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Biomedical subjects

E Bengtsson

Publications and source records attributed to E Bengtsson.

At least 55 records · Page 3Linked to original sources
PubMed1985

Different malaria control activities in an area of Liberia--effects on malariometric parameters.

The epidemiology of malaria was studied in a West African mining town (Yekepa) and three surrounding zones defined as Close, Middle and Far areas. Malariometric parameters were investigated in children two to nine years of age at the end of the rainy season. In Yekepa, vector control measures and intense suppression of malaria with drugs had created an almost hypoendemic situation with a spleen rate of 11%. In Close area, vector control was applied to some extent and malaria drugs were frequently used for treatment; the spleen rate was 40%. In Middle area, a mobile clinic provided sporadic malaria treatment to small children, but the clinic did not reach out to Far area. The spleen rates were 95 and 99%, respectively. Three species of Plasmodium were found in all areas. The prevalences in Far area were P. falciparum 82%, P. malariae 39% and P. ovale 9%. The crude parasite rates increased from 13% in Yekepa to 92% in Far area, whereas haematocrit levels decreased from 37.6 to 35.2, respectively. Plasmodium falciparum seropositivity, as measured by indirect immunofluorescence, was 74% in Yekepa and 99% in Middle and Far areas. Total IgG concentrations ranged from 18 g1(-1) in Yekepa to 33 g1(-1) in Far area. Three main anopheline species were found in the zones outside Yekepa. Their relative frequencies in Far area were Anopheles funestus 45%, A. hancocki 37%, and A. gambiae 18%. The local inoculation rates gradually increased outwards from Yekepa from less than 0.01 to 0.17 inoculations per man and night at the beginning of the dry season.(ABSTRACT TRUNCATED AT 250 WORDS)

Child↗
PubMed1985

Malaria control by chlorproguanil. I. Clinical effects and susceptibility of Plasmodium falciparum in vivo after seven years of monthly chlorproguanil administration to children in a Liberian village.

For seven years, chlorproguanil (1.0 to 2.0 mg kg-1) was administered monthly to the children below 15 years of age in a village with holoendemic malaria. Malariometric indices were recorded every six months. Susceptibility in vivo was monitored by the clearance of Plasmodium falciparum parasitaemia after drug intake. Three parasite species were found initially: P. falciparum (52%), P. malariae (8%) and P. ovale (4%). The parasites found during the study were mainly P. falciparum, and parasite rates ranged from 37 to 87% at the different surveys one month after respective drug intake. A fifty-fold decrease of mean parasite density was generally observed seven days after drug intake. Splenomegaly was initially recorded in all two to nine year old children, with a mean size of 2.64 according to Hackett's index. From 18 months onwards as the mean spleen index was 1.15 in the same age group. Chlorproguanil may represent an important alternative drug to groups at risk in malaria control schemes.

Adolescent↗
PubMed1984

Is the working capacity of Liberian industrial workers increased by regular malaria prophylaxis?

In a study of the impact of malaria prophylaxis upon the physical working capacity of Liberian industrial workers, two groups of men, one with and the other without malaria prophylaxis, were compared over a period of one year. At the beginning and at the end of the study, the haemoglobin concentration, haematocrit, blood volume and physical performance--measured by bicycle ergometry and expressed as work load at heart rate 170--were compared. No significant differences were found, either within or between the two groups. Routinely distributed malaria prophylaxis thus seems to be of little importance with respect to working capacity in this type of community, where malaria is meso-endemic.

Blood Volume↗
PubMed1984

Treatment of non-invasive amoebiasis--a comparison between tinidazole and metronidazole.

In a small pilot study the parasite cure rate (PCR) of non-invasive amoebiasis was compared after treatment with metronidazole 800 mg three times daily or tinidazole 600 mg twice daily for five days. Both treatment regimens were found to be highly unfavourable with PCRs of 44 and nil respectively, in contrast to previous published results showing PCR over 80%.

Adolescent↗
PubMed1984

A long-term follow up study of amoebiasis treated with metronidazole.

