The use of fluconazole in the management of Candida peritonitis in patients on peritoneal dialysis.

In patients receiving peritoneal dialysis, fungal peritonitis is generally impossible to eradicate with previously available therapy in the absence of catheter removal. Corbella et al. described a patient with fungal peritonitis treated with fluconazole without catheter removal. We studied this drug's effectiveness in the treatment of 5 patients with peritonitis secondary to Candida species. Patients received a loading dose of 200-400 mg fluconazole, followed by 50-200 mg fluconazole daily. Patients improved initially after therapy with fluconazole. Abdominal pain and fever abated, dialysis returns cleared, cell counts decreased, and, in four cases, cultures were sterilized. Dialysate fluconazole levels were adequate. However, despite maintenance of fluconazole therapy, all patients had recurrent peritonitis within 1 month. Complete cure did not occur unless the Tenckhoff catheter was removed. When the catheter was removed, tip cultures grew pure Candida species, and microscopic examination of catheter sections revealed abundant yeast. Although there may be continued isolated reports of successful eradication of fungal peritonitis without catheter removal, we conclude that in the vast majority of cases catheter removal is required.

Increment-decrement tables for human reproduction.

PIP: An increment-decrement life table method has been applied to family building patterns among women. Age at the occurrence of a specified birth is considered the principal duration variable. The data base used to illustrate the table method was a sample of currently married women from the 1965 U.S. National Fertility Survey. It is possible to calculate the average number of births occurring to a woman of given parity during any specific age interval. The average number of births occurring before age 25 for women who are childless at age 20 can be obtained by completing the reproductive history for 100,000 childless 20 year old women through age 25. In a sample of 86,242 first births, 51,425 second births, 17,485 third births, and 4755 fourth births for an average of 1.6 children before age 25. Summary measures such as average parity attained within a given age interval and the conditional probability of transition from one parity to the next in a given age interval can be calculated from a table providing the age intervals do not involve fractions of the age groups used in constructing the abridged table.^ieng

Some observations on the economic framework for fertility analysis.

Abstract The economic framework for fertility analysis, first expounded in detail by Gary S. Becker(1), has attracted considerable attention among demographers. While some writers have enthusiastically endorsed the model, others have rejected it outright(3). A few attempts have also recently been made by some writers to modify or refine some of the concepts employed, and/or to change the modes of treatment of some of the factors in the original model. Unfortunately, several major objections levelled against the model still remain. It also remains to be examined whether the criticisms can be met without violating the principles and strategies espoused by economists. I believe (1) that most of the objections advanced against the model can be met by suitably modifying it, and (2) that the required modifications can be effected by employing strategies and conceptual schemes similar to those used in the demand analysis of consumer behaviour. The objective of this paper is to expound this belief. There is a strong possibility that after modification a healthy new theory will emerge which may prove useful in guiding research, as well as help to bring together different empirical findings in the literature, or to serve as a 'binder' for the theoretical speculations advanced by many research workers.

The integrative potential of a fertility model: An analytical test.

Abstract In an earlier paper a working model of marital fertility was presented.(1) That model grew out of a close study of Becker's economic model for fertility analysis.(2) Becker's model was modified in several respects in order to meet a number of major objections levelled against it by Judith Blake, Deborah Freedman, and others.(3) The purpose of the present paper is to examine how far the model presented earlier can serve as a 'binder' for the interpretative schemes now available in the literature on fertility differentials. More specifically, the objective is to identify the underlying explanatory factors of a number of analytical hypotheses concerning fertility differentials, and to examine whether the factors thus identified can be located in the fertility model presented in the earlier paper.(4) Little attention will be paid to the causal directions, if any, recognized in the hypotheses studied, nor will we attempt to provide a systematic review of empirical findings.

On the relation between economic status and family size preferences when status differentials in contraceptive instrumentalities are eliminated.

Abstract In this paper an attempt is made to formalize the essential elements of a theory of reproductive motivation outlined by Judith Blake in a recent article. On the basis of the results of that exercise, it is argued that the theory, as it stands now, is not specific enough to 'predict' whether the affluent would choose to have fewer children than the poor, if contraceptive instrumentalities were to be equalized among the economic strata. It is also argued that the negative (though weak) association between ideal family size and economic status and the non-negative association between desired number of children and economic status, observed in survey data, are both consistent with the basic premisses of the theory under reference.