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High Association (high + association)
Selected AbstractsHow appropriate is asthma therapy in general practice?FUNDAMENTAL & CLINICAL PHARMACOLOGY, Issue 1 2005Laurent Laforest Abstract High association between burden of asthma and inadequate disease control make asthma management a major public health issue. We studied asthma management practices of general practitioners (GPs) in France to describe drug therapy and more specifically, to identify correlates of antibiotic prescriptions, a marker of inappropriate asthma management. Patients with persistent asthma aged 17,50 years were evaluated in a 12-month retrospective study using a computerized GPs database (Thales) and a patient survey, in which patients reported hospital contacts, use of oral corticosteroids and recent asthma symptoms. Therapy was described and the correlates of antibiotic prescriptions in the previous year were identified using multivariate logistic regression. During the study period, 16.4% of 1038 patients received one or more prescriptions of theophylline, 31.3% long-acting beta-agonists and 61.6% inhaled corticosteroids. Rates of prescription of antibiotics, expectorants, antihistamines, antitussives and nasal corticosteroids were 57.6, 42.0, 33.0, 19.9, and 14.4%, respectively. In parallel, 15% of patients reported at least one hospital contact for asthma and 43.1% used oral corticosteroids. Antibiotic prescriptions were more likely co-prescribed in patients using expectorants [odds ratio (OR) = 13.0, 95% confidence interval (CI) = 8.5,19.8] and antitussives (OR = 6.5, 95% CI =3.7,11.6). Moreover, patients using courses of oral corticosteroids, and often visiting their GP (more than four times) during the study period were more likely to receive antibiotics. The results were unchanged when analyses were restricted to non-smokers and younger patients (,40 years). Asthma management was sub-optimal among asthma patients treated by general practitioners in France. Antibiotics, expectorants, antihistamines, antitussives and nasal corticosteroids were commonly prescribed while asthma controllers were under-used. [source] Fungemia Associated with Left Ventricular Assist Device SupportJOURNAL OF CARDIAC SURGERY, Issue 6 2009M.P.H., Natasha G. Bagdasarian M.D. While relatively uncommon, fungal infections present a serious concern given a high association with adverse events including death. We sought to further characterize the epidemiology of fungemias during LVAD support. Methods: Retrospective review of 292 patients receiving LVAD support from October 1996 to April 2009 at the University of Michigan Health System was done. Results: Seven cases of LVAD-associated fungemia were observed during the study period (0.1 infections/1000 days of device support). Five patients had infection with Candida species and two with Aspergillus species. The two patients with Aspergillus infection presented with disseminated disease, quickly dying of multiorgan failure, and sepsis. All five patients with Candida infections were successfully treated with systemic antifungal therapy along with transplantation in four of five patients. The fifth patient is receiving mechanical support as destination therapy. He remains on long-term suppression with high-dose fluconazole. Conclusions: Fungal infections appear to be a rare but serious complication of LVAD support. Future studies should aim to improve our understanding of risk factors for fungal infection during mechanical support, especially disseminated Aspergillus. Short-term perioperative antifungal prophylaxis with fluconazole appears to be an effective and reasonable approach to prevention. [source] Blast-related mild traumatic brain injury: mechanisms of injury and impact on clinical careMOUNT SINAI JOURNAL OF MEDICINE: A JOURNAL OF PERSONALIZED AND TRANSLATIONAL MEDICINE, Issue 2 2009Gregory A. Elder MD Abstract Mild traumatic brain injury has been called the signature injury of the wars in Iraq and Afghanistan. In both theaters of operation, traumatic brain injury has been a significant cause of mortality and morbidity, with blast-related injury the most common cause. Improvised explosive devices have been the major cause of blast injuries. It is estimated that 10% to 20% of veterans returning from these operations have suffered a traumatic brain injury, and there is concern that blast-related injury may produce adverse long-term health affects and affect the resilience and in-theater performance of troops. Blast-related injury occurs through several mechanisms related to the nature of the blast overpressure wave itself as well as secondary and tertiary injuries. Animal studies clearly show that blast overpressure waves are transmitted to the brain and can cause changes that neuropathologically are most similar to diffuse axonal injury. One striking feature of the mild traumatic brain injury cases being seen in veterans of the wars in Iraq and Afghanistan is the high association of mild traumatic brain injury with posttraumatic stress disorder. The overlap in symptoms between the disorders has made distinguishing them clinically challenging. The high rates of mild traumatic brain injury and posttraumatic stress disorder in the current operations are of significant concern for the long-term health of US veterans with associated economic implications. Mt Sinai J Med 76:111,118, 2009. © 2009 Mount Sinai School of Medicine [source] Comparative analysis of NK/T-cell lymphoma and peripheral T-cell lymphoma in Korea: Clinicopathological correlations and analysis of EBV strain type and 30-bp deletion variant LMP1PATHOLOGY INTERNATIONAL, Issue 11 2003Ji Eun Kim Natural killer/T-cell lymphoma (NKTL) and peripheral T-cell lymphomas (PTCL) are prevalent in the Asian population and exhibit a high association with the Epstein,Barr virus (EBV). Moreover, differentiation of these two groups is often difficult and problematic. We investigated 35 cases of NKTL (22 nasal cases and 13 extranasal cases) and 30 cases of PTCL in terms of their clinical features, immunohistology, EBV positivity, EBV strain-type polymorphism and latent membrane protein 1 (LMP1) deletion variant distribution. Eighteen cases (82%) of nasal NKTL and seven (54%) of extranasal NKTL showed EBV positivity by EBV in situ hybridization. Fifteen cases (50%) of PTCL revealed EBV positivity. EBV strain type A was predominant in NKTL (18:5), and EBV strain types A and B were distributed evenly in PTCL (6:6). EBV-positive patients had significantly shorter survival than EBV-negative patients (P < 0.05), and EBV positivity correlated with advanced clinical stage (P < 0.05). Patients harboring type A EBV showed slightly poorer prognoses than those having type B, though it was not obviously statistically different (P = 0.07). The LMP1 deletion variant was prevalent in both NKTL (three wild-type LMP1, 15 deletion variants) and PTCL (three wild-type LMP1, eight deletion variants, two coexistent forms) patients, but did not have prognostic impact. Our results indicate that EBV acts as a negative prognostic factor in NKTL and PTCL, and that the intrinsic properties of a specific viral strain might influence the clinical behavior of these diseases. [source] Automated Measurement of Facial Expression in Infant,Mother Interaction: A Pilot StudyINFANCY, Issue 3 2009Daniel S. Messinger Automated facial measurement using computer vision has the potential to objectively document continuous changes in behavior. To examine emotional expression and communication, we used automated measurements to quantify smile strength, eye constriction, and mouth opening in two 6-month-old infant-mother dyads who each engaged in a face-to-face interaction. Automated measurements showed high associations with anatomically based manual coding (concurrent validity); measurements of smiling showed high associations with mean ratings of positive emotion made by naive observers (construct validity). For both infants and mothers, smile strength and eye constriction (the Duchenne marker) were correlated over time, creating a continuous index of smile intensity. Infant and mother smile activity exhibited changing (nonstationary) local patterns of association, suggesting the dyadic repair and dissolution of states of affective synchrony. The study provides insights into the potential and limitations of automated measurement of facial action. [source] | ||||||||||