Central venous catheter-related Rhodotorula rubra fungemia

With the increased use of indwelling central venous catheters, increasing numbers of cases of Rhodotorula fungemia have been observed in patients with neoplasia and neutropenia. In most patients with catheter-related Rhodotorula fungemia, the condition has been treated with broadspectrum antibiotics. We report two cases of central venous catheter-related Rhodotorula rubra fungemia that occurred in patients with acute myeloblastic leukemia. Both patients were in a state of neutropenia. One patient was treated with amphotericin B and his central venous catheter was removed, but he died of Klebsiella pneumoniae bacteremia. The other patient was treated with amphotericin B and discharged, with a central venous catheter, after recovery from neutropenia. Although the management of catheter-related Rhodotorula fungemia infections remains controversial, resolution of the underlying disease is more important than catheter removal for recovery from Rhodotorula rubra fungemia. Received: August 22, 2001 / Accepted: October 8, 2001     

Quality in Clinical Practice

This paper reports the proceedings of the discussion panel assigned to look at clinical aspects of quality in emergency medicine. One of the seven stated objectives of the Academic Emergency Medicine consensus conference on quality in emergency medicine was to educate emergency physicians regarding quality measures and quality improvement as essential aspects of the practice of emergency medicine. Another topic of interest was a discussion of the value of information technology in facilitating quality care in the clinical practice of emergency medicine. It is important to note that this is not intended to be a comprehensive review of this extensive topic, but instead is designed to report the discussion that occurred at this session of the consensus conference.     

Postoperative convalescence after inguinal hernia surgery: Prospective randomized multicenter study of laparoscopic versus Shouldice inguinal hernia repair in 1042 patients

Interest in inguinal hernia surgery has increased significantly with the introduction of new operating techniques during the past decade. This multicenter study compared short-term results in patients treated by the laparoscopic transabdominal preperitoneal patch technique (TAPP; n=518) and the Shouldice technique (n=524). We evaluated demographics, operative data, complications, hospital stay, postoperative pain, use of analgesics, functional status, sick leave, and complaints up to 3 months postoperatively. The median operating time was shorter in the Shouldice group (55 vs. 65 min), but there were no significant differences in complication rates, and major complications were rare. The hospital stay was 1 day or less in over 98% of cases in both groups, but more operations were performed on outpatient basis in the Shouldice group. In the TAPP group postoperative pain and analgesic consumption were less, postoperative functional status was better, and sick leave was shorter (10 vs. 14 days). These results show that the two methods are equally safe and have few major complications. The TAPP operation is associated with less postoperative pain, better postoperative functional status, and shorter sick leave, but at the price of a longer operating time. Electronic Publication     

Progress toward re‐engineering non‐ribosomal peptide synthetase proteins: a potential new source of pharmacological agents

Many important pharmaceutical agents, including vancomycin, bleomycin, cyclosporin, and several antibiotics, are produced by non‐ribosomal peptide synthetase (NRPS) enzymes in microorganisms. The NRPS pathway produces an extensive library of products using multienzyme complexes acting in an assembly‐line fashion. Engineering an NRPS system to produce an even greater variety of products, some of which may also have beneficial therapeutic value, would be an enormous advantage. Several approaches have been successful in generating novel NRPS products: mutational biosynthesis during which nonnatural substrates are fed to an organism; domain and module swapping between different species to generate hybrid enzymes; and rational site‐directed mutagenesis, based either on phylogeny or computational prediction, intended to switch substrate specificity and produce altered products. This review will highlight the progress in these areas and describe research in the future that will extend the capacity for re‐engineering NRPS systems. Drug Dev. Res. 66:9–18, 2006. © 2006 Wiley‐Liss, Inc.     

Tc-99m HMPAO SPECT imaging of the central nervous system in tuberous sclerosis

Tc-99m HMPAO was used to evaluate cerebral perfusion in a patient with tuberous sclerosis. The SPECT images demonstrated reduced HMPAO uptake in regions corresponding with MRI-confirmed locations of cortical tubers. These results indicate that the lesions are characterized by vascular perfusion deficits and support the hypothesis that cortical tubers result from developmental abnormalities of the embryonic central nervous system.     

Esophageal pH monitoring for gastroesophageal reflux: a United Kingdom study

Esophageal pH monitoring is the accepted standard for the investigation of gastroesophageal reflux (GER) in adults. A postal questionnaire was sent to 912 United Kingdom paediatric physicians & surgeons. Five hundred forty-seven (61%) replied, with 124 (22.7%) currently using the technique, mostly in conjunction with barium swallow and/or esophagoscopy. The use of pH monitoring to quantify GER was also accepted in principal as being the best determinant of reflux by a further 186 (34%), but as yet was unavailable in their hospitals. Pediatricians were also questioned as to their management of children with GER. The majority were treated medically with a variety of antireflux medication, with only 237 (42%) referring cases for surgery.