Maternity nursing education.
Explore the source record for details and available documents.
Education, Nursing, Baccalaureate↗
Biomedical subjects
A Katz
Publications and source records attributed to A Katz.
HIV screening in pregnancy: what women think.
OBJECTIVE: To describe the experience of screening for human immunodeficiency virus (HIV) in pregnancy from the perspective of pregnant women. DESIGN: A descriptive study using a sample of pregnant women who had been offered prenatal HIV screening. Women participated in semistructured interviews. Transcripts of the interviews were analyzed using a combination of grounded theory and content analysis to describe their experience of this screening practice. SETTING: Women were recruited from tertiary care hospitals, a family practice unit, and a community health center in a western Canadian city. PARTICIPANTS: Thirty-two pregnant women who ranged in age from 16 to 40 years. Of those interviewed, 21 consented to screening and 11 declined. RESULTS: The thirty-two women who shared their thoughts and feelings all differed in their recollections and opinions. Some were not offended by the idea of mandatory screening, whereas others were more vocal in their support of women's choices. Most recognized that women want healthy infants but were divided in how that responsibility was acted upon. The analysis of the interviews yielded six themes. The women described being offered the screening test, how they made the decision whether to be tested or not, and how they felt while waiting for the test results. They described how the results were communicated to them and how they felt on learning the results of the test. Finally, the women clarified their thoughts on the way screening is offered. CONCLUSIONS: Nurses must continue to inform women of the many and varied choices available to them. Nurses also must be respectful of women's decisions and recognize the problems inherent in making any kind of screening mandatory.
AIDS Serodiagnosis↗
Interpretation of spring recession curves.
Recession curves contain information on storage properties and different types of media such as porous, fractured, cracked lithologies and karst. Recession curve analysis provides a function that quantitatively describes the temporal discharge decay and expresses the drained volume between specific time limits (Hall 1968). This analysis also allows estimating the hydrological significance of the discharge function parameters and the hydrological properties of the aquifer. In this study, we analyze data from perennial springs in the Judean Mountains and from others in the Galilee Mountains, northern Israel. All the springs drain perched carbonate aquifers. Eight of the studied springs discharge from a karst dolomite sequence, whereas one flows out from a fractured, slumped block of chalk. We show that all the recession curves can be well fitted by a function that consists of two exponential terms with exponential coefficients alpha1 and alpha2. These coefficients are approximately constant for each spring, reflecting the hydraulic conductivity of different media through which the ground water flows to the spring. The highest coefficient represents the fast flow, probably through cracks, or quickflow, whereas the lower one reflects the slow flow through the porous medium, or baseflow. The comparison of recession curves from different springs and different years leads to the conclusion that the main factors that affect the recession curve exponential coefficients are the aquifer lithology and the geometry of the water conduits therein. In normal years of rainy winter and dry summer, alpha1 is constant in time. However, when the dry period is longer than usual because of a dry winter, alpha1 slightly decreases with time.
Fresh Water↗
Lithium isotope geochemistry and origin of Canadian shield brines.
Hypersaline calcium/chloride shield brines are ubiquitous in Canada and areas of northern Europe. The major questions relating to these fluids are the origin of the solutes and the concentration mechanism that led to their extreme salinity. Many chemical and isotopic tracers are used to solve these questions. For example, lithium isotope systematics have been used recently to support a marine origin for the Yellowknife shield brine (Northwest Territories). While having important chemical similarities to the Yellowknife brine, shield brines from the Sudbury/Elliot Lake (Ontario) and Thompson/Snow Lake (Manitoba) regions, which are the focus of this study, exhibit contrasting lithium behavior. Brine from the Sudbury Victor mine has lithium concentrations that closely follow the sea water lithium-bromine concentration trajectory, as well as delta6Li values of approximately -28/1000. This indicates that the lithium in this brine is predominantly marine in origin with a relatively minor component of crustal lithium leached from the host rocks. In contrast, the Thompson/Snow Lake brine has anomalously low lithium concentrations, indicating that it has largely been removed from solution by alteration minerals. Furthermore, brine and nonbrine mine waters at the Thompson mine have large delta6Li variations of approximately 30/1000, which primarily reflects mixing between deep brine with delta6Li of -35 +/- 2/1000 and near surface mine water that has derived higher delta6Li values through interactions with their host rocks. The contrary behavior of lithium in these two brines shows that, in systems where it has behaved conservatively, lithium isotopes can distinguish brines derived from marine sources.
