The current surgical technique of using an artificial chord (composed of expanded polytetrafluoroethylene [ePTFE] sutures) to repair mitral prolapse is technically difficult to perform. Slippery knot tying and the difficulty of changing the chordae length after the hydrostatic test are frustrating problems. The loop technique solves the problem of slippery ...

The objective of our study was to review the different pathologies of the stomatognathic system that can present in musicians as a result of playing their instruments. The National Library of Medicine's PubMed database was searched to identify all peer-reviewed articles in the English literature dealing with orofacial problems in ...

Flea bites can cause irritating symptoms, secondary infections, and may potentiate the spread of vector-borne disease. Flea infestation and bites may also cause significant psychological distress, and can reduce the morale and fighting fitness of deployed military personnel. The problem of flea infestation was highlighted during Op HERRICK 12 in ...

So far, it is not well known how to deal with dissipative systems. There are many paths of investigation in the literature and none of them present a systematic and general procedure to tackle the problem. On the other hand, it is well known that the fractional formalism is a ...

Parental deaths due to AIDS seriously affect the psychological well-being of children. Social support may provide an effective resource in the care of vulnerable children in resource-limited settings. However, few studies have examined the relationships between social support and psychological well-being among AIDS orphans. This cross-sectional study was conducted to ...

We investigated the relationship between community motivations to control AIDS-related prejudice and the experience of stigma by community members with HIV or AIDS, using self-reports from 203 New England residents with HIV or AIDS and 2,444 randomly selected residents of the same New England communities. Multilevel regression analyses revealed that ...

Using a temporal approach dividing the reform process into two periods, this article explains how both Brazil and the United States were slow to respond to AIDS. However, Brazil eventually outpaced the United States in its response due to international rather than democratic pressures. Since the early 1990s, Brazil's success ...

Although fears are part of normal development, the living environment of HIV/AIDS affected children is conducive to the development of particular fears. This study examined the fears of 39 South African children (7-13 years) living in a low socioeconomic community with a high prevalence of HIV/AIDS. The aim was to ...

We examined the efficacy of a peer-driven intervention to increase rates of screening for AIDS clinical trials among African Americans and Hispanics living with HIV/AIDS. We used a randomized controlled trial design to examine the efficacy of peer-driven intervention (6 hours of structured sessions and the opportunity to educate 3 ...

HIV-1 subtype B and subtype F are prevalent in the AIDS epidemic of Brazil. Recombinations between these subtypes have generated at least four BF circulating recombinant forms (CRFs). CRF28_BF and CRF29_BF are among the first two BF recombinants being identified in Brazil and they contributed significantly to the epidemic. However, ...

Information technologies are employed to evaluate health program and better target recruitment of health care workforce for underserved communities, where needs for providers are greatest. With increased resources in reducing human immunodeficiency virus (HIV)/AIDS disparities and provider training, it may be important to know whether training is delivered in geographic ...

Who benefits most from making sacrifices for others? The current study provides one answer to this question by demonstrating the intrinsic benefits of sacrifice for people who are highly motivated to respond to a specific romantic partner's needs noncontingently, a phenomenon termed communal strength. In a 14-day daily-experience study of ...

Cryptococcosis is one of the most frequent and severe AIDS defining illnesses. We present a patient with advanced HIV/AIDS disease and a diffuse meningoencephalitis due to Cryptococcus neoformans. The patient developed an acute and bilateral blindness associated with high cerebrospinal fluid pressure and optic neuropathy. Post-mortem anatomopathologic study revealed a ...

For the period 1994-2005 in the U.S.A., suicides were less likely to be organ donors than were victims of homicide and motor vehicle accidents.

Subdural electrodes are frequently used to aid in the neurophysiological assessment of patients with intractable seizures. We review their use for localizing cortical regions supporting movement, sensation, and language.

Disseminated histoplasmosis is a relatively common AIDS-defining illness, occurring in almost 4% of patients living in endemic areas and it may be the first clinical expression of the HIV infection. A broad spectrum of clinical skin lesions associated with Histoplasma capsulatum infection have been described in AIDS patients, such as ...

As cerebral toxoplasmosis is the most common cerebral focal lesion in AIDS patients, this study evaluated three PCR markers for diagnosis, since some limitations remain present, such as low parasite levels in some clinical samples. The molecular markers were B22-B23 and Tg1-Tg2 (based on the B1 gene) and Tox4-Tox5 (non-coding ...

Resident duty-hour restrictions demand effective communication and teamwork in patient care. The process of resident sign-out is a potential source of miscommunication and medical error. Resident sign-out was followed over a 3-month period. Residents signing out to the night coverage team were asked to identify two patient groups: (1) problem ...

Subdural electrodes are frequently used to aid in the neurophysiological assessment of patients with intractable seizures. We review the indications for these, their uses for localizing epileptogenic regions and for localizing cortical regions supporting movement, sensation, and language.

