PubMed HealthSearch

Biomedical subjects

M M Jordan

Publications and source records attributed to M M Jordan.

7 recordsLinked to original sources

Significance of false-positive serologic tests for histoplasmosis and blastomycosis in an endemic area.

False-positive serologic tests for histoplasmosis (H) and blastomycosis (B) are common in populations from endemic areas. In order to determine the significance of false-positive test results, we reviewed the final diagnoses of all patients whose sera were submitted to our laboratory for radioimmunoassay (RIA) and immunodiffusion (ID) during a 3-yr period. Of the 263 patients whose sera were examined, 29 (11%) had H or B; 41 (17.5%) of the remaining 234 patients had false-positive test results. Of these 41 patients, 31 were positive for H alone, and 10 had antibodies to both H and B. All three patients with false-positive ID tests for histoplasmosis also had positive titers (greater than or equal to 1:16) on RIA. No patient had a false-positive ID result for blastomycosis. The percentage of patients in each of five major diagnostic categories with and without false-positive serologic tests was similar (p greater than 0.05). The majority of patients had pulmonary infections, almost half of which were granulomatous infections other than H or B; this reflects the clinical indications for requesting fungal serologic tests. A positive fungal serology is not useful in suggesting the presence of a pulmonary disease other than H or B in patients from an endemic area suspected of having a pulmonary mycosis.

Blastomycosis

Pressure sores.

Explore the source record for details and available documents.

Adolescent

Incidence of pressure-sores in the Greater Glasgow Health Board area.

A survey was made by questionnaire of the prevalence and severity of pressure-sores on a given date among all hospital inpatients and all patients visited by a district nurse within the Greater Glasgow Health Board area. 8.8% of patients had a pressure-sore. Those aged 70 and over accounted for 70% of the patients with sores. Chairfast patients consistently had a higher pressure-sore frequency than bedfast patients of a similar degree of helplessness.

Adolescent

Oedema of the umbilical cord and respiratory distress in the newborn.

Oedema of the umbilical cord, defined as visible oedema in a cord wish a minimal cross sectional area of 1-3 cm-2, is found in 10 per cent of deliverieo. It is seen more frequently in cetain complications of pregnancy such as abrupti placentage, maternal diabetes, macerated intrauterine death and in conditions affectint the infant including prematurity, rhesus isoimmunization, respiratory distress syndrome (RDS) and transient respiratory distress (TRD). There is a higher incidence in infants delivered by Caesarean section. There is no significant association between cord oedema and either fetal distress or neonatal asphyxia nor is there any correlation with maternal hypertension or oedema. The mechanism of production of the odema is discussed; low oncotic pressure, raised hydrostatic pressure in the placenta and umbilical cord, and an increase in total water in the feto-placental unit are considered. The presence of oedema of the cord may reflect similar changes in the lungs which antenatally predispose aninfant whose pathway for production of surfactant is immature to develop RDS and the mature infant to develop TRD. The value of cord oedema as a warning sign is stressed.

Abruptio Placentae

Brain water alterations after unilateral nephrectomy. A study of regional circulatory factors in squirrel monkeys.

White and regional gray matter distributions of water, blood flow, and the protein tracer pertechnetate were measured in five normal squirrel monkeys. A second group of five monkeys, which had undergone unilateral nephrectomy six months previously, were found at the time of study to have blood pressures similar to those of the control animals but increased brain water and altered distribution of blood flow which was increased in white matter. No alteration of capillary permeability to the protein traces attended these changes, which appeared to be influenced by blood pressure. Nephrectomy without hypertension influences brain water content, perhaps because of an effect on cerebral resistance vessels. In hypertensive encephalopathy renal lesions, as well as intraluminal pressure changes, may be related to cerebral edema.

Animals

Human-computer interaction and expert systems for three-dimensional studies of biomedical images.

Three-dimensional reconstruction of serial sections, observed by microscopy, is an important technique in medicine and biology. To view any part of a structure clearly, that part has to be identified and clearly highlighted in its relationship to other features in a structure. The identification process can be time consuming and tedious if many sections are involved, especially for routine applications, since human identification is required. In this paper we describe how image processing, together with other information on the shape and position of features relative to each other on any one section and throughout the structure, could be incorporated into an expert system and we also show how such a system could be designed. An important feature is the use of human-computer interaction to allow the system to evolve under the guidance of the biological or medical expert. An example of feature identification in a plant-parasitic nematode is used.

Animals