Probable occupational endophthalmitis from Bacillus cereus

Endophthalmitis is a severe infection produced by the introduction of microorganisms into the eye after penetrating injury, surgery, or hematogenous spread from a distant primary site of infection. The case presented is a 44-year-old man who worked as a machine operator with exposure to substantial metalworking fluid aerosols from a high-speed grinder generating fine particles.     

Corticotropin-releasing factor-binding protein ligand inhibitor blunts excessive weight gain in genetically obese Zucker rats and rats during nicotine withdrawal

Elevation of the neuropeptide corticotropin-releasing factor (CRF) in the brain is associated with a reduction of food intake and body weight gain in normal and obese animals. A protein that binds CRF and the related peptide, urocortin, with high affinity, CRF-binding protein (CRF-BP), may play a role in energy homeostasis by inactivating members of this peptide family in ingestive and metabolic regulatory brain regions. Intracerebroventricular administration in rats of the high-affinity CRF-BP ligand inhibitor, rat/human CRF (6-33), which dissociates CRF or urocortin from CRF-BP and increases endogenous brain levels of “free” CRF or urocortin significantly blunted exaggerated weight gain in Zucker obese subjects and in animals withdrawn from chronic nicotine. Chronic administration of CRF suppressed weight gain nonselectively by 60% in both Zucker obese and lean control rats, whereas CRF-BP ligand inhibitor treatment significantly reduced weight gain in obese subjects, without altering weight gain in lean control subjects. Nicotine abstinent subjects, but not nicotine-naive controls, experienced a 35% appetite suppression and a 25% weight gain reduction following acute and chronic administration, respectively, of CRF-BP ligand inhibitor. In marked contrast to the effects of a CRF-receptor agonist, the CRF-BP ligand inhibitor did not stimulate adrenocorticotropic hormone secretion or elevate heart rate and blood pressure. These results provide support for the hypothesis that the CRF-BP may function within the brain to limit selected actions of CRF and/or urocortin. Furthermore, CRF-BP may represent a novel and functionally selective target for the symptomatic treatment of excessive weight gain associated with obesity of multiple etiology.     

Determination of functional outcome following upper extremity arterial trauma

Upper extremity arterial trauma may lead to significant disability with a poor functional outcome. This study represents a retrospective review of all trauma patients presenting to a university-affiliated medical center. Patients suffering from upper extremity arterial injuries requiring treatment were identified. The injured vessels were identified along with the mechanism of injury and method of repair. The degree of functional disability was evaluated by using a previously validated questionnaire, the Disabilities of the Arm, Shoulder, and Hand (DASH) Outcome Measure. Between September 1999 and December 2004, 17 patients presented with traumatic arterial injury to the upper extremity, with 9 and 8 patients suffering from blunt and penetrating traumas, respectively. One patient required amputation representing a limb salvage rate of 94%. The mean length of hospitalization was significantly shorter for penetrating trauma (5.1 vs 12 days, P = .03), with blunt trauma victims being more prone to coexisting orthopedic injuries (P = .009). Length of follow-up did not differ between the 2 groups and ranged from 1-60 months. Patients with blunt trauma tended, although not statistically significant, to have higher DASH scores (61.8 vs 22.8, P = .08), indicating a greater degree of disability. By utilizing a validated disability questionnaire, this study confirms that patients suffering from blunt injuries to upper extremity arteries are more likely to have greater degrees of disability affecting everyday activities.     

Strategies for translating the resident care plan into daily practice

The Omnibus Budget Reconciliation Act of 1987 required nursing facilities to complete a standardized comprehensive assessment known as the Resident Assessment Instrument (RAI) and to formulate a plan of care from the RAI to guide nursing care. The purpose of this retrospective case study was to examine the issues around the translation of nursing facility resident care plans to documents that guide daily care. Data were obtained by auditing 96 resident care plans in 10 nursing facilities in two states. Despite the importance of the resident plan of care, the audit revealed the provider approaches to resident problems varied appreciably in nursing facilities. The results of this study support the need for further research to assist in the development and implementation of strategies in nursing facilities that focus on standardized practices. Consistent systems can be promoted that translate the resident care plan into daily practice.     

Does traditional birth attendant training improve referral of women with obstetric complications: a review of the evidence

This narrative and meta-analytic review of the effectiveness of traditional birth attendant (TBA) training to improve access to skilled birth attendance for obstetric emergencies produced mixed results. Among 16 studies that fit the inclusion criteria, there is a medium, positive, non-significant association between training and TBA knowledge of risk factors and conditions requiring referral; and small, positive, significant associations between TBA referral behavior and maternal service use. These results cannot be causally attributed to TBA training because of the overall quality of studies; moreover, in several studies TBA training was a component of integrated intervention packages. The effort and expense of more rigorous research focusing on TBA training to improve access to emergency obstetric care are difficult to justify. The referral process is complex; the real effects of TBA training on TBA and maternal behavior are likely to be small; and while the proportion of TBA-attended births worldwide varies, it is, on average, quite low. The behavioral determinants and logistical barriers to care seeking for emergency obstetric care are generally well known. We suggest a more promising research agenda would reposition the questions surrounding referral into a broader ecological perspective.     