OBJECTIVE: Our study had 3 aims: (1) to evaluate the functioning of the Symptom Burden Index (SBI) in patients with systemic sclerosis (SSc); (2) to determine the amount of burden per problem experienced by patients as well as the number of patients experiencing each measured problem area, and the number ...

We molecularly characterized 81 cryptococcal isolates recovered from cerebrospinal fluid samples of 77 patients diagnosed between 1998 and 2007 as having cryptococcal meningitis in Uberaba Minas Gerais, Brazil. Fifty-seven (74%) were male with a mean age 35.6 years. Seventy-two (88.9%) of the isolates were from 68 AIDS patients and cryp-tococcosis ...

SUMMARY: Toxoplasmosis is a disease caused by an obligate intracellular protozoal parasite, Toxoplasma gondii. It is the most common cause of focal brain lesions in patients with AIDS. The imaging features and endocrine disorders of CNS toxoplasmosis in patients with AIDS are reviewed.

Dehydration is a common problem in elderly patients, often resulting in hospitalization. Intravenous administration of fluids can correct dehydration but poses other risks and problems. Subcutaneous administration of fluids, termed hypodermoclysis, offers an alternative method for rehydrating patients, and it is beginning to gain favor among practitioners in the long-term ...

Background: Tropical lowland on Nepal is at full of risk to snake bite. The snake bite mortality is due to lack of awareness about proper management of victims. The study aims to assess the change in the pattern of management of snake bite victims after first aid training. Methods: A ...

Hanau's laws and the so-called articulation quintet have contributed greatly to the evolution of the prosthetic dentistry and have been further elaborated by various authors. The main aim of this study was to establish the stability of prosthetic plates by attaining balanced occlusion. Several authors have addressed the problem of ...

Interaction of chronic lymphocytic leukemia (CLL) B cells with tissue microenvironment has been suggested to favor disease progression by promoting malignant B-cell growth. Previous work has shown expression in peripheral blood (PB) of CLL B cells of activation-induced cytidine deaminase (AID) among CLL patients with an unmutated (UM) profile of ...

Objectives The present study investigated the relation between alexithymia and interpersonal problems in a sample of primary care patients with either chronic fatigue syndrome (CFS); a chronic cardiovascular or auto-immune disease; or a minor medical condition. It was hypothesized that the relation between cold interpersonal functioning would account for the ...

OBJECTIVE: To assess the prevalence and potential associations with the systemic sclerosis (SSc) phenotype of additional autoimmune diseases (AID). METHODS: A multicenter study was performed in France and Italy to recruit consecutive European Caucasian patients with SSc systematically assessed for the coexistence of predefined AID known to occur with connective ...

The aim of this study was to compare chest computerized tomography (CT) findings of Pneumocystis jirovecii pneumonia (PCP) in immunocompromised patients with and without acquired immune deficiency syndrome (AIDS). Chest CT findings and clinical parameters of 38 consecutive immunocompromised patients, nine with AIDS and 29 with other causes of immunosuppression, ...

Gender is well recognised as a critical consideration for HIV/AIDS organisations. Since the 1990s, HIV/AIDS policy-makers, donors, non-governmental organisations and transnational corporations have adopted gender mainstreaming as the process for integrating gender into development programmes and institutions. There is an increasing body of literature on the successes and challenges of ...

Objective. Disasters are a regular occurrence throughout the world. Whether all eligible victims of a catastrophe receive similar amounts of aid from governments and donors following a crisis remains an open question.Methods. I use data on 62 similarly damaged inland fishing villages in five districts of southeastern India following the ...

In this study, a total of 364 patients of the Endocrinology outpatient clinic who had undergone thyreopathy treatment of various lengths were investigated. The objective of the study was to find out the consequences of thyroid gland disorder on a person's life, and whether the treatment length has any effect ...

In the context of increasing global emphasis on partnerships between international, governmental and civil society organisations in the distribution of international aid, this paper examines the ways in which the resulting aid chains promote and undermine community-led responses to HIV/AIDS. The impact of the aid-granting system is examined using an ...

Diarrhea is common in HIV/AIDS patients, caused by both classic enteric pathogens and different opportunistic agents. Infection with these different pathogens may lead to similar radiological findings, thus causing diagnostic confusion. A 30-yr-old female with AIDS presented with chronic diarrhea of 4 months duration. She had diffuse small bowel thickening ...

As an existential crisis, death anxiety may create suffering and impact quality of life. Based on a sample of 101 patients (63 patients with AIDS and 38 with advanced cancer) and 79 family caregivers (43 AIDS patients' caregivers and 36 cancer patients' caregivers), this study examined the death anxiety of ...

