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Biomedical subjects

G Rodríguez

Publications and source records attributed to G Rodríguez.

At least 73 records · Page 4Linked to original sources
PubMed1994

One year's experience with an acute pain service in a Spanish University Clinic hospital.

We describe the experience of the acute pain service of the University Hospital of Galicia, Spain since its inception. We have treated 1214 patients using either patient-controlled analgesia (PCA) with morphine (72%), or patient-controlled epidural analgesia with fentanyl + bupivacaine (22%). Three hundred and five patients had minor complications, mainly pruritus (35%) in patients with patient-controlled epidural analgesia. Three (0.33%) patients using PCA had respiratory depression treated with naloxone; no patient with patient-controlled epidural analgesia had respiratory depression. In our experience the creation of an acute pain service and the associated development of pain-treatment protocols and the training of hospital personnel produced excellent results.

Academic Medical Centers↗
PubMed1994

[Detection of anti-gonococcal antibodies using a dot immunobinding assay in a high risk female population].

The bacteriological diagnosis of gonorrhea in women has a low efficiency. A dot immunobinding assay, using whole piliated Neisseria gonorrhoeae cells, was used to detect antigonococcal antibodies in 300 prostitutes in whom a parallel Thayer-Martin culture of endocervical secretion was performed. Twenty sera from men with bacteriologically confirmed gonorrhoea were used as positive controls and 20 sera from children without history of gonococcal infections, as negative controls. Antibodies were detected in 49.7% of women and culture was positive in only one. All men with gonorrhea has positive titers and all sera from children were negative, except one that had a cross-reaction. Test sensitivity in the female population was 1 and specificity 0.5. There were no false negative reactions. Although the test detected antibodies in high risk women, there were cross-reactions. Therefore, the technique should be improved, using a more specific antigen.

Antibodies, Bacterial↗
PubMed1993

[Diagnosis of bacterial meningitis by latex agglutination tests].

Fifty samples of cerebrospinal fluid (CSF) from patients with acute bacterial meningitis were studied with direct gram examination, culture and latex agglutination. Twenty one of these samples had previous antimicrobial treatment. In 42 patients, blood cultures were also made. Thirty control CSF samples were also studied. The diagnostic yield of CSF culture was 72%, of direct gram examination 74% and latex agglutination 80%. All the techniques as a whole has a diagnostic yield of 92%. In the 21 CSF samples with previous antimicrobial treatment, culture was positive in 47.6% and latex agglutination in 85.7%. All control CSF samples were negative. It is concluded that the diagnostic yield of latex agglutination test in patients with previous antimicrobial treatment is significantly better than culture.

Acute Disease↗
PubMed1993

[Three years of acute bacterial meningitis in the pediatric service at the Temuco Regional Hospital].

The aim of this work was to study the clinical, epidemiological and laboratory features of 90 children, hospitalized between 1988 and 1991 with the diagnosis of acute bacterial meningitis in a region with a high proportion of aboriginal population. Twenty six percent of studied patients were of mapuche origin. The causative organism was identified in 82% of cases (H influenzae in 38% of cases, S pneumoniae in 29% and N meningitidis in 10%). H influenzae was resistant to ampicillin in 16% of cases and resistant to chloramphenicol in 4%. This agent was identified in 52% of patients of mapuche origin compared with 33% of non mapuche patients. Seventy three percent of children were less than 2 years old. Thirty seven percent of children had complications during hospitalization, 12 children died (13.3%) and 38% of children had neurological sequelae at the moment of discharge.

Acute Disease↗
PubMed1992

[Shigellosis in children of the IX region of Chile: clinical and epidemiologic aspects and antibiotic sensitivity].

Ninety four children with diarrhea and a positive stool culture for Shigella, hospitalized at the Hospital Regional de Temuco, were studied. Forty six percent of patients were less than two years old. Forty two percent of microorganisms were resistant to Ampicillin, 45% to trimethoprim/sulfamethoxazole, 8% to tetracycline and none to chloramphenicol. Isolated species were Shigella flexneri 83% and Shigella sonnei 17%. Seventy nine percent of patients had fever, 60% dysentery and 21.3% seizures. Ninety two percent of symptomatic family contacts had a positive stool culture for Shigella. Due to the high incidence of resistance to ampicillin and trimethoprim/sulfamethoxazole, these antimicrobials are not recommended as the first choice treatment of Shigellosis in the Ninth region of Chile.

Chile↗
PubMed1992

Attitudes and knowledge toward bicycle helmet by school age children.

