[IMMUNOELECTROPHORETIC EXAMINATIONS OF HUMAN SEMEN. A CONTRIBUTION TO FORENSIC MEDICAL TRACE DETECTION WITH THE SUPPORT OF THE GERMAN RESEARCH COMMUNITY].
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Epidemiology of acute intoxication (AI) must be reviewed periodically to know its trends, therefore, following a line of RESEARCH, we have studied the AI's attended on the Emergency Ward of Internal Medicine at Hospital Doce de Octubre (Madrid). We found that most of them are voluntary (93%): in females being predominant the suicide attempt and in males the AI secondary to illegal drugs use. Toxic drugs have been used in 96% on suicide attempts; the relative incidence of each drug does not vary, but AI with more than one toxic diminish. Within the non-drug toxics, illegal drugs come first, followed by alcohol. Drug-addiction is the numerically most frequent antecedent; depression is predominant in suicide attempts, alcoholism is infrequent in ethyl AI. ICU admissions represent an intermediate figure in our country, mortality (most of them due to overdose) is similar to those of non-Spanish series.
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Molecular techniques employing 16S rDNA profiles generated by PCR-DGGE were used to detect changes in bacterial community structures of the rhizosphere of avocado trees during infection by Phytophthora cinnamomi and during repeated bioaugmentation with a disease suppressive fluorescent pseudomonad. When the 16S rDNA profiles were analyzed by multivariate analysis procedures, distinct microbial communities were shown to occur on healthy and infected roots. Bacterial communities from healthy roots were represented by simple DNA banding profiles, suggestive of colonization by a few predominant species, and were approximately 80% similar in structure. In contrast, roots that were infected with Phytophthora, but which did not yet show visible symptoms of disease, were colonized by much more variable bacterial communities that had significantly different community structures from those of healthy roots. Root samples from trees receiving repeated applications of the disease suppressive bacterium Pseudomonas fluorescens st. 513 were free of Phytophthora infection, and had bacterial community structures that were similar to those of nontreated healthy roots. Sequence analysis of clones generated from four predominant bands cut from the DGGE gels revealed the presence of pseudomonads, as well as several previously unidentified bacteria. Differentiation of 16S rDNA profiles for healthy and infected roots suggests that rhizosphere bacterial community structure may serve as an integrative indicator of changes in chemical and biological conditions in the plant rhizosphere during the infection process.
A community program for chronic obstructive pulmonary disease that included detection by screening, professional education, community involvement, and evaluation of results is described. Key figures in the success of this program were senior medical students. In the first community, in which no professional education was offered, 45.3% of persons screened who had abnormal test results came away from their physicians understanding that they did not have a significant health problem. In subsequent communities, in which professional education was a part of the program, this percentage decreased steadily to approximately 11%. Consistently, 25% of the persons screened who had abnormal results did not consult a physician. Twenty-one % of the participants with abnormal results of screening and no previous knowledge of pulmonary disease stopped smoking in the ensuing 2 to 3 yr, whereas only 11.7% of the control group of persons with normal screening results did so.
Limited organ supply is currently the major obstacle to the transplantation programs around the world. As an alternative to increase the organ donation rate, we undertook a preliminary transplant coordinator program study, during a 6 month period, in five public hospitals, as part of the National Transplant Program of the Centro Nacional de Diálisis y Trasplante. The primary objective of the Transplant Coordinator Program was donor detection and organ procurement, along with education of the community. Forty five predonors were detected, with an average age of 25.8 +/- 1.6 years, of these, 36 were men (80%). None of them was a voluntary donor. The most frequent diagnoses were cranial trauma in 57.8% and stroke in 22.2% Forty two percent (42.3%) of the predonors were detected in the emergency room, 33.3% in intensive care units and 24.4% in the surgery recovery room. The conversion rate of predonors to donors were 29%. The main causes for not conversion of predonors into donors were: family refusal 44%, sepsis 13%, cardiac arrest 13%, and reduced renal function 6%. In conclusion, the Transplant Coordinator Program allows to increase the predonor detection and gives good information for adequate management of donor and public educational campaign about the subject.
