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Biomedical subjects

S Bergström

Publications and source records attributed to S Bergström.

At least 181 records · Page 10Linked to original sources
PubMed1992

Perinatal audit of one hundred consecutive vacuum extractions in Maputo.

The extraordinary demands on obstetrical services that prevail in many developing countries necessitate critical reviews of existing norms for obstetrical management. Vacuum extractions were studied in this context as a part of the regular perinatal audit carried out at the Maputo Central Hospital, the only hospital in Maputo with emergency surgery catering to the 43,000 annual deliveries. Extractions performed with the fetal head above the ischiatic spines were associated with a high number of complications and an 81% risk of neonatal asphyxia and also with a number of severe neonatal traumas. The risk of intracranial hemorrhage tended to be higher with extractions of fetuses with the head at or above the ischiatic spines, particularly when there was concomitant intrapartum asphyxia. It is concluded that a frequent perinatal audit of selected risk deliveries is a useful monitoring tool for examining prevailing indications for various obstetric interventions.

Asphyxia Neonatorum↗
PubMed1992

Obstetrical risk factors and pregnancy outcome in rural Mozambique. A prospective study.

A study of 373 pregnant women in two rural areas of Mozambique indicates that 38% of pregnant women are classified as having high risk factors according to the antenatal card. A postpartum follow-up of 200 women showed that data were available for 85% of the enrolled women. The 10 women (7%) that had suffered perinatal deaths did not have an overrepresentation of high risk factors according to the card. Neither of the 2 women suffering maternal deaths had had any risk criteria according to the card. More efficient risk criteria will presumably be the outcome of further research for an improved antenatal card.

Adolescent↗
PubMed1992

External cephalic version and daily post-versional maternal self-assessment of fetal presentation. A prospective study.

External cephalic version (ECV) using tocolysis is a widely recognized low-risk intervention in cases of breech presentation, particularly in areas where resources are scarce and the perinatal mortality is high in vaginal breech deliveries. In such a setting, pregnant women were trained to make regular self-assessments of the presenting fetal part after ECV in order to detect spontaneous reversions to breech presentation. It was found that such maternal involvement could significantly improve the final results of ECV.

Breech Presentation↗
PubMed1992

Post-partum contraceptive preference in high-risk parturients in Maputo.

A total of 171 consecutive high-risk parturients in Maputo Central Hospital were studied regarding post-partum contraceptive choice in order to plan a new post-natal clinic approach in maternal health care. It was found that contraceptive interest was much less in women with experience of child loss than in women with all children surviving (p less than 0.005). The findings were useful in planning various measures to meet the documented demand for available methods under adverse circumstances of scarce manpower and material resources.

Attitude to Health↗
PubMed1992

Seasonal incidence of eclampsia and its relationship to meteorological data in Mozambique.

Gestational hypertension is common in Mozambique. In a prospective study lasting 12 months every case of eclampsia in Maputo city was registered. The monthly ratio of eclampsia cases to births was calculated. With the purpose to test the hypothesis of a correlation between meteorological data and eclampsia incidence, monthly averages of temperature, humidity and atmospheric pressure were tabulated. Temperature (p less than 0.005) and atmospheric pressure (p less than 0.001) were significantly associated with the eclampsia/birth ratio. Humidity showed no significant association. We conclude that there is a statistical association between eclampsia incidence and air temperature and atmospheric pressure, respectively.

Eclampsia↗
PubMed1992

Neonatal septicemia caused by pneumococci.

Pneumococci (Streptococcus pneumoniae) infrequently cause neonatal septicemia. An increased number of cases have been reported in recent years, but no increase in the relative incidence among neonatal infections has been noted. On the basis of two cases of our own and a review of 40 recently published case reports, the clinical characteristics of pneumococcal septicemia are described and the pathogenesis is discussed. The presenting clinical picture in early-onset pneumococcal septicemia is dominated by respiratory distress, frequently accompanied by leukopenia, and is indistinguishable from that seen in septicemia caused by Group B Streptococci (GBS). The onset is preceded by prelabor rupture of the fetal membranes in almost half of the instances. The mortality is 50%, twice the figure given in recent GBS reports.

Disease Outbreaks↗
PubMed1992

Two cases of neonatal pneumococcal septicemia.

Pneumococci (Streptococcus pneumoniae) infrequently cause neonatal septicemia. An increased number of cases have been reported in recent years, but no increase in the relative incidence among neonatal infections has been noted. Two recent cases that occurred within a short period of time are described. They were found to exhibit most clinical characteristics, previously described, of Group B Streptococci (GBS) septicemia with an early onset, but appear to have a graver prognosis.

Adult↗
PubMed1992

Molecular characterization of Borrelia burgdorferi isolated from Ixodes ricinus in northern Sweden.

Ixodes ricinus ticks, harbouring Borrelia burgdorferi, were found in an area in northern Sweden, not thought to be endemic for Lyme borreliosis. This investigation took place at Norrbyskär, an island situated in the Bothnian Gulf, 63 degrees 33'N/19 degrees 52'E. One of 42 nymphal and 8/43 adult I. ricinus ticks collected carried spirochetes as seen by phase contrast microscopy. Pure bacterial cultures were obtained from 2 of the ticks. Western blot analysis using species-specific monoclonal antibodies showed that the isolated spirochetes were B. burgdorferi. The identity of the isolated spirochetes was confirmed by DNA amplification using B. burgdorferi OspA and flagellin gene specific oligonucleotides as well as partial DNA sequencing of the respective OspA and flagellin genes. The 2 isolated spirochaete populations were different as shown by their protein profiles in sodium dodecyl sulphate polyacrylamide gels. Moreover, the demonstration of Lyme borreliosis in a patient from the island of Norrbyskär indicates the need for clinical consideration of this disease in northern Sweden.

