Amebiasis at an evacuation site on the Thai-Cambodian border

Symptomatic intestinal amebiasis was highly endemic among the Cambodians living at Green Hill, an evacuation site on the Thai-Cambodian border between June 1987 through May 1989. Monthly incidence rates of intestinal amebiasis were determined to be inversely proportional to cumulative monthly rainfall. The highest incidence of amebic dysentery was 63/1000 in children 12-23 months old. Behavioral risk factors were investigated by conducting a case-control study. A questionnaire was administered to 73 families, each having at least one member with confirmed intestinal amebiasis within the past 3 months, and to 95 randomly selected control families having no individual with diarrhea for at least 3 months. Individuals from families with greater than 4 members were at higher risk for acquiring intestinal amebiasis. No significant differences in behavioral risk factors were identified between case and control families. Eighty-six percent of 51 water samples drawn from wells where amebiasis patients obtained their drinking water had greater than 10 coliforms/100 ml. The main route of transmission of E. histolytica was not identified, but was most likely via the fecal-oral route.

Microscopic examination of stools and a latex slide agglutination test for the rapid identification of bacterial enteric infections in Khmer children

Eighty-five stools collected from 50 children with diarrhea at an evacuation site on the Thai-Kampuchean border were (1) examined microscopically for fecal leukocytes, (2) tested after 24 hr enrichment in brain/heart infusion broth by a latex slide agglutination test for detection of Salmonella and Shigella, and (3) examined with microbiological techniques to identify bacterial, viral, and parasitic pathogens. If the 65 specimens in which one or no pathogens are considered, 6 or more fecal leukocytes/hpf were found on microscopic examination of stools in both children infected with Shigella spp., the one child infected with Salmonella spp., and three of eight children infected with Campylobacter spp. Less than or equal to 5 leukocytes/hpf were found in 70% (7/10) of children infected with rotavirus, 100% (2/2) infected with Cryptosporidium, 100% (2/2) infected with Giardia, 89% (8/9) infected with enterotoxigenic Escherichia coli, and 77% (24/31) with diarrhea in whom no etiologic agent was identified. The Salmonella slide latex test had a sensitivity of 50%, a specificity of 92%, and a positive predictive value of 12%. The Shigella slide latex test had a sensitivity of 0%, a specificity of 95%, and a positive predictive value of 0%. Forty-five percent of the latex slide agglutination tests from enrichment cultures were nonspecific. Microscopic examination of diarrheal stools for fecal leukocytes, though nonspecific, appears to be the best way to differentiate Shigella spp. from rotavirus and parasitic infections. Examining stools for fecal leukocytes was less helpful in differentiating Shigella from other bacterial infections.

Local hyperthermia benefits natural and experimental common colds

OBJECTIVE

To determine whether inhaling fully humidified air at 43 degrees C gave more benefit to cold sufferers than inhaling air at 30 degrees C.

DESIGN

Randomised double blind trial. Setting--General practice and the common cold research unit.

SUBJECTS

87 Unselected patients with typical acute nasal and upper respiratory symptoms (general practice study), and 84 volunteers aged 18-50 without a history of chronic or allergic diseases.

INTERVENTIONS

Subjects breathed from apparatus delivering 40 litres of room air heated to 43 degrees C or 30 degrees C and fully humidified (relative humidity 100%) per minute. End point--Reduction in severity of disease. MEASUREMENTS and main results--Patients recorded their symptoms (general practice study) and observers recorded symptoms and signs, weight of nasal secretions, isolation of virus, and antibody responses in volunteers. Patients treated for 20 minutes at 43 degrees C had in the succeeding days roughly half the score for symptoms of those treated at 30 degrees C. Volunteers treated for 30 minutes on three occasions when they were starting a cold showed an 18% [corrected] reduction in symptoms. Treatment of volunteers for 20 minutes at the onset of the cold and for 10 minutes on succeeding days showed no difference between 43 degrees C and 30 degrees C.

CONCLUSIONS

Nasal hyperthermia can improve the course of a common cold and also give immediate relief of symptoms.

Prevalence and significance of acquired immunodeficiency syndrome-related retinal microvasculopathy

We performed ophthalmologic examinations on 127 subjects with or at risk for human immunodeficiency virus (HIV) infection over a one-year period to determine the prevalence and significance of retinal cotton-wool spots and hemorrhages (AIDS-related retinal microvasculopathy). Of 26 asymptomatic homosexual men, of whom 13 were HIV seronegative and 13 were HIV seropositive, none manifested this retinopathy. Three of 34 patients (9%) with AIDS-related complex and 29 of 67 patients (43%) with AIDS manifested retinopathy on the initial examination. This difference in the prevalence of retinopathy between groups was statistically significant (P less than .05). Patients with AIDS demonstrated 7.2 times greater odds of manifesting retinopathy than patients with AIDS-related complex (P less than .05). Within the group of patients with AIDS, the T helper (CD4) to suppressor (CD8) cell ratio was significantly associated with retinopathy at the initial ocular examination. The CD4:CD8 ratio of the total group of AIDS and AIDS-related complex patients with retinopathy was significantly lower than that of patients without retinopathy (P less than .05). There was no significant association between retinopathy and any specific past or concurrent opportunistic infection or neoplasm. The presence of retinopathy was not associated with symptoms in any patient. The lesions of AIDS-related retinal microvasculopathy may be an important finding in the evaluation of patients suspected to have HIV-related disease.

Campylobacter pyloridis infection in Auckland patients with gastritis

A prospective study of 53 patients was undertaken to determine the presence of Campylobacter pyloridis infection in patients undergoing endoscopy at Auckland Hospital. Twenty-four patients (47%) were infected with C pyloridis. Twenty-three of the 28 patients with active chronic gastritis and one of the seven patients with chronic gastritis were infected. None of the 17 patients with normal antral histology were infected. Infection was significantly correlated with active chronic gastritis (p less than 0.001). Infection was not associated with any particular symptom complex or endoscopic finding.

Haemophilus somnus: Bovine Reproductive and Respiratory Disease

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Endothelial cell loss following radial keratotomy in a primate model

The effect of radial keratotomy on the corneal endothelium of subhuman primates was studied by serial specular microscopy and histopathology. Fixed-frame analysis of specular micrographs of 13 operated eyes at one month after surgery revealed an endothelial cell loss of 13% (+/- 4%). Follow-up of all 13 eyes for six months disclosed no statistically significant progressive endothelial cell loss. Similarly, no significant loss could be demonstrated in five eyes followed up for 18 months and two eyes followed up four years after surgery. Variable frame analyses of specular micrographs of all 13 unoperated eyes followed up for six months also did not suggest progressive endothelial cell loss following radial keratotomy. Histopathology and ultrastructural studies of corneas undergoing radial keratotomy disclosed no abnormalities suggesting ongoing endothelial cell damage. These findings suggest that radial keratotomy produces an acute postoperative endothelial cell loss that is nonprogressive. Much longer term follow-up with larger numbers of subjects is necessary before the ultimate delayed effects of radial keratotomy on the endothelium can be determined.

A theorem on the Schwartz space of a reductive Lie group

The purpose of this paper is to define the Fourier transform of an arbitrary tempered distribution on a reductive Lie group. To this end we define a topological vector space, [unk](G), in terms of the classes of irreducible unitary representations of G, which plays role of a dual Schwartz space. Our main theorem then asserts that the usual L(2) Fourier transform, when restricted to functions in the Schwartz space, [unk](G) defined by Harish-Chandra, provides a topological isomorphism from [unk](G) onto [unk](G).