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Publications and source records attributed to J S Greenspan.
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To investigate changes in the pattern of oral disease associated with highly active antiretroviral therapy (HAART), we assessed the frequency of these lesions in our clinic over 9 years. We retrospectively studied 1280 patients seen between July, 1990, and June, 1999, and related oral findings to medication use, immune function, and viral load. We found significant decreases in oral candidosis, hairy leucoplakia, and Kaposi's sarcoma over time, but no change in the occurrence of aphthous ulcers. There was an increase in salivary-gland disease and a striking increase in warts: three-fold for patients on antiretroviral therapy and six-fold for those on HAART (p=0.01). This pattern of oral disease in a referral clinic suggests that an increase in oral warts could be occurring as a complication of HAART.
UNLABELLED: Discharge from an intensive care nursery should be dependent on the infant's clinical and social condition and independent of the day of the week. OBJECTIVE: To evaluate admission and discharge dates of 5272 neonates cared for in 5 major metropolitan regions in the United States and managed by a national disease management company for the distribution of the day of the week. STUDY DESIGN: All infants discharged to home between July 1, 1996 and September 30, 1998 are included. Data are represented as a percentage of total discharges or admissions for each weekday assignment. Using the normal approximation to the multinomial distribution, we tested for proportional differences on each weekday. RESULTS: The data demonstrate that the timing of nursery discharge has an uneven distribution across the days of the week, with weekend (Saturday and Sunday) discharge rates that are significantly lower than weekday discharge rates. This uneven distribution exists in both the term and preterm subgroups as well. There is also an uneven distribution of births among the days of the week, with a pattern that reveals fewer weekend births than weekday births in the entire population studied, as well as in both the term and preterm subgroups. Normalizing these weekend discharges to the previous weekday could generate potential saving of $1 569 405 in charges for the total population and 627 days of hospitalization. The average length of stay of infants discharged on Mondays is longer than for those infants discharged on Saturday or Sunday. CONCLUSIONS: We speculate that changes in discharge planning could decrease the variation in day of discharge, shorten length of hospitalization, and potentially reduce cost.
A multicenter, double-blind, randomized, placebo-controlled study was conducted to determine the safety and efficacy of thalidomide in reduced, intermittent doses for preventing recurrences of oral and esophageal aphthous ulcers in patients with human immunodeficiency virus (HIV) infection. Forty-nine HIV-infected patients whose ulcers previously had healed as a result of thalidomide therapy were randomly assigned to receive either 100 mg of oral thalidomide or placebo 3 times per week for 6 months. Ulcers recurred in 14 (61%) of 23 thalidomide-randomized patients, compared with 11 (42%) of 26 placebo-randomized patients, with no significant difference in the median time to recurrence of ulcers (P=.221). There were no changes in plasma levels of HIV RNA, tumor necrosis factor (TNF)-alpha, and soluble TNF receptor II at the time of ulcer recurrence. Adverse events among patients treated with thalidomide included neutropenia (5 patients), rash (5 patients), and peripheral sensory neuropathy (3 patients). Thalidomide in lower intermittent doses is ineffective at preventing recurrence of aphthous ulcers in HIV-infected persons.
The prevalence of oral lesions was assessed in a five-center subset of the Women's Interagency HIV Study (WIHS) and correlated with other features of HIV disease. Oral examinations were performed by dental examiners on 729 women (577 HIV-positive and 152 HIV-negative) during baseline examination. Significant differences between the groups were found for the following oral lesions: pseudomembranous candidiasis, 6.1% and 2.0%, respectively; erythematous candidiasis, 6.41% and 0.7%, respectively; all oral candidiasis, pseudomembranous and/or erythematous, 13.7% and 3.3%, respectively. Hairy leukoplakia was observed in 6.1% of HIV-positive women. No significant differences were found for recurrent aphthous ulcers, herpes simplex lesions, or papillomas. Kaposi's sarcoma was seen in 0.5% of HIV-positive and 0% of HIV-negative women. Using multiple logistic regression models controlling for use of antiretrovirals and antifungals, in HIV-positive women the presence of oral candidiasis was associated with a CD4 count <200 cells/microl, cigarette smoking, and heroin/methadone use; the presence of hairy leukoplakia was not related to CD4 count but was associated with high viral load. Oral candidiasis and hairy leukoplakia are confirmed as being common features of HIV infection in women and appear to be associated with HIV viral load, immunosuppression, and various other behaviorally determined variables.
