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Biomedical subjects

G Falck

Publications and source records attributed to G Falck.

At least 37 records · Page 2Linked to original sources
PubMed1997

Prevalence of Chlamydia pneumoniae in healthy children and in children with respiratory tract infections.

BACKGROUND: Chlamydia pneumoniae causes respiratory tract infections in adults, but little is known about its significance for acute or persistent respiratory tract infections in children. METHODS: We studied the prevalence of C. pneumoniae by polymerase chain reaction in children younger than the age of 11: 85 consecutive children with respiratory tract infections; and 93 children presumed to be healthy. Throat swabs for PCR analysis were taken from all children, and serology was done for 54 of the 85 sick children and from all but one of the presumed healthy children positive for C. pneumoniae by PCR. RESULTS: PCR was positive in 38 (45%) of the sick children and in 5 (5.7%) of the healthy children. All but 2 of 19 sick children with serologic findings suggesting recent or ongoing infection with C. pneumoniae were positive by PCR. Most children positive for C. pneumoniae by PCR had upper respiratory tract infections. Four children had recurrent respiratory tract infections and otitis media with effusion treated by tubal insertion. CONCLUSION: The findings suggest that C. pneumoniae is common among children with respiratory tract infections.

Age Factors↗
PubMed1997

Skills of pre-registration house officers: gender differences reported in Norway.

During training pre-registration house officers should acquire skills, practical clinical procedures, and good clinical judgement, in order to be able to practice on their own. This is not always the case (Flaatten et al. 1987). Ten years ago the Norwegian Health Authorities issued a regulation regarding the content of hospital training (6 months internal medicine and surgery, respectively). A number of practical skills to be learned were listed. As part of an assessment of the quality of the internship, a study was carried out into what extent the pre-registration house officers had acquired these clinical skills.

Clinical Competence↗
PubMed1997

Group A streptococci in household pets' eyes--a source of infection in humans?

Household pets were examined when we carried out an investigation to study intrafamilial spread of group A streptococcal infection. Cultures were taken from 114 index cases, and 61 pets. Group A streptococci were demonstrated in eye secretions from 2 pets. Transmission of group A streptococci from humans to pets and vice versa can probably occur, but is uncommon.

Animals↗
PubMed1997

The role of household contacts in the transmission of group A streptococci.

The intrafamilial spread and recurrence of group A beta-haemolytic streptococci (GAS) infections was investigated. The evaluation was based on 114 patients and their families treated with penicillin for 5 days and followed for 1 month. GAS of the same T-type as that of the isolate from the index case were found in other family members in 33% of the families. Genetic finger-printing using RFLP was performed on 33 of the isolates. The mothers dominated among the index cases, 40 patients experienced recurrences, 27 of them were clinical 28 recurrences occurred within 10 days after the end of treatment. Of 20 T-typed patients with early clinical treatment failures, infected family members were detected in 16 families (p < 0.001). In 19% of the patients GAS could be isolated from the nose. These patients had more ill family members than did other patients. An extensive intrafamilial streptococcal spread was found. Most recurrences of GAS pharyngotonsillitis after penicillin treatment are probably due to "ping pong" infection from family members.

Adolescent↗
PubMed1997

Demonstration of Chlamydia pneumoniae in patients with chronic pharyngitis.

12 patients with longstanding throat symptoms, who were also positive by PCR (polymerase chain reaction) for Chlamydia pneumoniae were selected for a longitudinal study to determine whether C. pneumoniae is an aetiological agent for chronic pharyngitis. Specimens for culture and PCR detection of C. pneumoniae were taken from the retropharyngeal wall and blood specimens were taken for serology. Biopsies were taken from the mucosal membrane of the retropharyngeal wall for histological and immunohistochemical studies. C. pneumoniae was cultured from 4 cases. 10 patients had specific humoral antibodies to C. pneumoniae and 9 had high and increasing specific antibody titres to C. pneumoniae suggesting ongoing infection. The organism was demonstrated in the tissue from the retropharyngeal mucosal membrane by immunohistochemistry in 9 patients. The findings suggest that C. pneumoniae may be an aetiological agent for chronic pharyngitis.

