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Biomedical subjects

J Prather

Publications and source records attributed to J Prather.

12 recordsLinked to original sources
PubMed1998

Vernix caseosa peritonitis as a rare complication of cesarean section. A case report.

BACKGROUND: Vernix caseosa peritonitis is a rare complication of cesarean section with distinctive histopathologic findings. CASE: Vernix caseosa peritonitis occurred in a 28-year-old, pregnant woman following emergency cesarean section. Exploratory laparotomy revealed right subphrenic and perihepatic fluid collections with multiple small abdominal abscesses. Cytopathologic examination of the peritoneal lavage specimen showed a purulent inflammatory exudate admixed with occasional squamous debris, portions of hair shafts, meconium pigment, and foamy and multinucleated giant cells. During hospitalization the patient had developed Clostridium perfringens acute endometritis, presumably due to aggressive treatment with broad-spectrum antibiotics. CONCLUSION: Pathologists are in a unique position to make the correct diagnosis in an otherwise-ambiguous clinical presentation because of the distinctive histopathologic and cytopathologic findings of this entity. Computed tomography-guided fine needle aspiration cytologic evaluation can be diagnostic in such cases.

Adult↗
PubMed1997

A collaborative international nursing informatics research project: predicting ARDS risk in critically ill patients.

An international nursing informatics research collaboration between Duke University Medical Center in Durham, North Carolina, USA and Allgemeine Krankenhaus Hospital in Vienna, Austria used data mining techniques called Knowledge Discovery in Databases (KDD) to explore the relationship between clinical data variables and adult respiratory distress syndrome (ARDS) in critically ill patients. Results of the study and logistics of international research collaboration will be presented at NI '97. The conceptual model, data mining methodology, and objectives for the collaboration are described here.

Austria↗
PubMed1997

Data mining issues for improved birth outcomes.

Issues obstructing progress in data mining for improved health outcomes include data quality problems, data redundancy, data inconsistency, repeated measures, temporal (time-contextual) measures, and data volume. Related issues involve theoretical and technical problems involving uncertainty management, missing data and missing values, and matching appropriate data mining techniques to patient data sets. Results of data mining research in progress are reported for Duke University's perinatal database that contains nearly a decade of clinical patient data, 71,753 database (patient) records and 4-5000 variables per patient.

Artificial Intelligence↗
PubMed1996

Sensory cues for the gradual frequency fall responses of the gymnotiform electric fish, Rhamphichthys rostratus.

The sensory cues for a less known form of frequency shifting behavior, gradual frequency falls, of electric organ discharges (EODs) in a pulse-type gymnotiform electric fish, Rhamphichthys rostratus, were identified. We found that the gradual frequency fall occurs independently of more commonly observed momentary phase shifting behavior, and is due to perturbation of sensory feedback of the fish's own EODs by EODs of neighboring fish. The following components were identified as essential features in the signal mixture of the fish's own and the neighbor's EOD pulses: (1) the neighbor's pulses must be placed within a few millisecond of the fish's own pulses, (2) the neighbor's pulses, presented singly at low frequencies (0.2-4 Hz), were sufficient, (3) the frequency of individual pulse presentation must be below 4 Hz, (4) amplitude modulation of the sensory feedback of the fish's own pulses induced by such insertions of the neighbor's pulses must contain a high frequency component: sinusoidal amplitude modulation of the fish's own EOD feedback at these low frequencies does not induce gradual frequency falls. Differential stimulation across body surfaces, which is required for the jamming avoidance response (JAR) of wave-type gymnotiform electric fish, was not necessary for this behavior. We propose a cascade of high-pass and low-pass frequency filters within the amplitude processing pathway in the central nervous system as the mechanism of the gradual frequency fall response.

Animals↗
PubMed1992

The morbidity associated with fifty maxillary fractures treated by closed reduction.

Fifty patients with maxillary fractures treated by closed reduction over an 85 month period at a Level I trauma center were reviewed. Thirty patients (60%) experienced forty-one midfacial complications. The most frequent problems were infraorbital nerve paresthesia (12), enophthalmus (5), septal deviation (3), and altered vision (3). No relationship could be established between complications and age, sex, cause of injury, or the method of suspension used. Most complications were related to concomitant injury or the concurrent management of fractures of other facial bones. Only eight problems (16%) were directly attributed to the closed reduction of maxillary fractures. Patients treated by closed reduction and maxillomandibular fixation without suspension experienced no surgical complications.

Adolescent↗
PubMed1990

An epidemiologic survey of facial fractures and concomitant injuries.

A 5-year review of facial fractures and concomitant injuries at a level 1 trauma center is presented. The anatomic location of the facial fractures, age and sex of the patients, cause of injury, and associated systems injuries are presented. The majority of facial fractures were found in males; the most prevalent age range was 16 to 30 years. Mandible fractures outranked zygomatic and maxillary fractures (6:2:1). Assaults and motor vehicle accidents were the most frequent causes of facial fractures, and lacerations followed by neurologic and orthopedic injury were the most frequently encountered concomitant injuries. Motor vehicle accidents were the most frequent cause of associated injury.

Accidents, Occupational↗
PubMed1976

99MTc-diphosphonate uptake in neuroblastoma.

Marked uptake of 99mTc-diphosphonate was noted in an extraadrenal neuroblastoma. Calcification was not demonstrable on radiographic or light microscopic examination, nor was crystalline material identified on electron microscopic examination; capillaries in the lesion appeared to be intact. Similar uptake of phosphate radiopharmaceuticals by a variety of lesions has been reported, and possible mechanisms for this phenomenon are discussed.

Abdominal Neoplasms↗