Biomedical subjects
Publications and source records attributed to R Lindqvist.
This report describes a method for the construction of a mimic molecule for monitoring PCR. A blue cheese homogenate spiked with Yersinia enterocolitica was used to demonstrate how false-negative PCR results may be avoided using the mimic. Further, the possibility of estimating bacterial numbers using the mimic was illustrated by varying the target concentration.
A consecutive series of hemodialysis (HD) patients (n = 30) was included in a descriptive-comparative design. The aim was to study coping strategies and quality of life compared to a group of patients on continuous ambulatory peritoneal dialysis (CAPD). Coping was measured on the Jalowiec Coping Scale. Quality of life was measured by the Swedish Health-Related Quality of Life Survey (SWED-QUAL). An optimistic coping style was the most widely adopted by men and women in both groups, and this style was also considered to be the most effective in terms of dealing with stressful treatment aspects. The HD sample used more evasive coping strategies than the CAPD sample. Compared to a sample from the general population, HD patients had lower values on all SWED-QUAL subscales. Further, the CAPD women scored lower on general health than did the HD women. Significant gender differences were found in that men in both samples regarded themselves as better able to cope with physical aspects of the illness. Women in both samples scored lower on general health. It seems important to identify patients who use emotive, evasive and palliative coping techniques extensively, because they seem to be less effective at handling their illnesses.
A sample treatment method based on buoyant density centrifugation which separates bacteria from food, concentrates bacteria and removes PCR inhibitors is described. The method involves a one minute centrifugation of food homogenate layered over a gradient medium (Percoll or BacXtractorTM) in Eppendorf tubes, followed by a single wash step. The small scale of this treatment makes it possible to process many samples in a short time. To evaluate the method beef and minced beef samples, spiked with strains of Escherichia coli O157:H7, were treated and then analysed by PCR aimed at verocytotoxin- (VT1 and VT2) and eae-genes. The detection limits in 1:10 (w/v) beef and minced beef homogenates were 125-250 cfu ml-1 (1250-2500 cfu g-1) and 1000 cfu ml-1 (1 x 10(4) cfu g-1), respectively. The enrichment of spiked samples in buffered peptone water at 37 degrees C for 6 hours before buoyant density centrifugation and PCR, allowed 0.5 cfu g-1 beef and 5 cfu g-1 minced beef to be detected. This combination of enrichment and buoyant density centrifugation was also used for analysis of 43 beef samples from a consignment in which E. coli O157:H7 had been detected, and detected VT-genes in all 43 samples. E. coli O157:H7 was also separated and detected in spiked samples of milk, lettuce, shrimps, and blue cheese at arbitrary concentrations of 3000 cfu ml-1. The present sample preparation method has the potential to be applicable to many other combinations of bacteria and food, and in connection with other detection methods than PCR as well.
The use of buoyant density centrifugation (BDC) to prepare samples for PCR analysis of food pathogens is described. Blue cheese and milk homogenates were inoculated with Shigella flexneri and layered on top of Percoll media. After BDC, the food homogenates remained in the upper part of the centrifuge tube, separated from the bacteria, which retained viability and were concentrated below the lighter Percoll layer. PCR inhibitors stayed in the homogenate and PCR analyses of treated samples consistently detected 10(4) cfu g-1 of blue cheese and 500 cfu ml-1 of milk, respectively. Differences in the density of live and killed Sh. flexneri and Yersinia enterocolitica were detected by BDC but were dependent on the mechanism of killing.
During the last ten years, the inclusion of education in health information systems has assumed an important role in graduate programs for health professionals. More recently, attention has focused on undergraduate programs. Throughout the world schools of nursing, organisations and associations are addressing the issue of educational offerings in nursing informatics. This paper reports on the status of nursing informatics at undergraduate level. Nurse academics from Gävle and Lund in Sweden, and from Melbourne and Sydney in Australia, took part in a survey of the respective nursing courses. The purpose of the study was to identify and describe examples of types of nursing informatics courses in Australia and Sweden. A convenient sample of academics were approached and interviewed. The results of the survey illustrate, in the schools surveyed, the slow emergence of nursing informatics into nursing curricula.
