Etiologic agent of human ehrlichiosis.
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Biomedical subjects
Publications and source records attributed to B Anderson.
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The adsorption of amitriptyline, desipramine, doxepin, imipramine, and nortriptyline onto cholestyramine was demonstrated in vitro with use of 1.2 mol/L HCl at 37 degrees C to simulate gastric fluid. Binding to cholestyramine was approximately 80% for each of the tricyclic antidepressants, and this was about the same degree of binding noted with a nonpharmaceutical, non-ionic resin widely used in the diagnostic toxicology laboratory (Amberlite XAD-2). In contrast, five other non-antidepressants (acetaminophen, chlordiazepoxide, procainamide, quinidine, and theophylline) showed only minimal binding to cholestyramine under these conditions. Activated charcoal completely bound all drugs studied. These findings suggest that cholestyramine should be used with caution in patients receiving tricyclic antidepressants. They also suggest that cholestyramine may be a potentially useful adjunctive therapy in treatment of overdose with the tricyclic antidepressants.
Sera from patients with Crohn's disease, their relatives, their spouses, and unrelated healthy controls were assayed by enzyme-linked immunosorbent assay for immunoglobulin G (IgG) and IgA antibodies to Mycobacterium tuberculosis, M. avium, and M. gordonae. The patients had significantly higher IgA responses to mycobacterial antigens than did either their relatives or the controls. On the other hand, both the patients and their relatives had significantly higher IgG responses against these antigens than did the controls. The elevated IgA response was more pronounced against isopentanol-extracted whole bacterial cells than it was against soluble protein extracts, and it appeared to be directed against fixed surface antigens that lie under the loosely bound peptidoglycolipid or glycolipid antigens of mycobacteria.
The case of a 20-year-old man with obstructive hydrocephalus who suffered multiple shunt failures and shunt revisions is presented. The patient gradually developed a clinical syndrome of akinetic mutism. This behavioral syndrome failed to respond to shunt revisions, but did improve after the administration of a combination of bromocriptine and ephedrine.
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This article reports on an analysis of 109 hospitals that received recommendations for improvement within their Medical Record Service when surveyed by the Australian Council on Health Care Standards (ACHS) in 1990. Seventy-five per cent of Medical Record Service recommendations made at an earlier survey had been fully implemented and 17% partially implemented by hospitals at the time of their next survey in 1990. The major area receiving recommendations for improvement was medical record content. Other areas of concern were quality assurance, organization and administration, and space for research and work within the service. Certain aspects of medical record content also appeared to be resistant to change from one survey to the next.
OBJECTIVE: The purpose of this study was to determine the incidence of positive peritoneal cytology and to evaluate its usefulness in the management of patients with early-stage cervical cancer. METHODS: Peritoneal cytology was studied in 273 women undergoing primary surgical exploration for International Federation of Gynecology and Obstetrics stage IB cancer of the cervix. Charts were reviewed retrospectively for clinicopathologic data concerning tumor size, cell type, lymph node status, and outcome. RESULTS: Cytology was positive in four women, three of whom had enlarged pelvic or para-aortic lymph nodes or intraperitoneal disease. There was no association between tumor histology or tumor size and peritoneal cytology. CONCLUSION: The incidence of positive peritoneal cytology in early-stage cervical cancer is low, and the prognostic significance of positive cytology is overshadowed by other risk factors more obvious at surgery. The routine collection of cytologic specimens at laparotomy should be abandoned in this setting.
The purpose of this study was to compare and contrast two enzyme immunoassay systems: the enzyme-linked immunosorbent assay (ELISA), which utilizes polystyrene microtiter plates as the adsorptive surface and the enzyme-linked immunoflow assay (ELIFA), which utilizes nitrocellulose membranes. The principal parameter under scrutiny was the denaturing or unfolding effects caused by the interaction of the protein with the adsorptive surfaces in each assay system. These effects were monitored by utilizing two conformationally distinct forms of human C-reactive protein (CRP), the native form of CRP and a denatured form (M-CRP), with a corresponding panel of monoclonal antibodies (MAbs) specific to either CRP or M-CRP. The results show that the ELIFA system was less sensitive than the ELISA system but that the ELIFA assay can be completed in less time than the ELISA. Also, adsorption of native CRP to the polystyrene surface in the ELISA system resulted in conformational changes of the adsorbed native CRP protein such that M-CRP reactive determinants were available for binding with anti-M-CRP MAbs, whereas native CRP adsorbed to the nitrocellulose membrane in the ELIFA system resulted in very limited conversion of CRP to M-CRP reactive epitopes. These results have important implications for development of immunoassays and screening of MAbs for proteins whose conformations may be affected by adsorption to various surfaces.
Based upon the activity observed in this trial, there does not appear to be a significant role for AZQ as a salvage agent for leiomyosarcoma of the uterus at the dose and schedule tested.
Chronic renal allograft rejection (CR) is the major cause of graft loss after 1 year following transplantation. Hypertension (HTN) and proteinuria (Up) are the hallmarks of this immunologic allograft response. Over 1 year, 23 patients posttransplantation and with HTN (diastolic greater than 95 mm Hg) were examined. Serial serum creatinine (Scr), Up, urine creatinine (Ucr), and resting and enalapril challenged (EC) plasma renin activity (PRA) were all determined. Renal artery stenosis was excluded by noninvasive imaging. Of the 23 patients, eight eventually lost their renal allografts, while 15 maintained satisfactory renal function (Scr less than 2.5). Results of this study show that: 1) worsening renal function (RF) increases EC reactivity; 2) the presence of proteinuria is not itself related to increase in EC activity; 3) renin before and after EC was higher (P = .06) in the allograft loss group. In this study, patients with high PRA represent the highest EC responses. Therefore, they display not macrovascular lesions, but microvascular intrarenal disease; this defect is most likely secondary to chronic immunologic insult.