Calcium↗
Periodontal condition and blood citrate level in pregnant women.
Explore the source record for details and available documents.
Adult↗
Virus particles monitored by fluorescence spectroscopy: a potential detection assay for macromolecular assembly.
Native fluorescence spectroscopy was used for in situ investigations of two lipid-containing bacteriophages from the cystovirus family as well as their Pseudomonad host cells. Both the viruses phi6 and phi12 and their bacterial host proteins contain the amino acid tryptophan (trp), which is the predominant fluorophore in UV. Within proteins, trp's structural environment differs, and the differences are reflected in their spectroscopic signatures. It was observed that the peak of the trp emission from both viruses was at 330 nm, a significantly shorter wavelength than trp in either the Pseudomonad host cells or the amino acid's chemical form. This allowed us to monitor the viral attachment process and subsequent lytic release of progeny virus particles by measurement of the trp emission spectra during the infection process. This work demonstrates that fluorescence may offer a novel tool to detect viruses and monitor viral infection of cells and may be part of a biodefense application.
Bacteriophages↗
Virus particles and receptor interaction monitored by fluorescence spectroscopy.
Native fluorescence spectroscopy (NFS), primarily from tryptophan (trp), was used for in situ investigation of the virus-receptor attachment process in phi6, a lipid-containing bacteriophage from the Cystoviridae family. NFS allowed us to monitor the viral attachment directly to its receptor, which was isolated from the pseudomonad host. Immediately upon mixing, an increase in tryptophan emission intensity was observed followed by a subsequent decrease in emission intensity. The initial increase in emission intensity reflects changes in trp quantum efficiency as the phi6 surface proteins change their conformation as a result of virus attachment to the pilus. The cystovirus spike protein P3 is responsible for receptor recognition and the fluorescence changes observed are likely to be the consequence of its conformational transition at this initial infection stage, providing a kinetic view of this process. The subsequent decrease in trp emission intensity could be due to changes in viral proteins as a result of disassembly of the pili. The technique may have important applications for the dynamic monitoring of additional stages of the virus replication cycle such as assembly, interaction with nucleic acids and maturation. This work expands on a previous demonstration that fluorescence offered a novel tool to detect virus particle interaction with its host cell.
Bacteriophage lambda↗
Quantification of temporal lobe resections: a new approach.
Extent of resection in temporal lobectomy has been traditionally based on intraoperative linear measurements. The complex geometrical contour of the temporal lobe limits the precision and accuracy of such measurements, and it is often difficult to verify the extent of actual resection after surgery. The authors propose a new method of evaluating extent of resection based on a 20-compartment model of the temporal lobe. The temporal lobe is divided into five anteroposterior coronal sections in relation to the anterior and posterior borders of the mesencephalon. Each section is then divided into superior lateral, inferior lateral, basal, and medial quadrants. The resulting compartments are easily identified on postoperative magnetic resonance images obtained along the coronal plane. Resection within each compartment is noted as none (0), partial (1), or complete (2). An index of resection can then be computed for superior lateral, inferior lateral, basal, and medial quadrants and for the whole temporal lobe. Potentially, this technique can be used to evaluate surgical failures and correlate extent of resection with surgical outcome and neurologic complications. It also allows objective and semiquantitative comparison of surgical approaches practiced at different institutions.
Anthropometry↗
The effect of sleep position on the diagnosis of obstructive sleep apnea: a word of caution.
Sleeping in the supine position exacerbates obstructive sleep apnea. Patients sleeping off their backs during a polysomnographic study might have a normal study in spite of having a history of severe obstructive sleep apnea. This might be shown by repeating the study with the patients spending most of the study time sleeping on their backs. We report three patients illustrating this point and discuss the importance of monitoring sleep position while performing polysomnography. The effect of position in interpreting different therapeutic modes for obstructive sleep apnea should be considered.
