Complications of spinal cord arteriography: prospective assessment of risk for diagnostic procedures

A prospective study was done of complications associated with 134 consecutive diagnostic spinal cord arteriograms in 96 patients (63 men and 33 women aged 17-78 years). Patients were examined for either arteriovenous malformation (n = 88) or tumor (n = 8), as indicated by myelography. Among the complications, 11 (8.2%) were local, five (3.7%) were systemic nonneurologic, and three (2.2%) were neurologic (two were associated with full recovery in less than 24 hours, and one was associated with full recovery in less than 1 week). No specific clinical or technical factors were significantly associated with the development of neurologic complications. Details of the clinical profile, angiographic technique, and pathologic findings for each patient were recorded and analyzed with respect to the potential risk for arteriographic complications. Diagnostic spinal cord arteriography had an acceptable risk within the range of other neuroangiographic diagnostic procedures.     

Field evaluation of the Welch Allyn SureSight vision screener: incorporating the vision in preschoolers study recommendations.

INTRODUCTION: The prospective Vision in Preschoolers (VIP) study evaluated 11 methods of screening and proposed referral criteria for the Welch Allyn SureSight(trade mark) Vision Screener with 90% and 94% specificity. The SureSight had a higher sensitivity than most other screening techniques when these criteria were applied. We evaluated the usefulness of these criteria in a field study of healthy preschool children. METHODS: The SureSight software was altered to recommend referral using the VIP referral criteria with 90% specificity. Lions Club volunteers screened preschool children throughout Tennessee. Referred children underwent comprehensive eye examinations with cycloplegic refraction. Examination failure criteria were based upon published standards. Reanalysis using the 94% specificity criteria was then performed. Outcomes included referral rate and positive predictive value. RESULTS: The SureSight was used to screen 4,733 children, and screening was successful in 99.7% of children. The referral rate using the 90% specificity criteria was 12.2%. Most children (73%) were referred for suspected astigmatism. The positive predictive value was 30%. Using the 94% specificity criteria from the VIP study decreased the referral rate to 7.9% and substantially decreased over referral for suspected astigmatism; however, several anisometropes went undetected. Higher specificity was achieved by raising astigmatism referral criteria to 2.2 diopters while leaving the anisometropia criteria unchanged. CONCLUSIONS: The SureSight can be used successfully for preschool screening in the field provided that criteria with high specificity are incorporated into the instrument's software program. Higher rates of positive predictive value can be achieved without jeopardizing sensitivity by raising astigmatism referral criteria to 2.2 diopters.     

Neonatal brain: color Doppler imaging. Part I. Technique and vascular anatomy

Color Doppler imaging (CDI) can demonstrate the relative direction and velocity of blood flow in color, superimposed on a conventional gray-scale ultrasound image that depicts stationary tissue. Twenty-five infants were studied with portable CDI in the coronal, sagittal, and axial planes. Bilateral antegrade flow was noted in the anterior, middle, and posterior cerebral arteries in all patients. Multiplanar CDI can image flow in the circle of Willis and its tributaries and branches.     

Sexual risk behaviors associated with having older sex partners: a study of black adolescent females.

BACKGROUND: Volunteer black adolescent females from neighborhoods characterized by high rates of unemployment, substance abuse, violence, and sexually transmitted disease were studied to determine the frequency of condom use and unprotected vaginal sex with steady, older partners during various time periods over the previous 6 months. GOAL: To examine associations between having male sex partners who were typically older (by at least 2 years) and adolescent females' sexually transmitted disease (STD)/HIV-associated sexual risk behaviors. STUDY DESIGN: In this cross-sectional study, 522 sexually active black adolescent females completed a questionnaire and a structured interview, of which a portion assessed the age difference between the adolescents and their typical sex partners. The adolescents' ages, length of relationship and their use of hormonal contraception were identified as covariates. Adjusted odds ratios (AOR), their 95% confidence intervals, and respective P values were calculated to detect significant associations. RESULTS: Sixty-two percent of the adolescents reported their typical sex partners were at least 2 years older. These adolescents were more likely to report never using condoms during the most recent sexual encounter (AOR = 2.0), during the last five sexual encounters (AOR = 2.0), and during the past month (AOR = 2.2). Similarly, having older partners was associated with greater odds of reporting any unprotected vaginal sex in the past 30 days (AOR = 1.7) or the past 6 months (AOR = 1.5). CONCLUSION: Our findings suggest that many adolescent females have sex partners who are at least 2 years older and that their relationship dynamics do not favor the adoption and maintenance of behavior protective against STD or HIV infection. Prevention programs could include training designed to help adolescent females overcome barriers to safer sex with older male partners.     

