Mycobacterium chelonei Breast Abscess Associated With Nipple Piercing

Background: Breast abscesses are typically seen in the setting of complicated mastitis in lactating women. Abscesses resulting from foreign bodies are not commonly seen in the breast. Over the past few decades, body piercing has become increasingly common, yet the infectious morbidity resulting from it is not well recognized. A breast abscess associated with nipple piercing is described in this report

Development of Pelvic Abscess Following Water-Skiing Injury

Several descriptions of hydrostatic injuries while water-skilng have been described, including lacerations of the perineum, vagina, and cervix. Salpingitis or pelvic abscess resulting from water-skiing injuries are rare but important complications. A case of a pelvic abscess following a fall while water-skiing is described. The abscess was drained laparoscopically, resulting in a good clinical outcome. The mechanism of injury and recommendations for prevention are also presented. Upper genital tract infection may result from water-skiing injuries due to hydrostatic pressure forcing bacteria and water through the vagina and cervix into the endometrium, fallopian tube, and peritoneal cavity. While an uncommon complication, physicians and other practitioners caring for women should be aware of this potential complication from water-skiing

The effect of levonorgestrel intrauterine device placement on serum CA‐125 levels in healthy premenopausal women

Peer Reviewedhttp://deepblue.lib.umich.edu/bitstream/2027.42/135190/1/ijgo179.pd

Endometrioma Complicated by Tubo-Ovarian Abscess in a Woman With Bacterial Vaginosis

Background. Tubo-ovarian abscess involvement of an endometrioma has been reported in cases of patients with polymicrobial sources such as Neisseria gonorrhoeae, Chlamydia trachomatis, and obligate anaerobic bacteria; however, bacterial vaginosis (BV) predisposing to abscess formation in an endometrioma has not been reported to date. Case. Superinfection of an endometrioma was surgically diagnosed in a patient with known advanced-stage endometriosis after she presented with acute pelvic inflammatory disease symptoms and was unresponsive to antibiotic therapy. Gram-negative rods were cultured from the endometrioma. On admission, cervical, blood, and urine cultures were negative; BV was diagnosed on normal saline wet prep and gram stain. Conclusion. This case raises the possibility of BV ascension to the upper genital tract predisposing to abscess formation in endometriomas. Therefore, aggressive treatment of BV in patients with known advanced-stage endometriosis may be considered to prevent superinfected endometriomas

A Survey of OB / GYN Physicians' Training & Current Practice Patterns in Breast Care

Peer Reviewedhttp://deepblue.lib.umich.edu/bitstream/2027.42/94493/1/tbj12028.pd

Amniotic Fluid Glucose Concentration: A Marker for Infection in Preterm Labor and Preterm Premature Rupture of Membranes

Amniotic fluid Gram stain and culture have been utilized as laboratory tests of microbial invasion of the amniotic cavity. The Gram stain of amniotic fluid has a low sensitivity in the detection of clinical infection or microbial invasion of the amniotic cavity, and amniotic fluid culture results are not immediately available for management decisions. Glucose concentration is used to diagnose infection in other sites such as cerebrospinal fluid

Normal-Mode-Analysis–Monitored Energy Minimization Procedure for Generating Small–Molecule Bound Conformations

The energy minimization of a small molecule alone does not automatically stop at a local minimum of the potential energy surface of the molecule if the minimum is shallow, thus leading to folding of the molecule and consequently hampering the generation of the bound conformation of a guest in the absence of its host. This questions the practicality of virtual screening methods that use conformations at local minima of their potential energy surfaces (local minimum conformations) as potential bound conformations. Here we report a normal-mode-analysis–monitored energy minimization (NEM) procedure that generates local minimum conformations as potential bound conformations. Of 22 selected guest–host complex crystal structures with guest structures possessing up to four rotatable bonds, all complexes were reproduced, with guest mass–weighted root mean square deviations of <1.0 Å, through docking with the NEM–generated guest local minimum conformations. An analysis of the potential energies of these local minimum conformations showed that 22 (100%), 18 (82%), 16 (73%), and 12 (55%) of the 22 guest bound conformations in the crystal structures had conformational strain energies of less than or equal to 3.8, 2.0, 0.6, and 0.0 kcal/mol, respectively. These results suggest that (1) the NEM procedure can generate small–molecule bound conformations, and (2) guests adopt low-strain–energy conformations for complexation, thus supporting the virtual screening methods that use local minimum conformations

Temperature dependence of protein dynamics simulated with three different water models

The effect of variation of the water model on the temperature dependence of protein and hydration water dynamics is examined by performing molecular dynamics simulations of myoglobin with the TIP3P, TIP4P, and TIP5P water models and the CHARMM protein force field at temperatures between 20 and 300 K. The atomic mean-square displacements, solvent reorientational relaxation times, pair angular correlations between surface water molecules, and time-averaged structures of the protein are all found to be similar, and the protein dynamical transition is described almost indistinguishably for the three water potentials. The results provide evidence that for some purposes changing the water model in protein simulations without a loss of accuracy may be possible

Density-Dependent Mortality of the Human Host in Onchocerciasis: Relationships between Microfilarial Load and Excess Mortality

Human onchocerciasis (River Blindness) is a parasitic disease leading to visual impairment including blindness. Blindness may lead to premature death, but infection with the parasite itself (Onchocerca volvulus) may also cause excess mortality in sighted individuals. The excess risk of mortality may not be directly (linearly) proportional to the intensity of infection (a measure of how many parasites an individual harbours). We analyze cohort data from the Onchocerciasis Control Programme in West Africa, collected between 1974 and 2001, by fitting a suite of quantitative models (including a ‘null’ model of no relationship between infection intensity and mortality, a (log-) linear function, and two plateauing curves), and choosing the one that is the most statistically adequate. The risk of human mortality initially increases with parasite density but saturates at high densities (following an S-shape curve), and such risk is greater in younger individuals for a given infection intensity. Our results have important repercussions for programmes aiming to control onchocerciasis (in terms of how the benefits of the programme are calculated), for measuring the burden of disease and mortality caused by the infection, and for a better understanding of the processes that govern the density of parasite populations among human hosts