Diagnosis, Differential↗
Topical Biafine and Lipiderm for the prevention of radiation dermatitis: a randomized prospective trial.
We evaluated the effects of Biafine and Lipiderm ointments in preventing radiation dermatitis. The study population included 74 patients after conservative surgery for early breast carcinoma who were referred for adjuvant external beam irradiation. Patients were randomized to receive Biafine or Lipiderm or no treatment. Both study preparations were applied twice daily, starting 10 days before onset of radiotherapy and continuing until 10 days after its completion. The skin treatment was upgraded, if clinically necessary, to steroids (grade 3), antibiotics (grade 4), or pause in therapy (grade 5). Success of treatment was evaluated according to the maximal level of skin treatment, the number of gaps in radiation therapy, the impression of the patients and the subjective skin reaction, and scores of the study nurse and radiotherapist. The three groups were comparable for all clinical features, except for a lower mean age of the Biafine group. Comparative analysis of the results showed no advantage for either preparation compared to the control arm other than maximal treatment level required for a skin reaction (mean 1.7 and 1.6 vs. 2.2), which did not reach statistical significance (p=0.145). Nevertheless, 86% of the patients in both the Biafine and Lipiderm arms expressed satisfaction with the respective ointments. In conclusion, neither Biafine nor Lipiderm seems to have a radioprotective effect.
Administration, Topical↗
Cardiac manifestations of myotonic dystrophy.
Twenty-four patients with Myotonic Dystrophy (MyD), age 19-66 years, underwent non-invasive cardiac evaluation which included physical examination, resting and 24 h ECG recording, echocardiography, and multigated radionuclide (Tc99) scanning (MUGA) to assess left ventricular ejection fraction (LVEF). Only 4 of the 24 patients studied did not display any cardiac pathology. Though most patients (20 out of 24) were free of cardiac symptomatology, 15 had abnormal resting ECG. In 12 of the patients mild rhythm disturbances were present in the 24 h ECG monitoring. Left ventricular contraction impairment was a most striking feature; it was noted in 8 patients, in whom the LVEF was below 50%. The apical region was the most affected. Seventeen patients showed abnormal echocardiographic findings: mitral valve prolapse was noted in 8, dilatation of left atrium in 5 and of the left ventricle in 2 of the 24 patients. No correlation between the severity of muscular impairment and the cardiac manifestation was seen. No correlation was found between disease duration or severity (as judged by the functional capacity of the patients) and its cardiac manifestations.
Adult↗
[Endocarditis caused by Streptococcus bovis and subjacent gastrointestinal disease].
Explore the source record for details and available documents.
Ampicillin↗
[Emergency of shoshin beriberi in Brazil: clinical, hemodynamic and therapeutic aspects].
Explore the source record for details and available documents.
Adult↗
Glomerulonephritis associated with polymyositis.
Five patients with primary idiopathic polymyositis developed proteinuria associated with urine sediment abnormalities. Renal biopsies disclosed a focal mesangial proliferative glomerulonephritis with deposits of immunoglobulin and complement. After treatment of the polymyositis with corticosteroids, proteinuria and urine sediment changes disappeared within 4 to 8 wk along with an improvement in the muscle disease. Although the pathogenesis remains to be determined, immune complexes may be implicated in the etiology of this renal lesion.
Adrenal Cortex Hormones↗
[Pneumonia due to Pneumocystis carinii in AIDS patients].
Explore the source record for details and available documents.
Acquired Immunodeficiency Syndrome↗
Electronic apex locator: a useful tool for root canal treatment in the primary dentition.
The purpose of this study was to test the ability of an electronic apex locator, Root ZX to measure the root canal length in primary teeth with partial resorption. Twenty extracted primary molars were embedded in an alginate model imitating in vivo conditions. Root ZX and radiographic measurements were compared in dry and wet environments to the actual tooth length. Root ZX identified the tooth length at the most coronal portion of the resorption. The content of the root canal did not influence the results. No statistical differences were found between electronic, radiographic and actual tooth length measurements, although the radiographic measurements were longer than the electronic ones. It is suggested that Root ZX is a preferable auxiliary device to measure root canal length in the primary dentition.
Child↗