MRSA--why treat the symptoms and not the disease?

The recent debate over MRSA in our community is really getting to the state of the ridiculous. There is no question that this bacterium, which has been around for at least 40 years, is becoming a bigger and bigger menace in hospitals. Prior to the election, the shadow health secretary, Andrew Lansley, claimed that hospitals are being told to push more patients through beds rather than concentrating on hygiene and this is the cause of the epidemic. He calls for a search and destroy strategy to clean up wards. The health secretary, Dr John Reid, blames the increased use of contract cleaners under the last Tory government for the rise in the rates of infection. This is supported by the Public Sector Trades Union. They believe that it is the high input of patients that prevents MRSA and other hospital-acquired infections being tackled effectively. The answer, they feel, is strict hospital hygiene and frequent hand washing, with a higher proportion of single rooms.Now, we are told that matrons should take charge of cleanliness in hospitals. Despite all the hand wringing and washing, the morbidity and mortality are both in an upward spiral.     

Iron and a Man’s Reproductive Health: the Good,the Bad,and the Ugly

Purpose of Review

To discuss the physiologic and pathologic effects of iron on men’s reproductive health.

Recent Findings

Iron overload diseases are associated with hypogonadotropic hypogonadism, infertility, and sexual dysfunction in men. Recent findings have elucidated the roles by which iron may affect the male reproductive axis.

Summary

Iron is requisite for life. Iron can also catalyze the production of reactive oxygen species. To maintain balance, the human body tightly regulates dietary iron absorption. Severe iron overload disorders—e.g., hereditary hemochromatosis and β-thalassemia—occur when these regulatory mechanisms are deficient. While iron is necessary, the male reproductive system is particularly sensitive to iron overload. Hypogonadotropic hypogonadism, infertility, and sexual dysfunction commonly occur if excess iron from iron overload disorders is not removed. The average male in the USA consumes significantly more iron than needed to replace daily losses. How this degree of iron loading may affect one’s reproductive health remains less clear, but there is evidence it may have adverse effects.

     

Compliance: the patient, the doctor, and the medication?

Noncompliance can be defined as covert nonadherence to prescribed medication used for the prophylaxis of allograft rejection and threatening impaired kidney histology or function. It is an increasingly significant long-term problem in transplantation as the failure rates from other causes have diminished. Formal approaches to diagnosis, prophylaxis, and treatment, together with a greater understanding of what should be regarded as a syndrome, are thus increasingly important components of reducing the chronic attrition of graft function and survival. It is possible to classify noncompliant behavior using four facets of the syndrome: timing, frequency, origin, and diagnostic certainty. There are a number of different ways of approaching diagnosis, such as observation of behavior through pill counting or electronic measurements of pill container opening; blood level measurement of relevant drugs; physical examination; and observation of the consequences. However, the only certainty of diagnosis comes from direct patient admission of nonadherence to the prescribed immunosuppression. It is possible to define the highest risk patients through assessment of a number of patient-, drug-, and physician-associated variables, and then to influence the outcome through education, compliance monitoring, and simplified regimens targeted to the highest risk patients. It is important for all transplant units to address the issues raised by noncompliance if the chronic loss of allografts is to be reduced.     

Effect of the angle between the optical axis of the endoscope and the instruments’ plane on monitor image and surgical performance

