Brief violence interventions with community case management services are effective for high-risk trauma patients.

Background: Currently there are few data that brief violence intervention (BVI) and community case management services (CCMS) are effective for trauma patients admitted for interpersonal violence in terms of recidivism, service utilization, or alcohol abuse. The objective of this study is to assess outcomes for a cohort of young trauma patients in a prospective, randomized trial comparing BVI with BVI + CCMS.

Methods: Intentionally injured patients, aged 10 years to 24 years, admitted to a Level I trauma center were randomized to receive a brief in-hospital psychoeducational violence intervention alone (Group I) or in combination with a 6 months wraparound CCMS (Group II) that included vocational, employment, educational, housing, mental health, and recreational assistance.

Comparison of moist and dry heat penetration through orofacial tissues.

Application of superficial moist heat has been shown to have a beneficial effect on Temporomandibular Disorder (TMD) symptoms and is often recommended for patients with this disorder. A review of the literature shows that few studies have compared the effects of moist to dry heat. Throughout this study, moist and dry heat were applied through a commercial heating pad alternately for 20 minute intervals.

Egg laying is delayed but worm fecundity is normal in SCID mice infected with Schistosoma japonicum and S. mansoni with or without recombinant tumor necrosis factor alpha treatment.

Mice with severe combined immunodeficiency (SCID mice) lack functional B and T cells. Egg laying by Schistosoma mansoni and S. japonicum was delayed in SCID mice, but in a matter of weeks worm fecundity was equivalent to that in intact mice.

Syndrome resembling tropical pulmonary eosinophilia but of non-filarial aetiology: serological findings with filarial antigens.

Although the tropical pulmonary eosinophilia (TPE) syndrome of filarial aetiology has very distinctive clinical and immunological features, its clinical profile is not unique; other helminths sometimes induce similar presentations. We carefully evaluated 7 individuals with non-filarial TPE-like syndromes and found that serological tests based on detection of 'antifilarial' immunoglobulin (Ig) G, IgG4, and IgE antibodies that are usually considered diagnostic for filarial TPE were equally elevated in patients with non-filarial, TPE-like syndromes and were therefore unhelpful diagnostically. The apparent reasons were immunological hyper-responsiveness of such individuals and the shared (i.

An IL-12-based vaccination method for preventing fibrosis induced by schistosome infection.

The harmful fibrosis which often occurs in the context of infectious disease involves the excessive deposition of connective tissue matrix, particularly collagen, and is mostly resistant to pharmacological and immunological intervention. In schistosomiasis, fibrosis is associated with the granulomatous response to parasite eggs trapped in the liver. We have previously shown that interleukin (IL)-12 administered peritoneally with eggs prevents subsequent pulmonary granuloma formation on intravenous challenge with eggs.