Professional perceptions of children with developmental difficulties: the influence of race and socioeconomic status.
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Biomedical subjects
Publications and source records attributed to J Waller.
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1. The aims of the present study were to determine the profile of tumour necrosis factor (TNF) release, and the effect of monoclonal antibodies to TNF, on the changes in regional haemodynamics and the responses to vasodilator and vasoconstrictor challenges, during a continuous 24 h low dose infusion of lipopolysaccharide (LPS) in conscious rats. 2. Male Long Evans rats were chronically instrumented for measurement of regional haemodynamics (renal, superior mesenteric and hindquarters) and were challenged with 3 min infusions of acetylcholine (22 nmol min-1), methoxamine (120 nmol min-1), salbutamol (0.83 nmol min-1) and bradykinin (14.4 nmol min-1). The rats were given either saline, or the TNF antibodies, TN3g1 or TN3g2a, 1 h before the start of a continuous infusion of LPS (150 micrograms kg-1 h-1) and were subsequently re-tested with the vasodilator and vasoconstrictor challenges 2, 6 and 24 h after the start of the LPS infusion. 3. Prior to infusion of LPS, TNF was not detectable in the plasma. During continuous infusion of LPS there was a transient elevation in plasma TNF levels, reaching a maximum (approximately 2300 pg ml-1) after approximately 1 h, and returning to undetectable levels after approximately 3 h of LPS infusion. 4. In the saline pretreated group, after 1-2 h of LPS infusion, there was a small hypotension and a marked renal vasodilation; 6 h after the start of LPS infusion there was a minor elevation in MAP above control levels, renal vasodilatation was maintained and a hindquarters vasoconstriction occurred; after 24 h of LPS infusion, there was a hypotension and renal and hindquarters vasodilatation. There were significant reductions in the tachycardic and renal vasodilator responses and an enhanced depressor response to acetylcholine after 24 h of LPS infusion. LPS infusion also caused a generalized hyporesponsiveness to the cardiovascular effects of methoxamine and salbutamol. The major changes in response to bradykinin were reduced tachycardic and enhanced depressor responses throughout the LPS infusion, a biphasic decrease and increase in renal conductance and enhanced hindquarters vasodilatation at 24 h. 5. Pretreatment with either TN3g1 or TN3g2a antibodies had no major effects on the changes in resting haemodynamics, or on the changes in response to methoxamine, salbutamol or bradykinin challenges during LPS infusion. However, the tachycardic responses to acetylcholine were generally preserved, and its hypotensive effect after 24 h of LPS infusion was not enhanced after TN3g1 or TN3g2a pretreatment. Thus, despite substantial, but transient, elevation of plasma TNF levels during continuous LPS infusion, it appears that the majority of cardiovascular changes were dependent on factors other than plasma TNF.
1. The aim of the study was to assess the regional haemodynamic responsiveness to vasoconstrictor and vasodilator challenges during continuous 24 h infusion of lipopolysaccharide (LPS) in conscious Long Evans rats. 2. Rats were chronically instrumented for the measurement of regional haemodynamics (either internal and common carotid or renal, superior mesenteric and hindquarters) and received 3 min of infusions of acetylcholine (22 nmol min-1), methoxamine (120 nmol min-1), salbutamol (0.83 nmol min-1) and bradykinin (14.4 nmol min-1) at 2, 6 and 24 h after the start of saline or LPS (150 micrograms kg-1 h-1) infusion (rats with carotid probes received only acetylcholine and methoxamine). 3. During infusion of LPS there was a changing haemodynamic profile. After 2 h, there was a modest hypotension and vasodilatation in the internal carotid, renal and hindquarters vascular beds. After 6 h, arterial blood pressure had returned to baseline, there was still vasodilatation in the renal vascular bed but vasoconstriction in the internal and common carotids and the hindquarters. After 24 h, there was hypotension, tachycardia and generalized vasodilatation. 4. Acetylcholine caused a fall in blood pressure, tachycardia and hyperaemic vasodilatation in the carotid and renal vascular beds. Throughout the infusion of LPS, the carotid vasodilator response was enhanced after 2 h, reduced after 6 h and enhanced again after 24 h, whereas the renal vasodilator response to acetylcholine was either reduced (6 h) or absent (2 and 24 h); at this juncture the hypotensive response to acetylcholine was also enhanced and the tachycardia was reduced. 