The effects of betamethasone on maternal cellular resistance to infection

Antenatal administration of glucocorticoids is often used to facilitate fetal lung maturation in cases of prematurity; however, the effects of betamethasone on maternal immune function have not been established. Therefore maternal immune function was assessed with the use of in vitro techniques. Transient and incomplete suppression of the proliferative response to the T-cell mitogen phytohemagglutinin was demonstrated as early as 24 hours after administration of betamethasone. The magnitude and duration of suppression showed a corresponding increase with advancing gestational age, but these effects were not cumulative and were always short-lived (less than 72 hours). No such suppression of the B-cell mitogen lipopolysaccharide was detected. The nonspecific cellular resistance to infection of maternal monocytes was determined through coincubation with the facultative intracellular pathogen Listeria monocytogenes. Increased phagocytic activity with a normal bactericidal effect was measured in the cell preparations obtained from recipients versus nonrecipients of betamethasone. Taken together, these findings clearly show that both specific and nonspecific immune function are intact in the preterm gravid woman after administration of betamethasone and should allay concerns over its use for reasons of infection control alone.     

Local complications of self administered anabolic steroid injections.

In addition to the pharmacological side effects of anabolic steroids, complications may also result from the injection technique used in self administration. Two cases are presented where anabolic steroid injections resulted in knee joint sepsis and radial nerve palsy.     

Bone death in transient regional osteoporosis.

A 48-year-old man developed transient regional osteoporosis, with hip and later knee pain. He responded well to lumbar sympathectomy. The femur and tibia adjacent to the painful knee were osteoporotic, while the medial femoral condyle showed increased uptake in a bone scan. In the femoral condyle, bone histology showed areas of dead bone undergoing osteoclastic resorption, and increased bone formation. The tibial bone was histologically normal. The partial bone death in the distal femur suggests that the disorder may be related to both avascular necrosis of bone and reflex sympathetic dystrophy.     

Abstracts

Purpose: To analyse trends in the incidence of registered age-related macular degeneration (ARMD) in the UK since 1950 and to compare these to trends in registration of other blinding diseases —cataract, glaucoma and optic atrophy over the same time period. Methods: Calculation of standardised registration ratios for ARMD, cataract, glaucoma and optic atrophy using published registratoin data from 1950 onwards. SRRs for each sex separately were calculated, adjusting for age in 5 year age-groups. Results: The absolute number of people registered blind annually has more than doubled since 1950. After adjustment for age, annual registration rates for blindness have fallen over the past 40 years, particularly with respect to cataract and glaucoma. Standardised registration ratios for ARMD exhibit a different pattern, increasing, but not consistently, over the same time period. Conclusions: These oberservations are consistent with the hypothesis that the incidence of registrable ARMD is increasing. Changes in the diagnosis and detection of this disease, however, cannot be excluded as an alternative explantation. Analysis of trends in national registration statistics may be useful for monitoring changes in the distribution of blinding eye disease in the population.     

Antibiotic prophylaxis following lower urinary tract instrumentation.

The value of routine antibiotic prophylaxis was assessed in 362 women undergoing lower urinary tract instrumentation. A three-day course of a once-a-day dose of 1 g of cefadroxil was compared with a three-day course of 100 mg of nitrofurantoin three times a day, in a randomized investigator blinded placebo controlled study. Both study drugs were significantly more effective in preventing postinstrumentation urinary tract infections than placebo (p less than 0.003). Differences in efficacy between the two test drugs were not significant; however, side effects in the nitrofurantoin group were more frequent and severe than those in the cefadroxil group. Cefadroxil also offered the advantage of a once-daily dosing schedule.