Background: The aim of the study was to examine the effect of the angle between optical axis of the endoscope and the instruments plane (OAIP) on the monitor display angle (approach angle between the two instruments on a two-dimensional monitor) and endoscopic task performance. Methods: Two experiments were carried out in the Advanced Dundee Endoscopic Psychomotor Tester (ADEPT) using a standard two-dimensional video endoscopic system. In the first experiment, the monitor display angle was measured during use, with OAIP angles ranging between 0 and 80° (at 10° increments) and manipulation angles varying between 45 and 120° (at 15° increments). In the second experiment, 10 surgeons tied 500 intracorporeal knots with OAIP angles of 0° (optical axis in the same plane as the instruments), +15° and +30° (viewing above the instruments plane), and –15 and –30° (optical axis looking from below instruments plane). The end points were the execution time and knot quality score (KQS). Results: In the first experiment, instruments entered the visual field from lateral sides of the monitor with an apparent 180° monitor display angle with a 0° OAIP angle, whereas the monitor display angle approached the actual manipulation angle between the two needle drivers when an 80° OAIP angle was used. In the second experiment, the instruments appeared to enter the image field from the side of the surgeon when the endoscope viewed the instruments from above, whereas instruments entered the field from the opposite side to the surgeon when the endoscope viewed instruments plane from below. As a result, use of 0 and +15° OATP angles yielded significantly shorter execution times: 70 s compared to 83, 93, and 77 s for +30, –30, and –15° OAIP angles (p < 0.001), with KQS of 39° and 40 vs 38, 36, and 34%, respectively (p = 0.257). Conclusions: The angle between the optical axis of the endoscope and instruments plane determines how the instruments appear to enter the operative field. The monitor display angle between the instruments is different from the real manipulation angle unless the OAIP angle is near 80°. The apparent entry of instruments into the operative field becomes intuitive for the surgeon only if the endoscope is viewing from above or in the same plane as the instruments. Hence, the best performance for endoscopic knot tying is obtained with this configuration, and execution time increases significantly with viewing from below the instruments plane.     

Population aging and the aging male

There is no mystique in the phenomenon of population aging. The challenge really is to fully appreciate its immense and far-reaching impact and consequences.Advances in various biotechnological fields and improvement in environment and healthcare have contributed to a significant decline in mortality rates of diseases. Effective options in fertility control have made it possible for couples to delay starting, and to limit the size of, their families, often in order to give or preserve quality in     

Tolerance and addiction; the patient,the parent or the clinician?

Tolerance has been recognized for some time where chronic exposure to certain drugs, particularly benzodiazepines and opioids, is associated with apparent tachyphylaxis. When these drugs are stopped or progressively reduced as in 'tapering', withdrawal symptoms may result. Tolerance and the flip side of the coin, withdrawal, are the determinants of addiction. It is increasingly apparent that tolerance can occur acutely, even within the time span of a single anesthetic for a surgical procedure. Addiction is caused by agents, foreign to the body, that provoke adaptation by homeostatic biological processes. When these agents are withdrawn, the adaptive mechanisms, devoid of substrate, take time to diminish and produce symptoms recognizable under the term of 'withdrawal'. Children may be exposed to these agents in different ways; in utero, as a result of substances that the mother ingests by enteral, parenteral or inhalational means that are transmitted to the infant via the placenta; as a result of an anesthetic for surgery; or as a result of sedation and analgesia administered to offset the stresses and trauma inherent from intensive care treatment in the neonatal intensive care unit or pediatric intensive care unit. Additionally, anesthetic and intensive care staff are exposed to powerful and addictive drugs as part of everyday practice, not simply by overt access, but also by subliminal environmental exposure.     

HIV and tuberculosis – science and implementation to turn the tide and reduce deaths

Introduction

Every year, HIV-associated tuberculosis (TB) deprives 350,000 mainly young people of productive and healthy lives. People die because TB is not diagnosed and treated in those with known HIV infection and HIV infection is not diagnosed in those with TB. Even in those in whom both HIV and TB are diagnosed and treated, this often happens far too late. These deficiencies can be addressed through the application of new scientific evidence and diagnostic tools.

Discussion

A strategy of starting antiretroviral therapy (ART) early in the course of HIV infection has the potential to considerably reduce both individual and community burden of TB and needs urgent evaluation for efficacy, feasibility and broader social and economic impact. Isoniazid preventive therapy can reduce the risk of TB and, if given strategically in addition to ART, provides synergistic benefit. Intensified TB screening as part of the “Three I''s” strategy should be conducted at every clinic, home or community-based attendance using a symptoms-based algorithm, and new diagnostic tools should increasingly be used to confirm or refute TB diagnoses. Until such time when more sensitive and specific TB diagnostic assays are widely available, bolder approaches such as empirical anti-TB treatment need to be considered and evaluated. Patients with suspected or diagnosed TB must be screened for HIV and given cotrimoxazole preventive therapy and ART if HIV-positive. Three large randomized trials provide conclusive evidence that ART initiated within two to four weeks of start of anti-TB treatment saves lives, particularly in those with severe immunosuppression. The key to ensuring that these collaborative activities are delivered is the co-location and integration of TB and HIV services within the health system and the community.

