Evaluation of specific absorbed fractions from internal photon sources in the ICRP Reference Male Phantom.

In order to estimate the dose caused by internal radiation, it is necessary to know the specific absorbed fraction (SAF) values; through this work these values have been calculated using the Adult Male Reference Computational Phantom (RCP-AM) from the Publication 110 of the International Commission Radiologic Protection and the Monte Carlo transport code MCNPX. These values were calculated for a combination of 980 pairs of source and target organs, for a total of 12 energies. The results were validated and compared with the results reported by other authors: Hadid et al. (RCP-AM), Petoussi-Henss and Zankl (Golem) and the Oak Ridge National Laboratory (ORNL) stylised model reported by Cristy and Eckerman. Mostly, the SAF values calculated with the RCP-AM do not present significant differences in relation to its previous model Golem. When comparing the SAF values of RCP-AM with that of the ORNL stylised model, huge differences were found. These differences can be explained by the shape of the organs and their relative positions, which are more realistic in the voxelised phantoms.

Genetic relationships among Neisseria gonorrhoeae serovars analysed by multilocus enzyme electrophoresis.

Multilocus enzyme electrophoretic analysis was employed to assess the genetic relatedness of Neisseria gonorrhoeae. Based on the diversity of electromorphs at 9 enzyme loci, 16 electrophoretic types (ETs) were established amongst the 65 isolates. The average number of alleles per enzyme locus was 1.7 and the mean genetic diversity per locus was 0.212. The majority of isolates belonged to either ET1 (32.3%) or ET2 (16.9%). No specific correlation of ETs was seen with serovars as the major types, ETs 1 and 2, were found distributed amongst the various serovars. Major serovars such as Bacjk (IB-1/2) and Bajk (IB-3/6) were each represented by 6 or 8 ETs respectively. Analysis of the genetic relationships of ETs to each other showed some clustering of subgroups that were more closely related than others.

Characterisation of PPNG and non-PPNG Neisseria gonorrhoeae isolates from Singapore.

OBJECTIVE: To characterise Neisseria gonorrhoeae isolates from Singapore. DESIGN: Characterisation of Neisseria gonorrhoeae isolates by auxotyping, serological analysis and plasmid profile analysis. SPECIMENS: Sixty randomly collected isolates from 41 symptomatic, untreated males and 19 female prostitutes were studied. RESULTS: Auxotyping of 25 PPNG and 35 non-PPNG strains showed that the Pro-auxotype was prevalent among both PPNG (56%) and non-PPNG (42.5%) strains. Prototrophic strains comprised 28% of PPNG and 32.5% of non-PPNG strains respectively. Serovar analysis showed that with the exception of seven serogroup WI strains, the majority belonged to serogroup WII/III. Serovar Aedih was predominant among both serogroup WI PPNG (80%) and non-PPNG (100%) strains. Serogroup WII/III PPNG strains were represented by nine serovars with the predominant serovars being Bacjk (28%) and Bcgjk (16%). Eleven serovars were identified in the WII/III non-PPNG strains and the major serovars were Bajk (20%), Bacjk (17%), Back (11.4%) and Beghjk (11.4%). Analysis of the 25 PPNG strains showed that 16 of them carried the 4.4 MDa (Asian type) resistance plasmid and nine strains harboured the 4.4 MDa plasmid in conjunction with the 24.5 MDa transfer plasmid. The cryptic plasmid of 2.6 MDa was present in 27 of the 35 non-PPNG strains. Five of the non-PPNG strains harbouring the cryptic plasmid also contained the 24.5 MDa transfer plasmid. The plasmid combination of 2.6 + 7.8 + 24.5 MDa was detected in three non-PPNG strains. CONCLUSION: The combination of epidemiological methods used in this study indicated the heterogeneity of N gonorrhoeae strains in Singapore. A total of 16 different combinations of auxotype, plasmid profile and serovar were seen in the 25 PPNG strains compared with 24 such combinations in the 35 non-PPNG strains. Such sensitive differentiation would otherwise not be possible using either auxotype-serovar (A/S) or auxotype-plasmid analysis.

