ANEMIA AND INFECTION IN SCHOOL-AGED EGYPTIAN CHILDREN

Iron-deficiency anemia and infection are deterrents to optimal child health in many developing countries. We investigated the prevalence of anemia and elevated erythrocyte sedimentation rate (ESR), which reflects chronic background infection, recent illness, and diet for 190 children aged 10 to 13 years in 1995 in a Nile Delta village. The children exhibited a high prevalence of anemia (61.6%) and elevated ESR (54.9%). One-third of the children reported a minor illness within the past week, and more than 75 per cent had one or more parasites evident in stool or urine samples. There was no relationship of socioeconomic or dietary indicators to anemia or elevated ESR. Mothers’ evaluation of the child’s health status had no relationship to anemia or elevated ESR, with 43.6 per cent of mothers reporting their child’s health status as excellent or good. Maternal report of the child’s health as poor was related to recent illness. We speculate that where anemia and chronic infection are hyperendemic, both children and mothers may become habituated to the associated symptoms and consider them normal.     

2008-2011年产气肠杆菌的临床分布及耐药性分析

目的 分析产气肠杆菌临床分布特点及对常用抗菌药物的耐药性变化,以更好地指导临床的合理使用抗菌药物.方法 采用WHONET5软件统计分析2008年1月-2011年12月临床分离的产气肠杆菌临床分布和耐药率.结果 4年内共分离到产气肠杆菌459株,其中2008-2011年分别检出108、101、130、120株;病原菌主要来源于住院患者的痰液213株占46.4％、胆汁70株占15.3％、血液51株占11.1％、尿液50株占10.9％;4年耐药监测显示,亚胺培南和美罗培南的耐药率在2.0％～7.9％,呈明显的逐年上升趋势;头孢类抗菌药物除头孢唑林耐药率较高约90.0％外,其他如头孢替坦、头孢曲松、头孢他啶、头孢吡肟等耐药率由最高的55.5％下降至最低28.5％,氨苄西林/舒巴坦、哌拉西林/他唑巴坦、头孢哌酮/舒巴坦等复合制剂耐药率也由最高70.2％下降至最低21.1％,同时阿米卡星、庆大霉素等氨基糖苷类等药物的耐药率亦呈下降趋势,最高30.4％,最低为0,对喹诺酮类的耐药率约30.0％,保持相对稳定.结论 4年产气肠杆菌对头孢菌类、氨基糖苷类、复合制剂等药物的耐药率有所降低,而碳青霉烯类药物的耐药率呈上升趋势,说明细菌耐药性存在动态的变化,及时对细菌耐药性进行分析,依据药敏结果合理选用抗菌药物,严格掌握适应证,可减少或延缓耐药菌株的播散.     

123株阴沟肠杆菌的临床分布和耐药性分析

目的 了解医院2010年1月-2011年6月阴沟肠杆菌的临床分布及耐药性分析,为临床合理用药提供依据.方法 从近年来感染标本中分离出阴沟肠杆菌,采用法国生物梅里埃公司VITEK-2 Compact全自动细菌分析仪对所分离的菌株进行鉴定和药敏试验,采用WHONET5.4软件进行统计分析.结果 分离的123株阴沟肠杆菌主要来自于肝胆外科、ICU等科室,标本主要来源于痰液、胆汁及尿液中;阴沟肠杆菌对亚胺培南、美罗培南、厄他培南、阿米卡星等有较好的抗菌活性,敏感率依次为99.19％、99.19％、94.31％、94.31％;而对头孢西丁、头孢唑林、氨苄西林/舒巴坦、头孢替坦、氨苄西林的敏感性较差,敏感率依次为1.63％、1.63％、4.88％、4.88％和4.07％.结论 临床分离的阴沟肠杆菌耐药现象比较严重,应加强耐药性监测,以指导临床合理用药,控制医院感染.     

