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Shortened
Zidovudine Regimens to Reduce Perinatal Transmission of HIV
This randomized trial in Thailand evaluated four zidovudine regimens, with
the mother treated from either 28 weeks or 35 weeks of gestation through
delivery and the newborn treated for either 3 days or 6 weeks. The regimen
of short treatment in both mother and newborn was discontinued because of
a transmission rate of 10.5 percent, as compared with 4.1 percent with the
regimen of long treatment in both the mother and newborn. The other three
regimens did not differ statistically, but shorter treatment in the mother
led to a higher rate of transmission in utero.
Asymptomatic
Bacteriuria in Sexually Active Young Women
This study evaluated the frequency of asymptomatic bacteriuria in normal
young women and the extent to which it predisposed them to symptomatic urinary
tract infection. Among 796 sexually active women 18 through 40 years old
from whom urine cultures were obtained regularly for six months, 179 (22
percent) had at least one episode of asymptomatic bacteriuria, and 40 (5
percent) had asymptomatic bacteriuria on at least two consecutive cultures
one month apart. Eight percent of cultures indicating asymptomatic bacteriuria
were followed by symptomatic urinary infections.
Central
Diabetes Insipidus in Children and Young Adults
 Among
79 patients with central diabetes insipidus, the most common causes were
intracranial tumors and Langerhans¹-cell histiocytosis, but 52 percent
of the patients had no identifiable cause. Deficiencies of one or more
anterior pituitary hormones were documented in 61 percent of the patients.
The
Neuropathic Postural Tachycardia Syndrome
Patients
with this syndrome have orthostatic lightheadedness and tachycardia, but
not orthostatic hypotension, in association with hypovolemia and high plasma
norepinephrine concentrations. Detailed studies in 10 patients revealed
decreased sympathetic activity ‹ as measured by norepinephrine responses
to the cold pressor test, nitroprusside infusion, and tyramine infusion
‹ in the legs but not the arms. |
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Mutations
of Coagulation Factors and Late Fetal Loss
This casecontrol study examined the role of thrombophilic
mutations in the factor V and prothrombin genes in pregnant women
whose
fetuses died after 20 weeks or more of gestation. Among 67 such
women, 5 (7 percent) had a factor V mutation and 6 (9 percent) had
a prothrombin mutation, as compared with 6 (3 percent) and 7 (3
percent), respectively, of 232 control women (relative risk of late
fetal loss, 3.2 and 3.3, respectively). Examination of the placentas
from 62 of the 67 women revealed intravascular thrombi or other
vascular abnormalities in 47 (76 percent).
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