Quantitative and qualitative effects of douche preparations on vaginal microflora.

Objective: To determine the effect of douching on the quantitative and qualitative makeup of the vaginal microflora.

Methods: We first evaluated the effect of douching with a solution of physiologic saline to determine the effect of washing the vaginal surface. Two douche preparations, one containing 0.

Characteristics and predictors of falls in elderly patients.

Background: Poor performance on mobility testing is one of a number of factors associated with increased falls in community-dwelling elderly. The significance of these associations has not previously been tested in a sample drawn exclusively from a primary care practice.

Methods: This 1-year prospective study recorded falls, fall injuries, and related factors in 120 ambulatory geriatric outpatients of a family medicine practice.

Replication of DHBV genomes with mutations at the sites of initiation of minus- and plus-strand DNA synthesis.

We have examined the consequences on duck hepatitis B virus DNA synthesis of deleting the 5' and 3' copies of the 12 base sequence, DR1, from the viral pregenome. With the wild-type virus, reverse transcription initiates at nt 2537 within the 3' copy of DR1. When this sequence was deleted, initiation of reverse transcription was found at two other sites located closer to the 3' end of the pregenome (nt 2576 and nt 2644).

Leiomyosarcoma of the femoral vein in a marathon runner.

Leiomyosarcoma of the femoral vein is a rare tumor. Physicians involved in the care of athletic patients must not be cavalier in evaluating overuse injuries and should endeavor to make a specific diagnosis. If atypical findings, such as generalized extremity swelling, are present, the physician must consider systemic illness including malignancy in apparently healthy, physically active individuals.

Physician estimates as predictors of elderly patients' mobility scores.

In a previous study, residency physicians' estimates of patients' mobility scores were strongly associated with the patients' actual scores. The present study tested the hypothesis that community physicians would similarly be able to predict patients' mobility scores. Dysmobility risk-factor questionnaires were given during routine office visits to 120 ambulatory and mentally competent patients older than age 65.

Assessment of therapeutic relationship of community-agency workers.

This article reports on the ratings of the personal and professional characteristics of community-based workers for children and adolescents who had recently been released from a psychiatric inpatient service. The child/adolescent's family members/caregivers and the community workers both responded to the same items of a questionnaire. Families/caregivers rated the community workers with whom they were the most and the least satisfied.

The oral care of HIV positive patients at Berlin clinic.

Two final year dental students spent an elective period in the HIV clinic of the Dental Hospital of the Freie University of Berlin. The oral manifestations and management of 50 HIV patients were observed.

Dental care of HIV positive patients at Berlin clinic.

During an exchange programme at the "Freie Universität Berlin" the authors worked on the department of Oral Surgery. Their work consisted of treating HIV positive patients. A report on their experiences is given.

Ambulatory electrocardiography in dogs.

Twenty-four hour ambulatory electrocardiographic recording using a Medilog tape recorder was attempted in 16 healthy pet dogs weighing between 18.4 and 34 kg, while they were living in familiar surroundings. Full 24-hour records were obtained from 10 of them and recordings of more than 10 hours duration from two others; and the findings in these recordings were similar.

Chylothorax as presenting manifestation of adenocarcinoma with probable gastric primary.

Chylothorax is an unusual complication of various malignant neoplasms, generally lymphomas. The few reported cases of chylothorax with gastric and other abdominal malignancies have involved large abdominal masses with prominent adenopathy and chylous ascites. We describe a patient in whom chylothorax was the presenting manifestation of an adenocarcinoma with probable gastric primary, developing prior to any clinical or radiologic evidence of tumor.

Elevated 18-hydroxy-corticosterone in inbred salt-sensitive rats.

Rats susceptible to the hypertensive effect of dietary salt (SS/Jr) have excess 18-hydroxydeoxycorticosterone (18-OH-DOC) and 19-nor-DOC compared to control rats (SR/Jr). This may be caused by an abnormal adrenal 11 beta-hydroxylase, which catalyzes the 11 beta, 18, and 19-hydroxylations of DOC. A comparison of the urinary products of this enzyme including 18-OH-DOC, 19-nor-DOC, corticosterone (B), and 18-OH-B have not been described in the SS/Jr.

A phase I/II study of trichosanthin treatment of HIV disease.

Trichosanthin, a ribosomal inhibitor protein, blocks HIV replication in lymphocytes and macrophages. This agent was used to treat 51 patients with advanced HIV disease in a dose-escalation study in which three injections were administered over a 9-21-day period in a dose range of 10-30 micrograms/kg per injection. The maximum tolerated dose was estimated to be 30 micrograms/kg.

Predicting elderly patients' mobility using fall history and physician assessment.

This study tested whether a patient's history of falls or an office clinician's general assessment can predict which ambulatory elderly patients will do poorly on mobility testing. Ambulatory patients making routine visits who were age 65 or older, mentally competent, and not acutely ill were eligible. Fifty-two (91%) of these patients participated by completing a fall history questionnaire and undergoing mobility testing.

A prospective study of type A behavior and running injuries.

A prospective study was developed to examine whether personality factors predispose runners to injury. Forty runners who completed a type A behavior screening were followed for 1 year during which they documented their training mileage, injuries, and time lost from training because of injury. Runners with high scores on the type A behavior screening questionnaire experienced significantly more injuries, especially multiple injuries.

Focusing the preparticipation sports examination.

Athletic preparticipation evaluations are among the most common routine health screening tools, yet no standardized approach to these evaluations has been adopted. This paper presents a focused preparticipation examination form developed by the authors with the assistance of the North Carolina Academy of Family Physicians' Task Force on Sports Medicine. After reviewing the major studies of preparticipation examinations, 11 basic questions that identify specific risks for sports participation were selected.

Comparison of in vivo and in vitro efficacy of ceftizoxime.

Two hundred obligately anaerobic bacterial isolates from human clinical sources were tested for susceptibility to ceftizoxime using a standard National Committee for Clinical Laboratory Standards microwell system. In general, the minimal inhibitory concentrations (MIC50) ranged from less than 0.125 to 32 microgram/ml; however, the MIC50 for Bacteroides fragilis averaged greater than 128 microgram/ml.

Reliability of DSM-III diagnoses of hospitalized children.

The reliability of diagnoses of 46 child psychiatric inpatients made using three independent instruments--an unstructured interview with the parent and child that produced the chart diagnosis, a structured interview with the parent, and a structured interview with the child--was assessed. These diagnoses were then compared with a review diagnosis, which was based on all information available at the patient's discharge. Substantial disagreement between the diagnoses resulting from the structured and unstructured interviews was found in one-third of the cases.

Natural relationships among sulfate-reducing eubacteria.

Phylogenetic relationships among 20 nonsporeforming and two endospore-forming species of sulfate-reducing eubacteria were inferred from comparative 16S rRNA sequencing. All genera of mesophilic sulfate-reducing eubacteria except the new genus Desulfomicrobium and the gliding Desulfonema species were included. The sporeforming species Desulfotomaculum ruminis and Desulfotomaculum orientis were found to be gram-positive organisms sharing 83% 16S rRNA sequence similarity, indicating that this genus is diverse.

Effect of source strength and attenuation on dual photon absorptiometry.

A systematic error in dual photon absorptiometry (DPA) measurements of bone mineral density (BMD) related to source strength has been previously described and attributed to an erroneous algorithm for deadtime correction. Since detected counts (or photon flux) is a product of source strength and attenuation, the effect of various source activities and attenuation depths on BMD calculations were evaluated using a phantom. Ten DPA scans were acquired at two source strengths, 0.