Percutaneous dilation of ureteral strictures in renal transplant patients

Percutaneous dilation of benign ureteral strictures was performed as an alternative to surgical therapy in 14 patients with renal transplants. Dilations were performed with balloon catheters in 13 patients and with a tapered angiographic catheter in one patient. Eleven strictures were successfully dilated (79%). There were three recurrences (21%). Follow-up in nine of the 11 successful cases ranged from 12 to 61 months (mean, 29 months; median, 24 months). There were no complications directly related to balloon dilation. The high success rate in this series may be related to the early diagnosis of strictures in these closely followed patients.     

Cytogenetically different leukemic clones at relapse of childhood acute lymphoblastic leukemia

Sequential analysis of blast cell chromosomes in 98 cases of acute lymphoblastic leukemia (ALL) disclosed entirely different karyotypes for nine patients at the time of relapse. The presenting clinical, immunophenotypic, and cytogenetic features of this subgroup were similar to those of the 89 patients without major karyotypic shifts. The median length of initial remissions in these nine patients, all of whom received intensive multiagent therapy, was 24 months (range, 6 to 35); responses to subsequent treatment have been uniformly poor. Prominent cytogenetic changes included a gain of modal chromosome numbers in five cases, a loss of chromosomes in two, and the acquisition of an 11q23 rearrangement in three. We propose several different mechanisms to account for these findings. In one, the presence of an entirely different ALL karyotype at relapse may represent induction of secondary leukemia analogous to the well- described entity of epipodophyllotoxin-related secondary acute myeloid leukemia (AML).     

A Rural Health Education, Training and Research Network for Queensland

ABSTRACT: The purpose of the Rural Health Education, Training and Research Network is to support the education and training of rural health practitioners and research in rural health through the optimum use of appropriate information and communication technologies to link and inform all individuals and organisation involved in the teaching, planning and delivery of health care in rural and remote Queensland. The health care of people in rural areas has the potential to be enhanced, through providing the rural and remote health professionals in Queensland with the same access to educational and training opportunities as their metropolitan colleagues. This consultative, coordinated approach should be cost-effective through both increasing awareness and utilisation of existing and developing networks, and through more efficient and rational use of both the basic and sophisticated technologies which support them. Technological hardware, expertise and infrastructure are already in place in Queensland to support a Rural Health Education, Training and Research Network, but are not being used to their potential, more often due to a lack of awareness of their existence and utility than to their perceived costs. Development of the network has commenced through seeding funds provided by Queensland Health. Future expansion will ensure access by health professionals to existing networks within Queensland. This paper explores the issues and implications of a network for rural health professionals in Queensland and potentially throughout Australia, with a specific focus on the implications for rural and isolated health professional.     

IN MEMORIAM OF

My memory of Dr. Chung dates back to the summer of 1932, when I first met him at a medical ward round in Peking Union Medical College Hospital. Dr. Chung was then the resi- dent physician of the Department of Medicine. Hc was shortish in stature, took big strides, looked serious and spoke mandarin with a sou- them accent and English with an American accent. Later I learned that he wasi from Mei- xian County, Guangdong Province. The peo- ple from this county had long been known to bc industrious, enterprising and adventurous. But Chung was not born in Meixian. His fa- ther, a poor peasant, was forced to leave his native land to seek a living abroad. He sailed to the eastern (Partugese) part of Timore Island in the East Indies. Chung was born there in the year 1901. Being poor, he had to do child labor and could not afford to go to school until he was in his teens. A few years later he return- cd to his native county, Meixian, to attend mid- dle school. Afterwards he was awarded a scholarship to study in the School of Sciencc, Shanghai College. After he graduated, he entered PUMC in 1922 and received an M.D. in 1929. Dr. Chung spent a 4-year residency in different branches of internal medicine in the same institute. He finally chose tropical medicine as his field of specialization. In 1933 he married Dr. Li Yi-zhen in Guangzhou; at their wedding I had the honor of being one of the bestmen.     

Movement disorders in association with herpes simplex virus encephalitis in children: a review

Movement disorders have been reported in association with herpes simplex virus (HSV) encephalitis in adults and children. The cause of this complication is unclear, although a number of proposed aetiologies have been suggested, including inadequate antiviral therapy^1–3, a side effect of anticonvulsants⁴, or a possible postinfectious mechanism^5–8. A child who presented with severe chorea associated with relapse of HSV encephalitis prompted us to review the clinical features, management, and outcomes of this condition.