Metronidazole, in a dose of 40 mg/kg body weight in 3 divided doses for 10 days was used to treat 194 patients infected with Entamoeba histolytica. When 166 subjects were checked 1 month after treatment, with 3 stool samples taken on different days, 20 failures were found giving a parasitic cure rate of 88%. A lower-than-expected failure rate was noted in children, immigrants and asymptomatic subjects. No more failures were found in 78 patients who went through an extended follow-up, with examinations after 4 and 10-12 months.

Adolescent↗
PubMed1983

Treatment of non-invasive amoebiasis. A comparison between tinidazole alone and in combination with diloxanide furoate.

Tinidazole (40 mg/kg body-weight in one daily dose for five days) and tinidazole (same dose) plus diloxanide furoate (20 mg/kg body-weight divided into three daily doses for 10 days) were compared as treatments for amoebiasis. The parasitic cure rates were 44 and 91% respectively. We cannot, therefore, recommend tinidazole alone in this dosage as a treatment for non-invasive amoebiasis.

Adolescent↗
PubMed1983

A case-control study in northern Liberia of Plasmodium falciparum malaria in haemoglobin S and beta-thalassaemia traits.

A case-control study was carried out on 558 patients with malaria attending a hospital in Yekepa, northern Liberia; 94 patients (16.8%) were aged at least ten years, probably because of a low level of protective immunity in town dwellers due to malaria control. The proportion of sickle cell traits (1.8%) among the patient group was lower than in the population (7.2%) served by the hospital (chi 2, 21.455, 1 df, P less than 0.001). A stratified analysis showed the relative risk for Plasmodium falciparum malaria in sickle cell trait over normal homozygotes, as 0.29 (upper 95%) confidence interval, 0.56). For beta-thalassaemia trait, the proportion among patients was 5.5% as against 9.0% in the general population (chi 2, 6.158, 1 df, 0.025 greater than P greater than 0.010). Stratified analysis gave a weighted relative risk for beta-thalassaemia heterozygotes of 0.49 (upper 95% confidence interval, 0.74). Although there were four beta-thalassaemia traits in the 10-14 year stratum with moderate to high parasitaemias, we consider that the overall results are consistent with relative resistance against P. falciparum malaria of both sickle cell and beta-thalassaemia heterozygotes in this population. No conclusions were possible from this investigation with regard to HbC and the malaria hypothesis. We found no evidence that P. falciparum malaria elevates HbA2 concentrations into the beta-thalassaemia range.

Adolescent↗
PubMed1983

Histopathological systems of breast cancer classification: reproducibility and clinical significance.

The inter- and intraobserver reproducibilities of the histopathological systems of breast cancer classification suggested by the World Health Organisation (WHO), the Armed Forces Institute of Pathology (AFIP) and Ackerman have been analysed. The reproducibilities of the three classification systems were only "fair" to "moderate" and no correlation with the five-year recurrence rate was found. Our results indicate that these classification systems are without biological significance and are useless for prognosis in the individual patient. When the tumours were classified according to degree of differentiation (high, moderate, low) or graded according to WHO (which includes both differentiation and nuclear atypia), however, there was a significant correlation with the five-year recurrence rate. Yet even such "reduced" subdivisions are of no value in judging prognosis for the individual patient at the time of diagnosis; rather, they are useful only in the follow-up analysis of groups of patients.

Breast Neoplasms↗
PubMed1981

Correlation between cytometric features and mitotic frequency in human breast carcinoma.

An evaluation of cytometric features of 142 human breast cancers was performed. Twenty-two cytometric features describing density, structure and shape were correlated with mitotic frequency and labeling index of some of the tumors and with the observed recurrence rate of the tumors within 3 years after removal of the breast. A new cytometric measure was also created by combining the four features most strongly correlated with mitotic frequency of the tumors. It was found that the variance of the nuclear area was the feature that was most strongly correlated with mitotic frequency and recurrence rate. No new cytometric measure created by combining the four features most strongly correlated with mitotic frequency, correlated as well as variance of nuclear area even though the four features were optimized by multiple regression analysis for their correlation with mitotic frequency.

Breast Neoplasms↗