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Biomedical subjects

J G Conde

Publications and source records attributed to J G Conde.

7 recordsLinked to original sources

[The sociodemographic profile and physical growth patterns of pediatric patients with the acquired immunodeficiency syndrome followed at the San Juan City Hospital: 1986-1990].

Between September 1989 and August 1990, Puerto Rico was ranked third in the number of pediatric AIDS cases in the United States. The highest number of pediatric AIDS cases has been identified in high risk metropolitan areas. AIDS usually affects children of mothers with history of intravenous drug user. This work attempts to describe the sociodemographic profile and physical growth pattern of the pediatric aids cases followed at the San Juan Aids Institute between the years 1986 and 1990. The sample consist of 40 living patients diagnosed as AIDS cases. Ninety percent of the cases acquired the disease by perinatal transmission. Intravenous drug use by the mother was the most common risk factor identified (67.5% of the cases). Forty two percent of the mothers were not legally married. Seventy percent of the children were born after the 38th week of gestation with an average weight of 2,954 grams and average height of 50.9 centimeters. Upon classification in any P2 categories (according to CDC criteria for children under 13 years of age), 67.7% of the cases were below the 50th. percentile of weight and 86.9% of the cases were below the 50th. percentile of height.

Acquired Immunodeficiency Syndrome

Differences in patient mix: a partial explantation for the excessive Medicare mortality observed in some Puerto Rican hospitals.

Data from a census in a Puerto Rican community were used to retrospectively compare patients admitted to government hospitals in terms of demographic variables, mental status and functional status in the community prior to admission. A total of 268 patients admitted to a hospital at least once during the study period were identified. Patients admitted to government hospitals were poorer, less educated, less functional and had a higher level of mental impairment. However, in comparison to private hospitals, stratified analysis showed consistently higher in-hospital mortality rates among patients admitted to government hospitals when other variables were taken into account.

Age Factors

Increased alanine aminotransferase (ALT-SGPT) activity in Puerto Rican blood donors.

Data was obtained from 4189 volunteer blood donation records in two hospital-based blood banks in Puerto Rico to determine whether Hispanics have higher serum alanine aminotransferase (ALT-SGPT) activity than donors from other racial-ethnic groups. The overall mean value of ALT-SGPT in the study population was 36.84 u/l (range 1-910, standard deviation 37.8). When the logarithm of ALT-SGPT (log ALT) was calculated for all subjects, the overall, mean for log ALT was 1.47 (range 1-2.96, standard deviation 0.27). Analysis of each blood bank's donation records at two different time periods showed a consistently high ALT-SGPT activity even when donations positive for hepatitis B surface antigen or other serologic markers were excluded. Though the causal factor of this finding is not clear, non-infectious environmental such as alcohol consumption should be considered as a probable explanation.

Alanine Transaminase

[The aging person in Gurabo: a bio-psychosocial profile of the aging person in a community in Puerto Rico].

The Department of Family Medicine of the University of Puerto Rico Medicine School performed a census of the inhabitants 60 years and older in the community of Gurabo. A total of 1,890 elderly were interviewed 51% were female and 49% male. Sixty percent were married and twenty-five percent were widowed. Eighty two percent still lived within a family setting and only seventeen percent lived alone 86% owned their own home despite ninety percent reporting incomes below $400.00 per month. Ninety five percent have access to medical services but 63% receive services in multiples sites. Eighteen percent were functionally impaired, fourteen percent intellectually impaired and five percent had impairment in both areas. Preliminary data show that the latter group had an annual mortality rate of 15% compared to only 3.6% and 1.3% respectively in the other two group. We concluded that: 1) functional and mental impairment are indicators of increased mortality. 2) although access to health care is not a problem this health care is episodic and interrupted being provided in multiple different sites.

Aged

An outbreak of acute infectious nonbacterial gastroenteritis in a high school in Maryland.

An outbreak of acute infectious nonbacterial gastroenteritis (AING) occurred in a high school in Maryland in 1984. Thirty-six percent of students surveyed met the case definition of gastroenteritis, as did 24 percent of school employees. Eating lunch in the cafeteria on January 30 was significantly associated with illness. After controlling for other food items consumed during the January 30 lunch, only the sandwiches were significantly associated with illness, but the source of the contamination was not identified. Four of 17 serum pairs from sick students and none of the 8 serum pairs from exposed controls (a nonsignificant difference) showed at least a 4-fold rise in antibody titre to Norwalk virus between acute- and convalescent-phase specimens. This outbreak of AING is believed to be the first to implicate epidemiologically sandwiches as vehicles of transmission. The outbreak highlights the need for investigators to look for a viral etiology in gastroenteritis outbreaks.

Adolescent