Third International Meeting on Progress in Radio-Oncology

Summary

Phthalocyanines are photosensitizers evaluated for use in photodynamic therapy of cancer. As such, the dependence of the bioresponse on the light fluence rate may be of clinical importance. The effect of the fluence rate of white light from 0·165 to 3·3 kJ m^?2 min^?1 was studied in Chinese hamster cells and human lymphocytes, using as endpoints colony-forming ability and inhibition of [³H]thymidine incorporation following mitogenic stimulation and dye-photoactivation, respectively. Using Chinese hamster cells exposed to photoexcited chloroaluminium phthalocyanine tetrasulphonate in PBS solution, cytotoxicity was diminished as the fluence rate was reduced. In human lymphocytes changing the fluence rate between 0·33 and 3·3 kJ m^?2 min^?1 affected the response in a way similar to that of Chinese hamster cells. Human lymphocytes, when exposed to incremental increasing light fluences, 4 h after a conditioning dose, were able to recover from phthalocyanine-induced photo-damage, as evidenced by the reappearance of a shoulder on the dose-effect curve. This recovery process during a protracted light exposure, could explain the reduced sensitivity to phthalocyanine photosensitization, compared to exposure at high fluence rates.     

Chronobiologically Explored Effects of Telmisartan

Effects of Micardis (Telmisartan), alone or with low-dose aspirin, on blood pressure and other cardiovascular endpoints are examined in 20 patients with MESOR-hypertension in a crossover, double-blind, randomized study consisting of three stages, each lasting 7 days: I-placebo, II-Micardis, and III-Micardis with low-dose aspirin. Treatment was administered each day at a different circadian stage, upon awakening, and 3, 6, 9, 12, 15 and 18 hr after awakening. During each stage, the following variables were measured at 3-hr intervals during waking: systolic and diastolic blood pressure, heart rate, ejection fraction, intrarenal resistive index, acceleration time, and serum creatinine. Each data series was analyzed by single cosinor. Results were summarized by population-mean least squares spectra. At matched treatment times, the MESOR and circadian amplitude of each variable were compared among the three treatments by paired t-tests. A prominent circadian rhythm characterizes all variables. Micardis was associated not only with a lowering of blood pressure, but also with a reduction of the circadian blood pressure amplitude. The ejection fraction was increased, and the resistive index and acceleration time were decreased, the effect being more pronounced when low-dose aspirin was added to Micardis. Any circadian-stage dependent effect of Micardis, with or without low-dose aspirin, will require monitoring over spans longer than a single day for a given treatment administration time.     

Echocardiographic Evidence for Increased Cardiac Performance During Early Renal Hypertension in Dogs

Cardiac function early (less than 4 weeks) in the course of experimental renal hypertension was investigated. In 11 male mongrel dogs, one kidney was wrapped in silk to produce two-kidney, one-wrapped hypertension. Two weeks later, the contralateral kidney was removed. Five sham-wrapped and then contralaterally-nephrectomized dogs served as controls. M-mode left ventricular (LV) echocardiograms were recorded twice weekly in all dogs for 4 weeks before and for 2 weeks after wrapping (or sham-wrapping) and for 4 weeks after nephrectomy. In the 11 hypertensive dogs, mean arterial pressure (MAP) rose from 127 mm Hg (mean) to 143 two weeks after wrapping (p<0.05) and to 185 two weeks after nephrectomy (p<0.001). The fractional shortening of the left ventricle (%D) of hypertensive dogs was increased (9% maximum, mean, p<0.01) for 2 weeks after wrapping and for one week after nephrectomy. Two weeks after wrapping, LV end-systolic wall stress calculated from femoral artery peak systolic pressure, end-systolic dimension and wall thickness was unchanged, suggesting that increased myocardial contractility accounted for the findings. In normotensive control dogs, there were no echocardiographic changes during the study.     