"Stem cell" origin of the hematopoietic defect in dyskeratosis congenita

We have used the long-term bone marrow culture (LTBMC) system to analyze hematopoiesis in three patients with dyskeratosis congenita (DC), two of whom had aplastic anemia, and the third had a normal blood count (apart from mild macrocytosis) and normal BM cellularity. Hematopoiesis was severely defective in all three patients, as measured by a low incidence of colony-forming cells and a low level of hematopoiesis in LTBMC. The function of the marrow stroma was normal in its ability to support the growth of hematopoietic progenitors from normal marrows seeded onto them in all three cases, but the generation of hematopoietic progenitors from patients marrow cells inoculated onto normal stromas was reduced, thus suggesting the defect to be of stem cell origin. The parents and unaffected brother of one of the families have also been studied in LTBMC and all showed normal hematopoietic and stromal cell function. From this study we speculate that there are some similarities between DC and the defect in the W/Wv mouse.     

The relationship of human platelet density to platelet age: platelet population labeling by monoamine oxidase inhibition

The relationship between platelet density and platelet age appears to vary between species with relatively few labeling studies in humans reported. In this study, irreversible monoamine oxidase (MAO) inhibitors were used to biochemically label the circulating platelet population in 15 humans. Platelet samples were then isolated during the 15 days after drug ingestion. The platelets were separated by density on continuous linear Percoll gradients and the density distributions were divided into five fractions containing approximately equal numbers of platelets. Baseline MAO activity was strongly correlated with platelet density. Twenty-four hours after a single dose of tranylcypromine, platelet MAO activities in the density subpopulations were reduced to 14% to 17% of the baseline values. During the first five days after inhibition, the rates of recovery of MAO activity (percentage per day) were inversely proportional to platelet density. The recovery rates in the two most dense fractions were initially slow but increased after five days. Percentage recovery of MAO activity in the least dense fraction was significantly greater than the percentage recovery in the most dense fraction on days 2, 3, 5, and 8 (P less than .01, sign test). These results support the hypothesis that normal human platelets show a small increase in density with age, but they do not exclude the additional possibility that human platelet lifespan is positively correlated with platelet density.     

Epidural anaesthesia for Caesarean section in patients with active recurrent genital herpes simplex infections: a retrospective review

The safety of epidural anaesthesia in patients with active, recurrent genital herpes simplex (HSV) infections is controversial. We reviewed the six-year experience of the use of epidural anaesthesia in this patient population in two institutions. Eighty-nine parturients with active genital HSV were administered epidural anaesthesia for Caesarean section. No patient suffered an adverse outcome related to either the anaesthetic or the virus. The theoretical risks of regional anaesthesia in the parturient with active herpes genitalis are reviewed. We conclude from available data that the risk of an adverse outcome is small and does not contraindicate the use of epidural anaesthesia in patients with recurrent infection.     

Assessing the delivery of neutrophils to tissues in neutropenia

Studies of neutrophil kinetics in neutropenic individuals, as well as clinical observations of variability in the occurrence of infection among patients with neutropenia, have suggested that blood neutrophil counts may not uniformly reflect the effective delivery of neutrophils to extravascular tissues where the cells perform their principal host defense functions. To evaluate this possibility we developed a sensitive, reproducible method of measuring the extravascular delivery of neutrophils to a normal mucosal site of neutrophil turnover. This method is based upon the quantification of neutrophils recoverable from saline mouth wash specimens. Twenty-five mL specimens, obtained in a controlled manner from neutropenic patients and normal subjects, were centrifuged and the sediments resuspended in 1.0 mL Hank's buffer with 2 micrograms acridine orange, incubated at 37 degrees C for 15 minutes, and then examined in a hemocytometer chamber by fluorescence microscopy. Neutrophils could be clearly distinguished by their characteristic fluorescence and were counted. With this method as few as 1,500 neutrophils were detected reliably in mouth wash specimens. Mucosal neutrophil counts varied less than 10% with repeated sampling of individual subjects over 5-day periods and were consistently greater than 1.3 X 10(5)/specimen in non-neutropenic individuals. Although profound neutropenia was generally reflected by lower than normal oral mucosal neutrophil counts, these counts were significantly higher in individuals with chronic severe neutropenia (blood neutrophils less than 300/mm3) than in patients with acute neutropenia of comparable severity that had developed following chemotherapy. Also, in individuals recovering from profound neutropenia, neutrophils usually reappeared earlier in mouth wash specimens than in blood, and oral mucosal neutrophil counts attained recovery levels more rapidly than did blood counts. This phenomenon was particularly evident in an individual with cyclic neutropenia. Moreover, mucosal neutrophils could occasionally be detected in profoundly neutropenic patients when neutrophils were not present in blood samples. These findings indicate that mucosal neutrophil counts in individuals with neutropenia provide information about the delivery of neutrophils to tissues that may not be apparent from blood neutrophil counts alone.