A case of immunotherapy-responsive eastern equine encephalitis with diffusion-weighted imaging.
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Biomedical subjects
Publications and source records attributed to M L Durand.
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OBJECTIVES: To determine the rate of endophthalmitis in a group of patients with keratoprostheses and to analyze possible risk factors. METHODS: A total of 108 patient eyes, operated on between 1990 and 2000 with double-plated keratoprostheses, were analyzed with regard to the surface flora, the incidence and cause of bacterial endophthalmitis or sterile vitreitis, the keratoprosthesis design, prophylactic antibiotics, concomitant immunosuppression, and preoperative diagnosis. RESULTS: Surveillance cultures were obtained from 30 uninfected eyes. The flora was similar to that reported in the normal population and did not vary significantly with time. Thirteen cases of bacterial endophthalmitis occurred 2 to 46 months postoperatively in the patient population that had been followed up for 2 months to 17 years (average, 3 years 4 months). The incidence was 39% in 13 patients with Stevens-Johnson syndrome, 19% in 27 patients with ocular cicatricial pemphigoid, and 7% in 28 patients with ocular burns. Only 1 of the other 40 cases (consisting mostly of repeated graft failures in noncicatrizing conditions) developed endophthalmitis; this patient had a filtering bleb. All endophthalmitis pathogens were gram positive: Streptococcus pneumoniae, 23%; other streptococci, 39%; Staphylococcus aureus, 23%; and Staphylococcus epidermidis, 15%. CONCLUSIONS: The most important risk factor for endophthalmitis after these keratoprostheses was found to be preoperative diagnosis. The rate of infection was very high in Stevens-Johnson syndrome and ocular cicatricial pemphigoid, moderate in chemical burns, and low in noncicatrizing corneal disease.
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PURPOSE: To describe the clinical and laboratory features of infectious crystalline keratopathy and endophthalmitis secondary to Mycobacterium abscessus in a patient with Stevens-Johnson syndrome. METHOD: Case report. A 19-year-old man with a history of Stevens-Johnson syndrome and multiple corneal transplants developed white crystalline corneal infiltrates. RESULTS: Anterior chamber aspirate disclosed acid-fast bacilli. A repeat corneal transplant was performed and antibiotic therapy begun. Histopathology showed focal acute inflammation surrounding collections of acid-fast bacilli, which were speciated as M. abscessus. CONCLUSIONS: M. abscessus is a cause of infectious crystalline keratopathy and endophthalmitis. Risk factors include ocular surface disease, corneal transplantation, and immunosuppressive therapy.
The present study was undertaken to investigate the Ca2+ binding properties of sarcoplasmic reticulum Ca(2+)-ATPase after removal of the cytoplasmic regions by treatment with proteinase K. One of the proteolysis cleavage sites (at the end of M6) was found unexpectedly close to the predicted membrane-water interphase, but otherwise the cleavage pattern was consistent with the presence of 10 transmembrane ATPase segments. C-terminal membranous peptides containing the putative transmembrane segments M7 to M10 accumulated after prolonged proteolysis, as well as large water-soluble fragments containing most of the phosphorylation and ATP-binding domain. Ca2+ binding was intact after cleavage of the polypeptide chain in the N-terminal region, but cuts at other locations disrupted the high affinity binding and sequential dissociation properties characteristic of native sarcoplasmic reticulum, leaving the translocation sites with only weak affinity for Ca2+. High affinity Ca2+ binding could only be maintained when proteolysis and subsequent manipulations took place in the presence of a Ca2+ concentration high enough to ensure permanent occupation of the binding sites with Ca2+. We conclude that in the absence of Ca2+, the complex of membrane-spanning segments in proteolyzed Ca(2+)-ATPase is labile, probably because of relatively free movement or rearrangement of individual segments. Our study, which is discussed in relation to results obtained on Na+,K(+)-ATPase and H+,K(+)-ATPase, emphasizes the importance of the cytosolic segments of the main polypeptide chain in exerting constraints on the intramembranous domain of a P-type ATPase.
BACKGROUND AND METHODS: To characterize acute bacterial meningitis in adults, we reviewed the charts of all persons 16 years of age or older in whom acute bacterial meningitis was diagnosed at Massachusetts General Hospital from 1962 through 1988. We included patients who were admitted after initial treatment at other hospitals. RESULTS: During the 27-year period, 445 adults were treated for 493 episodes of acute bacterial meningitis, of which 197 (40 percent) were nosocomial. Gram-negative bacilli (other than Haemophilus influenzae) caused 33 percent of the nosocomial episodes but only 3 percent of the community-acquired episodes. In the 296 episodes of community-acquired meningitis, the most common pathogens were Streptococcus pneumoniae (37 percent), Neisseria meningitidis (13 percent), and Listeria monocytogenes (10 percent); these organisms accounted for only 8 percent of the nosocomial episodes. Only 19 of the 493 episodes of meningitis (4 percent) were due to H. influenzae. Nine percent of all patients had recurrent meningitis; many had a cerebrospinal fluid leak. Seizures occurred in 23 percent of patients with community-acquired meningitis, and 28 percent had focal central nervous system findings. Risk factors for death among those with single episodes of community-acquired meningitis included older age (> or = 60 years), obtunded mental state on admission, and seizures within the first 24 hours. Among those with single episodes, the in-hospital mortality rate was 25 percent for community-acquired and 35 percent for nosocomial meningitis. The overall case fatality rate was 25 percent and did not vary significantly over the 27 years. CONCLUSIONS: In our large urban hospital, a major proportion of cases of acute bacterial meningitis in adults were nosocomial. Recurrent episodes of meningitis were frequent. The overall mortality rate remained high.
A rare case of leiomyoblastoma developing in Meckel's diverticulum and revealed by massive rectorrhagia is reported. The characteristic clinicopathologic features of these tumors in their small intestine localization are described and the value of celiomesenteric arteriography emphasized for their topographic and even nosologic diagnosis.
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