Essential medicines containing ethanol elevate blood acetaldehyde concentrations in neonates.

UNLABELLED: Neonates administered ethanol-containing medicines are potentially at risk of dose-dependent injury through exposure to ethanol and its metabolite, acetaldehyde. Here, we determine blood ethanol and acetaldehyde concentrations in 49 preterm infants (median birth weight = 1190 g) dosed with iron or furosemide, medicines that contain different amounts of ethanol, and in 11 control group infants (median birth weight = 1920 g) who were not on any medications. Median ethanol concentrations in neonates administered iron or furosemide were 0.33 (range = 0-4.92) mg/L, 0.39 (range = 0-72.77) mg/L and in control group infants were 0.15 (range = 0.03-5.4) mg/L. Median acetaldehyde concentrations in neonates administered iron or furosemide were 0.16 (range = 0-8.89) mg/L, 0.21 (range = 0-2.43) mg/L and in control group infants were 0.01 (range = 0-0.14) mg/L. There was no discernible relationship between blood ethanol or acetaldehyde concentrations and time after medication dose. CONCLUSION: Although infants dosed with iron or furosemide had low blood ethanol concentrations, blood acetaldehyde concentrations were consistent with moderate alcohol exposure. The data suggest the need to account for the effects of acetaldehyde in the benefit-risk analysis of administering ethanol-containing medicines to neonates. WHAT IS KNOWN: • Neonates are commonly treated with ethanol-containing medicines, such as iron and furosemide. • However, there is no data on whether this leads to appreciable increases in blood concentrations of ethanol or its metabolite, acetaldehyde. What is New: • In this study, we find low blood ethanol concentrations in neonates administered iron and/or furosemide but markedly elevated blood acetaldehyde concentrations in some infants receiving these medicines. • Our data suggest that ethanol in drugs may cause elevation of blood acetaldehyde, a potentially toxic metabolite.

Multinational medical support to operations: challenges, benefits and recommendations for the future.

This paper considers the strategic aspects of medical support to military operations as delivered through multi-national collaboration. The military medical services are in essence a people organisation; the purpose of the organisation is primarily to support the people engaged in military operations, and also the people providing healthcare to them. Increasingly, supporting the latter also includes preparation for the ethical dilemmas that they will face. Providing health advice and healthcare on operations is now usually undertaken on a multinational basis, in order to generate sufficient medical capacity to meet the requirement with assets of the appropriate (and NATO mandated) capability. This will be an enduring feature, particularly in light of increasing costs of providing high quality healthcare and the operational and logistic challenges of delivering this capability in adverse environments, and in the context of medical personnel being a limited resource. The key to overcoming the challenges, often the result of the "people issues" such as cultural differences, is to recognise the value that the inherent diversity of multinational healthcare provision brings. The benefit is realised through sharing best practice, and the lessons from challenges met, as well as through burden sharing, and to understand that challenges are most commonly the result of misunderstandings, such as those inherent in language differences. The advice for those bringing a multinational team together includes considering the implications of culture (noting differences in national and military perspectives, and in medical processes such as clinical governance), to ensure effective communication, and to utilise feedback to confirm understanding. It is important not to prejudge or denigrate others. Share information and knowledge, provide positive reinforcement when things go well, and recognise that there will inevitably be challenges and use these as an opportunity to learn. Above all, the personal touch builds a culture within the multinational team that transcends national culture; celebrating success breeds success and thus optimal outcome for patients.

The utility of a standardised breath sampler in school age children within a real-world prospective study.