Adolescent↗
PubMed1996

Cytogenetic monitoring of occupational exposure to pesticides: characterization of GSTM1, GSTT1, and NAT2 genotypes.

Occupational exposure of floriculturists is characterized by alternating periods of intense pesticide spraying and reduced or no activity. Induction of sister chromatid exchanges (SCE), structural chromosome aberrations (CA) and micronuclei (MN) was investigated in peripheral lymphocytes of a group of 23 Italian floriculturists and 22 matched controls. Blood sampling was performed during and one month after the end of intensive pesticide treatments, in order to cover a period of high and low exposure, respectively. Each donor was genotyped for glutathione S-transferase M1 (GSTM1), T1 (GSTT1), and N-acetyltransferase 2 (NAT2), three polymorphic genes involved in xenobiotic metabolism, to assess their potential role in individual genotoxic response to the pesticide exposure. No effect of the pesticide exposure on the cytogenetic parameters were detected. Smoking, however, was found to increase SCE levels. The only significant influence of phenotype composition on cytogenetic response was an increase in SCE levels in the GSTT1 positive individuals compared with the GSTT1 nulls (P=0.02). This finding was, however, based on only four GSTT1 null donors (n=41 for GSTT1 positive donors). In addition, a possible interaction was observed between smoking and GSTM1 genotype in the CA assay, GSTM1 null smokers, earlier reported to have an elevated risk for lung cancer, showing higher CA frequencies than GSTM1 positive smokers.

Adult↗
PubMed1996

Mast cells in human coronary arteries; is there any correlation with luminal narrowing?

Histamine in the human coronary arteries is harboured in mast cells and possibly in a non-mast cell store. Upon histamine exposure atherosclerotic coronary arteries react differently than normal coronary arteries, and histamine has been proposed to provoke vasospasms, ischaemia and sudden cardiac death. Previous reports have indicated a correlation between the mast cell density and the histamine content on the one hand and the degree of atherosclerosis on the other hand. Since previous reports applied visual assessment of the luminal narrowing only, we reexamined these results utilising planimetric methods. The study was accomplished by examining coronary arteries from autopsy cases (50-70 years, N = 29) with a diagnosis of sudden death, myocardial infarction or a non-cardiac cause. The mast cell density was calculated as the ratio between the mast cell count and the adventitial area as seen by light microscopy, and was compared to the degree of luminal narrowing. We were not able to find any correlation between the mast cell density and the luminal narrowing. The myocardial infarction group had the most severe degree of luminal narrowing, but there was no significant difference in mast cell density between the groups. We therefore question the previous notion that there is a correlation between the adventitial mast cell density in the coronary arteries and the luminal narrowing. Earlier reports may have been biased by visual assessment and by erroneously treating several measurements from the same person as independent samples.

Aged↗
PubMed1996

In vivo cytogenetic damage revealed by FISH analysis of micronuclei in uncultured human T lymphocytes.

FISH analysis of micronuclei in uncultured human T lymphocytes provides a convenient new possibility to assess structural and numerical chromosome damage in vivo. In women. T-cell micronuclei mostly contained whole chromosomes (71.6%), especially the X chromosome (28.5%). Cell culture (72 h) enhanced the frequency of micronuclei harboring acentric fragments 2.9 fold and the X chromosome 1.5 fold. X-chromosome-positive micronuclei were particularly prevalent (42.0%) in binucleate cells produced by cytochalasin B, a cytokinesis inhibitor used to identify cells that have divided in vitro. This was explained by a decrease in autosome-containing and an increase in X-positive micronuclei.

Adult↗
PubMed1996

Persistent Chlamydia pneumoniae infection in a Swedish family.

Chlamydia pneumoniae, an etiological agent for respiratory tract infection, was found as a cause of persistent infection in a family group. During the observation period of 2 1/2 years, serology and polymerase chain reaction for C. pneumoniae demonstrated a failure to eradicate the organism, despite several prolonged courses of antibiotics known to be effective against chlamydia species.

Adolescent↗
PubMed1995

[Do the interns receive the supervision they are supposed to get?].