Japanese B encephalitis is a disease with high mortality and many of those surviving suffer from serious sequelae. During the 1992 epidemic in northern Vietnam 50 patients treated at the Institute for Protection of Children's Health in Hanoi were studied concerning the type of sequelae and the development of the symptoms during the first two months of the disease. The age span was 1 to 15 years. 29 of the patients (58%) did not recover fully during the observation period. Fifteen (30%) showed signs of both neurological and mental disturbances. Nine (18%) only had mental symptoms while 5 (20%) suffered from isolated neurological sequelae. EEG was pathological in 9 out of 30 tested cases (30%); 9 of 23 patients (39%) performed subnormal IQ tests. Deep coma, bronchopneumonia with cyanosis, apnea attacks, prolonged fever and coma were all correlated (without statistical significance) to a higher risk for subsequent sequelae.
The potential for enhanced mobility of hydrophobic pollutants by cotransport with bacteria in saturated soils was evaluated from measurements of biosorption of 14C-labeled hexachlorobenzene and dichlorodiphenyltrichloroethane (DDT) to five strains of soil and sewage bacteria. The sorption process could be described by a linear partition equation and appeared to be reversible, but desorption kinetics were slow and/or partly irreversible. The DDT partition coefficients varied with equilibration time, possibly reflecting DDT-induced changes in the physiology of the bacteria. The partition coefficients, normalized to the masses of the bacteria, ranged from 250 to 14,000 for live cells, but the largest coefficients were associated with autoclaved cells of a Pseudomonas sp. The sorptive capacity of the bacterial biomass was greater for DDT than for hexachlorobenzene but was not correlated to overall bacterial hydrophobicity, measured by hydrophobic interaction chromatography. In a column study, 1.2 x 10(9) cells of a Bacillus sp. strain per ml enhanced DDT transport about 8-fold, whereas an advective-dispersive-sorptive equilibrium model for two mobile phases, water and free-living bacteria, suggested a 14-fold enhancement, based on the DDT partition coefficient. The disagreement was in part due to a retarded nonequilibrium movement of the bacteria. Model calculations based on literature data covering a wide range of organisms and compounds suggested that 10(6) cells ml-1 would increase the mobility of very hydrophobic compounds (log octanol-water partition coefficient [K(ow) of greater than or equal to 6), whereas higher densities of bacteria (10(8) cells ml-1) would have a significant impact on compounds with a log K(ow) of greater than or equal to 4.(ABSTRACT TRUNCATED AT 250 WORDS)
Smoking habits of pregnant women and their partners at three health centres in Stockholm, Sweden, were monitored by a postal questionnaire. Of 582 women enlisted at the antenatal clinics, 433 (74%) were included. 253 (58%) women and 230 (53%) partners responded. 30% of the women were smokers at the start of pregnancy, compared with 27% of the men. During pregnancy 18% continued to smoke, and after the birth of the child 21% were smokers. The male partners stopped or decreased smoking less often. Fewer women aged 25 or more were smokers. The number of heavy smokers decreased considerably during and after pregnancy. The women were more prone to stop smoking if the partner was a non-smoker. 87% made some restriction in their smoking habits after the baby was born.
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The present study was a pilot project to determine the feasibility of a stress management program for treatment of hypertension in the Swedish primary health care system. Those patients in the catchment area of the primary health care center at Tumba hospital who were under 45 years old and diagnosed with primary hypertension during 1979-1981, were chosen to participate if they had had at least one measurement of 150 mmHg systolic and/or 95 mmHg diastolic during 1981. Patients on diuretic medication were included but those being medicated with beta-blockers were excluded for ethical reasons. Of the 21 people who fulfilled these criteria, 13 took part in the treatment, which lasted ten weeks. Both systolic and diastolic blood pressure decreased significantly (151.1 to 124.7 and 96.4 to 89.3, respectively). The conclusions drawn were that stress management may offer a viable alternative to medication of mild hypertension in primary health care and that it should be tested on a larger scale with systematic blood pressure measurements performed during daily activities, serving as a basis for baseline determination.
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The ultrasound method for detection of deep vein thrombosis (DVT) of the leg has been used in a study comprising 47 patients. This method was compared in the same group with a clinical evaluation and was controlled by venography. Clinical evaluation gave a correct diagnosis in 28 (59.6%) of 47 patients, false positive or false negative in 19 (40.4%). With the ultrasound method, the correct diagnosis was made in 41 (87.2%) of 47 patients, false positive in 3 (6.4%) and false negative in 3 (6.4%). No cases were missed of thrombosis situated proximal to the popliteal vein. The method was less accurate in cases of thrombosis situated in or distal of the popliteal vein; the 3 patients in whom a false negative diagnosis was made, belonged to this group. Since the ultrasound method has been shown to give few false positive and false negative results, it should be suitable as a screening procedure in patients with symptoms suggestive of DVT.