Severe odontogenic infections

Background : Severe odontogenic infections are serious potentially lethal conditions. Following the death of a patient in the authors' institution this study was initiated to determine the risk factors, management and outcome of a consecutive series of patients.
Methods : All patients admitted to the Royal Adelaide Hospital under the care of the Oral and Maxillofacial Surgery Unit with odontogenic infections in calendar year 2003 were investigated. Detailed information relative to their pre-presentation history, surgical and anaesthetic management and outcome was obtained and analysed.
Results : Forty-eight patients, 32M, 16F, average age 34.5, range 19 to 88 years were treated. All presented with pain and swelling, with 21 (44 per cent) having trismus. Forty-four (92 per cent) were as a result of dental neglect and four (8 per cent) were regular dental patients having endodontic treatment which failed. Of those known to have been treated prior to presentation, most had been on antibiotics. Most patients had aggressive surgical treatment with extraction, surgical drainage, high dose intravenous antibiotics and rehydration. The hospital stay was 3.3 (range 1–16) days. Patients requiring prolonged intubation and high dependency or intensive care (40 per cent) had longer hospitalization. No patient died and all fully recovered.
Conclusion : Severe odontogenic infections are a serious risk to the patient's health and life. Management is primarily surgical with skilled anaesthetic airway management. Antibiotics are required in high intravenous doses as an adjunct and not as a primary treatment.     

Radiation dose reduction during hysterosalpingography: an application of scanning-beam digital radiography

Hysterosalpingography was performed in 31 patients by means of a low-dose scanning-beam digital radiographic system. The technique permits adequate evaluation of gynecologic abnormalities while allowing significant reduction in radiation: 2.4-mR (6.1 X 10(-7) C/kg) exposure to the skin and 0.7-mrad (7 X 10(-6) Gy) mean dose to the ovaries per image obtained. Sixteen patients demonstrated readily recognizable and documented abnormalities, corroborated by laparoscopy, laparotomy, or other supportive evidence.     

Chronic lower extremity ischemia: a human model of ischemic tolerance.

BACKGROUND: Ischemic preconditioning (IPC) has been found in animals to have a protective effect against future ischemic injury to muscle tissue. Such injury is unavoidable during some surgical procedures. To determine whether chronic ischemia in the lower extremities would imitate IPC and reduce ischemic injury during vascular surgery, we designed a controlled clinical study. PATIENTS AND METHODS: Two groups of patients at a university-affiliated medical centre with chronic lower-extremity ischemia served as models of IPC: 6 patients awaiting femoral distal bypass (FDB) and 4 scheduled for aortobifemoral (ABF) bypass grafting for aortoiliac occlusive disease. Seven patients undergoing elective open repair of an infrarenal abdominal aortic aneurysm (AAA) were chosen as non-IPC controls. Three hematologic indicators of skeletal-muscle injury, lactate dehydrogenase (LDH), creatine kinase (CK) and myoglobin, were measured before placement of the proximal clamp, during surgical ischemia, immediately upon reperfusion, 15 minutes after and 1 hour after reperfusion, and during the first, second and third postoperative days. RESULTS: Baseline markers of skeletal-muscle injury were similar in all groups. In postreperfusion samples, concentrations of muscle-injury markers were significantly lower in the 2 PC groups than in the control group. For example, at day 2, LDH levels were increased by about 30% over baseline measures in the elective AAA (control) group, whereas levels in the FDB and ABF groups remained statistically unchanged from baseline. Myoglobin in controls had increased by 977%, but only by 160% in the FDB and 528% in the ABF groups. CK levels, in a similar trend, were 1432% higher in the control group and only 111% (FDB) and 1029% (ABF) in the study groups. Taken together, these data represent a significant level of protection. CONCLUSIONS: Patients with chronic lower-extremity ischemia suffered less severe ischemic injury after a period of acute ischemia than those with acute ischemia alone. Ischemic preconditioning is one proposed mechanism to help explain this protective effect.     

Does infant feeding method influence maternal postpartum weight loss?

We conducted a retrospective study of 411 women to determine whether a significant relationship existed between method of infant feeding (breast vs bottle) and postpartum weight loss at 6 weeks and 12 months. In addition to method of infant feeding, the variables parity, gravidity, mode of delivery, maternal age, maternal prepregnancy weight, infant sex, and payment status (whether receiving assistance from the Aid to Dependent Children [ADC] program) were studied in terms of their association with weight loss. In general, no consistent relationship was found between method of infant feeding and postpartum weight loss. However, in the ADC group at 6 weeks and in the non-ADC group at 12 months, nonlactating women had lost more weight than had their lactating counterparts, in spite of the theoretical energy deficiency of breast-feeding women. Women who gained more weight during pregnancy consistently lost more weight following delivery, regardless of their prepregnancy weight. These results indicate that infant feeding method was not related to differences in postpartum weight loss between lactating and nonlactating counterparts.     

Aldosterone production and hormone responsiveness in adrenal glomerulosa cells from cows of different ages

Aldosterone production by suspensions of adrenal glomerulosa cells obtained from young and old cows was measured. Basal steroidogenesis was lower in cells from old cows, as were the responses to angiotensin II (AII), potassium, ACTH and dibutyryl cyclic AMP. Receptors for AII and aldosterone production from added progesterone were the same in old and young cells. Synthesis of pregnenolone from endogenous precursor, the 'early pathway' of aldosteronogenesis, was lower in old cells than in young. AII-stimulated incorporation of 32P into phosphatidylinositol and the change in 45Ca2+ flux induced by AII were diminished in old cells. Overall protein synthesis, measured by 3H leucine incorporation, was lower in old cells than young, but was not affected by AII in either. Diminished responsiveness of adrenal glomerulosa cells from old animals results from a change in postreceptor events that affect the early pathway of aldosteronogenesis.