Chronic obstructive pulmonary disease in Brazilian primary care: Diagnostic competence and case-finding.

AIMS: The developing world is particularly at risk of an increasing health burden due to an increased prevalence of Chronic Obstructive Pulmonary Disease (COPD) secondary to increasing tobacco consumption. However, research is scarce. The objectives of this study were to assess the current competence for diagnosing COPD in primary care in a resource-limited setting in Brazil, and to develop a local patient profile for case-finding. METHODS: 34 general practitioners (GPs) in five areas of northern Brazil recruited adult patients with principal complaints of cough and/or shortness of breath who then had spirometry (n = 142). RESULTS: For the dichotomous variable 'COPD' the degree of agreement between GP diagnosis (n = 64, 18.3%) and spirometric outcome (n = 36, 25.4%) was poor, with Kappa = 0.055 (SE 0.087) and DOR = 1.35. False-positive and false-negative diagnosis proportions were 19.8% and 75%, respectively. Independent risk factors were 'smoking history of more than five pack years' and 'presence of both dyspnoea and cough'. It requires the testing of 2.2 smokers with more than five pack years to detect one patient at risk. CONCLUSIONS: COPD is a common yet underdiagnosed disease in Brazilian primary care. Spirometry improves diagnostic competence and case-finding substantially. If applied in a pre-selected high-risk population, we believe spirometry can be a cost-effective diagnostic tool for case-finding in the resource-limited setting. This study provides important baseline information for effective guideline implementation.     

Association Between Outpatient Follow-Up and Pediatric Emergency Department Asthma Visits

Background. The National Heart, Lung, and Blood Institute (NHLBI) guidelines recommend that patients receive a follow-up outpatient asthma visit after being discharged from an emergency department (ED) for asthma. Objective. To measure the frequency of follow-up outpatient asthma visits and its association with repeat ED asthma visit. Design. We conducted a retrospective cohort study of children with asthma using claims data from a university-based managed care organization from 01 1998 to 10 2000. We performed a multivariate survival analysis using Cox proportional hazards model to determine the effect of follow-up outpatient asthma visits on the likelihood of a repeat ED asthma visit, after controlling for severity of illness, patient age, gender, insurance, and the specialty of the primary care provider. Results: A total of 561 children had 780 ED asthma visits. Of these, 103 (17%) had a repeat ED asthma visit within 1 year. Almost two-thirds of children (66%) did not receive outpatient follow-up for asthma within 30 days of an ED asthma visit. Outpatient asthma visits within 30 days of an ED asthma visit are associated with an increased likelihood (relative risk = 1.80; 95% confidence interval 1.19, 2.72) for repeat ED asthma visits within 1 year. Conclusions. Most patients do not have outpatient follow-up after an ED asthma visit. However, those patients that present for outpatient follow-up have an increased likelihood for repeat ED asthma visits. For the primary care provider, these outpatient follow-up visits signal an increased risk that a patient will return to the ED for asthma and are a key opportunity to prevent future ED asthma visits.     

超声抽吸法治疗下肢原发性淋巴水肿

目的观察超声抽吸法治疗下肢原发性淋巴水肿的疗效。方法为12例患者采用内超声脂肪抽吸机吸除淋巴水肿组织以降低患肢淋巴负荷，抽吸后结合持续弹力袜裤压扎。结果术后2周水肿即时消退明显，术后1年随访水肿消退，复发不明显。结论超声抽吸法治疗原发性淋巴水肿安全简便，结合弹性袜裤压扎可望取得较好的远期疗效。     

Prevalence of giardiasis among primary school children

Summary This cross-sectional study was conducted to investigate the prevalence of intestinal parasites among primary school children in Northern Jordan. Stool specimens were collected from 1100 children of both sexes from urban and rural schools. A questionnaire covering relevant informations was completed for each child. Wet mount preparation, formaline-ether concentration technique, and trichrome stain were prepared for the recovery and identification of parasites. Giardia lamblia was observed in 396 (36%) of the stool specimens examined. The infection rates were higher in the younger age group where several of them had diarrhoea and reported variable symptoms. The infection rates declined with age and children were asymptomatic. Rates were higher in children from the rural areas, from low income families, and it was higher in boys than girls.
Contaminated drinking water is suspected to be the major potential source of infection. The importance of the asymptomatic cases and the epidemiological factors contributing to the transmission in these areas are discussed.     

