Biomedical subjects

James Campbell

Publications and source records attributed to James Campbell.

22 records · Page 2Linked to original sources

PubMed2002

Nontuberculous mycobacterial infections in pediatric acute leukemia.

We report on 3 children undergoing treatment for acute lymphoblastic leukemia (ALL), who developed systemic nontuberculous mycobacterial (NTM) infections. All 3 patients were treated successfully with 5 months or less of antimicrobial therapy and completed their chemotherapy with no further recurrence of their NTM infection. NTM infections in some children with ALL may be successfully treated with antimicrobial agents without necessarily compromising the ALL treatment. The optimal duration of therapy for NTM remains unclear, but may be shorter than previously reported.

Child, Preschool↗

PubMed2002

Improved coding of the primary reason for visit to the emergency department using SNOMED.

There are over 100 million visits to emergency departments in the United States annually that could be a source of data for multiple uses including disease surveillance, health services research, quality assurance activates, and research. The patients' motivations for seeking care or the reason for visit (RFV) are recorded in every case. Efforts to utilize this rich source of data are hampered by inconsistent data entry and coding. This study analyzes ICD-9-CM, SNOMED-RT, and SNOMED-CT encoding of the RFV for accuracy. Each encoded reason for visit was compared to the text entry recorded at the time of visit to determine the closeness of fit. Each coded entry was judged to be an exact lexical match, a synonym, a broader or narrower concept or no match. SNOMED-CT was a lexical match or synonym for 93% of the text entries, while SNOMED-RT matched 87%, and ICD-9-CM matched 40%. We demonstrate that SNOMED coding of the RFV is more accurate than ICD-9-CM coding.

Emergencies↗

PubMed2002

HIV-associated tuberculosis among a cohort of heterosexual discordant couples in Lusaka, Zambia.

The purpose of this study was to determine the association between human immunodeficiency virus (HIV) infection and tuberculosis (TB) among a cohort of heterosexual discordant couples (one partner HIV-positive and the other HIV-negative) enrolled at an HIV prevention and research centre in Lusaka, Zambia. All medical records identified from January 1994 to July 1998 were extensively reviewed. In addition, follow-up visits to local health department and chest clinics and to sputum analyses laboratories were conducted to validate the extracted medical data. The study used a nested approach based on a retrospective study design. The participants with HIV-associated tuberculosis (HAT), when compared with HIV-negative subjects with diagnosis of presumptive tuberculosis, were more likely to have presented with negative sputum analyses, to have been diagnosed with pulmonary tuberculous lesion, to have experienced relapse from tuberculosis, to have never been hospitalized for tuberculosis-related complications, and to have died due to tuberculosis. In addition, 9% of the urban heterosexual discordant couples enrolled in the primary cohort study were positive for presumptive tuberculosis. This study reports the first major impact of HIV infections on the outcomes of tuberculosis among heterosexual discordant couples. However, further research using vigorous methodological criteria is recommended to confirm the above findings.

AIDS-Related Opportunistic Infections↗

PubMed1985

A comparison between the MMPI and the 'Mensana Clinic Back Pain Test' for validating the complaint of chronic back pain in women.

Reports on the efficacy of the Minnesota Multiphasic Personality Inventory (MMPI) for selecting patients with valid complaints of pain, have been equivocal. The Mensana Clinic Screening Test for Chronic Back Pain Patients (MPT) was able to predict, with some degree of success, patients who had definite organic pathology. However, ther MMPI measures personality traits, while the MPT measures the impact of pain on a patient's life. In order to determine which of the two tests would be a better predictor of actual physical abnormalities, and hence valid pain complaints, a comparison was undertaken between the two tests. The charts of 53 female admissions to the Neurosurgery Service of Johns Hopkins Hospital, with the complaint of back pain, were assessed. MMPI test results, as well as test results for the MPT, were compared to the presence or absence of pathology on electromyography, nerve conduction velocity studies, thermography, myelogram, CT scan, or X-ray. The MPT had a correlation factor of -0.5384, that was significant at the 0.00002 level. Of the 30 patients scoring 17 points or less on the MPT, 77% had objective physical abnormalities, considered moderate or severe by blind review. Of the 23 patients scoring 18 points or greater on the MPT, only 18% had objective physical findings that were considered moderate or severe. Only the depression scale (scale no. 2) of the MMPI correlated with objective physical abnormalities (R = -0.30). However, only 58% of the patients with T scores on scale no. 2 of less than 70 had objective findings, while 56% of patients with T scores greater than 70 had objective physical findings.(ABSTRACT TRUNCATED AT 250 WORDS)

Back Pain↗