OBJECTIVE: To describe the incidence and prevalence of oral manifestations of HIV infection in a population of perinatally infected children. DESIGN: Retrospective and prospective study of a cohort of perinatally HIV-infected children. SETTING: Community hospital and community-based paediatric clinic. SAMPLE AND METHODS: Forty perinatally HIV-infected children with a median age of 12 months were eligible and selected for the study, which included a medical chart review from birth and prospective follow-up. Each child was examined quarterly for oral manifestations, tooth eruption, and for 27 children, caries and periodontal status. RESULTS: The incidence of pseudomembranous candidiasis was 43% (95% CI, 27-58%) within 6 months of birth. Oral candidiasis (defined as pseudomembranous or erythematous) was positively associated with low CD4 counts and the occurrence of plaque. Children with low CD4 counts were also found to have fewer teeth than children with high CD4 counts, after adjusting for age. CONCLUSIONS: Oral manifestations are common in paediatric HIV infection and are possible predictors of HIV disease progression. Primary care of HIV-infected children should include periodic oral examinations to monitor their HIV disease progression and to alleviate symptoms associated with oral opportunistic infections.
Liquid breathing has been proposed as a means of improving gas exchange in infants with acute respiratory failure since the 1970s. In addition, there are potential clinical applications of perfluorochemical (PFC) liquids that span many specialties in medicine. The ability to lower surface tension directed the initial clinical focus on neonatal therapy in the treatment of premature lung disease. The first clinical trial of PFC ventilation was performed in neonates in 1989. Additional trials using LiquiVent (Alliance Pharmaceutical San Diego, CA), a medical grade PFC liquid, were initiated in 1993 in infants, children, and adults. These studies have concluded that liquid ventilation appeared to be safe, improve lung function, and recruit lung volume in patients from these populations. The results of such trials are encouraging, but randomized trials have yet to be completed. We await these pivotal trials, which will probably be completed in adult patients first, before this promising technique can be clinically available.
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Since the 1992 American Academy of Pediatrics (AAP) recommendation to put babies to sleep in the nonprone position and the subsequent 1994 "Back to Sleep" campaign, the U.S. rate of sudden infant death syndrome (SIDS) has decreased more than 40%. This study reports sleep position practices in the greater Philadelphia area during 1996 and 1997. Four hundred and ten parents of infants 6 months of age or less answered a questionnaire by interview in Philadelphia clinics and private pediatric offices from December 1995 through February 1997. Sleep position practices and other SIDS risk factors were measured among demographic groups and compared with reported rates in a similar population from 1993 and 1994. Data were analyzed by Chi square after analysis of correlation coefficients. Significance is reported at p < 0.05. Seventy-two percent of all infants surveyed slept nonprone (NP) compared to 31.8% in 1993 and 59.1% in 1994. The population was 61% African-American (AA), 62% clinic patients. The breast feeding rate was 31%, maternal smoking 17%, and cosleeping 46%. AA infants (67% vs. 82%), infants receiving care at a clinic (66% vs. 84%), and infants > 3 months old (65% vs. 76%) are less likely to be placed nonprone. Most parents who place infants on their back report it was recommended by a medical professional (56%). The majority of those placing infants prone do so because their infant is more comfortable or sleeps better (65%), although 73% said their physician/nurse discussed sleep position with them. Nonprone sleeping continues to increase since the initiation of the "Back to Sleep" campaign. Disparity between some demographic groups persists. An excessive number of African-American families and clinic families still choose a prone sleep position. Many who do so cite increased infant comfort, despite knowledge of the AAP recommendation.
The emergence of the human immunodeficiency virus (HIV) and the onset of the AIDS epidemic has been associated with the frequent presentation of otherwise rare opportunistic infections and neoplasms. Despite the impairments of cellular and humoral immunity that accompany HIV infection, the prevalence of actinomycosis in the HIV-infected population has remained low. This article reviews previously reported cases of actinomycosis in HIV-positive and AIDS patients. Microbiological, pathological, diagnostic, clinical and therapeutic aspects of actinomycosis in this population are discussed. Clinicians should be aware of the possibility of actinomycosis as the cause of a persistent inflammatory lesion in these patients and know the correct techniques for collecting and submitting tissue specimens for anaerobic culture.
We sought to determine whether hairy leukoplakia (HL), an Epstein-Barr virus-related oral lesion, is associated with receptive oral sex activity and cigarette smoking among HIV-positive gay men. Oral examinations were conducted every 6 months among San Francisco Men's Health Study participants over a 6-year period. We fitted time-to-lesion regression models to compare the incidence of HL among men who had mouth-to-penis contact with various numbers of partners, while controlling for cigarette smoking and CD4 count. The 6-year incidence of HL was 32% among 291 HIV-positive men. We found no significant increase in the hazard of developing HL for each additional insertive-oral-sex male partner in the past 6 months (relative hazard = 1.01; 95% confidence interval [CI], 0.99, 1.02), and a similar lack of association when number of sex partners was categorized. However, the hazard of developing HL doubled with any 300-unit decrease in CD4 count (95% CI, 1.4, 2.7), or if men smoked > or =20 cigarettes/day compared with nonsmokers (95% CI, 1.2, 3.9). This finding, which may suggest one effect that smoking produces on the oral mucosa's local immune response, merits further investigation.
