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Biomedical subjects

W Moss

Publications and source records attributed to W Moss.

At least 19 recordsLinked to original sources

Foundations for effective strategies to control sexually transmitted infections: voices from rural Kenya.

Achieving maximal benefit from clinic-based, sexually transmitted infection (STI) control strategies requires that persons seek treatment at public clinics. Community-based, ethnographic research methods were used to examine patterns of health-seeking behavior for sexually transmitted infections in western Kenya. Illness narratives of sexually transmitted infections provided the basis for an analysis of sequential steps in health-seeking behavior, namely recognition, classification, overcoming stigma, identification of treatment options and selection of a course of therapy. A variety of terms were used to identify STI, including multiple terms referring to "women's disease". The stigma associated with STI, reflected in the terminology, was based on a set of beliefs on the causes, contagiousness and sequelae of STI, and resulted in delays in seeking treatment. Five commonly used treatment options were identified, with multiple sources of care often used concurrently. The desire for privacy, cost and belief in the efficacy of traditional medicines strongly influenced health-seeking behaviour. A belief that sexually transmitted infections must be transmitted in order to achieve cure was professed by several respondents and promoted by a traditional healer. Implications for STI control strategies are derived, including the development of educational messages and the design of clinics.

Acquired Immunodeficiency Syndrome↗

An outbreak of gentamicin-resistant Klebsiella bacteraemia at a children's hospital.

An outbreak of Klebsiella bacteraemia at the Ethio-Swedish Childrens' Hospital, Addis Abeba, Ethiopia is described. The epidemic occurred between February 1988 and February 1990 and appeared to originate in the neonatal nursery and subsequently spread to involve other wards in the hospital. Resistance to several antibiotics, including gentamicin, was common. The importance of effective surveillance and the early institution of control measures for the prevention of nosocomial infection are discussed.

Adolescent↗

Clinical and epidemiological features of HIV-1 seropositive hospitalized Ethiopian children.

Eleven children were identified as being seropositive for HIV-1 at the Ethio-Swedish Children's Hospital, Addis Abeba, Ethiopia between January 1988 and September 1989. The diagnosis was confirmed by both ELISA and Western blot methods performed at the National Research Institute of Health, Special Laboratory for AIDS. The mean age was 2 years and 5 months, with a range of 1 week to 10 years. There were 7 boys and 4 girls. The most common admitting diagnoses were pneumonia (5), gastroenteritis (5), marasmus (5), disseminated tuberculosis (4), and abandonment (3). One patient had extensive facial molluscum contagiosum. Symptoms at admission or during hospitalization included diarrhoea (9), failure to thrive (8), fever (7), and cough (7). Physical findings included hepatosplenomegaly (5), lymphadenopathy (3), and oral candidiasis (2). No patient with an opportunistic infection or radiographic evidence of lymphocytic interstitial pneumonitis (LIP) was identified. Five patients were classified as marasmic and 4 as underweight. Evidence suggestive of encephalopathy (developmental delay and/or microcephaly) was present in 5 patients. The VDRL was non-reactive in the 5 patients in whom it was tested. Nine children were presumed to have acquired the infection by perinatal transmission, though the passive transfer of maternal antibodies or postnatally acquired infection could not be excluded. One child was thought to have acquired the infection by blood transfusion. Three children died during their hospital stay. Paediatric HIV infection exists in Ethiopia; however, these children do not present with characteristic opportunistic infections but with signs and symptoms reflecting the most common paediatric problems seen in the country. Prevention of HIV infection in children entails the prevention of infection in women of childbearing age, counselling of infected women, and effective screening of blood products.

Child↗

The manpower crisis facing radiation oncology.

Data from several sources document that the number of radiation oncologists being trained is substantially above the number projected as recently as 1983. This paper addresses the manpower crisis facing radiation oncology and includes information on the supply of and need for specialists, as well as possible courses of action given current circumstances.

Internship and Residency↗

A Legionella-like bacterium related to WIGA in a fatal case of pneumonia.

An unusual bacterium serologically related to a "rickettsia-like agent," designated previously as WIGA, was seen in lung tissue from a patient who died of pneumonia of unknown cause. A fluorescent antibody conjugate prepared with the WIGA organism, isolated in 1959, was used to stain the lung tissue. Enormous numbers of fluorescent bacteria in the lungs of this patient confirm the pathogenicity of this unusual bacterium.

