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Biomedical subjects

M J Ahern

Publications and source records attributed to M J Ahern.

114 records · Page 7Linked to original sources
PubMedDate not supplied

Fatal subcutaneous aspergillosis following necrotizing fasciitis: a case report.

Skin or subcutaneous infection with aspergillus is uncommon. It has been described in disseminated aspergillosis, as localized infection in the immunocompromised host and as a complication of trauma and burns. Described in this paper is a diabetic patient who developed a fatal Aspergillus infection following debridement of a necrotizing fasciitis. "Fruiting bodies," rarely found in vivo, were seen on pathologic examination of subcutaneous tissue. Her course was similar to that of burn patients with invasive fungal disease, where mortality is high and radical debridement is the only chance for cure.

Aspergillosis↗
PubMedDate not supplied

Infectious complications associated with renal transplantation: an analysis of risk factors.

To assess the multiple risk factors reported to be associated with onset of serious bacterial, fungal, viral, and protozoal infections in renal allograft recipients, a retrospective study of all renal transplantations performed at Yale-New Haven Medical Center from the inception of the transplantation program in December, 1967, to December, 1975, was undertaken. Ninety-six renal allograft transplants in 85 patients were available for evaluation during this study period. Renal allograft recipients were evaluated for incidence of infection from time of transplantation until transplant nephrectomy, death, or January 1, 1976. All infections were characterized by type of infection, organism, site, and time of onset post-transplantation. Recipients with infections were also evaluated for their donor type, living-related or cadaveric, age at time of transplantation, granulocytopenia, corticosteroid therapy, and rejection episodes. There were 215 infections, 92 of which were defined as serious, in 78 of the 96 renal allograft recipients. Eighteen renal allograft recipients had no infections. Granulocytopenia, but not rejection, correlated with serious infections at some time in the patient's course. However, no significant temporal relationship between serious infections and episodes of granulocytopenia or rejection could be established. Mortality rate and incidence of serious infection was higher in the group receiving high dose corticosteroid therapy compared with the group receiving lower doses of corticosteroids. The mortality rate in these 85 transplant recipients was 33%. Seventy-four percent of these deaths were directly related to infection (24% of 85 patients).

Adolescent↗
PubMedDate not supplied

Calcium pyrophosphate dihydrate deposition disease and familial hypomagnesemia.

A 40-year-old woman presented with calcium pyrophosphate synovitis and chondrocalcinosis. She was subsequently found to have hypomagnesemia, as did her 22-year-old son. Metabolic studies demonstrated normal gastrointestinal absorption of magnesium, and impaired renal conservation of magnesium without other evidence of renal tubular dysfunction. It seems likely that a genetically determined abnormality of magnesium metabolism was responsible for the occurrence of chondrocalcinosis in this patient.

Adult↗
PubMedDate not supplied

Response of soluble IL-2 receptor levels during gold therapy for rheumatoid arthritis.

Soluble IL-2 receptor (sIL2R) levels were measured at week 0 and week 24 in the sera of 27 patients with active rheumatoid arthritis who had taken part in a chrysotherapy study. At entry (wk 0) although sIL2R levels were significantly elevated in the rheumatoid patients there was no significant correlation with a clinical disease activity score, C reactive protein (CRP) or rheumatoid factor (RF). After 24 weeks of chrysotherapy there was no significant change in sIL2R levels although the clinical activity score, CRP and RF were significantly reduced. However, measurement of sIL2R in 7 patients who had obtained clinical remission following 38-73 months of gold treatment showed significantly lower levels of sIL2R than patients with continuing active disease.

Arthritis, Rheumatoid↗
PubMedDate not supplied

Decreased nailfold capillary density in limited scleroderma with pulmonary hypertension.

Approximately 20% of patients with the limited form of scleroderma will develop pulmonary hypertension which is generally a late stage fatal complication. Why pulmonary hypertension occurs in this subset of patients is unknown and it has not been possible to predict which patients are at risk. Nailfold capillary dilatation, distortion and drop occurs universally in patients with scleroderma and is generally an early finding. The present study was conducted to investigate whether quantitative nailfold capillaroscopy could distinguish those limited scleroderma patients who have established pulmonary hypertension. Quantitative nailfold capillaroscopy was performed by Visual Image Analysis in 10 healthy subjects and 20 patients with limited scleroderma (18 centromere +ve), of whom 8 had established pulmonary hypertension. It was found that scleroderma patients with pulmonary hypertension had a significant reduction in capillary density compared with patients lacking this complication (p < 0.01). Patients with scleroderma have significantly more dilated capillaries than controls although no significant differences were observe between the two patient subgroups. The finding of reduced nailfold capillary density in scleroderma patients with established pulmonary hypertension has possible pathogenic significance and may allow detection of this subgroup at an early stage in their disease progression.

Adolescent↗