Increasing trend of ciprofloxacin resistance amongst common bacterial isolates at Mymensingh Medical College and Hospital

Ciprofloxacin resistance among common bacterial pathogen comprising Esch.coli, Staph.aureus and Pseudomonas spp. isolated from different clinical samples of Mymensingh Medical College Hospital during the periods of September, 1999 to March, 2001 and September, 2001 to August, 2002 were recorded. Values of two periods were compared and increased rate of ciprofloxacin resistance were noted in every bacterial species, e.g. 32.0% in Esch.coli, 8.7% in Staph.aureus and 5.1% in Pseudomonas spp. It was suggested to be aware and careful regarding use of ciprofloxacin in clinical practice so as to limit emergence of bacterial strains resistance towards the drug.     

Maternal Tetanus at the University College Hospital in Ibadan Nigeria: A 15-Year Retrospective Analysis

Objective To determine the characteristics of women with maternal tetanus, pattern of presentation and outcome of management. Methods A total of 19 women were managed with maternal tetanus between 1990 and 2005 from the University College Hospital in Ibadan Nigeria. A retrospective study was performed. The medical records of all women managed as a case of maternal tetanus were retrieved from the central record department of the hospital. The pattern of presentation, characteristics of women, the duration of hospital admission, tetanus toxoid immunization, and outcome of care were measured. Results The records of 18 women managed were analyzed. The mean age at presentation was 25.2 ±5.3 years. The patients were mostly single, nulliparous and had primary school education. The maternal tetanus cases seen mainly complicated induced abortion while 5 and 2 other cases were due to childbirth complication and leg wound respectively. The portal of entry of the remaining 3 cases could not be ascertained. None of the patient managed had complete immunization schedule. The average duration of admission was 11.2 ± 6. 7 d. Five women had intensive care with 3 of them requiring ventilatory support. The case fatality rate was 66. 7%. The only factor that significantly improved survival was presence of generalized spasm at presentation （P=0.006） Conclusion The occurrence of maternal tetanus is a reflection of low quality of health care delivery and lack or inefficient routine immunization coverage in any community.     

Mixed-signal template-based reduction scheme for stimulus artifact removal in electrical stimulation

Simultaneous electrical stimulation and recording are used to gain insights into the function of neuronal circuitry. However, artifacts produced by the electrical stimulation pulses prevent the recording of neural responses during, and a short period after, the stimulation duration. In this work, we describe a mixed-signal recording topology with template subtraction for removing the artifact during the stimulation pulse. Emulated artifacts generated from a lumped electrical circuit model and experimental artifacts in cardiac cell cultures are used to evaluate the topology. The simulations show that delays between the emulated artifact and its estimated compensation template represent the largest error source of the analog template subtraction. The quantization error appears like random noise and determines the threshold level for the action potential detection. Simulations show that removal of the artifacts is possible, allowing the detection of action potentials during the stimulation pulsing period, even for high-amplitude saturating artifacts. Measurement results with artifacts elicited in cardiac cell cultures show feasible applications of this topology. The proposed topology therefore promisingly opens up a previously unavailable detection window for improving the analysis of the neuronal activity.     

Better retention of Malaysian opiate dependents treated with high dose methadone in methadone maintenance therapy

Background  

Methadone is a synthetic opiate mu receptor agonist that is widely used to substitute for illicit opiates in the management of opiate dependence. It helps prevent opiate users from injecting and sharing needles which are vehicles for the spread of HIV and other blood borne viruses. This study has the objective of determining the utility of daily methadone dose to predict retention rates and re-injecting behaviour among opiate dependents.     

Telethermographische Untersuchungen der Wundnaht im Tierexperiment

It is known from clinical practice that the healing of wounds is influenced by the type of wound suture applied. In general, the scar resulting from an intracutaneous suture looks better than that produced by an uninterrupted suture or by knotted suture. With respect to the appearance of the scar, the intracutaneous suture is normally superior to other wound sutures. As suggested by the results of our investigations, this may be due to an undisturbed microcirculation within the wound. Thermovision shows that a local temperature increase appears sooner in a wound closed by intracutaneous suture, whereas the temperature increases more slowly in case of uninterrupted or knotted suture. We suppose that the alterations of microcirculation in a wound closed by one of the latter types of wound suture can be considered as disturbance in blood circulation which may be followed by healing disturbances and proliferations of connective tissue.     

Percutaneous drainage access: a simplified coaxial technique

We describe an access technique that we have used in 150 nephrostomy and biliary drainage procedures and for access to some abscesses and viscera. The system provides safe coaxial access with a 22-gauge removable hub needle, which then acts as a guide wire and is replaced by an 18-gauge cannula. A major advantage is that only one guide wire is used (0.038-inch) for the entire drainage procedure. No significant complications have occurred to date with this method.     

Cerebrospinal fluid rhinorrhea: depiction with MR cisternography in dogs

Canine cerebrospinal fluid rhinorrhea, which occurs frequently in purebred beagles, was demonstrated in two dogs on magnetic resonance images after cisternal introduction of gadolinium-DTPA dimeglumine.