Rapid in situ generation of DNA restriction endonuclease patterns for Neisseria gonorrhoeae.

Restriction endonuclease (RE) digestion patterns of 26 isolates of Neisseria gonorrhoeae representing different serovars of serogroups WI, WII, and WIII were generated by agarose pellet entrapment and in situ digestion with HinfI and BglII. The method was fast, simple, and reproducible, and stable RE patterns were produced from subsequent in vitro passages. The cost of culture materials was reduced considerably, and no toxic or flammable solvents needed to be used. Excellent resolution of DNA fragments of higher molecular weights was obtained as a result of minimal mechanical shearing of the DNA. The REs HinfI and BglII were discriminative in the fragment length ranges of 2 to 6.5 and 2.5 to 21.5 kilobases, respectively. On the basis of densitometric scanning of electrophoretograms generated by HinfI digestion, the 26 isolates representing 12 serovars were divided into seven groups. BglII was found to be more discriminative; 15 RE patterns were established among the 26 isolates. Patterns generated by both REs showed that there was no correlation between a particular RE pattern and a serovar, since strains with identical RE patterns were from different serovars. With the exception of two strains (D3 and D14), which demonstrated positive correlation when both enzymes were used, all strains with identical serovar patterns had different RE patterns.

Contribucion de las tecnicas por imagenes para estudio y adecuacion del tratamiento en el epitelioma cuniculatem

Los hallazgos del diagnóstico por imágenes, en un caso de epitelioma cuniculatum com recaída son comentados favorablemente. Creemos que estos medios deben recordarse en las patologías de similar comportamiento biológico y en casos problemas con la precaución debida a toda nueva técnica. En nuestro caso, la ecografía y la xeroradiografía fueron los métodos que aportaron los datos más valiosos

Contribucion de las tecnicas por imagenes para estudio y adecuacion del tratamiento en el epitelioma cuniculatem

Los hallazgos del diagnóstico por imágenes, en un caso de epitelioma cuniculatum com recaída son comentados favorablemente. Creemos que estos medios deben recordarse en las patologías de similar comportamiento biológico y en casos problemas con la precaución debida a toda nueva técnica. En nuestro caso, la ecografía y la xeroradiografía fueron los métodos que aportaron los datos más valiosos (AU)

Pseudomicetomas - a proposito de dois casos. / Pseudomycetomas - apropos of 2 cases

Sao apresentados dois casos de pseudomicetomas com diagnostico baseado em estudos bacteriologicos, histologicos e micologicos: a clinica sugeria tratarem-se de micetomas verdadeiros. Em ambos os casos foi isolado Staphylococcus aureus e, em ambos, existem antecedentes de traumatismo, o que confirmaria a porta de entrada do agente etiologico.Estes casos nos pareceram interessantes pela semelhanca clinica com micetomas verdadeiros e confirmando o conceito de micetoma como sindrome clinica ao inves de entidade nosologica

Reacción leprosa y lavamisole (R. 12.564)

Se trataron veinticinco pacientes de lepra lepromatosa con brote subintrante de eritema nudoso con Levamisole, más la medicación específica y Talidomida que recebían observándose que el agregado de Levamisole, permite reducir la dosis necesaria de Talidomida para controlar el brote.

Rifampicina en la terapéutica de la lepra lepromatosa

Las siguientes observaciones fueron practicadas en 118 pacientes lepromatosos durante un periodo de 6 a 24 meses, distribuidos en 3 grupos. Grupo A: 42 lepromatosos (L) con Rifampicina (RMP) 300 mg./día. Grupo B: 46 L con RMP 300 mg./día y Grupo C: 30 L con RMP 600 mg./día + 1 tableta de Isoprodian/dia (DDS 100 mg + Isoniasida 350 mg. + Prothionamida 350 mg.) Los pacientes que sobrepasan los 70 kilos reciben 2 comprimidos de Isoprodian al día.