Acute Postural Change - a Novel Approach to Blood Rressure Tracking in Children

Among 1443 children, aged 5 to 18, followed for five consecutive years, we identified 68 who tracked consistently in the lowest blood pressure (BP) quartile and 114 in the highest. BP and corresponding heart rate were taken with subjects in the supine, sitting and erect postures. BP quartiles were established for each height category. Children consistently in the highest BP quartile had greater relative weight and higher heart rates in all three positions. On assuming the erect posture, children in the lowest BP quartile showed an increase in systolic BP, while those in the highest BP quartile showed a decrease. Both groups showed an increase in diastolic BP. On assuming the erect posture, subjects in the two groups showed no difference in heart rate change; subjects in the highest BP quartile did not show the additional reflex increase in heart rate to be expected in response to the decrease in systolic blood pressure. This combination of BP and heart rate findings suggests a subtle change in the baroreceptor reflex.     

Low Testosterone and Hyperkinetic Blood Pressure Responses in a Cohort of South African Men: The SABPA Study

Hypertension (HT) and the metabolic syndrome are major problems in Africa. The role of sex hormones in the cardiovascular profile of black Africans in South Africa has not been studied. Our objective was to study the association between the sex hormones and ambulatory blood pressure and the heart rate (HR) in black and white South Africans. The 24-hour ambulatory blood pressure measurements were performed and the blood samples were taken between 07:00 and 09:00 hours. A total of 80 black and 98 white South African teachers between 25 and 65 years of age from similar socioeconomic backgrounds from the Sympathetic Activity and Ambulatory Blood Pressure in Africans (SABPA) study were included. As a result, a more vulnerable cardiovascular profile was observed in Africans compared with Caucasians. In the African group, low testosterone (T) explained 19%–36% of the variance in systolic blood pressure (SBP), diastolic blood pressure (DBP), and HR, whereas in the Caucasian group non-sex-hormone-binding globulin (non-SHBG)-bound T explained 27% of the variance in HR. In the African males, inverse associations between blood pressure and T (SBP: P = .08; DBP: P = .02) and non-SHBG-bound T (SBP: P < .001; DBP: P < .01) and HR (P < 0.01) were observed. Ambulatory HR predicted a prediabetic state in Africans. In conclusion, low T levels may predispose or result in impaired cardiovascular function in African men. The possibility exists that a prediabetic state, vagal-impaired HR, and hyperkinetic blood pressure responses may predispose or result in low T levels in African men.     

The effect of war on personal aggression

The effect of war on the suicide rate and on the relative likelihood of suicide as a proportion of total personal aggression was examined in the United States for the time period from 1933 to 1986. Once unemployment was controlled for, no effect of war was detected.     

Public Health Consequences of Terrorism on Maternal–Child Health in New York City and Madrid

Past research provides evidence for trajectories of health and wellness among individuals following disasters that follow specific pathways of resilience, resistance, recovery, or continued dysfunction. These individual responses are influenced by event type and pre-event capacities. This study was designed to utilize the trajectories of health model to determine if it translates to population health. We identified terrorist attacks that could potentially impact population health rather than only selected individuals within the areas of the attacks. We chose to examine a time series of population birth outcomes before and after the terrorist events of the New York City (NYC) World Trade Center (WTC) attacks of 2001 and the Madrid, Spain train bombings of 2004 to determine if the events affected maternal–child health of those cities and, if so, for how long. For percentages of low birth weight (LBW) and preterm births, we found no significant effects from the WTC attacks in NYC and transient but significant effects on rates of LBW and preterm births following the bombings in Madrid. We did find a significant positive and sustained effect on infant mortality rate in NYC following the WTC attacks but no similar effect in Madrid. There were no effects on any of the indicator variables in the comparison regions of New York state and the remainder of Spain. Thus, population maternal–health in New York and Madrid showed unique adverse effects after the terrorist attacks in those cities. Short-term effects on LBW and preterm birth rates in Madrid and long-term effects on infant mortality rates in NYC were found when quarterly data were analyzed from 1990 through 2008/2009. These findings raise questions about chronic changes in the population’s quality of life following catastrophic terrorist attacks. Public health should be monitored and interventions designed to address chronic stress, environmental, and socioeconomic threats beyond the acute aftermath of events.