Syringe-sharing behaviors among injection drug users (IDUs) are typically based on self-reports and subject to socially desirable responding. We used 3 short tandem repeat (STR) genetic biomarkers to detect sharing in 2,512 syringes exchanged by 315 IDUs in the Baltimore needle exchange program (NEP; 738 person-visits). Demographic characteristics as well as direct and indirect needle-sharing b...

The increasing use of human growth hormone (hGH) treatment has resulted in the introduction of a number of alternative delivery systems to conventional syringe and needle administration. We examined patients' evaluation of a new delivery system, the Kabipen (Kabi-Vitrum). We also assessed the accuracy of hGH delivery by the Kabipen. Of the 77 survey respondents 13 had used only the Kabipen, 14 ...

We modelled a 'clean' surgical wound lightly contaminated with airborne bacteria, using agar, ovine muscle and ovine adipose tissue. This was used to assess the effect on bacteria of ultraviolet C light (UVC) 1200 mu W/cm2, hydrogen peroxide 3%, povidone-iodine 1% and 10%, chlorhexidine 0.05%, pulsed jet lavage with UVC and syringe and needle lavage with chlorhexidine 0.05%. All the agents were...

OBJECTIVES To determine preference, satisfaction, usability and local tolerability by patients, physicians and study nurses of two subcutaneously administered methotrexate (MTX) formulations of different concentrations. METHODS This was an open-label, comparative, within-patient controlled, multicentre study of 132 patients with rheumatoid arthritis (RA). MTX treatment consisted of 20 mg/week...

Pediatric posttraumatic endophthalmitis (PTE) is a rare but serious disease that frequently has a poor visual prognosis. To date, only a few English studies have focused on this disease. We perform a systematic review of the Chinese literature on pediatric PTE and describe the epidemiology, management, causative organisms, and visual acuity outcomes of reported cases in twenty years. We found t...

PURPOSE Cellulitis is normally treated without knowledge of the responsible pathogen. Blood cultures are positive in about 2-4 %, and superficial swabs are of no value. Needle aspiration has been proposed with identifying the likely pathogen in up to 29 %, but these studies are of older date and the technique is not widely used. METHODS We prospectively evaluated the sensitivity of needle asp...