Approximately 600 children under the age of 15 years, die each year in bicycle-related accidents. Over 80% of these deaths involve trauma to the head. Almost one fourth of all significant brain injuries in children are bicycle related. In spite of these significant statistics, bicycle helmet use in Puerto Rico has not received the necessary publicity to increase their use. Pediatricians should encourage helmet use and counsel parents about the important of this device. A case control study of accidents among bicycle riders experiencing a crash demonstrates that safety helmets reduce the risk of head injury by 85% and brain injury by 88%. The recommendation of current safety counseling practices should be incorporated as part of the routine pediatrician visit. Educational campaigns targeted at parents and children focusing on the incidence of consequences of bicycle crashes should be the primary goal for all primary practitioners, since the effectiveness of helmets in preventing head injuries might substantially increase helmet ownership among children. To assess the prevalence of bicycle helmet ownership and the associated factors with this, we surveyed 146 school age children evaluated at the Pediatrics Clinics of the University Hospital Dr. Ramón Ruiz Arnau from January to March 1991. We concluded that only 7.5% of our sample use the helmets.

Accidents, Traffic↗
PubMed1992

[Pattern of vascular aging of the postmenopausal ovary].

It has been established that the blood vessels during post-menopause show progressive changes that consist in thickening of the vascular wall with the corresponding diminution of the lumen, but the material where such thickening takes place, is unknown, so 70 ovaries, 35 of them post-menopausal and 35 of reproductive cycle, were analyzed histologically and by special staining techniques. In the post-menopausal ovary it was found that the arteries, veins and arterioles had a lumen diminution to 88.5%; 94.2% had a thickened wall from glucogen and collagen which was increased in 65.7% of the cases; besides, elastic fibers of blood vessels were duplicated in 52.9% of post-menopausal ovaries. This confirms our hypothesis in that vascular aging in the post-menopausal ovary, includes the thickening of blood vessels from glucogen and collagen stores, so as a consequence a diminished lumen, is observed.

Aging↗
PubMed1991

[Early puerperium rooming-in: an alternative of optimization of maternal-child care].

The observation that in Chilean Maternities, newborn infants are separated from their mothers during their first hours of life, originated this experience, destined to strengthen the early and permanent mother-infant bonding, where both of them were attended by the same assistant nurse, in a joined observation room. The influence of this method on the neonatal cardiorespiratory adaptation, as well as the initial moment of the lactation, was evaluated. In three groups of healthy newborn infants, full term newborn infants appropriate for gestational age (250), full term newborn infants small for gestational age (94) and preterm newborn infants (38), both vital signs and the initial moment of lactation were registered, during the first hours of life, period in which they remained with their mothers. Cardiac and respiratory frequency remained constant and temperature regulation was reached from the first hour of life. No significant constant differences were observed between groups in relation with the clinical parameters studied. The 77.7% of the children began their lactation in this period. Finally, the advantage of a whole nursing attendance and with a lesser demand of personal is emphasized.

Body Temperature Regulation↗
PubMed1990

[Immunofluorescence in the diagnosis of acute bacterial meningitis].

We evaluated immunofluorescence techniques to investigate the presence of S pneumoniae, N meningitidis, H influenzae types a and b and L monocytogenes in 85 samples of CSF fluid: 60 were taken from patients suffering meningitis and 25 from a control group. Results were compared to conventional bacteriologic methods. There were no false positive results in the control group. In patients with meningitis, 28 were positive by both methods. Nine additional patients were positive only to immunofluorescence which allowed identification of S pneumoniae in 6, N meningitidis in 2 and H influenzae in 1. 37 samples were positive by immunofluorescence and 28 of them were positive to conventional bacteriology. There was only 1 case of Group B streptococcus identified by bacteriology which was not diagnosed by immunofluorescence. Thus, immunofluorescence increases the ability to make a bacteriologic diagnosis in patients with meningitis.

Acute Disease↗
PubMed1989

Kaposi's sarcoma in Colombia.

Seventy-nine cases of Kaposi's sarcoma (KS), which correspond to one of every 1,000 malignant tumors, were reviewed at the National Institute of Cancer (NIC), Bogotá, Colombia, from 1935 to 1985. Seventy-four percent of the patients were older than 65 years of age. The male to female ratio was 8:1. In all cases, plaques and nodules first appeared in the lower limbs; they were symmetrical in 47% of the cases and ulcerated in 25%. No generalized or epidemic forms were seen. Esophageal squamous cell carcinoma concurrent with KS was observed in one case. KS developed several years after treatment for follicular lymphoma and chronic lymphocytic leukemia in two patients. An angiosarcomatous variant and one fibrosarcomatous change were seen. Ten cases studied for factor VIII expression through the peroxidase-antiperoxidase (PAP) technique were all reactive. We conclude that in Colombia before 1985, KS behaved as a chronic multicentric Stage I disease without a tendency to associate simultaneously with malignant conditions.