Bacteria↗

Gene mapping in Mus musculus by interspecific cell hybridization: assignment of the genes for tripeptidase-1 to chromosome 10, dipeptidase-2 to chromosome 18, acid phosphatase-1 to chromosome 12, and adenylate kinase-1 to chromosome 2.

Chinese hamster X mouse somatic cell hybrids segregating mouse chromosomes were examined for their mouse chromosome content using trypsin-Giemsa (GTG) banding and Hoechst 33258 staining techniques. Simultaneously, they were scored for the presence of 24 mouse enzymes. The results confirm the assignments of 11 genes previously mapped by sexual genetics: Dip-1 and Id-1 to chromosome 1; Pgm-2 and Pgd to 4; Pgm-1 to 5; Gpi-1 to 7; Gr-1 to 8; Mpi-1 and Mod-1 to 9; Np-1 and Es-10 to 14. They also confirm chromosomally the assignments of 3 genes that were made by other somatic cell genetic studies: Aprt to 8; Hprt and alpha-gal to the X chromosome. But most importantly, four enzyme loci are assigned to four chromosomes that until now were not known to carry a biochemical marker which is expressed in cultured cells: Trip-1 to 10; Dip-2 to 18; Acp-1 to 12; and Ak-1 to 2. Cytogenetic examination of clones showing discordant segregation of HPRT and A-GAL, suggested the assignment of alpha-gal to region XE leads to XF of the mouse X chromosome. The cytologic studies provide a comparison between data from sexual genetics and somatic cell hybrids and validate hybrid cell techniques. They provide evidence of the reliability of scoring chromosomes by GTG and Hoechst staining and stress the importance of identifying clones with multiple chromosome rearrangements. Striking examples of norandom segregation of mouse chromosomes were observed in these hybrids with preferential retention of 15 and segregation of 11 and the Y chromosome.

Acid Phosphatase↗

Cervical gonorrhea in women using different methods of contraception.

Cultures were made from the cervix, rectum, and oropharynx of 2,019 women to determine the prevalence of gonorrhea. For patients of similar race and age, the rates of cervical gonorrhea among users of oral contraceptives (10.6/100) or IUD users (9.5/100) were significantly greater than observed with patients using barrier methods, condom-diaphragm-foam (1.7/100). On the other hand, there were no significant differences in rates of rectal or oral infection by method of contraception. Postpartum patients were found to have similar infection rates at all three sites as a comparable group of nonpuerperas. Recommendations for utilization of barrier methods are made for suitable patients, including those in the immediate puerperium.

Contraception↗

Gonorrhea detection in a family planning clinic: a cost-benefit analysis of 2,000 triplicate cultures.

Among 2,019 women screened by triplicate culture technique, 191 (9.5 per cent) had one or more positive cultures of specimens for Neisseria gonorrhoeae. The prevalence rates by site of infection were as follows: cervix-8.1 per cent; rectum-2.4 per cent, and oropharynx-0.9 per cent. Of the 191 patients with gonorrhea, 163 (85 per cent) had a positive culture of the cervical specimen. Addition of routine cultures of rectal and oropharyngeal specimens detected only 15 per cent of positive cases, while tripling the cost of the screening program. Based on a cost-benefit anallysis, a culture of the cervical specimen is most appropriate for routine screening, and cultures of rectal and/or oropharyngeal specimens should be obtained on a selected basic only.

Adolescent↗

Prevalence of gonorrhoea among women using various methods of contraception.

Among 2,005 women attending a contraceptive clinic 9-3 per cent. were found to have gonorrhoea. When these women were classified according to the method of contraception used at the time of their initial visit to the clinic, the following prevalence of gonorrhoea was observed: oral contraceptives 11-5 per cent., intrauterine contraceptive devices 9-9 per cent., barrier methods (condom-diaphragm-foam) 4-2 per cent. These differences are statistically significant. The authors suggest that the additional protective advantage of barrier methods should be considered when the physician and patient are selecting appropriate methods of contraception.

Adult↗