5. Methoxamine caused a rise in blood pressure, a fall in heart rate, and vasoconstriction in all the vascular beds monitored. During infusion of LPS, the pressor response to methoxamine was consistently reduced as were the vasoconstrictor responses in the carotid and mesenteric vascular beds, whereas the renal and hindquarters vasoconstrictor responses to methoxamine were only significantly reduced at some time points (renal 6 h, hindquarters 2 and 6 h).6. Salbutamol caused hypotension, tachycardia and hyperaemic vasodilatation, particularly in the hindquarters vascular bed. Throughout the infusion of LPS, the cardiovascular responses to salbutamol were substantially attenuated.7. Bradykinin caused hypotension, tachycardia and hyperaemic vasodilatation in the renal, mesenteric and hindquarters vascular beds. During the infusion of LPS, the hypotensive response to bradykinin was consistently augmented, and the tachycardia was consistently reduced, but the regional haemodynamic profile changed with time. Thus, after 2 h, the mesenteric vasodilator response was augmented and the hindquarters vasodilator response was reduced; after 6 h, the mesenteric vasodilator response appeared normal, but the renal and hindquarters vasodilator responses were reduced; after 24 h, the hindquarters vasodilator response was markedly augmented and the renal response had changed to a vasoconstriction.8. The present findings indicate marked regional variations in response to acetylcholine, methoxamine,salbutamol and bradykinin with time during LPS infusion. The changes observed are likely to reflect the interplay of a number of endogenous vasodilator and vasoconstrictor systems; further investigations will be required to clarify the mechanisms involved.
A sexual health curriculum has been incorporated into our university's freshman seminar. The effectiveness of this program in changing sexuality-related knowledge, attitude, and behavior in college freshmen was studied. Seven hundred eighty-six freshmen students enrolled in 37 randomly selected English classes were surveyed at baseline and at 3 months. Survey outcome measurements included: knowledge regarding sexually transmitted diseases (STDs), attitudes about sexual behavior, and behaviors including the frequency of barrier contraceptive use, abstinence, and the number of sexual partners. At postintervention, mean knowledge, attitude, and behavior scores were significantly higher for those simultaneously enrolled in the freshman seminar than for those not enrolled. Abstinence among males in the seminar increased. White males in the seminar were more likely to be abstinent or to use a condom than nonwhites. Females not participating in the intervention reported increased frequency of "never" using condoms and decreased frequency of condom use at last intercourse. Students participating in a sexual health curriculum in a college freshman seminar report less frequent high-risk sexual behaviors than students not participating in the seminar.
OBJECTIVE: To compare the accuracies of MRI and leukocyte scanning in diagnosing clinically unsuspected osteomyelitis in diabetic foot ulcers. RESEARCH DESIGN AND METHODS: A prospective study of 16 diabetic foot ulcers in 12 patients, including both ambulatory and hospitalized patients, was performed at a university medical center. Pedal images were obtained by leukocyte scanning with [111In]oxyquinoline and MRI. Definitive diagnosis of osteomyelitis then was determined by bone biopsy for culture and histology. RESULTS: Biopsy-proven osteomyelitis was present in 7 (44%) of the 16 foot ulcers. The diagnosis was suspected clinically in 0%. Leukocyte scanning was 100% sensitive, whereas MRI was only 29% sensitive in diagnosing osteomyelitis in diabetic foot ulcers. Specificities were 67 and 78%, respectively. The positive and negative predictive values (70 and 100%, respectively) for the leukocyte scan also were greater than those of MRI (50 and 58%, respectively). CONCLUSIONS: Leukocyte scanning is superior to MRI in detecting clinically unsuspected osteomyelitis in diabetic foot ulcers.
Candidiasis, aspergillosis and cryptococcosis are the most common fungal infections in transplant recipients. However other fungal infections have been reported. Mucormycosis, Scedosporium infections, fusariosis and trichosporonosis represent the largest part of these rare mycosis. The clinical and mycological features are described here. In addition, cases of very uncommon mycosis, most of them only once reported, have been reviewed. Overall the diagnosis is difficult as mycological examinations are often negative till the disease is disseminated. Amphotericin B remains the reference treatment except in Scedosporium infections which respond more likely to azole antifungal agents. Despite the treatment the outcome is usually fatal.
