrasts with the usual notion of a diagnostic level of five to ten leucocytes/HPF, and implies that urinary tract infection in the presence of symptoms should not be ruled out when less than five leucocytes/HPF are found. Kappa statistics were used to evaluate the interobserver agreement. The observers agreed on the diagnosis in 96% (K = 0.92) of the urines when the haemocytometer was used, and in 93-96% (K = 0.81-K = 0.91) when leucocytes were counted per HPF. The differences in Kappa values were not statistically significant. Our material indicates that the method of quantifying pyuria in centrifuged urine sediment by HPF microscopy may be used as the routine method in general practice.

Humans↗
PubMed1987

Single-dose versus five-day treatment with trimethoprim for the acute dysuria/pyuria syndrome in women.

The efficacy of a single dose trimethoprim in the treatment of the dysuria/pyuria syndrome in women was prospectively studied in an open, controlled and randomized trail. Of 90 women aged 18-60 years 68 had and 22 had not significant bacteriuria when the urine was cultured. The 42 women in the single-dose group received trimethoprim 400 mg once while the 48 in the multi-dose group received trimethoprim 200 mg X 2 for five days. One week after ended treatment 83% were cured in the single-dose group, and 85% in the multi-dose group. One relapse and six reinfections occurred in the single-dose group, no relapse and seven reinfections in the multi-dose group. Two patients in the single-dose group and eight in the multi-dose group reported adverse effects. A single dose of trimethoprim seems to be safe and effective in the treatment of acute dysuria/pyuria syndrome in women.

Acute Disease↗