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Biomedical subjects
Publications and source records attributed to M L Nielsen.
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The 600 participants in the College of American Pathologists 1991 Interlaboratory Comparison Program in Cervicovaginal Cytology were surveyed by mailed questionnaire in March 1991. The total annual gynecologic specimen volume of the 362 respondents was over 7 million. Nearly all participants (94%) used a descriptive diagnosis for cases not within normal limits. Most (87%) have implemented or plan to implement the Bethesda System. A Papanicolaou class system was not used by 66%. Terminology for reporting squamous lesions with premalignant potential was variable, with many laboratories using two or more sets of terms. Specimen adequacy was routinely reported by 66% of participants. Median rates of unsatisfactory and "less than optimal" specimens reported by participants in 1990 were 0.5% to 0.9% (range, 0% to greater than 20%) and 3.0% to 4.9% (range, 0% to greater than 40%), respectively. Leading reasons for both unsatisfactory and less than optimal smears included scant cellularity, obscuring inflammation, obscuring blood or menses, and poor preservation. Absent endocervical component was also a leading reason for less than optimal specimens. The largest number of respondents required endocervical columnar cells and/or metaplastic cells as the criteria for an endocervical component. In conclusion, nearly all laboratories use descriptive terminology for smears that are abnormal, and most laboratories routinely report specimen adequacy. Frequency and criteria for unsatisfactory and less than optimal smears vary significantly, supporting the need for consensus definitions of specimen adequacy.
One hundred ninety patients with peritonitis at the time of abdominal surgery were allocated at random to systemic antibiotic treatment alone or systemic antibiotic treatment combined with topical application of antibiotics in the wound at the time of wound closure. The overall wound infection rate was 17 percent without significant difference between the two treatment groups (P greater than 0.80).
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A pure anaerobic infection of the abdominal wall of a 40-year-old man is described. The infection originated from an urachal remnant. Seven different bacterial strains were isolated. Even though no clostridia were involved, the infection caused extensive necrosis of the abdominal wall including both fascia and muscles.
The pathogenicity of single anaerobic, single aerobic, and mixed anaerobic and aerobic bacterial inocula was studied in 3 groups of 12 rabbits with biliary tract obstruction. B. fragilis, ss. fragilis and E. coli serotype 01:K1:H7 were used. The investigation was made 7 days after bacterial inoculation and included bacteriological studies of the liver and bile as well as studies of liver function and morphology of the liver and biliary tract. Inoculation of 10(5)--10(6) E. coli did not cause biliary tract infection, liver abscesses or death. Inoculation of 10(9) B. fragilis caused biliary tract infection in 83 per cent and liver abscesses in 17 per cent of the animals inoculated, without any mortality. Combined inoculation with B. fragilis and E. coli in reduced doses significantly increased mortality (42 per cent) and frequency of liver abscesses in surviving animals (86 per cent). All abscesses, however, yielded pure culture of B. fragilis only. 84 per cent of the animals inoculated with B. fragilis alone or with B. fragilis in combination with E. coli developed biliary tract infection with B. fragilis, the bile yielding from 10(7)--)0(9) B. fragilis per ml, gall bladder bile yielding significantly higher bacterial counts than common duct bile. E. coli was never recovered from bile in surviving animals but from both bile and blood in animals not surviving the experimental period.
Tc-99m diethyl-IDA was used for combined serial hepato-biliary scintigraphy and processing of hepatographic curves, using a scintillation camera and an image-processing system. Patients with obstruction of the common bile duct, proven by operation, were investigated. Hepatograms from an area of interest corresponding to the periphery of the right liver lobe varied predictably with changes in the serum levels of alkaline phosphatase and bilirubin. Both anatomical and functional information was obtained. The investigation could be carried out even under reduced liver function. Hepatic uptake of the agent was noted at serum alkaline phosphatase levels up to 1000 U/l and serum bilirubin levels up to 170 mumol/l.
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The quantitative recovery of E. coli, S. faecalis and B. fragilis from operative abdominal wounds was investigated in pigs in an experimental model suitable for statistical calculations. Wounds were contaminated in groups of ten with different numbers of either a single bacterial species or a mixture of two species. The wound was irrigated with saline 20 minutes after contamination. Significant differences in recovery were found between the bacterial species investigated. Expressed as percentage of the number of bacteria used for contamination, the recovery for a given species was rather low, but it was constant and independent of the degree of contamination. The investigation did not suggest any principle difference in the recovery of anaerobic and aerobic bacteria. The clinical applicability of the method is not yet clarified.
Duodenal and jejunal bacterial flora and bile acid metabolism were investigated in 14 patients with hepatico-jejunostomy Roux-en-Y. Anaerobic culture procedures were based on the use of a glove-box with an oxygen-free atmosphere and pre-reduced, anaerobically sterilized media. Anaerobic transport was based on evacuation of atmospheric air from transport-tubes and transport-time less than 30 minutes. Bile acid metabolism was evaluated from concentrations of toal bile acids and deconjugated bile acids, glycine/taurine ratio and breath test. In 92 per cent of the patients an abnormal flora-containing anaerobic and/or aerobic bacteria was found in the most proximal part of the jejunum at the site of the entero-entero anastomosis (cf. Fig. 1 and Table 1). Total bile acid concentrations were low in half of the patients, whereas deconjugated bile acids or elevated glycine/taurine ratio was found in one patient only (cf. Table II). An abnormal breath test was found in 5 patients, but without any clear correlation between the breath test and the bacterial flora.
