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Query: UMLS:C0036690 (sepsis)
 59,461 document(s) hit in 31,850,051 MEDLINE articles (0.00 seconds)

Clinical investigations of infants hospitalized with botulism demonstrate a remarkable uniformity of complaints and physical findings. Constipation precedes a course of progressive weakness and cranial nerve dysfunction. Examination reveals hypotonia, hyporeflexia, and a variable pattern of involvement of the motor cranial nerves. Initial laboratory investigations should include electrodiagnostic tests, because findings of an incremental response to rapid, repetitive nerve stimulation and of brief, small-amplitude motor units on electromyography are virtually pathognomonic of botulism in the infant. Differential diagnosis includes disorders that may produce generalized depression of the central nervous system, such as septicemia, meningitis, metabolic disturbances, and intoxications. Specific involvement of the neuromuscular system includes acute polyneuropathies, diseases of the anterior horn cell, congenital myopathies or muscular dystrophy, and neonatal myasthenia gravis. Recent studies have expanded the clinical spectrum of infant botulism to include some cases of sudden infant death syndrome and otherwise nonspecific constipation.
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PMID:Differential diagnosis of infant botulism. 23 67

We describe three patients who required mechanical ventilation for severe acute exacerbations of obstructive airways disease. When treatment with sedatives and muscle relaxants was withdrawn, they exhibited profound generalized weakness and consequently required prolonged ventilation despite resolution of the airway obstruction. Clinical features were variable, but none of the patients developed failure of other organs and infection was confined to the lungs. All had electrophysiologic evidence of a predominantly motor axonal syndrome. One patient in whom sensory action potentials were abnormal may represent an unusually severe case of critical illness neuropathy occurring in the absence of systemic sepsis and multiple organ failure. In the other two cases, this diagnosis is made less likely by the complete absence of sensory involvement and in these patients the lesion appeared to be either in the most distal portion of the motor neuron or at the neuromuscular junction. In all three patients, resolution was slow but eventually complete. The etiology of the condition is not clear, but it seems to be distinct from the acute myopathy previously described in asthmatics who had received mechanical ventilation. It is important to recognize this phenomenon to avoid erroneous conclusions about the likelihood of the patient recovering from ventilator dependence. A prolonged weaning period is to be expected in such cases.
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PMID:Prolonged neurogenic weakness in patients requiring mechanical ventilation for acute airflow limitation. 158 7

A 64-year-old male was admitted in September 1989 with complaints of fever and muscular weakness in the extremities. A peripheral blood examination on admission revealed WBC 10,300/microliters (monocytes 32%), RBC 195 x 10(4)/microliters, Hb 7.9 g/dl, Plt 12.8 x 10(4)/microliters with trilineage dysplasia. Bone marrow biopsy was normoplastic marrow with 25.7% of monocytes including immature blasts. Cytochemical analysis of the monocytes showed positive for peroxidase and dual esterase staining. Chromosomal analysis of peripheral blood revealed 46, XY, -7, +der(1) t(1;7)(p11;p11). A diagnosis of chronic myelomonocytic leukemia was made. Hemostatic studies revealed cryofibrinogenemia, marked platelet aggregation on blood smear, hyperfibrinogenemia and a marked increase in maximal amplitude of thrombelastogram. Treatment with prednisolone and VP16, resulted in a reduction of peripheral monocytes and a disappearance of cryofibrinogen, marked platelet aggregation and a decrease in muscular weakness. Nine months after diagnosis he died of DIC, pneumonia, lung abscess and sepsis.
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PMID:[Chronic myelomonocytic leukemia associated with translocation 1;7, marked platelet aggregation and cryofibrinogenemia: a case report]. 163 20

Nine consecutive patients with HCL seen over a period of five years were reviewed. Male: Female ratio was 8:1. Median age at diagnosis was 49 years. Weakness and fatigue (66%) were the commonest presenting symptoms and splenomegaly (66%) was the commonest physical findings. Varying degrees of pancytopenia was the consistent feature in majority of cases. Diagnosis was made on the basis of bone marrow biopsy and characteristic EM picture. Forty-four percent of cases developed serious infection during their clinical course. Gram negative bacilli and fungi were the most frequently isolated organisms. Major sites of infections were pneumonia and septicemia. Splenectomy was carried out in four cases. Rapid recovery of haematological parameters without any significant complication was observed in all these cases. Two patients were treated with alfa-interferon. In both the cases recovery of haematological parameters was slow compared to those under going splenectomy. One patient treated with alfa-interferon died due to infection related complications while the other went into remission.
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PMID:Hairy cell leukaemia. A review of nine cases. 178 82