OBJECTIVE: For early detection of persons at risk for type 2 diabetes, a combination of risk factor assessment and glucose measurement could be a promising approach and an opportunity for health promotion. The object of this study was to develop a sequential screening concept and to evaluate it in a national pharmacy based screening campaign. METHOD: Community pharmacies of the German speaking part of Switzerland participating in the national Self Care campaign "Stop diabetes--test now" offered a free of charge "sequential screening" with (a) diabetes risk assessment, (b) consecutive capillary blood glucose measurement and (c) assessment of the motivation for lifestyle change based on the Transtheoretical Model (TTM) of behaviour change. A 35 items data sheet served as a structured screening protocol and enabled quick and reliable documentation of all relevant data. Outcomes measures were: age, sex, cigarette smoking, total score of the ADA diabetes risk-factor questionnaire, family history of diabetes, body mass index, insufficient physical activity, blood pressure, capillary blood glucose, motivation for lifestyle change, counselling activities and triage decisions of the pharmacy team. RESULTS: During the 5 weeks of spring 2002, 530 pharmacies screened a total of 93,258 persons (33.1% male, mean age 60.9 years +/- 14.1 (SD)). Risk profile: family history of diabetes 26.4%; BMI > or = 25 kg/m(2) 49.3%; low physical activity 27.2%; elevated blood pressure 45.7%. Stratification into risk groups: < 2 risk factors 21.6%; > or = 2 risk factors 71.5%; borderline glycaemia (FG 5.3-6.1 mmol/l, confirmed in a second measurement) 2.5% and hyperglycaemia (FG > or = 6.1 mmol/1 or NFG > or = 11.1 mmol/1) 4.4%. Of all persons screened, 6.4% were referred to a physician and 73.7% got targeted advice with respect to physical activity and/or nutrition based on their specific risk profile. CONCLUSION: The screening campaign attracted an important part of Swiss German speaking adults (2.4%). The sequential screening could successfully be implemented into pharmacy practice. Of the generally elderly persons screened, 6.9% were detected with suspicion for diabetes type 2 and 71.5% had at least two risk factors. This provided an opportunity to initiate targeted counselling regarding therapeutic lifestyle change.
The objectives of this study were to evaluate whether there were higher rates of primary congenital hypothyroidism (PCH) or elevated concentrations of thyroid-stimulating hormone (TSH) in a community where perchlorate was detected in groundwater wells. The adjusted PCH prevalence ratio and 95% confidence interval (CI) comparing the study community to San Bernardino and Riverside counties combined was 0.45 (95% CI=0.06-1.64). The odds ratios for elevated TSH concentration were 1.24 (95% CI=0.89-1.68) among all newborns screened and 0.69 (95% CI=0.27-1.45) for newborns whose age at screening was 18 hours or greater. Age of the newborn at time of screening was the most important predictor of the TSH level. These findings suggest that residence in a community with potential perchlorate exposure has not impacted PCH rates or newborn thyroid function.
A survey over recent international developments to detect the irradiation treatment of foods is given, in particular the programmes of "ADMIT" (FAO/IAEA) and of BCR (European Community). The need to detect radiation treatment by analysing the food itself is desirable to check compliance with existing regulations, such as the enforcement of labelling and control of prohibition, to enhance consumer confidence in the correct application of radiation processing, and to protect consumers' freedom of choice between irradiated or unirradiated food products. Some larger collaborative studies on an international scale have already taken place, e.g. ESR measurements of bones from chicken, pork, beef, frog legs and fish, thermoluminescence of insoluble minerals isolated from herbs and spices, gas chromatographic analysis of hydrocarbons and alkylcyclobutanones derived from the lipid fraction of chicken and the microbiological DEFT/APC procedure for spices. These methods could soon be implemented in international standard protocols.