原发性闭角型青光眼发病危险因素的病例对照研究

为探讨原发性闭角型青光眼的发病危险因素，对１０３例原发性闭角型青光眼患者和９５例非青光眼对照者进行了回顾性病例对照研究。结果发现原发性闭角型青光眼的主要危险因素有青光眼家族史、脾气暴躁及易激动、近距离用眼职业和高血压病，未发现吸烟、饮酒、糖尿病、近视眼和ＡＢＯ血型与原发性闭角型青光眼的发病有统计学联系。     

筛检对肝癌死亡率影响的研究

5581名HBsAg阳性的男性随机分入周期性筛检组(A组,3712人)及对照组(B组,1869人)。A组(19155.4人年)共发生肝癌257例,B组(9785.5人年)为117例,两组的肝癌发生率分别为1342/10万与1196/10万;两组肝癌死亡分别为218与109例,肝癌死亡率分别为1138/10万与1114/10万。两组中Ⅰ期肝癌病例分别为29.6％与6.0％,差异有非常显著性意义。1、3、5年相对生存率A组为23.7％、7.0％、4.0％,B组为9.7％、4.0％、4.1％。用Poisson回归模型拟合显示,在调正年龄、初筛AFP及入列年份后,筛检对于肝癌的相对危险度为0.83,95％CI为0.68～1.03,有较弱的“保护”作用,Cox回归模型拟合结果显示当临床分期未引入模型时,筛检对于肝癌有显著的“保护”作用:危险率为0.6617,95％CI为0.5234～0.8365;而模型经调整后,危险率即接近“1”,95％CI为0.74～1.26。     

高原地区人胎儿脊柱的生长发育

本文用X线摄片的方法,对西宁地区胎龄为17—36周的60例胎儿脊柱的骨化及生长动态进行了研究。结果:1、提供了高原地区人胎儿脊柱长轴生长发育的资料。脊柱各段以胸段为最长,其次为腰、颈、骶段。2、计算出胎龄与脊柱各段长度间的回归方程,据此可以胎龄推算脊柱的长度,反之亦可以脊柱的长度估计胎龄。3、报道了颈、骶、尾段亿发骨化点出现顺序的规律。     

Hematopoietic turnover index in reactive and neoplastic bone marrow lesions: quantification by apoptosis and PCNA labeling

 In order to determine the dynamics of hematopoietic cell turnover, proliferative activity and incidence of apoptosis (programmed cell death) were evaluated in bone marrow trephine biopsies. Selection of patients (20 in each group) included in addition to a control group, idiopathic thrombocytopenia (ITP), reactive thrombocytosis (TH), secondary polycythemia-smokers' polyglobuly (PG), primary (essential-hemorrhagic) thrombocythemia (PTH), polycythemia vera (PV), and finally acute myeloid leukemia (AML). Apoptosis was demonstrated by the in situ end-labeling technique (ISEL) and proliferative activity by applying the monoclonal antibody PC10 raised against proliferating cell nuclear antigen (PCNA). To assess dynamic features of hematopoiesis, an index was calculated consisting of the ratio between PCNA-positive nuclei and the apoptotic cell fraction. This factor was termed the hematopoietic turnover index (HTI). Morphometric analysis revealed that the HTI was significantly increased in AML and PV. According to cell culture studies both disorders are characterized by either a prevalent proliferation of the myeloid or erythroid cell mass. On the other hand, PG, PTH, and TH showed no relevant enhancement of this index in comparison to the control specimen. In vitro experiment results are in keeping with the finding that PG and PTH are not associated with a significant expansion of the erythroid lineage (CFU-E). Similar to ITP and TH, in PTH megakaryocyte proliferation (CFU-MEG) is the predominant feature of cell turnover. Differences between PTH and TH are in line with the reduced in vitro formation of CFU-MEG in the latter disorder. In conclusion, our in situ study on turnover rates of the bone marrow in various neoplastic and reactive lesions extends previous experimental data on hematopoietic cell kinetics. Received: 10 March 1997 / Accepted: 18 May 1997     

Primary lymphoma of the mandible with diffuse widening of the mandibular canal: report of a case

A case of primary non-Hodgkin's lymphoma (NHL) of the mandible with unusual radiographic presentation is reported. The panoramic radiography revealed diffuse widening of the right mandibular canal with ill-defined margins and absence of edge sclerosis. Computed tomography showed infiltration of the superior portion of the canal with involvement of the vestibular cortex of the bone and of the alveolar ridge. Correspondence to: M. Bertolotto     

白内障显微囊外摘除联合小梁切除术

报告20例(21眼)青光眼白内障并存患者采用显微囊外摘除联合小梁切除术.术后眼压控制满意,滤过泡形成,视力不同程度提高,无明显并发症.并对有关机制,手术优点及不易控制的眼压问题进行了讨论.