Clinical assessment of children with asthma is problematic, and non-invasive biomarkers are needed urgently. Monitoring exhaled volatile organic compounds (VOCs) is an attractive alternative to invasive tests (blood and sputum) and may be used as frequently as required. Standardised reproducible breath-sampling is essential for exhaled-VOC analysis, and although the ReCIVA (Owlstone Medical Limited) breath-sampler was designed to satisfy this requirement, paediatric use was not in the original design brief. The efficacy of the ReCIVA at sampling breath from children has been studied, and 90 breath-samples from 64 children (5-15 years) with, and without asthma (controls), were collected with two different ReCIVA units. Seventy samples (77.8%) contained the specified 1 l of sampled-breath. Median sampling times were longer in children with acute asthma (770.2 s, range: 532.2-900.1 s) compared to stable asthma (690.6 s, range: 477.5-900.1 s;p= 0.01). The ReCIVA successfully detected operational faults, in 21 samples. A leak, caused by a poor fit of the face mask seal was the most common (15); the others were USB communication-faults (5); and, a single instance of a file-creation error. Paediatric breath-profiles were reliably monitored, however synchronisation of sampling to breathing-phases was sometimes lost, causing some breaths not to be sampled, and some to be sampled continuously. This occurred in 60 (66.7%) of the samples and was a source of variability. Importantly, multi-variate modelling of untargeted VOC analysis indicated the absence of significant batch effects for eight operational variables. The ReCIVA appears suitable for paediatric breath-sampling. Post-processing of breath-sample meta-data is recommended to assess the quality of sample-acquisition. Further, future studies should explore the effect of pump-synchronisation faults on recovered VOC profiles, and mask sizes to fit all ages will reduce the potential for leaks and importantly, provide higher levels of comfort to children with asthma.

Audit of the effectiveness of command and control arrangements for medical evacuation of seriously ill or injured casualties in southern Afghanistan 2007.

AIMS: The effectiveness of the command and control of medical evacuation by helicopter (MEDEVAC) of casualties sustained in southern Afghanistan each month from 1 May to 31 July 2007 was audited. In this period 762 casualties of all categories were evacuated to International Security Assistance Force (ISAF) field hospital facilities under the direction of Operations and medical staff of NATO Regional Command (South) (RC-S). The criterion for the audit was the time taken from notification in the RC-S Combined Joint Operations Centre (CJOC) until the helicopter landed ("Wheels Down") at the destination field hospital's helicopter landing site. The standard to be met was 90 minutes for all "9-liner" Category A (URGENT) and Category B (URGENT - surgical) cases (in hospital within 2 hours of wounding) allowing for time from injury to first notification in the CJOC, and time from landing to transfer to the Emergency Department (30 minutes together) at the designated destination hospital. Those that did not meet this target were assessed in order to review their outcome and to identify means for improving performance. RESULTS: Analysis of evacuation times for all missions each month from May to July revealed that three quarters of A and B category missions met the 90 minute target. No adverse outcome resulted from those which did not meet this target, reasons for which included distance (more than 30 minutes flying time each way), delay in securing a hostile landing site, delay in obtaining sufficient information, incorrect categorization of the casualty's priority, and on one occasion, an overmatch of assets available at that time. No casualties died who were recoverable. Comparison with data from the two previous RC-S rotations (prior to 1 May 07) showed an improvement in mean response time, but little change in median response on the rotation of RC-S staff on 1 May 07. The major change that had occurred on this rotation was to move the medical operations staff into the CJOC. The convergence of median and mean at this time indicates a reduction in "outliers", providing evidence that collocation of medical and operations staff improves incident response and should be the "default setting" in deployed tactical formation headquarters. CONCLUSION: Regular audit of MEDEVAC response should be routine for Medical Operations staff, in order to ensure the optimal casualty care pathway from point of wounding to field hospital.

Detection of vancomycin-resistant enterococci before and after antimicrobial therapy: use of conventional culture and polymerase chain reaction.

Antimicrobial therapy can increase the colonization density of gastrointestinal vancomycin-resistant enterococci (VRE). Among previously VRE-colonized patients, we evaluated VRE colonization before and after initiation of antimicrobial therapy by means of polymerase chain reaction (PCR) and culture. Perianal swab samples were obtained at admission to the hospital and after receipt of antimicrobial therapy. At admission, 12 (21%) of 56 patients were culture positive, and 17 (30%) had vanA or vanB genes detected by PCR. Culture results showed that 25 (86%) of 29 culture-negative patients from whom a second swab sample was obtained remained culture negative, 2 (6.9%) had a relapse of colonization with a strain related to the previously colonizing strain type (2 and 6 days after admission), and 2 (6.9%) tested positive for a previously undetected strain type (16 and 19 days after admission). PCR at admission detected VRE in 1 of the 2 patients who later relapsed. Patients with negative results of culture of the initial swab sample and of PCR were unlikely to relapse after receipt of antimicrobial therapy.