Adult↗
PubMed1988

Frequency of gallbladder cancer in Chile, a high-risk area.

We report an autopsy study of gallbladder cancer prevalence in Chile, where the risk of this disease is among the highest reported world-wide. In 14,768 autopsy protocols obtained from 3 university hospitals, 45% of women and 20% of men older than 20 years had gallstone disease (the major known risk factor for gallbladder cancer). The prevalence of gallbladder cancer in Chileans was compared to that found in a Swedish-Czechoslovakian autopsy study previously published. These countries were chosen because of their high frequency of gallstone disease. The comparison was performed by using logistic regression models adjusting for possible differences in the age-sex structure or the true incidence of gallstones in both populations. We found that the most important single risk factor for gallbladder cancer in Chile was gallstone disease, with an estimated effect on the logistic scale meaning that the cancer risk for subjects with gallstones is seven times higher than for those without the disease. Second in importance was the risk for sex, women being 2.8 times higher than for men. The estimated difference in the sex composition and the incidence of gallstones resulted in 17.9% higher odds of cancer in Chile than in Sweden and Czechoslovakia. However, this difference was not significant. This study suggests that the major etiologic factors of gallbladder cancer in Chileans, Swedes and Czechoslovakians are primarily related to gallstone disease.

Adult↗
PubMed1988

Lactational amenorrhea and the recovery of ovulation and fertility in fully nursing Chilean women.

The probability of experiencing the first postpartum bleeding, the first ovulation and the risk of pregnancy during exclusive breastfeeding was assessed in a selected group of urban Chilean women. Admission criteria included having had a normal pregnancy and a vaginal term delivery of a healthy infant and the desire to maintain breastfeeding for as long as possible. The risk of bleeding and the recovery of ovulation was assessed in 48 women selected for being amenorrheic and fully nursing at day 75 postpartum and their willingness to participate in the blood sampling protocol. The first bleeding and ovulation was experienced while fully nursing by 28% and 26% of these subjects, respectively, at day 180 postpartum. The probability of experiencing the first bleeding and the probability of pregnancy during full nursing were calculated for 236 women not contracepting who were enrolled during the first month postpartum. The cumulative probability of bleeding and of pregnancy was 52% and 9.4% at day 180 postpartum, respectively. The risk of pregnancy was less than 2% in the subset of amenorrheic cases. In this urban population selected for having the highest motivation and best breastfeeding performance, the association of breastfeeding with infertility was too weak to serve as an effective birth spacer, except for the period of lactational amenorrhea. When the first postpartum bleeding took place before the sixth postpartum month in fully nursing women, it had a good predictive value to indicate the onset of a higher risk period.

Actuarial Analysis↗
PubMed1988

Breastfeeding pattern and the duration of lactational amenorrhea in urban Chilean women.

The influence of the breastfeeding pattern and several clinical variables upon the duration of postpartum amenorrhea was assessed in a group of healthy women selected for having had a normal pregnancy and delivery and being highly motivated for prolonged breastfeeding on demand. 676 women who were fully nursing at the second month postpartum entered the study. Supplements were administered to 11% and 48% of the infants by the end of the 3rd and 6th month, respectively. The first bleeding was experienced before the end of the sixth month postpartum by 57% of the cases. Supplementation had a strong negative influence while nursing frequency had a significant positive influence upon the length of amenorrhea. Notwithstanding, a frequency of 8+ suckling episodes per 24 h could not maintain amenorrhea in around half of the subjects. Age and parity had a moderate negative influence upon the risk of experiencing the first postpartum bleeding. Maternal weight and ponderal index, infant sex, birth weight and growth rate showed no significant influence upon the length of amenorrhea. In this urban population selected for having the highest motivation and best breastfeeding performance, the association of breastfeeding with amenorrhea was weak in comparison with what has been described for other populations. The risk of experiencing the first bleeding was reduced while fully breastfeeding with a high number of nursing episodes per day and night, particularly in older women with higher parity. But even in such situation 25% and 50% of the women had started to cycle by the end of the fifth and eight postpartum month.

Adult↗