The Norwegian preregistration internship consists of 12 months duty as a house officer in hospitals (6 months in a surgical and 6 in a medical department) followed by 6 months in general practice. The survey assesses to what extent the intended information, supervision, feedback and internal evaluation assessment are offered the house officers during their hospital internship. A questionnaire was sent to all preregistration house officers who had recently finished their hospital duty, of whom 104 (78%) out of 133 responded. Half of the "medical" and 65% of the "surgical" house officers reported that they received no introductory information nor supervision before attending hospital duties. Two thirds did not participate in an educational programme and 80% did not receive systematic feedback on their work. Most house officers received no evaluation of their work at all. Specific interventions are needed to ensure high quality clinical training of the preregistration house officers.

Education, Medical, Graduate↗
PubMed1995

[Is the training of interns in practical clinical skills adequate?].

In Norway the preregistration internship consists of 12 months service in hospitals followed by 6 months in general practice. This survey assessed to what extent the intended practical skills had been aquired during the hospital service. A questionnaire was sent to all preregistration house officers who had recently completed their internship. 104 out of 133 responded (78%). Most of the house officers reported that they had received training and instruction in basic medical and surgical skills. However, more than 30% received no formal supervision in various emergency medical skills and the reported instruction in gynaecological skills was even worse. The female house officers were less likely than their male colleagues to report that they had attained various practical clinical skills. There was substantial variation in skills among respondents from different hospitals. Further studies into the quality of the preregistration internship, and the value of specific interventions, seem to be justified.

Clinical Competence↗
PubMed1995

Sodium-calcium relationships and cardiac function during coronary bolus perfusion.

The present review deals with the side-effects of contrast media (CM) on cardiac function during coronary angiography. A physiological approach is used to redefine existing concepts of CM osmotoxicity and chemotoxicity in terms of osmolal, ionic and molecular effects. The main idea conveyed is that purely ionic effects are of central importance during and immediately following the transit of a brief coronary bolus. Ionic effects result largely from rapid transient washout of normal extracellular ions, but are also influenced by ions present in the CM. In particular, the calcium (Ca) and sodium (Na) ions controlling cardiac function are easily affected. The myocardial Na-Ca exchange, which is mainly a physiological mechanism for cellular Ca efflux during cardiac relaxation, is therefore highlighted in detail. The importance of avoiding a potential Na-Ca mismatch is shown by examples from basic physiology, cardiac surgery and coronary angiography and by results of experiments with Visipaque. In the isomolal and isotonic CM Visipaque, which is based on the dimer isodixanol (320 mg I/ml), an available osmolal space is filled with an appropriately balanced supplement consisting of NaCl (19mM) and CaCl2 (0.3 mM).

Animals↗
PubMed1995

Brain weight and sudden infant death syndrome.

Increased brain weights have been reported in the literature to occur among infants who have died from sudden infant death syndrome, suggesting that cerebral edema might play a role in the cause of death among these children. We have compared brain weights from children between the ages of 1 week and 1 year, autopsied between 1980 and 1992. One group consisted of 125 victims of sudden infant death syndrome and the other of 38 children who had died with a diagnosis other than the sudden infant death syndrome. Brain weights from both groups exceeded the 50th percentile in previously published reference material. We were unable to show any significant differences between the groups in either the ratio between observed and expected brain weights or the ratio between brain weight and body weight. We conclude that there is no evidence for the notion that victims of sudden infant death syndrome have an increased brain weight. Other authors (in previous studies) may have overlooked the low overall weight at gestational age of prematurely born children while collecting data for reference levels. A revision of the figures seems to be necessary.

Anthropometry↗
PubMed1995

Chlamydia pneumoniae and chronic pharyngitis.

Chlamydia pneumoniae has been implicated as an etiological agent for both upper and lower respiratory tract infections. We describe 4 cases of chronic pharyngitis where Chlamydia pneumoniae appears to be the etiological agent. All the patients were non-smokers, and had symptoms of more than 6 months' duration. Disease symptoms seemed to resolve following appropriate antibiotic treatment.

Adult↗