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Biomedical subjects

N Dow

Publications and source records attributed to N Dow.

6 recordsLinked to original sources

Missing cyclists.

OBJECTIVES: (1) For crashes on a public road, to compare serious cyclist crashes involving a motor vehicle with cyclist crashes not involving a motor vehicle, in terms of threat to life and length of stay in hospital. (2) To determine the proportion of all serious crashes involving cyclists on public roads which are recorded by the police. (3) To determine the degree to which under-reporting of serious crashes involving cyclists and motor vehicles on public roads is associated with various demographic, environmental, and injury factors. STUDY DESIGN: Records for the period 1995-99, of cyclists seriously injured on a public road and hospitalised were linked to the traffic crash report (TCR) database maintained by Land Transport Safety Authority (LTSA). RESULTS: Of the 2925 cyclist crashes on public roads, only 652 (22%) could be linked to a TCR. Of the crashes involving motor vehicles (n = 1033), only 562 (54%) could be linked to the LTSA database. Age, ethnicity, injury severity, and cumulative length of stay were the only variables that predicted whether hospitalised cycle crash cases were more likely to have a corresponding TCR. There were substantial numbers of cyclist only crashes which typically are not captured in the TCR database. Nine percent of these resulted in serious or worse injury (that is, International Classification of Diseases/abbreviated injury scale score of 3+) and 7% resulted in hospital stays greater than seven days. CONCLUSION: Greater effort and precision needs to be applied to routinely document the burden of cyclist crashes, especially cyclist only crashes.

Abbreviated Injury Scale↗

How many children remain fracture-free during growth? a longitudinal study of children and adolescents participating in the Dunedin Multidisciplinary Health and Development Study.

While much is known regarding the incidence and pattern of fractures during growth, information is sparse as to how many children fracture repeatedly and how many remain fracture-free during growth. The Dunedin Multidisciplinary Health and Development Study, a birth cohort, whose members were questioned regularly throughout growth (at ages 5, 7, 9, 11, 13, 15 and 18 years) concerning injuries including fractures, has provided a unique opportunity to answer these questions. Life-table analysis showed that approximately half the children remained fracture-free throughout growth [girls 60.1%, (95% CI 54.7-65.0) and boys 49.3% (95% CI 44.0-54.4)]. Data on fracture history, for participants seen at every phase, was available for 601 members through to the age of 18 years (61.1% of the cohort seen at age 5 years). Two hundred and ninety-one of these 601 participants reported 498 fractures, with 172 sustaining a single fracture, and 119 more than one fracture (15.8% girls and 23.4% boys). The most common site of fracture was the wrist/forearm (24.1% of all fractures). We conclude that although bone fractures are a common adverse event in childhood, half of all children remain fracture-free throughout growth.

Adolescent↗

Desialylation of peripheral blood mononuclear cells promotes growth of HIV-1.

Activation of peripheral blood CD4+ helper T lymphocytes establishes a permissive state for growth of HIV-1. Activated T lymphocytes expressed increased sialidase (neuraminidase) activity and were hyposialylated. Treatment of freshly isolated peripheral blood mononuclear cells (PBMCs) with microbial neuraminidase (NANase) or phytohemagglutinin (PHA) prior to infection at low multiplicity with T cell line-adapted HIV-1IIIB resulted in production of large amounts of p24 antigen and reverse transcriptase. In contrast, neither viral component was detected in the medium of mock-treated cells infected at a similar multiplicity through 21 days in culture. The titer of a stock solution of HIV-1IIIB was 1.4 +/- 0.18 log10 greater in NANase-treated PBMCs than in mock-treated cells; the titer was similarly raised 1.5 to 1.76 +/- 0.18 log10 in PHA-treated cells. Growth of the primary isolate HIV-1(91/US/056) was also enhanced in NANase-treated PBMCs; the titer of a stock solution of HIV-1(91/US/056 was 1.0 +/- 0.16 log10 greater in NANase-treated PBMCs than in mock-treated cells 7 days after infection. No enhancement of viral growth in PBMCs was detected when NANase was heat-inactivated or specifically inhibited with 2,3-dehydro-2-desoxy-N-acetyl-neuraminic acid prior to use. Treatment of PBMCs with NANase did not alter the distribution of lymphocyte subsets nor change the density of CD4 antigen per cell after 7 days in culture. Whereas PHA treatment of PBMCs was mitogenic, pretreatment with NANase was not; the amount of [3H]thymidine incorporated into DNA and culture growth characteristics were similar for NANase- and mock-treated cells. Thus, desialylation of PBMCs promoted a permissive state for growth of HIV-1 without affecting the rate of DNA synthesis or relative number of target CD4+ cells.

Antigens, CD↗

Hairy cell leukemia in two siblings. A human leukocyte antigen-linked disease?

Shared haplotypes have been documented in three of the four previously reported families with familial hairy cell leukemia (HCL). Human leukocyte antigen (HLA) typing was done on a four-member sibship in which two siblings had hairy cell leukemia. The two affected siblings share the haplotype A2; Bw6, Bw62(15); Cw1; DR4, DRw53; DQw3. No one HLA antigen or haplotype is common among the five families reported at this time. These limited data suggest HCL is not associated with a specific HLA antigen. HLA typing of a larger collection of cases of familial HCL may help better define what role, if any, inheritance plays in the occurrence of this rare disorder among numerous first degree relatives.

Aged↗

Primary omental leiomyosarcoma masquerading as hemorrhagic ascites.

An 85-year-old man with unexplained hemorrhagic pseudoascites of four years' duration was discovered to have a primary omental leiomyosarcoma. Neoplasms arising in the greater omentum are rare. To date, only three primary omental leiomyosarcomas have been described. Clinical and pathologic findings of this case are presented and the topic of primary omental neoplasms is reviewed.

Aged↗