Conclusions

Progress towards reducing HIV-associated TB deaths can be achieved through attention to simple and deliverable actions on the ground. John Donne, Meditation XVII, Devotions upon Emergent Occasions: … any mans death diminishes me because I am involved in Mankinde; And therefore never send to know for whom the bell tolls; it tolls for thee ….     

What are the cardiovascular complications of the analgesics and glucocorticoids?

When prescribing a non-steroidal anti-inflammatory treatment but also an analgesic or a glucocorticoid, the cardiovascular risk of the patient should be assessed. The analgesics have few cardiovascular side effects and the main complications observed are linked essentially to the vagal action of the opioids. Acetaminophen is considered by several scientific societies to be the first line analgesic treatment, particularly in case of cardiovascular risk but with caution since cardiovascular toxicity of acetaminophen cannot be totally excluded. An overdose of dextropropoxyphene can result in cardiotoxicity. On the other hand, the glucocorticoids need to be prescribed cautiously, at the lowest possible dose and for the shortest possible duration due to the non-negligible cardiovascular risk, hypertension, dyslipidemia, hypokaliemia.     

Professionalism and the intimate examination - are chaperones the answer?

Complaints of sexual impropriety against healthcare practitioners are escalating. Professionalism in the practitioner-patient relationship and the role-based trust in health care do not allow crossing of sexual boundaries. Communication with patients is key to prevent erroneous allegations of sexual misconduct. The intimate examination is difficult to define. A chaperone present during an intimate examination protects the patient and practitioner and should be considered a risk reduction strategy in practice.     

Radiation exposure and the urologist: what are the risks?

Purpose

Endourology is established in urology practice with routine use of fluoroscopic guidance. Medical personnel are rarely exposed to direct radiation exposure but secondary exposure occurs via radiation scatter. There are few reports on scatter radiation exposure and the subsequent risk to medical personnel involved in urological fluoroscopic procedures. We review the risks of scatter radiation exposure to medical personnel with reference to the routine use of fluoroscopic imaging in urological practice.

Materials and Methods

We measured staff radiation exposure during a series of ureteral endourological procedures using LiF:Mg,Ti thermoluminescent dosimeters placed at the extremities of the operating surgeon, the assistant and the scrub nurse. Doses for percutaneous nephrolithotomy (PCNL) procedures were calculated by extrapolating from the ureteral procedure thermoluminescent dosimeter data. Theoretical scattered radiation dose rates were also calculated.

Results

The average ureteral procedure fluoroscopy time was 78 seconds with an exposure rate of 71 kV, 2.4 mA. The surgeon received the highest radiation exposure with the lower leg (11.6 ± 2.7 μGy) and foot (6.4 ± 1.8 μGy) receiving more radiation than the eyes (1.9 ± 0.5 μGy) and hands (2.7 ± 0.7 μGy). For a predicted annual caseload of 50 ureteral cases, the dose received does not exceed 0.12% of the Ionising Radiations Regulations 1999 annual dose limit for adult workers. Radiation exposure during PCNLs is higher but does not exceed 2% of the annual dose limits even if 50 PCNLs are performed annually.

Conclusions

Fluoroscopic screening results in radiation exposure of medical personnel. The estimate of maximum scatter radiation exposure to the surgeon for 50 PCNL procedures a year did not exceed 10 mGy. This amount is less than 2% of permissible annual limits of equivalent dose to the extremities. Medical personnel should be aware of scatter radiation risks and minimize radiation exposure when involved in fluoroscopic screening procedures.     

Bone loss and the risk of non-vertebral fractures in women and men: the Tromsø study

Summary  

We assessed the association between the rate of forearm bone loss and non-vertebral fracture. Bone loss at the distal forearm predicted fractures, independently of baseline BMD, but not independently of follow-up BMD in women. The BMD level where an individual ends up is the significant predictor of fracture risk.