The last years of research have proposed that bacteria might be involved in and contribute to the lack of healing of chronic wounds. Especially it seems that Pseudomonas aeruginosa play a crucial role in the healing. At Copenhagen Wound Healing Centre it was for many years clinical suspected that once chronic venous leg ulcers were colonized (weeks or months preoperatively) by P. aeruginosa, the success rate of skin grafting deteriorated despite aggressive treatment. To investigate this, a retrospective study was performed on the clinical outcome of 82 consecutive patients with chronic venous leg ulcers on 91 extremities, from the 1st of March 2005 until the 31st of August 2006. This was achieved by analysing the microbiology, demographic data, smoking and drinking habits, diabetes, renal impairment, co-morbidities, approximated size and age of the wounds, immunosuppressive treatment and complicating factors on the clinical outcome of each patient. The results were evaluated using a Student T-test for continuous parameters, chi-square test for categorical parameters and a logistic regression analysis to predict healing after 12 weeks. The analysis revealed that only 33,3% of ulcers with P. aeruginosa, isolated at least once from 12 weeks prior, to or during surgery, were healed (98% or more) by week 12 follow-up, while 73,1% of ulcers without P. aeruginosa were so by the same time (p = 0,001). Smoking also significantly suppressed the outcome at the 12-week follow-up. Subsequently, a logistic regression analysis was carried out leaving P. aeruginosa as the only predictor left in the model (p = 0,001). This study supports our hypothesis that P. aeruginosa in chronic venous leg ulcers, despite treatment, has considerable impact on partial take or rejection of split-thickness skin grafts.
Patients homozygous for the c.95A>G mutation demonstrated limited skeletal muscle carnitine stores despite long-term high-dosage L-carnitine supplementation. Exacerbated renal excretion resulted in a short T 1/2 in plasma carnitine following the last oral dose of L-carnitine. Thus a treatment strategy of minimum three daily separate doses of L-carnitine is recommended, while intermission with L-carnitine treatment might prove detrimental.
Abstractobjectives To investigate the diagnostic accuracy of random blood glucose (RBG) on good glycaemic control among patients with diabetes mellitus (DM) in a rural African setting.methods Cross-sectional study at St. Francis' Hospital in eastern Zambia. RBG and HbA 1c were measured during one clinical review only. Other information obtained was age, sex, body mass index, waist circumference, blood pressure, urine albumin-creatinine ratio, duration since diagnosis and medication.results One hundred and one patients with DM (type 1 DM = 23, type 2 DM = 78) were included. Spearman's rank correlation coefficient revealed a significant correlation between RBG and HbA 1c among the patients with type 2 DM (r = 0.73, P < 0.001) but not patients with type 1 DM (r = 0.17, P = 0.44). Furthermore, in a multivariate linear regression model (R 2 = 0.71) RBG (per mmol/l increment) (B = 0.28, 95% CI:0.24-0.32, P < 0.001) was significantly associated with HbA 1c among the patients with type 2 DM. Based on ROC analysis (AUC = 0.80, SE = 0.05), RBG ≤7.5 mmol/l was determined as the optimal cut-off value for good glycaemic control (HbA 1c <7.0% [53 mmol/mol]) among patients with type 2 DM (sensitivity = 76.7%; specificity = 70.8%; positive predictive value = 62.2%; negative predictive value = 82.9%).conclusions Random blood glucose could possibly be used to assess glycaemic control among patients with type 2 DM in rural settings of sub-Saharan Africa.
Abstractobjective To assess albuminuria in rural Zambia among patients with diabetes mellitus only (DM group), hypertension only (HTN group) and patients with combined DM and HTN (DM/HTN group).methods A cross-sectional survey was conducted at St. Francis Hospital in the Eastern province of Zambia. Albumin-creatinine ratio in one urine sample was used to assess albuminuria. Other information obtained included age, sex, body mass index (BMI), waist circumference (WC), blood pressure (BP), glycosylated haemoglobin (HbA 1c ), random capillary glucose, time since diagnosis, medication and family history of DM or HTN.results A total of 193 participants were included (DM group: n = 33; HTN group: n = 92; DM/HTN group: n = 68). The participants in the DM group used insulin more frequently as diabetes medication than the DM/HTN group (P < 0.05). Furthermore, the DM group was younger and had lower BMI, WC and BP than the two other groups. In the DM group, HTN group and DM/HTN group, microalbuminuria was found in 12.1%, 19.6% and 29.4% (P = 0.11), and macroalbuminuria was found in 0.0%, 3.3% and 13.2% (P = 0.014), respectively. The urine albumin (P = 0.014) and albumin-creatinine ratio (P = 0.0006) differed between the three groups.conclusion This hospital-based survey in rural Zambia found a lower frequency of albuminuria among the participants than in previous studies of patients with DM or HTN in urban sub-Saharan Africa.
Background: 3-Methylcrotonyl-CoA carboxylase deficiency (3-MCCd) is an autosomal recessive disorder in the catabolism of leucine. In the present study, we investigated the current and prior medical condition of patients with 3-MCCd in the Faroe Islands and their carnitine levels in blood, urine and muscle tissue with and without L-carnitine supplementation to evaluate the current treatment strategy of not recommending L-carnitine supplementation to Faroese 3-MCCd patients.Methods: Blood and urine samples and muscle biopsies were collected from patients at inclusion and at 3 months. Eight patients received L-carnitine supplementation when recruited; five did not. Included patients who received supplementation were asked to stop L-carnitine, the others were asked to initiate L-carnitine supplementation during the study. Symptoms were determined by review of hospital medical records and questionnaires answered at baseline and after the intervention.
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