Association of breast artery calcification with coronary artery disease and carotid intima-media thickness in premenopausal women

This study investigated whether breast arterial calcification [BAC] has an association with coronary artery diseases [CAD] in young premenopausal women and evaluated the association of BAC with carotid intima-media thickness and standard CAD risk factors. Among 84 premenopausal women aged < 55 years who were referred for coronary angiography, 34 [40.5%] had abnormal angiographic findings and 6 [7.1%] showed BAC in their mammograms. The body mass index of patients with BAC was significantly higher than those without BAC. BAC had no significant association with angiography-confirmed CAD

[Isolation of anaerobic, aerobic bacteria and mycobacterium from foot skin infections of diabetic patients]

Diabetic foot infections are a potentially severe complication of diabetes. Diabetic foot infections can sometimes lead to long-term debilitation and, in the most severe cases, amputation. They are the most common infections in patients with diabetes, whose weakened immune systems put them at an increased risk of acquiring antibiotic resistant infections. For this descriptive study, 120 diabetic patients [30 women and 90 men age ranged between 45-65 years and disease duration of 0.5 to 37 years] were investigated. Immediately after the hospitalization, specimens from infected foot lesions were taken using Thio and BHI as transport medium. Aerobic cultures were carried out in all cases according to conventional methods while anaerobic cultures were performed when appropriate. Finally, susceptibility tests were performed on isolated microorganism. Totally, 75% of cases were polymicrobial infections. We isolated gram positive cocci 95%, gram positive bacilli 35%, gram negative 55% and mycobacterium 10%. Meanwhile, we found that 12.5% of our bacteria were anaerobic and 87.5% were facultative aerobic bacteria. In antimicrobial susceptibility testing, Rifampin was the most effective antibiotic against S.aureus and peptostreptococcus. Surprisingly, E.coli was resistant to all tested antibiotics. Diabetic foot infections have a polymicrobial nature. Antibiotic treatment of infections should be prescribed on the results of microbiological investigation