Fifty seven cases of invasive aspergillosis have been analyzed. Most patients were severely neutropenic. The main underlying diseases were acute leukemia, malignant lymphoma and bone marrow transplantation. The clinical and radiological manifestations and the mycological data rare presented. A dramatic increase of the annual incidence has been observed since 1986. The main causes appear to be the increase in intensity of chemotherapy regimen for acute leukemia and the progressive colonisation of a part the department. Overall mortality is especially high (74%) but the mortality rate appears to decrease since 1989.
Invasive Trichosporon capitatum infections are seldom reported. We present here five cases of septicemia. All patients had an acute myeloblastic leukemia and were severely neutropenic. They have also been treated before the onset of the fungal infection with broad-spectrum antibiotherapy and also with an oral azole antifungal agent. The role of this antifungal therapy in the development of T. capitatum infection is discussed. The prognosis of T. capitatum infections is severe. Eight of the 10 published cases had a fatal outcome and one of our patients died of the fungal infection in spite of the treatment.
OBJECTIVE: The prevalence of osteomyelitis in diabetic foot ulcers is unknown. Early diagnosis of this infection is critical, as prompt antibiotic treatment decreases the rate of amputation. We therefore assessed the prevalence of osteomyelitis in 35 diabetic patients with 41 foot ulcers. We compared results of roentgenograms, leukocyte scans with indium In 111 oxyquinoline, and bone scans with the diagnostic criterion standards of bone histologic and culture findings. Leukocyte scans were repeated at 2- to 3-week intervals during antibiotic treatment. DESIGN: Cohort study. SETTING: Institutional and private, ambulatory and hospitalized patients. PATIENTS: Consecutive sample of 54 diabetic patients. Thirty-five patients with 41 foot ulcers were included. RESULTS: As determined by bone biopsy and culture, osteomyelitis was found to underlie 28 (68%) of 41 diabetic foot ulcers. Only nine (32%) of the 28 cases were diagnosed clinically by the referring physician. Underscoring the clinically silent nature of osteomyelitis in these ulcers, 19 (68%) of 28 occurred in outpatients, 19 (68%) of 28 occurred in ulcers not exposing bone, and 18 (64%) of 28 had no evidence of inflammation on physical examination. All patients with ulcers that exposed bone had osteomyelitis. Of the imaging tests, the leukocyte scan had the highest sensitivity, 89%. In patients with osteomyelitis, the leukocyte scan image intensity decreased by 16 to 34 days of antibiotic treatment and normalized by 36 to 54 days. CONCLUSION: The majority of diabetic foot ulcers have an underlying osteomyelitis that is clinically unsuspected. Leukocyte scans are highly sensitive for diagnosing osteomyelitis in diabetic foot ulcers and may be useful for monitoring the efficacy of antibiotic treatment. We recommend that diabetic patients with foot ulcers that expose bone should be treated for osteomyelitis. Diabetic patients with foot ulcers that do not expose bone should undergo leukocyte scanning, which eliminates the risk of bone biopsy in diagnosing osteomyelitis and allows for the diagnosis and treatment of this well-known but often silent precursor of lower extremity amputation.
Colonoscopy has been advocated by some investigators as the most appropriate means of screening asymptomatic patients with a positive family history of colorectal cancer. However, results of such screening have been widely disparate. The purpose of this study was to evaluate the yield of colonoscopy in a cohort of completely asymptomatic individuals with one or two first-degree relatives with a history of colorectal cancer and to compare this yield with that of colonoscopy in a group of patients with apparent anal bleeding. Patients with possible genetic disorders, such as familial polyposis, were excluded. A total of 160 asymptomatic patients and a comparison group of 137 patients with nonacute anorectal bleeding underwent colonoscopy. Colonoscopy was completed in 143 of the 160 study patients (89 percent) and in all of the comparison patients and did not result in any complications. Twenty-two adenomas were found in 17 study patients (10.6 percent); 16 of the 22 adenomas were less than 1 cm in size. In the comparison group, eight adenomas were identified (5.8 percent of patients). No cancers were identified. The difference in polyp frequency between groups was not significant. The relatively low yield of colorectal neoplasms discovered at colonoscopy in this study may in part be due to the small sample size or to the strict criteria used to define these asymptomatic patients but does not lend strong support to the notion that colonoscopy is an appropriate first step in screening the asymptomatic patient with one or two first-degree relatives with colon cancer.