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In order to gain further understanding of the role of chemokines in healthy oral mucosa, we analyzed mRNA expression of the alpha (CXC)-family chemokines IL-8 and GROgamma as well as of the beta (CC)-family chemokines MIP-1alpha, MIP-1beta and MCP-1 in twenty young and healthy subjects with good oral hygiene. Twenty biopsies were taken from clinically healthy oral mucosa before surgical removal of impacted wisdom teeth. In addition, five biopsies from patients presenting with specific oral lesions were studied. RNA was purified, quantitated and utilized as substrate for competitive reverse transcription-polymerase chain reaction (RT-PCR). In healthy tissue, IL-8 and MCP-1 mRNA was constitutively expressed in all biopsies, whereas GROgamma, MIP-1alpha, and MIP-1beta were significantly lower. These findings suggest that IL8 and MCP-1 play a significant role in oral tissue homeostasis. The few samples from pathological conditions encourage exploring diseased tissue in more detail.
Secreted aspartyl proteinases are putative virulence factors in Candida infections. Candida albicans possesses at least nine members of a SAP gene family, all of which have been sequenced. Although the expression of the SAP genes has been extensively characterized under laboratory growth conditions, no studies have analyzed in detail the in vivo expression of these proteinases in human oral colonization and infection. We have developed a reliable and sensitive procedure to detect C. albicans mRNA from whole saliva of patients with oral C. albicans infection and those with asymptomatic Candida carriage. The reverse transcription-PCR protocol was used to determine which of the SAP1 to SAP7 genes are expressed by C. albicans during colonization and infection of the oral cavity. SAP2 and the SAP4 to SAP6 subfamily were the predominant proteinase genes expressed in the oral cavities of both Candida carriers and patients with oral candidiasis; SAP4, SAP5, or SAP6 mRNA was detected in all subjects. SAP1 and SAP3 transcripts were observed only in patients with oral candidiasis. SAP7 mRNA expression, which has never been demonstrated under laboratory conditions, was detected in several of the patient samples. All seven SAP genes were simultaneously expressed in some patients with oral candidiasis. This is the first detailed study showing that the SAP gene family is expressed by C. albicans during colonization and infection in humans and that C. albicans infection is associated with the differential expression of individual SAP genes which may be involved in the pathogenesis of oral candidiasis.
OBJECTIVE: Although a few infants ever require resuscitation, pediatric cardiopulmonary resuscitation (CPR) is performed most commonly under 1 year of age. American Heart Association guidelines for pediatric basic life support recommend that the caregiver place his/her mouth over the infant's mouth and nose to create a seal. The way CPR is currently taught encourages parents to attempt to seal the nose and open the mouth of the infant for rescue breathing. Recent studies suggest some parents may have trouble sealing an infant's nose and open mouth, but their study participant numbers were small. The aim of this report is to estimate, among a large cohort, the ability of caregivers to create a seal to their infants for the provision of rescue breathing according to current guidelines. METHODS: Infants up to 1 year of age (n = 281) and their caregivers were enrolled from Philadelphia pediatric offices. Facial measurements of the infants were obtained to estimate the length needed to seal the nose and open mouth, and the nose and closed mouth. Mouth widths of the caregivers were compared with their infant's nose and mouth lengths. One-way analysis of variance with Tukey's postmortem analysis and ordinary least squares means regression were used for univariate analysis with analysis of covariance used to control for the effects of multiple variables when necessary. Infant measurements were stratified into 3-month age quadrants to compare against matched adult caregiver measurements. RESULTS: Most caregivers (n = 270) were female. Females had smaller mouth widths than males (4.9 +/- 0.5 cm vs 5.2 +/- 0.5 cm). Infant nose and mouth length increased during the first year of life, with the largest increase between 0 to 3 months and 3 to 6 months (4.2 +/- 0.4 cm to 4.7 +/- 0.4 cm). As infant age and face length increased, a progressively higher rate of adult females were estimated not to be able to cover their infant's nose and open mouth, with the greatest increase again between 0 to 3 months (9%) and 3 to 6 months (40%). All female caregivers except 1 were predicted to be able to seal their infant's nose and closed mouth by our measurements. CONCLUSIONS: Infant face length grows rapidly during the first year of life with the most rapid growth occurring during the first 6 months. As early as 3 to 6 months of infant age, many adult caregivers' facial measurements, especially female, predict that they may not be able to form a seal for mouth-to-nose and open-mouth infant rescue breathing. By related measurements, nearly 100% of caregivers should be able to seal their infant's nose and closed mouth. If facial measurement predictions correlate with functional inability to seal an infant's nose and open mouth, infant CPR rescue breathing instruction will need to emphasize head position and creation of a seal over the mouth and nose without teaching that the mouth be open. pediatric basic life support, infant CPR, rescue breathing, sudden infant death syndrome, acute life-threatening episode.
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