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Biomedical subjects

T Nylund

Publications and source records attributed to T Nylund.

5 recordsLinked to original sources

Normal intelligence in children with prenatal exposure to carbamazepine.

OBJECTIVE: To investigate the effect of antiepileptic drugs, especially carbamazepine and valproate, on intelligence in prenatally exposed children of mothers with epilepsy. METHODS: Intelligence of 182 children of mothers with epilepsy (study group) and 141 control children was tested in a blinded setting at preschool or school age using Wechsler Preschool and Primary Scale of Intelligence-Revised or Wechsler Intelligence Scale for Children-Revised. Data on maternal antiepileptic treatment and seizures during pregnancy were gathered prospectively. The study group represented approximately 50% of the children born to mothers with epilepsy in Uusimaa province during 1989 through 1994. One hundred seven children were exposed to antiepileptic monotherapy: 86 to carbamazepine and 13 to valproate. Thirty children were exposed to polytherapy: 23 combinations included carbamazepine, and 17 included valproate. The median maternal doses and blood levels during the second half of pregnancy were 600 mg and 26 micro mol/L for carbamazepine and 950 mg and 300 micro mol/L for valproate. RESULTS: The mean verbal and nonverbal IQ scores in the children exposed in utero to carbamazepine monotherapy were 96 (95% CI, 93-100) and 103 (95% CI, 100-106). They did not differ from control subjects, whose mean verbal and nonverbal IQ scores were 95 (95% CI, 92-97) and 102 (95% CI, CI, 100-105). Significantly reduced verbal IQ scores were found in children exposed to valproate (mean, 82; 95% CI, 78-87) and to polytherapy (mean, 85; 95% CI, 80-90) compared with the other study group children and control subjects. CONCLUSIONS: Carbamazepine monotherapy with maternal serum levels within the reference range does not impair intelligence in prenatally exposed offspring. Exposures to polytherapy and to valproate during pregnancy were associated with significantly reduced verbal intelligence. The independent effects of valproate remain unconfirmed because the results were confounded by low maternal education and polytherapy.

Anticonvulsants↗

Acute injuries in orienteerers.

The aim of this study was to characterize the type and severeity of acute injuries occurring in Finnish orienteerers in 1987 to 1991. The study is based on the orienteering license insurance records accounting for 2189 orienteering injuries during 69268 person-years of exposure in active orienteerers. Of these orienteerers, 73.0% were male; 73.5% (N = 1608) of all injuries occurred in males, so the injury rate was similar in males and females. The rate was highest in orienteerers 20 to 24 years of age and lowest in children. Injuries occurred most commonly during May to September (78.9% or all injuries), the months which include the orienteering competition season, and were more common during competitions (59.8%) than during training. A high number of the injuries occurred during weekends (58.9% of injuries) including 68.1% of all competition injuries and 44.9% of all training injuries. The lower limbs were involved in 1611 (73.6%) of cases, the ankle (28.7%) and the knee (23.2%) being the two most common injury locations. Sprains, strains and contusions were the most common injuries. Wounds were proportionally more common in males than in females while ankle sprains were more common in females. Fractures, seven open and 94 closed, accounted for 4.6% of injuries; they were most common in the hand/wrist/forearm (N = 44) and ankle (N = 16), and were more frequent during competition (62.3%) than during training. The most important areas for preventive measures seem to be the ankle and the knee.

Adolescent↗

Hepatitis B in homosexual men: prevalence of infection and factors related to transmission.

Of 3,816 homosexual men examined in five sexually transmitted disease clinics in the United States, 6.1% had hepatitis B surface antigen, 52.4% had antibody to hepatitis B surface antigen, and 3.0% of the men who had no other indicator of infection with hepatitis B virus (HBV) had antibody to hepatitis B core antigen. The rate of seropositivity for HBV indicated by the presence of one or more of these serologic markers was 61.5%; seropositivity was significantly related to the duration of regular homosexual activity and to the number of nonsteady male sexual contacts in the four months before the patients were interviewed. Anal-genital intercourse, oral-anal intercourse, and rectal douching were significantly related to evidence of HBV infection, but oral-oral contact and oral-genital contact were not. Trauma to the rectal mucosa is a feature common to the practices that were significantly related to seropositivity for HBV.

Adolescent↗

The prevention of hepatitis B with vaccine. Report of the centers for disease control multi-center efficacy trial among homosexual men.

A randomized, double-blind, vaccine/placebo trial of the Merck 20-micrograms hepatitis B virus (HBV) vaccine was done among 1402 homosexual men attending venereal disease clinics in five American cities. Vaccination was followed by only minimal side effects. Two doses of vaccine induced antibody in 80% of vaccine recipients. A booster dose 6 months after the first dose induced antibody in 85% of recipients and markedly increased the proportion of recipients who produced high antibody titers. The incidence of HBV events was markedly less in the vaccine recipients compared to that in the placebo recipients (p = 0.0004). Between month 3 and 15 after the first dose, 56 more significant HBV events (hepatitis, or hepatitis B surface antigen positive, or both) occurred in the placebo group while only 11 occurred in the vaccine group. Ten of the 11 HBV events in the vaccine recipients occurred in hypo- or nonresponders to the vaccine. This vaccine appears to be safe, immunogenic, and efficacious in preventing infection with hepatitis B virus.

Adult↗