Practitioner care and screening guidelines for infants born to chlamydia-positive mothers

Chlamydia trachomatis is the most prevalent sexually transmitted microbial infection in the United States. The CDC estimates that 3 million people are infected annually, with approximately 50% of infected men and 75% of infected women having few or no recognized symptoms. C. trachomatis is frequently transferred from mother to infant, and the maternal-infant transfer of this disease may have negative consequences for the newborn, such as prematurity, pneumonia, and conjunctivitis. Ocular prophylaxis with silver nitrate and or antibiotics is ineffective in preventing neonatal chlamydial conjunctivitis. By increasing awareness of the potential adverse consequences, initiating screening and treatment of pregnant women, and advocating for newborn assessment and treatment, nurses can enhance the quality of care for mothers and their infants.     

Glomerular filtration rate and N-terminal pro-brain natriuretic peptide as predictors of cardiovascular mortality in vascular patients.

OBJECTIVES: The purpose of this work was to assess the prognostic role of glomerular filtration rate (GFR) and NT-terminal pro-B-type natriuretic peptide (NT-proBNP) for mortality end points in the vascular population. BACKGROUND: The GFR and NT-proBNP have been shown to predict mortality end points in free-living and limited vascular populations, independent of traditional risk factors. However, their prognostic power in an unrestricted vascular population is poorly understood. METHODS: A total of 412 subjects from a vascular cohort with a history of either peripheral arterial disease (PAD) and/or other cardiovascular disease (CVD) were included in this prospective cohort analysis and followed for an average of 6.7 years. Outcome variables were all-cause mortality, ischemic heart disease (IHD) mortality, and any cardiovascular mortality. The prognostic roles of GFR and NT-proBNP levels were determined using multivariate survival analysis. RESULTS: Higher GFR (per 10 ml/min/1.73 m2) was significantly protective for all-cause mortality (hazard ratio [HR] 0.81, p < 0.001), IHD mortality (HR 0.82, p = 0.008), and CVD mortality (HR 0.84, p = 0.005). Conversely, NT-proBNP was not a significant predictor of any mortality end point. The GFR showed the strongest association in subjects with a history of other CVD. Although NT-proBNP did not demonstrate a significant prognostic role in any of the subgroups, the data were suggestive for patients with PAD alone. CONCLUSIONS: Glomerular filtration rate was a robust predictor of all-cause, IHD, and cardiovascular mortality in the vascular population, particularly in those with a history of other CVD, while NT-proBNP showed a suggestive association limited to the group with PAD only. These findings suggest that these markers must be selectively applied in the vascular population for greatest clinical utility.     

Alcohol Use among Subcritically Injured Emergency Department Patients

Objectives: To determine the incidence of alcohol use in subcritically injured patients presenting to the ED, by using a saliva alcohol test (SAT) at ED triage during the ED initial assessment; to compare the incidence of alcohol use revealed by the SAT with documentation of alcohol use by ED nurses and emergency physicians (EPs) blinded to the SAT results; and to describe the demographics of the SAT-positive, subcritically injured population.
Methods: A blinded, prospective, observational evaluation of ED patients presenting with subcritical injuries was performed. The patients were tested for alcohol use with an SAT, and a subsequent record review was conducted for extraction of demographic data and evidence of documentation of alcohol use by ED nurses and EPs blinded to the SAT results.
Results: During the study. 791 subcritically injured patients had SATs performed. Twenty-one percent of these patients were found to be alcohol-positive by SAT. Either the ED nurse or the EP documented a clinical impression of alcohol use for 52% of the SAT-positive patients. There were higher SAT-positive rates among men (24%), victims of assault (47%), and patients arriving at night (41%).
Conclusions: While the SAT identified 21% of the subcritically injured patient population as alcohol-positive, ED nurse and EP documentation did not identify half of these alcohol-positive patients. Many of these patients may be at risk for additional injuries related to their drinking behavior.     

Immunology

A selection of interesting papers that were published in the two months before our press date in major journals most likely to report significant results in immunology.     

Epikeratophakia without annular keratectomy

Nineteen patients (20 eyes) underwent epikeratophakia for correction of high myopia. In contrast to the conventional surgical method utilizing an annular keratectomy, no keratectomy was performed in these patients. The surgical procedure is discussed. Preliminary results (up to six months) indicate that the omission of an annular keratectomy has no effect on graft clarity or viability. The weighted-average percent correction over six months postoperatively was 102%.     

The development of whole cell biosensors for on-line screening of herbicide pollution of surface waters

The use of mediator assisted amperometric whole-cell biosensors, monitoring microbial photosynthetic electron transfer, to screen for herbicides in intake protection by the water industry is described. Cells harvested from axenic cultures are loaded onto bacteriological filters and held against a working carbon electrode polarised against the silver chloride reference. Redox mediators are reduced by the microorganisms and then reoxidised at the working electrode resulting in a flow of current. For on-line applications the sensors are controlled by a programmable electrochemical analyser (Artek) and housed in specially designed perspex flow cells which incorporate light emitting diodes (LEDs) for photosynthetic stimulation. A range of cyanobacteria and algae have been tested, but biosensors incorporating unicellular cyanobacteria have proven the most successful. Results obtained using the cyanobacterium Synechococcus show detection levels of less than 200 ppb with response times of less than ten minutes for selected herbicides. Sensor stability in the absence of pollutant poisoning has been found to be greatly influenced by the choice of mediator. Membrane penetrating mediators such as -benzoquinone reduce sensor life to about 24 hours, while a sensor life of up to six days has been achieved with ferricyanide.     

Difficulties in localization and treatment of insulinomas in type 1 multiple endocrine adenomatosis (MEA).

A 15 year old girl with a family history of type 1 multiple endocrine adenomatosis presented with reversible neurological disturbances, hypoglycaemia and hyperinsulinaemia. Initial radiology was normal, but portal venous sampling suggested an insulinoma in the tail of the pancreas which was removed with conservation of the spleen. Hypoglycaemia persisted despite high doses of diazoxide and intravenous dextrose. A second laparotomy revealed a pancreatic endocrine tumour and sub-total pancreatectomy was performed. Histology revealed islet cell microadenomatosis. Hypoglycaemia persisted despite treatment with somatostatin analogues and 40% intravenous dextrose was required to maintain normoglycaemia. A possible lesion near the splenic hilum on computed tomographic scan was reported as a splenunculus although further peripheral, hepatic and portal venous sampling suggested hepatic or systemic lesions. A positron emission scan and selective visceral angiography suggested a lesion in the left upper quadrant. Acute lactic acidosis, rhabdomyolysis and renal failure supervened. Post mortem revealed the putative ''splenunculus'' to be a residual insulinoma, whilst the splenic vein was thrombosed, accounting in part for discrepant venous sampling data. Hyperinsulinaemia in type 1 multiple endocrine adenomatosis may require more aggressive surgical and hormonal intervention than when dealing with solitary insulinomas. Insulinomas may mimic developmental abnormalities on computed tomographic scanning.