Forty-three patients who had sepsis and multiple organ failure (critical illness) were studied prospectively to determine the incidence and severity of peripheral nerve function and to correlate such function with a number of variables. Electrophysiologic studies indicated a primary axonal degeneration of motor and sensory fibers in 30 (70 percent). Fifteen (30 percent) had the clinical signs of difficulty in weaning from assisted ventilation, weakness of limb muscles, and reduced or absent deep tendon reflexes. Full recovery from the polyneuropathy occurred among the 23 (53 percent) who survived, except three who had a very severe polyneuropathy. A peripheral nerve function index, computed from electrophysiologic measurements, showed statistically significant (p less than 0.01) negative correlations with the time in the critical care unit, and the serum glucose value; the serum albumin level showed a positive correlation. Multiple regression analyses indicated all three factors accounted for 47 percent (r2 = 0.4678) of all potential variables. In a separate analysis, the nerve function index correlated with the amplitude of the diaphragm compound muscle action potential (p less than 0.01). The results were consistent with the polyneuropathy being due to the same mechanisms that are currently postulated to cause dysfunction in this syndrome of other organ systems (including the neuromuscular respiratory system).
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PMID:Peripheral nerve function in sepsis and multiple organ failure. 184 61

Skeletal muscle wasting is commonly observed in critically-ill patients and has been attributed to catabolic fibre atrophy and to neuropathy. This study describes the occurrence of a necrotizing myopathy in 15 out of 31 critically-ill patients who had percutaneous biopsies taken from the tibialis anterior muscles. While most cases showed necrosis of isolated fibres, 5 of the 12 patients who had serial biopsies showed progressive necrosis of up to 95 per cent of the fibres. One other case showed infarction and one case had staphylococcal vasculitis. Atrophy of type 1 and/or type 2 fibres was documented by morphometry in 12 cases. Myoglobin-containing casts were demonstrated immunohistochemically in renal tubules on either biopsy or necropsy material in 5 out of 7 cases. The presence of muscle necrosis was a clinically unexpected finding which may contribute to weakness, complicate the interpretation of tissue biochemistry and energy balance studies, and potentiate renal failure. The necrosis is probably multifactorial in origin, with ischaemia and sepsis contributing factors.
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PMID:Necrotizing myopathy in critically-ill patients. 191 68

In this study, 18 patients with advanced breast cancer were treated with multiple cycles of doxorubicin (75 or 90 mg/m2) plus cyclophosphamide (750 or 1000 mg/m2) every 21 days. Granulocyte-macrophage colony-stimulating factor (GM-CSF) (250 micrograms/m2 per day) was administered by continuous infusion during 10 days (days 2-12), starting in the first or second cycle of chemotherapy. Sixteen (89%) of 18 patients (95% confidence interval, 65%-99%) achieved an objective remission, five (28%) of which were complete. The median duration of response was 7 months. When GM-CSF was used for the first time, it had an effect on the kinetics of all blood cells, including neutrophils, lymphocytes, thrombocytes, and reticulocytes. However, in subsequent cycles of chemotherapy, the stimulatory effect of GM-CSF on hematopoiesis was substantially diminished. World Health Organization grade 3 and 4 neutropenia and thrombocytopenia necessitated dose reductions of doxorubicin and cyclophosphamide from cycle 2 onward in all patients treated with the highest dose. Side effects of GM-CSF included fever, general weakness, and hypotension. These toxic effects mimicked sepsis, and hospital admission for treatment with intravenous antibiotics was required for 73 days in 61 cycles of chemotherapy that included GM-CSF. Dose-intensive chemotherapy produced a high response rate in patients with advanced breast cancer. However, GM-CSF administered from day 2 to day 12 at a dose of 250 micrograms/m2.
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PMID:Effects of recombinant human granulocyte-macrophage colony-stimulating factor on myelosuppression induced by multiple cycles of high-dose chemotherapy in patients with advanced breast cancer. 196 Jul 51