OBJECTIVE: We aimed to better understand the involvement of the corticospinal tract, assessed by non-invasive transcranial stimulation, in order to determine the actual involvement of the motor system in patients with HAM/TSP and AIDS. METHOD: An exhaustive MEDLINE search for the period of 1985 to 2008 for all articles cross-referenced ...

OBJECTIVE: To describe and understand the burden of out-of-pocket expenses in patients with rheumatoid arthritis (RA). METHODS: We studied out-of-pocket expenses and their burden in 8,545 US patients with RA. We determined direct medical costs, out-of-pocket expenses, the burden of out-of-pocket expenses, household income, and measures of RA severity and ...

The biological behavior of chronic lymphocytic leukemia and small lymphocytic lymphoma is unpredictable. Nonetheless, non-mutated IgV(H) gene rearrangement, ATM (11q22-23) and p53 (17p13) deletion are recognized as unfavorable prognosticators in chronic lymphocytic leukemia. The mRNA expression of activation-induced cytidine deaminase (AID), an enzyme indispensable for somatic hypermutation processes, was claimed ...

The main reason for the unfavorable clinical outcome of BCR-ABL1-positive acute lymphoblastic leukemia (ALL) is genetic instability. However, how normal B-cell precursors acquire the genetic changes that lead to transformation has not yet been completely defined. We investigated the expression of the activation-induced cytidine deaminase (AID) and its role in ...

Rheumatoid arthritis (RA) is associated with higher levels of autoantibodies and IL-17. Here, we investigated if ectopic lymphoid follicles and peripheral blood mononuclear cells (PBMCs) from RA patients exhibit increased activation-induced cytidine deaminase (AID), and if increased AID is correlated with serum levels of autoantibodies and IL-17. The results of ...

Pneumatosis intestinalis is an unusual entity in which subserosal or submucosal collections of gas occur in the bowel wall. We present a case of asymptomatic linear pneumatosis intestinalis and free abdominal air in a 67-year-old man with acquired immunodeficiency syndrome (AIDS) who improved spontaneously following conservative management. Pneumatosis intestinalis is ...

BACKGROUND: Bacteraemia is a relatively common event in HIV-infected patients, especially in late infection. Studies in Africa have shown that more than 23% of AIDS patients have bacteraemia but there is paucity of data from Nigeria. METHODS: Blood samples from 67 consecutive patients with AIDS attending the Lagos University Teaching ...

Effective teamwork and communication is critical to the delivery of safe and reliable patient care. Communication breakdowns account for the overwhelming majority of sentinel events. Effective teamwork and communication can help prevent mistakes and decrease patient risk. The implementation of simple tools and behaviors can greatly enhance patient safety and ...

Highly active antiretroviral treatment (HAART) has had a significant impact on survival of individuals with acquired immunodeficiency syndrome (AIDS); however, with the longer life-span of patients with AIDS, there is increasing prevalence of AIDS dementia complex (ADC) and other non-AIDS-defining illness, and cardiovascular diseases (CVD) are also common. The influence ...

Problems in patient flow persist in practice and seem to defy traditional approaches to resolution. Using concepts from complex adapted systems and diffusion of innovation principles, problems in patient flow are analyzed and possible routes for innovation are identified. Emphasis is on creating a climate receptive to change as the ...

PURPOSE: We evaluated associations between demographic and clinical characteristics, quality of life outcome measures and erectile aids in men treated for localized prostate cancer. MATERIALS AND METHODS: Patients had clinically localized prostate cancer, were not using erectile aids at baseline and chose treatment with radical prostatectomy (275), external beam radiotherapy ...

Aspergillus infections are rare opportunistic infections in the course of AIDS and they mostly present as invasive pulmonary disease. Owing to the prolonged survival of profoundly immunocompromised patients with AIDS, invasive pulmonary aspergillosis is being reported with increased frequency. However, although pulmonary aspergilloma has been well described in immunocompetent patients, ...

OBJECTIVE: The study identified problems that professionals perceive in community care of patients with nonpsychotic chronic mental illness. METHODS: Eight national experts from the Netherlands participated in a four-phase modified Delphi procedure to identify and rate the urgency of problems in patient care and the extent to which problems were ...

OBJECTIVES: To review information resources on rare auto-inflammatory disorders (AIDs) for use by health care professionals, focusing particularly on patient registries. METHODS: Using relevant key words, we surveyed the websites of several scientific societies of immunology, paediatrics and rheumatology, as well as Pubmed and specialized databases for AIDs. RESULTS: The ...

AIM: To investigate and predict enteral nutrition problems after percutaneous endoscopic gastrostomy (PEG). METHODS: We retrospectively analyzed data for 252 out of 285 patients who underwent PEG at our hospital from 1999 to 2008. Enteral nutrition problems after PEG were defined as: (1) patients who required > or = 1 ...