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S J Peterson

Publications and source records attributed to S J Peterson.

9 recordsLinked to original sources

Efficacy of antibiotic prophylaxis for prevention of Lyme disease.

OBJECTIVE: To determine if antibiotic prophylaxis following a dear tick bite is effective in reducing the risk of developing Lyme disease. DESIGN: Meta-analysis of published trials. DATA IDENTIFICATION: Clinical trials were identified by a computerised literature search of MEDLINE and by an assessment of the bibliographies of published studies. STUDY SELECTION: Trials were included in the analysis if their patients were randomly allocated to a treatment or control group, enrolled within 72 hours following an Ixodes tick bite, and had no clinical evidence of Lyme disease at enrollment. Three trials were selected for review after inclusion criteria were applied. DATA EXTRACTION: Data were extracted for details of study design, patient characteristics, interventions, duration of therapy, and number of adverse events in each arm of therapy. RESULTS OF DATA SYNTHESIS: Among the 600 patients with Ixodes tick bites, the rate of infection in the placebo group was 1.4%. In contrast, patients who received antibiotic prophylaxis had a 0% infection rate. The pooled odds ratio, comparing prophylaxis to placebo, was 0.0 (95% confidence interval 0.0, 1.5) (p = .12). CONCLUSIONS: The available evidence to date suggests that the routine use of antibiotic prophylaxis for the prevention of Lyme disease remains uncertain. Meta-analysis of the controlled trials failed to establish definitive treatment efficacy owing to the small sample size of the combined trials and the low rates of infection following a deer tick bite. A larger randomized trial is needed to demonstrate definitively that prophylaxis is more effective than placebo in reducing the risk of early Lyme disease in endemic areas.

Amoxicillin

QSAR's from similarity matrices. Technique validation and application in the comparison of different similarity evaluation methods.

It has recently been shown that good quantitative structure-activity relationships can be obtained through statistical analysis of molecular similarity matrices. Here we extend the technique to seven additional molecular series, previously studied using Comparative Molecular Field Analysis (CoMFA) methodology. The results are used to confirm technique applicability across a wider range of QSAR problems and to compare quantitatively the ability of various similarity indices to describe biological systems. The relative merits of this technique in comparison to CoMFA are discussed.

Carbolines

Evaluation of a computer program for teaching laboratory diagnosis of acid-base disorders.

A computer program was evaluated as a tool for increasing the diagnostic acumen of medical housestaff and students in identifying acid-base disorders. The participants were randomized into two groups; group A (N = 20) was encouraged to use the software, and group B (N = 19) was denied access. Pre- and post-tests were administered to delineate the groups' ability to identify correctly an acid-base disorder from laboratory data (electrolytes and arterial blood gas). During 6 weeks, group A used the computer for a mean of 2.83 h (range 1 to 6). The mean +/- SE number of correct answers out of 20 questions, prior to use of the computer program, were 5.7 +/- 0.8 (95% confidence interval 3.9 to 7.5) for group A and 5.2 +/- 0.6 (95% confidence interval 3.9 to 6.5) for group B. These results were not statistically different. Correct responses increased significantly in group A to 10.3 +/- 0.9 (P < 0.0001, 95% confidence interval 8.4 to 12.2) but did not increase significantly in group B. The data suggest that this software program was effective in increasing the diagnostic capabilities of medical housestaff and students for identifying acid-base disorders.

Acid-Base Imbalance

Nasal emission as a component of the misarticulation of sibilants and affricates.

Nasal emission confined solely to the sibilants or sibilants and affricates may be encountered as an articulatory phenomenon in speakers who do not demonstrate velopharyngeal incompetency. This phenomenon may occur both in patients who previously had an incompetent mechanism and in patients in whom such incompetency has never been documented. In the latter case, the patient may be referred to a cleft palate clinic on suspicion of a submucous cleft or other form of palatopharyngeal incompetency. Typically the nasal emission is combined with incorrect tongue placement. The persistent oral-nasal misarticulation may be viewed simplistically as a residual of earlier velopharyngeal incompetency, documented or undocumented. The speaker's own acoustic target for these consonants is grossly deviant, perhaps owing to such factors as malocclusion and earlier compensatory articulation gestures. Many such cases prove impervious to extensive articulation therapy, yet physical management may constitute "over-correction" with undesirable sequelae. Inventive approaches to articulation therapy may be required in these cases, since correction of the combined oral-nasal distortion requires the speaker to make many simultaneous changes in articulator placement without benefit of visual cues.

Adolescent

Recent advances in the neuropsychology of human olfaction and anosmia.

Patients' olfactory functioning is rarely considered by rehabilitation specialists because this capacity is seen as unnecessary for most vocational and academic purposes. However, several recent studies have shown that intermittent exposure to fragrances can help subjects sustain attention more efficiently. As this effect is especially pronounced when subjects report attention-maintenance difficulties, accessory olfactory stimulation may enhance the sustained attention capacities of head-injured subjects. Another study is cited in which subjects who lost their sense of smell following head injuries were found to experience more difficulty in maintaining employment. This effect is probably related to orbital lobe damage, which usually accompanies post-traumatic anosmia. The implications of these studies for rehabilitation professionals are discussed.

Arousal