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Biomedical subjects

T F Murphy

Publications and source records attributed to T F Murphy.

142 records · Page 8Linked to original sources
PubMed1978

Bacteremia in 28 ambulatory children: relationship to pneumonitis and meningitis.

Bacteremia with known pathogens was documented in 28 acutely ill, febrile outpatients during a 29-month period. All of the children were previously healthy and were initially managed as outpatients. Eight patients presented with no identifiable focus of infection. Twenty patients had either otitis media or pneumonitis. An association between otitis media and bacteremia with H. influenzae type b was noted in 5 patients. Bacterial meningitis occurred subsequently in 7 patients (25%); 1 death occurred in this group. The blood culture, as an outpatient procedure, was helpful in establishing a bacterial etiology in selected children with either high fever (with or without otitis media), febrile seizures, or pneumonia. In addition, the positive blood culture was a vital aid in identifying the young child at risk for meningitis.

Ambulatory Care↗
PubMed1973

Thermal inactivation of staphylococcal enterotoxins B and C.

Thermal inactivation profiles of staphylococcal enterotoxins B (SEB) and C (SEC) at 80, 100, and 121 C showed that SEC is more resistant than SEB to heat. After 24 h of incubation at 25 C, some reactivation (recovery of serological reactivity) occurred in toxins that had been inactivated by heat. If the toxin was stirred during heating, reactivation did not occur. An examination of the reactivation kinetics of heat-treated SEC showed that reactivation was temperature dependent. At 25 C, the incubation temperature of heat-treated crude SEC (80 C for 10 min), 100% reactivation occurred after 24 h, whereas at 4 C only slight reactivation was observed. We and others observed that heat-treated toxins initially lost more serological activity when heated at a low temperature (80 C) than at a higher temperature (100 C); in the present study we demonstrate that this is a reversible phenomenon.

Culture Media↗
PubMedDate not supplied

Seizures and infarction in neonates with persistent pulmonary hypertension.

Seizures and cerebral infarction were observed in 10 near-term (greater than 36 weeks gestation) and term infants who had experienced moderate to severe peripartum asphyxia which resulted in persistent pulmonary hypertension. No patient received extracorporeal membrane oxygenation. Eight were outborn. Five patients were diagnosed initially with seizures during electroencephalography; electrical status epilepticus was demonstrated in five patients. The location of electrical seizures corresponded to the area of infarction in seven patients; the two remaining patients had white matter infarction. Prompt recognition of seizures and infarction in patients with persistent pulmonary hypertension is essential because of the higher probability of later neurodevelopmental difficulties.

Cerebral Infarction↗
PubMedDate not supplied

Studies on P6, an important outer-membrane protein antigen of Haemophilus influenzae.

P6, a 16,600-dalton outer-membrane protein of Haemophilus influenzae, possesses many characteristics desired of a vaccine candidate. The protein is present in all strains of H. influenzae tested by analyses of outer-membrane protein profiles and with a monoclonal antibody. P6 is surface-exposed, as demonstrated by immunostaining techniques. Studies using monoclonal and polyclonal antisera indicate that P6 is a highly conserved antigen on the outer membrane of H. influenzae. Finally, experiments using affinity chromatography and normal human serum establish that P6 is a target of human bactericidal antibodies. The gene encoding P6 has been isolated and cloned into Escherichia coli, an accomplishment that will facilitate molecular analysis of the role of P6 in human immunity to H. influenzae.

Antigens, Bacterial↗
PubMedDate not supplied

Haemophilus influenzae polyarthritis in an adult: an analysis of serotype b strains.

A 61-year-old man who presented with clinical features suggestive of septic arthritis was found to have acute septic polyarthritis due to Haemophilus influenzae (type b). The clinical and laboratory diagnoses of the case are presented, and the isolates of H. influenzae are characterized. Four isolates recovered from different sites had identical minimal inhibitory drug concentrations, outer membrane protein patterns, and genomic DNA restriction digests. These observations indicate that the disseminated infection arose from a single source. The patient developed antibody to several outer membrane proteins, particularly the P6 protein.

Antibodies, Bacterial↗
PubMedDate not supplied

Treatment of intraabdominal infection with moxalactam.

Forty-eight case report forms for patients with cultures positive for intraabdominal infection treated with moxalactam were reviewed. The infections included abscess or peritonitis due to appendicitis (26); intraabdominal abscess of other causes (7); peritonitis due to bowel perforation (6), bowel infarction (5), or salpingitis (3); and gangrenous cholecystitis (1). Cultures of peritoneal fluid or abscess contents were performed for all patients. Seventy-eight aerobes and 118 anaerobes were isolated from the 48 patients. Thirty-eight patients (79.2%) were cured, therapy failed in nine (18.8%), and one (2%) developed fatal superinfection with Candida. The nine patients for whom treatment failed had a higher frequency of resistant anaerobes in their initial cultures (59%) than did the patients who were cured (29%; P = 0.036). An enterococcal isolate appeared to play a role in at least one treatment failure. There were no serious adverse reactions; eosinophilia (greater than 500 eosinophils/mm3) occurred in 17.4% of the patients, and phlebitis at the intravenous administration site occurred in one patient. Thus moxalactam shows promise as a single agent for the treatment of intraabdominal infections.

Abdomen↗
PubMedDate not supplied

Nontypable Haemophilus influenzae: a review of clinical aspects, surface antigens, and the human immune response to infection.

Nontypable Haemophilus influenzae has now become well established as an important pathogen in both adults and children. Recent work has identified clear distinctions between nontypable and type b strains of H. influenzae. These organisms affect different patient populations, cause different infections, present different surface antigens to the host, and are genetically different. The commonest clinical manifestation of infection due to nontypable H. influenzae in adults is lower respiratory tract infection, particularly in the elderly and in those with chronic bronchitis. The bacterium is a frequent cause of acute otitis media in children. The surface of nontypable H. influenzae is composed of outer-membrane proteins and lipooligosaccharide, and both of these demonstrate substantial antigenic heterogeneity, which can be used to serotype isolates. Some respiratory tract isolates are fimbriated, but the role of fimbriae in pathogenesis is unclear. Antibodies to outer-membrane proteins and lipooligosaccharide are present in human serum. Investigation of human immunity to infection is focusing on identification of those antigens to which protective antibody is directed.

Antibodies, Bacterial↗
PubMedDate not supplied

Freud reconsidered: bisexuality, homosexuality, and moral judgement.

This article examines methodological problems and unacknowledged moral judgements in Freud's theory of homosexuality. Freud raises the issue of bisexuality in connection with the origins of homosexuality. When critically examined, the theory of bisexuality reduces to a theory of the capacity to be attracted to either females or males, and in that sense explains little about the origin of exclusive homosexual orientation. Freud's further investigations into the origin of homosexuality, strictly speaking, do not provide a clear explanation of sexual exclusivity. Finally, it is argued that Freud's moral assumptions color the nature of his conclusions. At the very least, without morally justifying his procedure, he transforms the course of psychosexual development as determined by psychoanalysis into a moral imperative against which homosexuality is judged a fixated and immature state.

Female↗