Online First in Annals of Internal Medicine

What we know and don't know about fungal meningitis outbreak

2012-10-19

(Press-News.org) In a new perspective piece being published Online First tonight in Annals of Internal Medicine, a physician recalls lessons learned from treating patients affected by the 2002 outbreak of Exophiala (Wangiella) dermatitidis meningitis or arthritis related to contaminated, injectable coticosteroids prepared from a compounding pharmacy. According to the author, the lessons he learned in 2002 are applicable to the current outbreak. He warns that compounding of preservative-free corticosteroids requires meticulous sterility to ensure lack of fungal contamination. Without this sterility, fungus grows aggressively. As seen with the current cases, once injected, the fungus can travel through the body's tissues rapidly, leading to invasive mycosis. However, the incubation period from exposure to disease could be up to six months, so exposed patients will need to be followed for a long time. While there were many people exposed to the fungus in 2002, all but one fatal case were successfully treated with voriconazole. Treatment decisions should be made on a case-by-case basis, but the author writes that evidence from the previous outbreak suggests voriconazole as the logical antifungal drug for initial treatment. Due to the aggressive and deadly nature of the disease, it is important for physicians to act decisively and early. The author warns that these outbreaks will happen again if pharmacy societies, the FDA, and the pharmaceutical industry do not work together to regulate pharmacy compounding.

### This article is free to the public at http://annals.org/article.aspx?articleid=1384984. Author, John R. Perfect, MD. is available for interviews. He can be reached through Sarah Avery at sarah.avery@duke.edu or 919-660-1306.

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Stanford researchers use solar power to study elephants in Africa

2012-10-19

A team of elephant researchers from Stanford University has transformed a remote corner of southern Africa into a high-tech field camp run entirely on sunlight. The seasonal solar-powered research camp gives scientists a rare opportunity to quietly observe, videotape and photograph wild elephants at Mushara waterhole, an isolated oasis in Etosha National Park in Namibia. "One of the really special aspects of solar energy is that it allows us to be in this incredibly remote area that's closed to tourists and is off the grid," said lead researcher Caitlin O'Connell-Rodwell, ...

Foster kids do equally well when adopted by gay, lesbian or heterosexual parents

2012-10-19

High-risk children adopted from foster care do equally well when placed with gay, lesbian or heterosexual parents, UCLA psychologists report in the first multi-year study of children adopted by these three groups of parents. The psychologists looked at 82 high-risk children adopted from foster care in Los Angeles County. Of those children, 60 were placed with heterosexual parents and 22 were placed with gay or lesbian parents (15 with gay male parents and seven with lesbian parents). The age of the children ranged from 4 months to 8 years, with an average age of ...

Expalination for ball lightning

2012-10-19

Australian scientists have unveiled a new theory which explains the mysterious phenomenon known as ball lightning. ightings of ball lightning have been made for centuries around the world – usually the size of a grapefruit and lasting up to twenty seconds – but no explanation of how it occurs has been universally accepted by science. In a paper published in the Journal of Geophysical Research Atmospheres entitled 'The Birth of Ball Lightning' CSIRO and Australia National University scientists present a new mathematical theory which explains how and why it occurs. Previous ...

How to prove a sexual addiction

2012-10-19

The idea that an individual might suffer from a sexual addiction is great fodder for radio talk shows, comedians and late night TV. But a sex addiction is no laughing matter. Relationships are destroyed, jobs are lost, lives ruined. Yet psychiatrists have been reluctant to accept the idea of out-of-control sexual behavior as a mental health disorder because of the lack of scientific evidence. Now a UCLA-led team of experts has tested a proposed set of criteria to define "hypersexual disorder," also known as sexual addiction, as a new mental health condition. Rory ...

Taking race out of the equation in measuring women's risk of osteoporosis and fractures

2012-10-19

For women of mixed racial or ethnic backgrounds, a new method for measuring bone health may improve the odds of correctly diagnosing their risk of osteoporosis and bone fractures, according to a UCLA-led study. Currently, assessing osteoporosis and the risk of fractures from small accidents like falls requires a bone density scan. But because these scans don't provide other relevant fracture-related information, such as bone size and the amount of force a bone is subjected to during a fall, each patient's bone density is examined against a national database of people ...

Studies target high rates of HIV medication errors among hospitalized patients

2012-10-19

San Diego, CA (October 19, 2012) – Research presented at IDWeek 2012™ concludes that despite advances in electronic medical records, mistakes are still commonly made in the prescription of antiretroviral medications for hospitalized HIV-positive patients. At the same time, a trio of studies suggests however, that electronic records in combination with increased clinical education can help to greatly decrease medical errors. The three studies are among the significant research being discussed at the inaugural IDWeek meeting, taking place through Sunday October 21 in San ...

Directing change: How do they do it?

2012-10-19

In the long run, all organisms must adapt to survive as their surroundings do not remain constant for ever. The major difficulty with understanding adaption relates to the length of time required for experiments: evolution is by its very nature a gradual process. Fortunately, however, recent breakthroughs in experimental evolution using model organisms are providing important insights into the process. The nature of the underlying genetic changes has generally remained elusive but recent work at the Institute of Population Genetics of the University of Veterinary Medicine, ...

Young people who go out drinking start earlier and consume more and more alcohol

2012-10-19

Teenagers and university students are unaware of the negative consequences of alcohol consumption or the chances of developing an addiction as a result. In addition, they start at a younger and younger age and drink more and stronger alcohol according to a study headed by the University of Valencia. Current drinking trends amongst Spanish youth are characterised by what is known as botellón or drinking in the streets. Researchers at Valencia's universities, Miguel Hernández de Elche and Jaume I de Castellón, have conducted a study funded by the Spanish National Drugs ...

A sharper look into the past for archaeology and climate research

2012-10-19

By using a new series of measurements of radiocarbon dates on seasonally laminated sediments from Lake Suigetsu in Japan, a more precise calibration of radiocarbon dating will be possible. In combination with an accurate count of the seasonal layered deposits in the lake, the study resulted in an unprecedented precision of the known 14C method with which it is now possible to date older objects of climate research and archeology more precisely than previously achievable. This is the result published by an international team of geoscientists led by Prof. Christopher Bronk ...

First micro-structure atlas of the human brain completed

2012-10-19

A European team of scientists have built the first atlas of white-matter microstructure in the human brain. The project's final results have the potential to change the face of neuroscience and medicine over the coming decade. The work relied on groundbreaking MRI technology and was funded by the EU's future and emerging technologies program with a grant of 2.4 million Euros. The participants of the project, called CONNECT, were drawn from leading research centers in countries across Europe including Israel, United Kingdom, Germany, France, Denmark, Switzerland and Italy. The ...

NTU Singapore-led team captures first-ever ‘twitch’ of the eye’s night-vision cells as they detect light, paving the way for earlier detection of blindness-causing diseases

Online First in Annals of Internal Medicine

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