Is blood agar an alternative to sabouraud dextrose agar for the isolation of fungi in patients with mycotic keratitis

To compare the blood agar (BA), sabouraud dextrose agar (SDA) and chocolate agar (CA) for the isolation of fungi in patients with mycotic keratitis. Corneal Scrapings of 229 patients with clinically diagnosed microbial keratitis were inoculated on BA, SDA, CA. The culture media were evaluated for the rate and time taken for the fungal growth. Seventy six of 229 patients had fungal keratitis. Fungus grew on BA in 60/76(78.9 %), on SDA in 76/76 (100 %), on CA in 40/76(52.6 %) patients. The fungi which grew on BA (60/76) also grown on SDA at the same time. The colony morphologies of different fungi were better on SDA than BA/CA. Among the different culture media, SDA is essential for the isolation fungi in patients with mycotic keratitis.     

Regeneration-blocked mdx muscle: in vivo model for testing treatments

We have refined the mdx mouse as a clinical model for Duchenne dystrophy. Our power estimates, primary measures, regular sacrifice intervals, and quality checks constitute a high-speed, low-cost system for preclinically testing therapies designed to slow muscle destruction in Duchenne dystrophy. Irradiated (18 Gy) and contralateral shielded anterior tibial muscles were studied in 21-day-old mdx and normal mice at the time of irradiation and 4, 8, 12, 16, and 20 weeks thereafter. Regeneration-blocked mdx (irradiated) muscle expressed muscular dystrophy as progressive wasting after a brief (4 week) period of growth. Regeneration-blocked normal muscle showed stunted growth but neither progressive wasting nor microscopic pathological changes. © 1997 John Wiley & Sons, Inc. Muscle Nerve 20: 1016–1023, 1997     

Metoclopramide-induced delayed non-thrombocytopenic purpuric rash

A 62-year-old man with no drug allergies was admitted for coronary artery bypass grafting. Postoperatively, metoclopramide was commenced for the treatment of gastroparesis. Ten days after the drug was initiated a purpuric rash was noticed on his lower limbs. His platelet count was normal. Infection was excluded and the cause was not obvious. No change was noticed in the condition of rash despite discontinuation of all other medications started in the hospital one at a time. The rash later began to subside upon discontinuation of metoclopramide. A rechallenge was not attempted for ethical reasons. In conclusion, metoclopramide was considered to be the causative agent of this rash as it subsided after the discontinuation of metoclopramide.     

Simple solution for difficult face mask ventilation in children with orofacial clefts

Significant air leak from the facial cleft predisposes to difficult mask ventilation. The reported techniques of use of sterile gauze, larger face mask and laryngeal mask airway after intravenous induction have limited application in uncooperative children. We describe the use of dental impression material molded to the facial contour to cover the facial defect and aid ventilation with an appropriate size face mask in a child with a bilateral Tessier 3 anomaly.     

Performance characterization of low-cost,high-speed,portable pulsed laser diode photoacoustic tomography (PLD-PAT) system

Photoacoustic tomography systems that uses Q-switched Nd:YAG/OPO pulsed lasers are expensive, bulky, and hence limits its use in clinical applications. The low pulse repetition rate of these lasers makes it unsuitable for real-time imaging when used with single-element ultrasound detector. In this work, we present a pulsed laser diode photoacoustic tomography (PLD-PAT) system that integrates a compact PLD inside a single-detector circular scanning geometry. We compared its performance against the traditional Nd:YAG/OPO based PAT system in terms of imaging depth, resolution, imaging time etc. The PLD provides near-infrared pulses at ~803 nm wavelength with pulse energy ~1.4 mJ/pulse at 7 kHz repetition rate. The PLD-PAT system is capable of providing 2D image in scan time as small as 3 sec with a signal-to-noise ratio ~30. High-speed and deep-tissue imaging is demonstrated on phantoms and biological samples. The PLD-PAT system is inexpensive, portable, allows high-speed PAT imaging, and its performance is as good as traditional expensive OPO based PAT system. Therefore, it holds promises for future translational biomedical imaging applications.OCIS codes: (170.5120) Photoacoustic imaging, (170.3880) Medical and biological imaging, (170.0110) Imaging systems, (140.2010) Diode laser arrays