Biomedical subjects
Publications and source records attributed to J J O'Brien.
During an investigation of equine abortion, leptospiral infection was demonstrated in nine out of 22 foetuses examined by immunofluorescence and culture. Strains belonging to four serogroups (Australis, Pomona, Hebdomadis and Icterohaemorrhagiae) were isolated. The age of leptospira infected foetuses ranged from six months to term.
Explore the source record for details and available documents.
Explore the source record for details and available documents.
Leptospires were demonstrated by a combination of the direct fluorescent antibody technique and culture in six (4.6 per cent) of 130 fetuses from apparently normal uteri collected at an abattoir. Fetal ages ranged from the fifth to the seventh months. In addition, leptospires were isolated from the oviducts of two uteri whose fetuses were not infected. All the strains isolated were similar antigenically to serovar hardjo. Leptospiral antibodies were not detected in any of the fetuses.
The antibody titres of 149 cows aborting leptospire infected fetuses and 156 cows aborting fetuses not apparently infected with leptospires were determined by the microscopic agglutination (MA) test. There were differences in the distribution patterns of MA titres between the two groups of cows but these differences would only be of very limited value in the diagnosis of leptospiral abortion. Although 81.2 per cent of aborting cows which had a titre of 1:1000 or greater had leptospire infected fetuses, they represented 46.3 per cent of cows aborting leptospire infected fetuses. Among cows which aborted infected fetuses, 22.8 per cent had no detectable antibodies. The complement fixation and plate agglutination tests were of less value than the MA test.
Leptospiral infection was diagnosed in 41.6 per cent of 245 randomly selected aborted bovine fetuses and 68.9 per cent of 103 aborted fetuses from farms with abortion problems. Diagnosis was based on combined leptospiral isolates from fetal kidney and eye, and fetal serology and immunofluorescence. Fifty-six of the 58 strains of leptospira isolated belonged to the Hebdomadis serogroup and were similar to serovar hardjo while one of the remaining two strains belonged to the Icterohaemorrhagiae serogroup and the other to the Canicola serogroup. These findings indicate that serovar hardjo infection is a major factor in the aetiology of bovine abortion and that it is possible to isolate this organism from fetal kidney by the careful application of dilution culture technique.
Kidneys of cattle, mice and badgers were cultured for leptospires in an attempt to evaluate the relative importance of these species in the epidemiology of bovine leptospirosis caused by the Hebdomadis serogroup. Leptospires closely related to serotype hardjo were recovered from 57 (28.5 per cent) of 200 cattle examined but no evidence of infection was found in either badgers or mice, indicating that cattle act as the maintenance host for serotype hardjo. Many cattle were seronegative carriers.
An investigation was undertaken to see if cooking or cold storage would destroy or decrease the level of biologically active antibiotic in tissues from animals given therapeutic doses of antibiotic on three occasions prior to slaughter. The effects of cooking and cold storage on the biological activity of the residues of ampicillin, chloramphenicol, oxytetracycline, streptomycin and sulphadimidine were varied; in some instances the effects were minimal, in others nil.
Explore the source record for details and available documents.
Explore the source record for details and available documents.
Explore the source record for details and available documents.
Explore the source record for details and available documents.
Explore the source record for details and available documents.
Burgeoning interest in geriatric psychiatry has created a challenge of optimally fitting geriatric content into already crowded psychiatric residency curricula. The authors review general considerations in geriatric psychiatry training and describe a brief clinical rotation for working with the elderly. The brief rotation is not presented as the ideal way of imparting geriatric psychiatry skills, but as an effective use of limited time to improve one's approach to the older patient. The clinical rotation enables the resident to learn more about psychiatric issues in later life, as well as to acquire a better perspective on other parts of the life cycle and on other aspects of psychiatry.
A case report of a systemic, near-fatal illness possibly related to augmentation mammaplasty with silicone gel prostheses is presented. Twenty-four hours after the augmentation procedure, the patient, a 32-year-old woman, developed a high fever followed by diffuse arthritis, renal failure, and bilateral pulmonary infiltrates. Shortly after removal of the prostheses, the patient's condition improved dramatically. Samples from blood, urine, sputum, and breast pockets collected at the time of prosthesis removal demonstrated silicone polymers. Evidence is presented that indicates the illness was not of infectious origin.
Explore the source record for details and available documents.
Weaned pigs were immunised with a live attenuated Salmonella choleraesuis vaccine. The protective immunity induced was compared with that of unvaccinated pigs by intranasal challenge with a field strain of S choleraesuis. Of 18 unvaccinated pigs, three died as a result of challenge from S choleraesuis and 10 of the survivors developed chronic lung lesions. None of the vaccinated pigs died as a result of challenge and two only showed macroscopic evidence of salmonellosis on autopsy three weeks after challenge. It was concluded that subcutaneous vaccination of pigs prevented death and clinical illness but did not prevent invasion of tissues following intranasal challenge with S choleraesuis.
Unusual helically-curved bacteria isolated from porcine and bovine abortions measured 1.8 microns long and 0.4 microns wide, failed to produce poly beta-hydroxybutyric acid granules and had DNA base compositions within the span 29--34 moles per cent. From this evidence, it was concluded that these organisms are members of the genus Campylobacter.