Transient ischemic attacks due to atherosclerosis. A prospective study of 160 patients.

Patients with transient ischemic attacks (TIAs) due to atherosclerosis were studied by aortocranial arteriography. Onset of TIAs was before age 55 in 24% and between 55 and 64 in 47%. Men exceeded women by two to one. Of 160 patients, 77 were treated medically and 82 surgically. Five died in the immediate postoperative period. In the survivors, mortality has been the same in the medically and surgically managed groups. For patients with multiple lesions, surgical reconstruction of the carotid arteries was associated with very high surgical risk. In the medically treated group, anticoagulant therapy reduced the frequency of TIAs, but did not appear to protect patients from stroke. Mortality was 23% at four years, 57% of deaths being attributable to myocardial infarction and 38% to stroke.

Cryptosporidiosis in child care settings: a review of the literature and recommendations for prevention and control.

Trends in child care have affected the epidemiology of many infectious diseases. Although once considered rare Cryptosporidium is now recognized as a significant pathogen in child care settings. Although the major impact of cryptosporidiosis in child care settings is economic in terms of parental time lost from work due to a child's illness, the possibility of transmission to immunocompromised individuals and health effects of cryptosporidiosis underscore the significance of this pathogen. Our understanding of the epidemiology of cryptosporidiosis in child care settings is hampered by the lack of information from both cross-sectional and prospective studies. Such studies coupled with the use of newer diagnostic techniques and methods that are currently under development for identifying Cryptosporidium in environmental samples are sorely needed. Information is also needed on the effectiveness of prevention and control strategies. Although prevention strategies may be based on findings from broad based studies that do not focus on any one agent, differences in duration of excretion, rates of asymptomatic infection, availability of treatment and survival in the environment suggest that control strategies for specific pathogens should be evaluated.

Impact of a massive waterborne cryptosporidiosis outbreak on child care facilities in metropolitan Milwaukee, Wisconsin.

OBJECTIVE: We describe the impact of the 1993 waterborne cryptosporidiosis outbreak on metropolitan Milwaukee child care homes and centers. METHODS: Information on outbreak-related illness and changes in policies and practices was collected from directors of 117 facilities. Stool specimens from 129 diapered children from 11 centers were screened for Cryptosporidium. RESULTS: Most (74%) facility directors reported children or staff with diarrhea during the outbreak; however, only 4 (3.4%) facilities closed because of illness among staff or children. During the outbreak child care homes were less likely to exclude children with diarrhea than were child care centers. Among diapered children attending centers the Cryptosporidium prevalence was 30%; 29% of infected children had no history of diarrhea associated with the Milwaukee outbreak. CONCLUSIONS: Facilities continued to operate during the outbreak despite considerable illness among children and staff. The news media were effective means for providing public health information to child care facilities. Although secondary transmission undoubtedly took place in child care facilities, the presence of children with asymptomatic Cryptosporidium infections did not result in an increased risk of diarrhea in infant and toddler rooms.

Provider-reported illness and absence due to illness among children attending child-care homes and centers in San Diego, Calif.

PURPOSE: To compare the incidence of provider-reported illness and absence due to illness among children attending small child-care homes, large child-care homes, and child care centers in a large metropolitan area. METHODS: From July 6, 1992, through January 28, 1994, we collected information from child-care providers on illness and absence due to illness at 64 small and 58 large child-care homes and 41 child-care centers. This included 113 446 child-weeks of information on 5360 children. RESULTS: Providers reported 14 474 illness episodes (6.6 episodes per child-year) and 8593 days of absence due to illness (3.9 days per child-year). The incidence of illness episodes was greatest in children who were younger than 1 year, white, or enrolled in small child-care homes. The incidence of absence due to illness was greatest in children who were 1 year of age, Hispanic, or enrolled in child-care centers. Respiratory symptoms were most commonly associated with illness episodes and absence due to illness. CONCLUSIONS: Children in child-care homes had a greater incidence of provider-reported illness than did those in centers. This risk varied by the type of facility and was greatest in small child-care homes. The increased risk for absence due to illness among children in child-care centers reflects exclusion and attendance patterns. It may be possible to reduce the incidence of absence due to illness and subsequent economic impact of child-care-associated illness by educating providers on exclusion guidelines.