The seroprevalence, clinical epidemiology, modes of transmission, clinical presentation in adults, pregnancy women and children, diagnosis, impact and control strategies of AIDS in Africa are covered in this review. HIV-1, the causative virus in AIDS, is epidemic in a central Africa belt from Gabon to the east coast, and from Uganda to Zimbabwe, with the highest prevalence in the lakes and highlands of Central Africa. HIV-2 causes a milder disease in Western Africa centered in Senegal. HIV infections occur primarily in young adult men aged 30-34, women aged 20-24, infants and children under 4, and a few girls. Transmission patterns vary widely depending on sexual customs in the ethnically diverse continent. Prevalence tends to be high in cities and among subgroups such as prostitutes, where promiscuity is restricted. Where female sexual permissiveness exists, seropositivity is high in women generally. Besides sexual behavior, risk factors for HIV in Africa also include uncircumcised man, oral contraception, STDs causing genital ulceration and Chlamydia infection. Transmission to neonates occurs, especially if the mother has advanced AIDS, but transmission by breast milk is uncertain. Transmission by blood transfusion is common because transfusion are up to 10 times as common in Africa as in the West, especially in obstetrics and pediatrics. Clinically, HIV infections present as herpes zoster in 95% of Africans, and commonly as slim disease: weakness, fever, chronic watery diarrhea and weight loss of unknown cause. Associated infection are candidiasis, cryptosporidiosis, isosporiasis, tuberculosis and salmonellosis. Other presenting symptoms are unusual sites of lymphadenopathy, cough and sepsis. Diagnosis can be made by the WHO clinical case definition, or be screening tests, which are now more reliable for African patients than formerly. In Africa, AIDS can cause destitution and disgrace for families, and will probable severely affect progress made national economies because of deaths of young productive adults. Strategies for control of HIV in Africa are outlined.
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PMID:AIDS in Africa. 218 39

Patients with sickle cell disease are predisposed to infection caused by Streptococcus pneumoniae. However, there has been only one published case of bacteremic pneumococcal meningitis in an adult with sickle cell anemia. We report here the cases of six adults with sickle cell disease, pneumococcal sepsis, and meningitis. Five patients were male and one was female. Their ages ranged from 18 to 34 years (mean, 25.7 years). Five patients had the SS and one had the SC hemoglobin phenotype. Only one patient had received pneumococcal vaccine (14 valent). This vaccine did not protect against the pneumococcal serotype causing his infection. All patients had high fever (mean, 39.8 degrees C [103.7 degrees F]) on admission; five had generalized weakness and four had neck stiffness. Leukocyte counts were greater than 30,000/mm3 in all patients. Streptococcus pneumoniae was isolated from the blood and the cerebrospinal fluid in all patients. The cerebrospinal fluid showed pleocytosis in six patients, an elevated protein level in five, and hypoglycorrhachia in two. Complications included renal failure in four patients, disseminated intravascular coagulation in one, and seizures in another. Two patients died. Pneumococcal sepsis and meningitis are uncommon in adults with sickle cell disease, but they carry a high morbidity and mortality. Wider use of the new 23-valent polysaccharide vaccine in these patients is recommended.
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PMID:Pneumococcal sepsis and meningitis in adults with sickle cell disease. 240 40

Burn injury-induced changes at the neuromuscular junction include muscle weakness and altered response to neuromuscular blocking drugs. Protein malnutrition and sepsis can concomitantly occur with burn trauma. The role of pure malnutrition or sepsis, in the absence of burn injury, in inducing neuromuscular changes was studied in the mouse gastrocnemius muscle. Additionally, cAMP levels in muscle were evaluated to reflect metabolic activity. Sepsis was studied using doses of endotoxin at one-fourth or one-third the dose evoking 50% lethality. Diets of 5% protein and 5% protein + 35% fiber achieved protein and protein/calorie malnutrition, respectively. In each model neuromuscular function was evaluated by maximal tension developed. Pharmacologic responses were measured through effective dose to paralyze active tension by either 50 or 95%. Protein and protein/calorie malnutrition leading to an approximate 8% body weight loss caused a depression of maximal tension developed; this depression in tension was associated with a 10-fold increase in cAMP levels. Effective doses of d-tubocurarine for twitch inhibition during malnutrition were not significantly different from controls. Sepsis at 2 weeks caused an approximate 8% body weight loss, a significant decrease in maximal tension and at least a 3- to 5-fold shift to the right in dose-response curves to d-tubocurarine. In contrast to malnutrition, cAMP levels were significantly decreased (P less than .001) in sepsis to 1/400 of controls. The altered neuromuscular function and pharmacology observed in sepsis are similar to changes observed in burn injury. Protein malnutrition common to these two states may be important in functional but not pharmacological changes at the neuromuscular junction.
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PMID:Intraperitoneal endotoxin but not protein malnutrition shifts d-tubocurarine dose-response curves in mouse gastrocnemius muscle. 254 58


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