Coombs-positive hemolytic anemia preceding ulcerative proctitis

A 12-year-old girl is described who developed rectal bleeding 5 months after being diagnosed as having a Coombs-positive hemolytic anemia. Colonoscopy showed that the rectal bleeding was due to ulcerative proctitis. This is the first case report of Coombs-positive hemolytic anemia preceding the onset of ulcerative proctitis in a child.     

Home teaching of nocturnal nasogastric feeding

Nocturnal nasogastric feeding (NGF) supplementation is an effective means of supplying calories to children with chronic diseases which may impair caloric and nutritional intake. Herein, we describe our experience with 18 patients who were taught NGF. They were divided into two groups: one group was instructed in the hospital which is the typical situation, whereas the second group was instructed at home. No complications were associated with NGF taught either at home or in the hospital. Our experience, therefore, indicates that nocturnal NGF can be successfully taught at home.     

Ligand-exchange chromatography of racemates, 9. Ligand-exchange chromatography of amino acid enantiomers on asymmetric sorbents with polydentate sulfur containing groupings

The paper describes the syntheses of four asymmetric sorbents, which contain S-(2-aminoethyl)-L -cysteine ( 1a ), S-(carboxymethyl)-L -cysteine ( 1c ), S,S′-(ethylene)-bis(L -cysteine) ( 2a ), and N,N′-(ethylene)-bis(D-methionine) ( 3a ) groupings as the chiral fixed ligands in a cross-linked polystyrene matrix. The sorbents were used for ligand-exchange chromatography of amino acid enantiomers in the presence of Cu(II) and Ni(II) ions. Enantioselective effects in the formation of mixed-ligand complexes consisting of a fixed ligand, a metal ion, and an amino acid enantiomer were determined. The highest values of enantioselectivity reaching 1 300 to 1 890J/mol were found in mixed-ligand complexes containing histidine or β-phenyl-α-alanine.     

The choice of the radiation parameters in the laser reconstruction of the pupil

The phenomenon of a "local punch" of tissues in the zone of nano- or picosecond impulses of neodymium: YAG-laser radiation focusing allows to increase energy in the pulse by one order as compared with traditionally used energy. At this, in order to achieve the initial effect it becomes possible to reduce the number of shots by two orders and thus to increase the spot of radiation. The summary energy of action absorbed in the eye remains the same and that's why the number of complications doesn't increase. The widening of possibilities to choose a laser source for micro- and macroperforations allows, when prescribing the treatment, to more reliably consider clinical peculiarities in each concrete case.     

Corticosteroid treatment of severe, non-responsive Clostridium difficile induced colitis.

Clostridium difficile can cause inflammatory diarrhoea and colitis by disrupting normal colonic flora. Corticosteroids are effective against diarrhoea associated with inflammatory bowel disease, but their effectiveness in treating inflammatory diarrhoea of C difficile has not been reported. In this preliminary report, we describe the use of corticosteroids in a child with severe C difficile diarrhoea and colitis refractory to standard treatments.     

A simple procedure for quantification of neurite outgrowth based on stereological principles

The molecular mechanisms controlling formation and remodelling of neuronal extensions are of considerable interest for the understanding of neuronal development and plasticity. Determination of neurite outgrowth in cell culture is a widely used approach to investigate these phenomena. This is generally done by a time consuming tracing of individual neurites and their branches. We have used stereological principles to determine the length of neurites. The total neuritic length per cell was estimated by counting the number of intersections between neurites and test lines of an unbiased counting frame superimposed on images of cell cultures obtained by conventional computer-assisted microscopy. The absolute length, L, of neurites per cell was subsequently estimated from the number of neurite intersections, I, per cell by means of the equation L=(πd/2)I describing the relationship between the number of neurite intersections and the vertical distance, d, between the test lines used. When measuring neurite outgrowth from PC12 cells and primary hippocampal neurons, data obtained by counting neuritic intersections correlated statistically significantly with data obtained using a conventional tracing technique. However, information was acquired more efficiently using the stereological approach. Thus, using the described set-up, the stereological procedure was approximately five times less time consuming than the conventional method based on neurite tracing. The study shows that stereological estimation of neuritic length provides a precise and efficient method for the study of neurite outgrowth in cultures of primary neurons and cell lines.     

Nosocomial and community acquired uropathogenic isolates of Proteus mirabilis and antimicrobial susceptibility profiles at a university hospital in Sub–Saharan Africa

ObjectiveTo ascertain antimicrobial susceptibility profile of Proteus mirabilis (P. mirabilis) from clinical urine specimens at a university hospital in the spate of its recorded increasing resistance patterns.MethodsThe study was retrospective in nature. Data generated from urine cultures of patients at University of Calabar Teaching Hospital for a period of five years (2004–2009) were compiled. Relevant information obtained were age and gender of patients, organisms recovered and their antibiotic susceptibility patterns. P. mirabilis was identified using standard laboratory procedures.ResultsP. mirabilis showed the highest resistance against ampicillin, cloxacillin, amoxicillin, tetracycline, co-trimoxazole, erythromycin and chloramphenicol (100%–37.2%) while colistin, ofloxacin, ciprofloxacin, ceftriaxone, nalidixic acid and nitrofurantoin recorded the highest activity (59.1%–96.9%) with no drug recording 100% activity. The resistance of the nosocomial isolates of the organism were significantly higher than the community acquired isolates against that of the common antibiotics in use (P<0.05).ConclusionsExtreme caution should be exercised in antibiotic administration in hospital setting and the potential benefits adequately assessed while control of nosocomial infections be given a priority so as to limit the spread of resistant bacteria.