Separation of rhodium from iridium with sodium borohydride and standardization of rhodium(III) solutions.

Of the platinum group metal separations, that of rhodium from iridium is the most difficult. The existing gravimetric methods are too lengthy or make use of organic reagents which ultimately need to be removed before iridium can be determined. The proposed method of separation is rapid, needs no pH control, and easy to carry out. Rh(III) ions are quantitatively reduced to Rh(0) by the action of aqueous sodium borohydride. The separation is best achieved in perchlorate medium in the presence of hydroxylamine. The separation is dependent on the concentration ratio of iridium to rhodium; if this is high, some iridium is co-precipitated; if low, the rhodium obtained is free from even spectrographic traces of iridium. A new method for standardization of Rh(III) solutions with sodium borohydride is proposed.

Training injuries--how clinicians can help commanders avoid them.

The aim of this paper is to reflect on the proceedings of three training injuries symposia run by the British Army's training organization from 2001 to 2003. The essence of the presentations are reproduced, highlighting the role of medical staff in advising commanders on how injuries might be prevented. The importance of placing the emphasis on prevention rather than rehabilitation as a means of reducing the impact of training injuries is first examined. Pre-employment medical selection standards, the design of training courses, nutrition, smoking, training injuries among women, heat injury and the psycho-social environment are then all reviewed. Finally, the outcome of workshop discussion groups are presented as practical guidance for medical officers and other clinicians, advising commanders on how training injuries amongst their personnel might be minimised.

Symposium--commemoration of the liberation of the Bergen-Belsen Concentration Camp and medical management of disasters study period.

Over the period 15/16 April 1998 a commemorative dinner and study period was held to recognise the role of the medical services in the management of the victims of the Bergen-Belsen Concentration Camp. Having been presented with a framework for planning medical support to these situations, one of the London medical students at Belsen in 1945 related his own experience at this unprecedented and horrific scene. Following this, the lessons that may be drawn were examined, the key factor being the need to create order out of chaos. The system used by the military for analysing what has to be achieved in a given situation, and the deductions that can be made from the prevailing factors, called the Estimate Process, emerged as a model for planning the medical contribution to disaster relief.

Humanitarian aid operations in Republica Srpska during Operation Resolute 2.

The humanitarian aid experience of a unit in Bosnia is described. Data are presented for primary care clinics undertaken, showing the range of conditions and age of patients seen. The role of the civilian aid agencies involved is described, together with recommendations for future training requirements for similar operations.

Transient paralysis after robotic prostatectomy.

Laparoscopic radical prostatectomy (LARP) has been accepted as first line therapy for clinically localized prostate cancer. Complications have been low and outcomes are comparable to that of open surgery with potential benefits including shorter hospital stay, less pain and quicker return to normal activity. Unexplained paralysis following LARP is a rare entity with no reported cases in the current literature. We report a case of complete motor paralysis following LARP. An extensive multidisciplinary evaluation did not definitively establish a diagnosis. Aggressive multimodality treatment led to a complete recovery. Our understanding of this phenomena with the possible etiology and treatment is discussed.

The risk of infectious diseases among child care providers.

More than 1.1 million people were employed in out-of-home child care facilities in the United States in 1998, and this number is expected to increase over the next 10 years. This group consists primarily of women with a median age of 35. This review of the literature provides convincing evidence that these women have an excess risk of infection with a number of diseases, including cytomegalovirus, parvovirus B19, and, possibly, giardia. These workers also face an epidemic risk of such other infections as shigellosis, hepatitis A, and cryptosporidiosis. Handwashing, good hygiene, and, where indicated, immunization, remain the mainstays of prevention for this group.