Cunninghamella bertholletiae is a fungus of the Zygomycetes class, Mucorales order. Only very few cases of disseminated infection have been reported. We observed a new case in a 19 years old man with severe aplastic anemia, due to pulmonary primoinfection and hematologic dissemination. This aplastic anemia failed to respond first to an antithymocyte globulin and steroid treatment and then to cyclosporine A. Deferoxamine was infused weekly to prevent iron overload. During a second antithymocyte globulin and steroid treatment, the patient developed bilateral pneumonia. Culture of the broncho-alveolar washing fluid established the diagnosis by isolation of C. bertholletiae. Despite amphotericin B and 5-fluorocytosine intravenous therapy, the patient died of disseminated infection six days after diagnosis, which was confirmed by necropsy. Underlying conditions, diagnosis and treatment are discussed, together with a review of the literature.
Toxicological analyses on a putrefied cadaver are sometimes difficult to perform because of the absence of blood and urine. In this study, fly larvae, being living material, are proposed as a new medium of investigation in forensic toxicology. Bromazepam and levomepromazine were identified and assayed in the remains of cerebral tissue, in the clavicle of a putrefied cadaver, and in the fly larvae found on and in the corpse.
A case of disseminated infection with Trichosporon capitatum is reported in a 23-year-old patient with acute myeloid leukemia undergoing HLA-mismatched bone marrow transplantation. He was receiving immunosuppressive therapy with cyclosporine and corticosteroids for acute graft-versus-host disease and he was severely neutropenic. While being treated with fluconazole for 28 days for an oropharyngeal candidiasis the patient developed a T. capitatum septicemia. He died despite receiving amphotericin B therapy. Autopsy revealed widespread infection with T. capitatum. The portal of entry was probably the digestive tract in this patient as T. capitatum had been first isolated in the stools.
The authors report the first results of a study about Culicoides (Diptera, Ceratopogonidae) caught in Portugal. They show the existence of 14 species hitherto unknown in Portugal, which now brings the number of known species in Portugal to 41. C. algecirensis, C. newsteadi and C. scoticus are present in Porto-Santo.
Disseminated Trichosporon capitatum infections are seldom reported. We observed 3 cases in leukemic patients within 4 months. All 3 patients were granulocytopenic. One of them was also treated with cyclosporine and methyl-prednisolone after an allogenic bone marrow transplant. The portal of entry was certainly the digestive tract as Tr. capitatum have been isolated in the stool before the septicemia. All 3 patients were previously treated with an azole antifungal compound. The part of this treatment in the emergence of Tr. capitatum in the digestive tract and in the occurrence of the septicemia must be considered. As Tr. capitatum are usually sensitive to the azole compounds the explanation may be a too low daily dosage for the treatment of severely immunocompromised hosts.
Results of a biochemical study on the genus Culicoides are reported. A method of analysis using six discriminant enzymatic systems was used and the results obtained on zymograms are detailed. A genetic study of C. nubeculosus, based on phosphoglucomutase was carried out. The processing of the data obtained, by means of correspondence analysis, provides an interesting comparative study between morphologically related species.
Seventy one files of patients with yeasts septicemia have been studied. This study indicates the influence of factors like age (greater than 50 years), health condition, surgery mainly digestive, severe associated bacterial infections, iatrogenic factors (polyantibiotherapy, catheters, intubation), in the occurrence of these septicemia). Clinical symptoms appear to be mainly fever (93%) accompanied with shudders (26%) and toxi-infectious shock (45%). Diagnosis is made by the isolation of yeasts from the blood cultivated on Sabouraud-Chloramphenicol diphasic medium. Among the responsible yeasts, the genus Candida is predominant (82.2%) with C. albicans (59%) followed by the genera Torulopsis (13.7%) and Trichosporon (2.7%). Medical treatment must associate Amphotericin B and 5 Fluorocytosine.
The effect of phenolic compounds, ethyl alcohol, and sodium metabisulphite on the lytic activity of virulent bacteriophage PL-1 on a Lactobacillus casei S strain isolated from a lactic acid beverage fermentation was investigated. Catechin, caffeic, and gallic acids, commercially produced red, white, and champagne tannins, ethyl alcohol, and sodium metabisulphite inhibited plaque formation. Catechin, caffeic, and gallic acids were the most effective inhibitors of plaque formation. Commercially supplied oenocyanin was not effective.