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Uracil-DNA-glycosylase has been proposed to function as the first enzyme in strand-directed mismatch repair in eukaryotic organisms, through removal of uracil from dUMP residues periodically inserted into the DNA during DNA replication (Aprelikova, O. N., V. M. Golubovskaya, T. A. Kusmin, and N. V. Tomilin, Mutat. Res. 213:135-140, 1989). This hypothesis was investigated with Saccharomyces cerevisiae. Mutation frequencies and spectra were determined for an ung1 deletion strain in the target SUP4-o tRNA gene by using a forward selection scheme. Mutation frequencies in the SUP4-o gene increased about 20-fold relative to an isogenic wild-type S. cerevisiae strain, and the mutator effect was completely suppressed in the ung1 deletion strain carrying the wild-type UNG1 gene on a multicopy plasmid. Sixty-nine independently derived mutations in the SUP4-o gene were sequenced. All but five of these were due to GC----AT transitions. From this analysis, we conclude that the mutator phenotype of the ung1 deletion strain is the result of a failure to repair spontaneous cytosine deamination events occurring frequently in S. cerevisiae and that the UNG1 gene is not required for strand-specific mismatch repair in S. cerevisiae.
The reproductive behaviour of couples with heterozygous beta thalassaemia, with at least one affected child, was investigated for the period 1955 to 1984 and was compared to the behaviour of control couples matched for age, age at marriage, and presence of at least one child. The comparisons were made as a function of knowledge of the risk and availability of prenatal diagnosis and abortion. It was found that the couples segregating for Cooley's anaemia, before knowledge of the risk, had a higher reproductive rate than that of control couples. Knowledge of the genetic risk had a different effect on reproductive behaviour in the 1950s from that in later years. The difference was attributed both to the influence of cultural factors and to technical, therapeutic, and diagnostic advances.
OBJECTIVE: To extend the knowledge on long-term effects of childhood abuse in psychiatric patients to a large sample, the authors explored childhood sexual and physical abuse in adult inpatients over 1,040 consecutive admissions. METHOD: The 947 patients were admitted to a tertiary-care military medical center. Each patient was interviewed, and abuse history, DSM-III-R diagnosis, and other characteristics were recorded. RESULTS: The prevalence of reported childhood abuse was 18% overall: 9% for sexual abuse (with or without physical abuse), 10% for physical abuse (with or without sexual abuse), and 3% for combined abuse. More female than male patients reported abuse. Alcohol use disorders were more common in victims of physical or combined abuse than in sexually abused or nonabused patients. Axis II diagnoses, particularly borderline personality disorder, were more frequent in abuse victims than in nonabused patients. Histories of drug and alcohol abuse were more common in patients reporting physical or combined abuse than in nonabused patients. Suicidality was also more frequent in abused than nonabused inpatients and was noted in 79% of the patients with histories of combined abuse. Combined abuse in women and physical abuse in men were associated with a family history of psychiatric illness, most commonly alcoholism in male relatives. CONCLUSIONS: These findings emphasize the need for greater attention to family dynamics, aggressive diagnosis and treatment of alcoholism within the family, and, especially, determination of patients' abuse histories, even if repeated questioning is necessary.
Asthma involves bronchoconstrictor mechanisms, possible abnormalities of airway smooth muscles and an inflammatory response. Past emphasis on bronchodilator therapy ignored the underlying inflammatory response. Since chronic asthma can eventually lead to irreversible airflow obstruction from uncontrolled inflammation, current drug therapy stresses both inflammation reduction and bronchodilatation. This article discusses the rationale of current pharmacologic management for the adult client with chronic asthma and presents a step-care approach for management of the disease. Inhaled beta-agonists--effective bronchodilators--are the primary drug of choice. Steroids administered via inhalation are the most effective anti-inflammatory agents available. Cromolyn sodium is useful for prophylactic management of asthma. Theophylline, previously the cornerstone of asthma treatment, is now introduced later in the therapeutic plan as an additional bronchodilator. Inhaled anticholinergics may be tried as adjunctive asthma treatment. With careful assessment, intervention and management, health care providers can successfully care for most adult clients with chronic asthma.
The carotid endarterectomy procedure has provided an invaluable option in the management of patients with symptomatic atherosclerotic carotid artery disease. The criteria for surgical interventions vary from different institutions as well as the mortality and morbidity, but, for a select patient population, it is a viable alternative to conservative medical management.
In response to today's health care environment, the entry-level course in perioperative nursing is continually evaluated and updated. This reflects our ethical and social responsibilities to new nurses in the operating room and our commitment to high-quality patient care. The need for technical knowledge by the professional perioperative nurse is increasing, but the necessity for patient advocacy and holistic care is not superseded by technical considerations. This is what differentiates the professional nurse from the technician. This theme is constantly emphasized during the course. We believe that this entry-level course is a valid response to the need for perioperative nurses. It is cost-effective. It promotes group interaction and peer support during the learning and socialization process, which in turn makes the new nurse more likely to remain employed in the institution's operating room.
Totally implanted central venous access devices provide reliable delivery of repetitive chemotherapy courses. However, placement of these ports requires special expertise and facilities, and is not without risk of major complications. This paper reports the technique of placing a new peripherally accessed, totally implantable, central venous port in 22 patients for the repeated administration of systemic chemotherapy. All ports were successfully placed under local anesthesia, with catheter tip location determined by an electronic sensor wand. The ports have been in use for a total of 387 patient-weeks. One port required removal secondary to an infection at the port site. Twenty-one ports have remained functional for infusion and blood sampling through 99 courses of chemotherapy. Acceptance by patients, nurses, and physicians has been excellent.