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Biomedical subjects

P Nicholas

Publications and source records attributed to P Nicholas.

At least 37 records · Page 2Linked to original sources

Opportunistic infection in previously healthy women. Initial manifestations of a community-acquired cellular immunodeficiency.

Opportunistic infections and unusual tumors have been reported in an unprecedented outbreak of community-acquired cellular immune deficiency among homosexual and drug-abusing men. We report five women with the same syndrome. The women were residents of metropolitan New York City closely associated with drug abuse either by personal use (our patients) or close sexual contact with an abuser (one patient). One patient was bisexual. All five patients developed Pneumocystis carinii pneumonia as well as combinations of other opportunistic infections including oral candida, disseminated mycobacteria, and ulcerative herpes simplex infections. All patients had marked depression of cellular immune function. Three patients died. The appearance of this syndrome in women has important implications with regard to the epidemiology and etiology of this emerging syndrome.

Acquired Immunodeficiency Syndrome↗

Mycobacterium avium-intracellulare: a cause of disseminated life-threatening infection in homosexuals and drug abusers.

Five men developed disseminated infection with Mycobacterium avium-intracellulare. These patients all lived in the New York City area and presented with their illnesses between January 1981 and September 1981; four were homosexual and one was an intravenous drug abuser. Four patients died. All five patients had defects in the cell-mediated immune response. The infections were characterized histopathologically by poor or absent granulomatous tissue reaction. Clinical isolates of M. avium-intracellulare from all five patients agglutinated commonly used antimycobacterial drugs. The spectrum of opportunistic infections among populations of homosexuals and drug abusers should be expanded to include disseminated disease due to M. avium-intracellulare.

Adult↗

Pseudobacteremia attributed to contamination of povidone-iodine with Pseudomonas cepacia.

Pseudomonas cepacia was recovered from the blood cultures of 52 patients in four hospitals in New York over 6 months from April through October 1980. Epidemiologic investigation in one hospital indicated that the positive results of blood culture represented pseudobacteremias and implicated a 10% povidone-iodine solution used as an antiseptic and disinfectant (Pharmadine; Sherwood Pharmaceutical Company, Mahwah, New Jersey) as the source of contamination. Physicians who drew blood cultures positive for P. cepacia were more likely to have left povidone-iodine on the skin before venipuncture (p = 0.026) and were more likely to have applied povidone-iodine to the blood culture bottle tops and to have left it there while inoculating the blood culture media (p = 0.007) than those who drew cultures negative for P. cepacia. Direct inoculation of Pharmadine into brain-heart infusion broth yielded P. cepacia; however, 2 weeks after the first cultures, the same Pharmadine bottles were culture negative. The iodine concentrations of the contaminated Pharmadine solutions were similar to those of 10% povidone-iodine solutions distributed by other manufacturers.

Blood Specimen Collection↗

'Normal' CSF in bacterial meningitis.

Cerebrospinal fluid with a normal cell count, glucose and protein values, and a negative Gram's stain smear is usually assumed to exclude the possibility of meningitis. We describe four patients and review from literature 19 patients with pyogenic meningitis in whom the CSF initially appeared normal. Thus, finding minimal or no initial CSF abnormality is consistent with early or developing bacterial meningitis. Repeated lumbar puncture and CSF examination within 24 hours should be considered in all febrile patients in whom the clinical features remain compatible with meningitis.

Adult↗

Concentration of clindamycin in human bone.

Thirty patients undergoing total hip replacement received clindamycin beginning the day before surgery. Mean clindamycin concentrations during surgery were 7.33 +/- 3.37 mug/ml in serum and 2.63 +/- 1.76 mug/g in bone; mean ratio of bone-serum concentration was 0.40 +/- 0.30.

Adult↗

Cephanone: in vitro antibacterial activity and pharmacology in normal human volunteers.

Cephanone, a new 3-heterocyclic-thiomethyl cephalosporin antibiotic, was found to have an antibacterial spectrum similar to that of cephalothin. The compound was active in vitro against a variety of gram-positive and gram-negative bacteria. All strains of Staphylococcus aureus tested were inhibited by concentrations of 6.2 mug or less of cephanone per ml. Beta-hemolytic group A streptococci and pneumococci were exquisitely sensitive. Among strains of Escherichia coli and Klebsiella sp., 83 and 82%, respectively, were inhibited by 3.1 mug or less of cephanone per ml. Excellent serum concentrations of the antibiotic were obtained after parenteral administration. Peak concentrations of 38 and 81.2 mug/ml were achieved in the serum after intramuscular and intravenous doses of 1 g of cephanone, respectively. The serum concentrations of cephanone fell gradually during the 12 hr after administration. Very high concentrations of cephanone were found in the urine.

Adult↗