Bacteria are able to coordinate gene expression as a community through the secretion and detection of signalling molecules so that the members of the community can simultaneously express specific behaviours. This mechanism of regulation of behaviour appears to be a key trait for adaptation to specific environments and has been shown to regulate a variety of important phenotypes, from virulence factor production to biofilm formation to symbiosis related behaviours such as bioluminescence. The ability to communicate and communally regulate gene expression is hypothesised to have evolved as a way for organisms to delay expression of phenotypes until numerical supremacy is reached. For example, in the case of infection, if an invading microorganism were to express virulence factors too early, the host may be able to mount a successful defence and repel the invaders. There is growing evidence that bacterial quorum sensing (QS) systems are involved in cross-kingdom signalling with eukaryotic organisms and that eukaryotes are capable of actively responding to bacteria in their environment by detecting and acting upon the presence of these signalling molecules. Likewise, eukaryotes produce compounds that can interfere with QS systems in bacteria by acting as agonists or antagonists. An exciting new field of study, biomimetics, takes inspiration from nature's models and attempts to design solutions to human problems, and biomimics of QS systems may be one such solution. This article presents the acylated homoserine lactone and autoinducer 2 QS systems in bacteria, the means of intercepting or interfering with bacterial QS systems evolved by eukaryotes, and the rational design of synthetic antagonists.
OBJECTIVE: To establish the nutritional diagnosis of children living in a low-income community through anthropometric evaluation, detecting insufficient nutrition (low weight-for-age, wasting and stunting) and excessive nutrition (overweight and obesity). METHODS: A community-based survey identified children below 11 years living in a low-income community. Their weight and height (or lengths) were measured. The National Center for Health Statistics growth curve was used as reference. The cut-off points used were: low-weight-for-age z score of < -2 (weight-for-age), wasting (weight-for-height) and stunting (height-for-age); respective overweight and obesity z scores of +1 to +2 and of > +2, according to weight-for-height. RESULTS: Prevalence rates were 3.8% for low weight for age, and 24% for low-weight-for-age risk factors; 1.2% for wasting, and 21.6% for wasting risk factors; 5% for stunting, and 14.3% for stunting risk factors; 10.1% for overweight, and 4.6% for obesity. CONCLUSIONS: Main nutritional issues were present in children from that community, with simultaneous occurrence of chronic malnutrition and obesity.
The utility of EBV load as a tumor marker in nasopharyngeal carcinoma (NPC) patients suggests that it might also serve as a screening test for individuals who are at high risk for developing NPC. We previously demonstrated that unaffected individuals from high-risk families had elevated anti-EBV antibody levels compared to community controls. In this study, we measured EBV load using 2 different real-time PCR assays (targeting BamH1W and polymerase gene sequences, respectively) carried out in 2 independent research labs in serum samples from 19 untreated NPC cases, 11 healthy community controls and 100 unaffected individuals from families in which 2 or more individuals were affected with NPC. EBV genomes were detectable in 68% of NPC cases by the EBV BamH1W assay and in 74% by the EBV polymerase assay (kappa = 0.64). Patients with stage III or IV disease had significantly higher EBV load compared to those with stage I or II disease (p = 0.008). EBV DNA was detected in a single community control sample by the EBV BamH1W assay and in none of the samples by the EBV polymerase assay. Only one of 100 unaffected family members tested positive by both assays. An additional 14 were positive by only one of the 2 EBV load assays used and usually in only one of the duplicate wells tested, all with very low viral loads (3-50 copies/ml). In addition, EBV load did not correlate with EBV serology results (anti-VCA, anti-DNase, anti-EBNA-1) among these unaffected family members. In conclusion, our study suggests limited clinical utility of the EBV load test, in its current configuration, to screen individuals from high-risk families. Should a more sensitive or specific molecular assay be developed that is capable of detecting and distinguishing tumor-derived EBV genomes or gene products from true negatives, it could be evaluated as a possible screening tool for asymptomatic and early-stage NPC.
