Lonizing radiation regulations and the dental practitioner: 3. Quality assurance in dental radiography

This is the last in a series of three articles on X-ray dose reduction and covers aspects of quality assurance. The first outlined radiation physics and protection and the second the legislation relating to radiation safety. Clinical Relevance: Quality assurance is an essential part of dental radiography and is required to produce images of a consistently high standard, necessary for accurate diagnosis.     

Treatment of brain metastases from melanoma

Brain metastases from malignant melanoma have a poor prognosis, and treatment can be difficult because of rapid progression of the disease. To help define the treatment of this disease, we reviewed the published literature on brain metastases from melanoma. If a solitary metastasis is present, surgery might be beneficial, especially if systemic disease is absent. Stereotactic radiosurgery is a less invasive, attractive option for solitary or oligometastatic (up to 6) lesions. External beam whole-brain radiation therapy can produce responses and frequently palliates symptoms, but as the sole therapy, it is unlikely to eradicate brain metastases. Chemotherapy may be gaining a role with newer agents that penetrate the blood-brain barrier. Combined modality therapy appears to be the future direction of treatment of multiple metastases.     

Brief Report: Pregnancy,Birth and Infant Feeding Practices: A Survey-Based Investigation into Risk Factors for Autism Spectrum Disorder

Journal of Autism and Developmental Disorders - A succession of interconnected environmental factors is believed to contribute substantially to the development of autism spectrum disorder (ASD)....     

Clinical experience with Staphylococcus lugdunensis bacteremia: a retrospective analysis

We report a retrospective review of all cases of Staphylococcus lugdunensis bacteremia identified during a period of more than 10 years (January 1990 to May 2002) in a large medical center. Twenty-one cases occurred over that period; 20 cases were available for review. In six instances, the organism appeared to be clinically significant and was most commonly related to a vascular line infection. No deaths, secondary suppurative complications, prolonged bacteremia, or prolonged fever appeared to be caused by S. lugdunensis in our experience. Twenty-five percent of our isolates were resistant to multiple antibiotics, including oxacillin.