Promoting communication and documentation of advance care planning in long-term care facilities

This paper describes the findings of Phase I of an advance care planning (ACP) demonstration project, undertaken collaboratively between the Texas Partnership on End-of-Life Care and the North Texas Alliance of Nursing Homes. The goal of the project, designed as a continuous quality improvement program for the nine volunteer nursing facilities (NFs), was to increase the systematic implementation of ACP Phase I consisted of baseline data collection of ACP documentation from the nine NFs. This was followed by a pre-intervention train-the-trainer educational program for facility coordinators and other interested staff who subsequently would implement the procedures in their NFs, to increase the use of advance directives (ADs). Following the Phase II implementation, a model will be developed for replication in other Texas facilities. Reported here are the pre-intervention baseline chart review findings documenting ACP and various AD documents. Based on the experience of this chart review, recommendations are outlined for improving the quality of ACP communication and documentation.     

Pressure ulcers in nursing homes: does negligence litigation exceed available evidence?

Nursing homes today face an increasing amount of oversight as they comply with regulations from federal, state, and local governments and agencies. The trend of judicial oversight, particularly in cases involving pressure ulcers, presents a unique set of challenges to the nursing home industry. The standards of care that are increasingly applied to establish the incidence of negligence in relevant cases are dependent on an under-researched area of the clinical phenomenon of skin breakdown within a frail elderly population. As the nursing home population continues to grow and resources are further strained, finding ways to best utilize resources becomes imperative. Consideration must be given to the growing body of evidence indicating that some patients are incapable of mounting a "normal" response to the physical forces responsible for the damage observed with pressure ulcers. Pressure ulcers have evolved to the status of being a synonym for neglect and/or abuse. Clinicians must focus on establishing a realistic and far more nuanced body of knowledge regarding pressure ulcers among the frail elderly.     

Genetic variation at the 22q11 PRODH2/DGCR6 locus presents an unusual pattern and increases susceptibility to schizophrenia

The location of a schizophrenia susceptibility locus at chromosome 22q11 has been suggested by genome-wide linkage studies. Additional support was provided by the observation of a higher-than-expected frequency of 22q11 microdeletions in patients with schizophrenia and the demonstration that approximately 20-30% of individuals with 22q11 microdeletions develop schizophrenia or schizoaffective disorder in adolescence and adulthood. Analysis of the extent of these microdeletions by using polymorphic markers afforded further refinement of this locus to a region of approximately 1.5 Mb. Recently, a high rate of 22q11 microdeletions was also reported for a cohort of 47 patients with Childhood Onset Schizophrenia, a rare and severe form of schizophrenia with onset by age 13. It is therefore likely that this 1.5-Mb region contains one or more genes that predispose to schizophrenia. In three independent samples, we provide evidence for a contribution of the PRODH2/DGCR6 locus in 22q11-associated schizophrenia. We also uncover an unusual pattern of PRODH2 gene variation that mimics the sequence of a linked pseudogene. Several of the pseudogene-like variants we identified result in missense changes at conserved residues and may prevent synthesis of a fully functional enzyme. Our results have implications for understanding the genetic basis of the 22q11-associated psychiatric phenotypes and provide further insights into the genomic instability of this region.     

Traditional birth attendants in developing countries cannot be expected to carry out HIV/AIDS prevention and treatment activities

Pregnancy and birth, fertility and fertility regulation are all greatly affected by the exigencies of HIV and AIDS, and vice versa. Women and infants can only benefit if the respective policymakers, researchers and service providers in sexual and reproductive health and HIV/AIDS, particularly those involved in prevention of mother-to-child transmission of HIV, gain greater knowledge of each others' expertise and seek to integrate the best of both into the care they each offer. The growth in access to antiretroviral treatment for mothers as well as infants, including during pregnancy and the breastfeeding period, makes such efforts even more timely and crucial. Yet there are worrying signs that specialists in both camps are making inappropriate policy and service delivery recommendations based on too little knowledge of each others' patches. As an example of this problem, this article discusses and rejects a recommendation in a recent BMJ article that traditional birth attendants could be trained to carry out HIV prevention and possibly provide HIV tests and drugs for prevention of HIV transmission during home deliveries in developing countries.