Animals↗
PubMed1992

Cloning and sequencing of human kappa-casein cDNA.

A cDNA encoding kappa-casein of human milk was cloned and sequenced. The kappa-casein cDNA was isolated from a lambda gt11 library generated from mRNA prepared from a mammary gland biopsy obtained from a lactating woman. The library was screened with polyclonal rabbit antibodies raised against purified native kappa-casein. The obtained nucleotide sequence contained an ORF sufficient to encode the entire amino acid sequence of a kappa-casein precursor protein consisting of 182 amino acids. This includes a tentative signal peptide of 20 amino acids and a processed protein of 162 amino acids.

Amino Acid Sequence↗
PubMed1992

Reproductive failure as a health priority in the Third World: a review.

Family planning is synonymous with contraception in most third world countries, even though--in a great number of these countries--infertility, foetal death and child loss together constitute an important public health problem resulting in a high prevalence of childlessness. In underdeveloped countries much less attention has been paid to reproductive failures than in contraceptive failure and a highly biased approach towards "population control" has dominated. It is argued that childlessness represents a neglected aspect of family planning and that narrow-minded and goal-oriented population control is likely to be unsuccessful if it does not take into account all determinants of human reproductive failure.

Attitude to Health↗
PubMed1991

Diagnosis of Lyme borreliosis by an enzyme immunoassay detecting immunoglobulin G reactive to purified Borrelia burgdorferi cell components.

An enzyme immunoassay (EIA) developed for the diagnosis of Lyme borreliosis was tested for its specificity and sensitivity in detecting IgG antibodies in patients at various stages of the disease. The EIA is based on a detergent extract of Borrelia burgdorferi which contains 12 proteins of defined molecular weights from Borrelia burgdorferi. The assay showed a specificity of 100% in control sera from 64 healthy individuals, using a cut-off optical density value of 0.13 (means +2- 3 SD). The sensitivity was 100% using sera from 22 Swedish patients with late stage Lyme borreliosis and 43% using sera from 30 patients with the initial stage of the disease. The reactivity of the sera against whole cell preparations, the outer surface proteins OspA and OspB, and the flagella of Borrelia burgdorferi was also tested and compared with the EIA. No cross-reactivity with treponemal antigens was observed when using the EIA.

Antibodies, Bacterial↗
PubMed1991

Variable antigen genes of the relapsing fever agent Borrelia hermsii are activated by promoter addition.

Borrelia hermsii, an agent of relapsing fever, avoids the host's immune response by means of multiphasic antigenic variation. Serotype specificity is determined by variable antigens called the Vmp lipoproteins. Through recombination between linear plasmids a formerly silent vmp gene replaces another vmp gene at a telomeric expression locus. We examined strain HS1 borreliae before and after a switch from serotype 7 to serotype 21. The nucleotide sequences of 5' regions of silent and expressed vmp7 and vmp21 were determined. Silent and active vmp7 and vmp21 genes shared a block of homologous sequences surrounding their 5' ends. Sequences upstream of silent vmp7 and vmp21 genes lacked the promoter and substantially differed from each other. In this antigenic switch a vmp gene was activated by a recombination that placed it downstream of a promoter.

Antigenic Variation↗
PubMed1991

Tandem insertion sequence-like elements define the expression site for variable antigen genes of Borrelia hermsii.

The spirochete Borrelia hermsii avoids the immune response of its mammalian host through multiphasic antigenic variation. Serotype specificity is determined by variable antigens, Vmp proteins, in the outer membrane. Through nonreciprocal recombination between linear plasmids, a formerly silent vmp gene replaces another vmp gene downstream from a common expression site. To further characterize this activating site, we determined the nucleotide sequence of 6.9 kb of the common upstream expression region of strain HS1 of B. hermsii. Preceding the vmp gene promoter and a poly(dT.dA) run were three imperfectly repeated segments of 2 kb. Each of the 2-kb segments contained 1-kb elements with inverted repeats of approximately 0.2 kb each at their termini. The potential of the 1-kb elements to form stem-and-loop structures was demonstrated by heteroduplex analysis. There was no evidence of the presence of the elements elsewhere in the genome of B. hermsii. One or more of these elements may confer the unidirectionality that characterizes vmp gene switches.

Animals↗
PubMed1991

Antenatal nutritional assessment: the value of upper arm circumference.

Nutritional indicators such as prepregnant weight or weight increase during pregnancy are often difficult to use in developing countries. The value of the mid-upper-arm circumference was therefore analyzed in a study of 833 Mozambican gravidae, mainly seen at community level. Arm circumference was associated with both the estimated prepregnancy weight (p less than 0.0001) and the arm muscle circumference (p less than 0.0001). Of the studied women, 4% had an arm circumference below 23 cm, and 69% of these women had an estimated prepregnant weight for height below 85% of standard. An arm circumference below 25 cm was encountered in 24% of the studied group, and 11 out of these 24% were below 85% of estimated prepregnancy weight for height. In Mozambican gravidae a mid-upper-arm circumference below 25 cm is a warning of malnutrition and below 23 cm is a strong indicator of malnutrition.

Arm↗