Excretion of metronidazole (MNZ) in the normal and in the diseased biliary tract was investigated in 58 patients after oral or intravenous administration of MNZ. After oral administration MNZ appeared rapidly in hepatic bile, and throughout the period of absorption and elimination almost identical concentrations of MNZ were found in serum and hepatic bile. After intravenous administration no significant differences were found between concentrations of MNZ in common duct bile and serum in the non-obstructed common duct; in common duct obstruction, concentrations of MNZ in common duct bile were 56--99 per cent of corresponding concentrations in serum. MNZ was concentrated in normal gallbladders. In patients with gallbladder stones and preserved function of the gallbladder and in patients with no function of the gallbladder but a patent cystic duct, no significant differences were found between concentrations of MNZ in gallbladder bile, common duct bile, and serum. In most gallbladders with the cystic duct blocked by a stone, no MNZ was found in gallbladder bile.
Bladder function was studied in seven patients, 5 to 90 months after hemipelvectomy. The urological investigation comprised i.v. urography, micturition-cysto-urethrography, cystoscopy, cystometry and urodynamic investigations in terms of simultaneous flow and pressure measurements. Hemipelvectomy was found not to give rise to disturbances in micturition.
The effect of flaming (i.e. dipping biopsy specimens in alcohol and igniting them by drawing them rapidly through an open flame) on the reduction of bacterial surface contamination and on true bacterial concentrations in underlying tissue was investigated in different sizes of liver biopsy specimens in an experimental model suitable for quantitative and statistical calculations. Different degrees of surface contamination and of bacterial concentrations in underlying tissue were examined after a varying number of flaming procedures, the study comprising a total of 400 biopsy specimens. The flaming procedure repeated three times was able to eradicate a surface contamination of up to 10(4) E. coli per biopsy specimen, whereas a contamination of 10(6) E. coli per biopsy specimen was reduced to only 10(3) E. coli. Undesirable reduction in the true bacterial concentrations in tissue did not invalidate the method from a quantitative bacteriological point of view, since the median reduction in bacteria per gram tissue in biopsy specimens of 1 cm3 size did not exceed a factor of 3 after three repeated flamings. It is concluded that in regard to surface sterilization the method is unreliable as a routine in postmortem bacteriological studies.
The penetration of lincomycin into normal bone was studied in 10 patients with fracture of the neck of the femur, a separate determination being made of the lincomycin concentration in serum, bone marrow, spongy bone and compact bone. The concentration of lincomycin in bone marrow was found to be at the same level as that in the serum. The concentration in spongy bone amounted in most cases to 50 to 75 percent of the concentration in the serum, whereas the concentration in compact bone varied from 0 to 15 percent of that in the serum.
Bacterial recovery from gallbladder wall and gallbladder bile was investigated in 73 patients with extrahepatic biliary tract diseases. The technique of anaerobic culture was based on the use of a 'glove-box' and prereduced anaerobically sterilized media. Transport of samples was based on evacuation of atmospheric air with oxygen-free carbon dioxide and a transport time less than 30 minutes. When samples of bile and tissue were obtained simultaneously before operations on the biliary tract were begun and handled by one of the authors to avoid contamination, no significant difference in bacterial recovery between bile and tissue was observed. If samples were handled routinely by the staff or if biopsy from the gallbladder wall was not obtained until after operation on the biliary tract was finished, bacterial recovery from gallbladder tissue was significantly more frequent compared to bile. Under these last mentioned circumstances, the difference in bacterial recovery was due to bacterial species like Staph. aureus, Staph. albus, P. acnes and Difteroids.
Biliary tract infection with anaerobic bacteria (B. fragilis or Fusobacterium mortiferum) was produced in rabbits by common duct ligation (c.d.l.) 3 days prior to intravenous bacterial inoculation. Animals were investigated 1, 4 or 7 days after inoculation. Histopathological investigations included the liver, the common duct, and the gallbladder, while liver function was evaluated by bilirubin, alkaline phosphatase (AP), and L-alanine aminotransferase (GPT) in serum. Rabbits with c.d.l. and biliary tract infection were compared to rabbits with c.d.l. in which bacterial inoculation failed to produce infection, to inoculated rabbits without c.d.l., and to uninoculated rabbits with c.d.l. Anaerobic biliary tract infection in rabbits with c.d.l. caused a significant increase in liver abscesses, a significant increased infiltration with granulocytes in the gallbladder, and a significant increase in serum levels of bilirubin, AP, and GPT, but failed to produce signs of cholangitis in the liver and intramural abscesses in the gallbladder. A material is presented of normal values for bilirubin, AP, and GPT in serum in rabbits.