OBJECTIVE: To assess the effect of a programme of postoperative community surveillance on the rate of detection of wound complications after operation for inguinal hernia. DESIGN: Prospective audit of wound complications including complications recorded in case notes and those discovered by community surveillance. SETTING: Academic surgical unit of three consultant surgeons. PATIENTS: 510 patients undergoing elective inguinal hernia repair between June 1985 and August 1989. RESULTS: The wound infection rate recorded in the hospital notes was 3% compared with 9% when additional information was obtained from community surveillance. Wound complications were detected in 143 (28%) patients by community surveillance compared with a complication rate of 7% in the case records for the same patients. CONCLUSIONS: Wound complications are common after clean surgery in patients discharged home early. Complication rates are a reflection not only of the standards of surgical practice but also the rigour with which they are sought. Before national comparative audit data are published the method of collection must be standardised. For short stay surgery this should include meaningful community surveillance.
Panton-Valentine leukocidin (PVL) is a cytotoxin that causes leukocyte destruction and tissue necrosis. It is produced by fewer than 5% of Staphylococcus aureus strains. A collection of 172 S. aureus strains were screened for PVL genes by polymerase chain reaction amplification. PVL genes were detected in 93% of strains associated with furunculosis and in 85% of those associated with severe necrotic hemorrhagic pneumonia (all community-acquired). They were detected in 55% of cellulitis strains, 50% of cutaneous abscess strains, 23% of osteomyelitis strains, and 13% of finger-pulp-infection strains. PVL genes were not detected in strains responsible for other infections, such as infective endocarditis, mediastinitis, hospital-acquired pneumonia, urinary tract infection, and enterocolitis, or in those associated with toxic-shock syndrome. It thus appears that PVL is mainly associated with necrotic lesions involving the skin or mucosa.
INTRODUCTION: Drug related problems (DRPs) are perceived to occur frequently when patients are discharged from the hospital. Community pharmacists' interventions to detect, prevent and solve DRPs in this population are scarcely studied. OBJECTIVE: To examine the nature and frequency of DRPs in community pharmacies among patients discharged from hospitals in several countries, and to examine several variables related to these drug related problems. METHOD: The study was performed in 112 community pharmacies in Europe: Austria, Denmark, Germany, The Netherlands, Portugal and Spain. Community pharmacists asked patients with a prescription after discharge from hospital between February and April 2001 to participate in the study. A patient questionnaire was used to identify drug related problems. Pharmacists documented drug related problems, pharmacy interventions, type of prescriber and patient and pharmacy variables. RESULTS: 435 patients were included in the study. Drug related problems were identified in 277 patients (63.7%). Uncertainty or lack of knowledge about the aim or function of the drug (133; 29.5%) and side effects (105; 23.3%) were the most common DRPs. Practical problems were reported 56 times (12.4%) by patients. Pharmacists revealed 108 problems (24.0%) concerning dosage, drug duplication, drug interactions and prescribing errors. Patients with more changes in their drug regimens (drugs being stopped, new drugs started or dosage modifications) and using more drugs were more likely to develop DRPs. Community pharmacists recorded 305 interventions in 205 patients with DRPs. Pharmacists intervened mostly by patient medication counselling (39.0%) and practical instruction to the patient (17.7%). In 26.2% the intervention was directed towards the prescriber. In 28 cases (9.2%) the pharmacists' intervention led to a change of the drug regimen. CONCLUSION: This study shows that a systematic intervention by community pharmacists in discharged patients, or their proxies, is able to reveal a high number of DRPs that might be relevant for patient health outcomes. There should be more initiatives to insure continuity of care, since DRPs after discharge from hospital seem to be very common.
Up to 35 percent of primary care patients suffer from substance abuse or mental disorders, and most of these patients receive care from general medical professionals rather than mental health specialists. Accumulating evidence suggests that primary care physicians often fail to recognize, diagnose, and treat their patients with mental and substance use disorders; only about 5 percent of primary care visits result in a mental or substance use diagnosis. The goals of this project were to evaluate the feasibility of screening for drug abuse, alcohol abuse, and major depression at two federally funded urban Community/Migrant Health Centers (C/MHCs), in Newark, New Jersey, and Bronx, New York, and to examine the effects of a clinical tool designed to guide primary care clinicians in the identification and treatment of substance use and depression, assess provider perceptions of the screening form, and determine the concordance between provider and patient reports of assessment and management.