Maxillofacial prosthetics: rehabilitation of head and neck cancer patients (III).
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Biomedical subjects
Publications and source records attributed to R Andrews.
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The early events in gout are not clear. In the present studies a chemotactic factor having a molecular weight of 8,400 has been identified in human gouty synovial fluid. Washed crystals from a tophus were shown to generate chemotactic activity when added to polymorphonuclear leukocytes. Amino acid analysis demonstrated this chemotactic factor to be relatively rich in glycine, serine, aspartic acid, glutamic acid and alanine. Evidence from canine experiments suggest that chemotactic activity may also be produced by synovial lining cells. The amount of chemotactic activity that can be demonstrated diminishes over time in joints repeatedly injected with urate crystals.
A multicenter, open-label study was performed to assess the efficacy and safety of aztreonam plus gentamicin in the treatment of lower respiratory tract infections due to Pseudomonas aeruginosa. Patients with documented P aeruginosa infections were given aztreonam 2 g every 8 hours (q8h) plus gentamicin 3 to 5 mg/kg per day in three equal doses. Clindamycin, 600 mg q8h, was added to the regimen for patients with infections also involving gram-positive and/or anaerobic bacteria. Therapy was continued for at least 5 days or until obvious failure to respond to treatment. Of 64 patients with suspected P aeruginosa infections, 57 were eligible for clinical evaluation and 51 for microbiologic evaluation. At entry, impaired host defense was present in 35% of patients, and chronic obstructive pulmonary disease in 28%, in addition to other predisposing conditions such as emphysema, history of tuberculosis, and pneumothorax. The clinical response rate for the combination regimen was 48/57 (84%), which included 27 (47%) cures and 21 (37%) partial responses. The microbiologic response rate was 35/51 (69%), of which 25 (49%) outcomes were classified as eradication and 10 (20%) as eradication with relapse. Superinfection was observed in 3 (6%) patients. The combination of aztreonam and gentamicin was synergistic in the initial isolates obtained from 33 (72%) patients. A total of 16 patients died of pulmonary or other underlying disease, for a mortality rate of 28%. The monobactam-aminoglycoside combination was generally well tolerated. Two other patients were withdrawn because rashes emerged on treatment. This study demonstrates that aztreonam can be administered as one component of a synergistic monobactam-aminoglycoside therapy in the treatment of nosocomial lower respiratory tract infections involving P aeruginosa.
A number of studies have found that blacks and females with coronary heart disease are less likely to undergo major diagnostic and therapeutic procedures than whites and males, even after controlling for severity of illness and other indicators of physical condition. This investigation examined 78 conditions treated in acute care hospitals to identify possible variations in medical treatment by race and gender among blacks and whites. The study is unique in examining such a wide range of conditions and in using an all-payer national sample. The study examines over 1.7 million inpatient discharge abstracts from the Hospital Cost and Utilization Project, a national sample of about 500 hospitals in the United States. Logistic regression modeling was used to describe the influence of race and gender among blacks and whites on the likelihood of having a major therapeutic or major diagnostic procedure, controlling for patient age, disease severity, health insurance and hospital-level characteristics. The study found that blacks were less likely than whites to receive major therapeutic procedures in 37 of 77 (48%) conditions, and females were less likely than males to receive major therapeutic procedures for 32 of 62 (52%) conditions. The proportion of conditions in which blacks and females were less likely to receive a major diagnostic procedure (without a major therapeutic procedure) was 21% and 26%, respectively. This study identified a number of conditions with apparent variations in medical treatment by race or gender among blacks and whites that should be targeted for more detailed investigations.