Ruth E. Boynton

Tuberculosis Among Nurses

For centuries tuberculosis exacted a large toll in health and life among those who took care of tuberculous persons. Isocrates (436-338 B.C.) called attention to such observations of his time. The disease among those who cared for tuberculous patients apparently continued unabated through the ages. Despite recognition of the problem as manifested by references from time to time, no effective solution was devised until the present century. In 1920 and for a few succeeding years, our observations consisted largely of diagnosing tuberculosis among student and graduate nurses after symptoms had appeared when the disease was advanced and contagious. Although in the areas where the majority of these students were reared tuberculosis mortality, morbidity and infection attack rates were decreasing, there was definite increase among student nurses. It was well known that tuberculosis is caused by the tubercle bacillus, that practically everyone is born free from this organism, and that infections are acquired from direct or indirect contact with persons or animals eliminating tubercle bacilli. With so much information available, an attempt to solve the problem among nurses seemed logical. Moreover, if the nursing profession could not solve its own problem, the public would not be expected to manifest confidence in its ability to effectively participate in the general tuberculosis eradication movement. As long as the disease in students was diagnosed after it had reached an advanced

Tuberculosis among Students and Graduates of Medicine.

Excerpt The problem of tuberculosis among students and graduates of medicine has been present since the earliest days of medical practice. Valsalva, the anatomist (1666-1723), avoided postmortem ex...

TUBERCULOSIS IN MEDICAL AND NURSING HOSPITAL PERSONNEL

Excerpt In a previous paper1reports were presented on three private hospital schools of nursing in which the students were observed with reference to tuberculosis. The hospital of School I operated...

TUBERCULOSIS AMONG STUDENTS AND GRADUATES IN NURSING

Excerpt During the past decade there has been a widespread interest revived in the subject of tuberculosis among nurses, with particular emphasis on the transmission of the disease from patients to...

Individual variation in serum calcium in normal men and women.

Since the work of Bell 1 many investigators have studied the blood calcium level in relation to menstruation. The results of these investigations have been contradictory. Watchorn 2 , Close and Osman 3 , Allen and Goldthorpe 4 , Spiegler 5 , and others have concluded that there is very little or no change in the blood calcium in relation to the menstrual cycle. Sharlit et al 6 and Matters 7 report a premenstrual rise in blood calcium and a menstrual fall in the calcium level. Okey et al 8 state that “while the changes in the concentration of serum calcium at any phase of the monthly cycle are not outstanding, there is some tendency to frequency of low values for calcium a few days previous to the onset of menstruation and to frequency of higher values from the 8th to the 15th days following the onset of menstrual bleeding.” With the exception of the work of Okey et al 8 , these findings have been based upon either the study of very small groups of individuals or upon blood calcium determinations taken not more than 3 or 4 times during a menstrual cycle. Experimental work done on lower animals shows that the blood calcium level is definitely affected by the reproductive system. Riddle and Reinhart 9 found a tremendous increase in calcium in the blood of birds prior to ovulation. Mirvish and Bosman 10 have produced a decrease of 2 to 3 mg. in the plasma calcium in both rabbits and human beings by injecting ovarian follicular and corpus luteum extracts. The present study was undertaken in an effort to determine standards of blood calcium in relation to the menstrual cycle in women with normal menstrual periods in order that we might have some basis for comparison in a study being made on a group of women with dysmenorrhea.

Calcium in the treatment of dysmenorrhea

Abstract Of 49 cases of essential dysmenorrhea treated with calcium, or calcium and viosterol, 33 or 67.3 per cent were greatly benefited; 16 or 32.7 per cent seemed to have no relief. The symptom of bruising easily seems to indicate, in cases of essential dysmenorrhea, that a more favorable response to calcium therapy may be expected than in cases without this symptom.

Serum Calcium in Relation to Menstruation in Cases with Dysmenorrhea.

A study of the serum calcium in relation to the menstrual cycle in a group of 10 women who had dysmenorrhea was made. The cases selected were those having severe dysmenorrhea necessitating bed rest every month. Our purpose was to determine whether women having dysmenorrhea showed any significant variations in calcium level from women with normal menstrual periods. Serum calcium determinations were made in duplicate on 10 dysmenorrhea cases twice a week for 4 consecutive weeks. The blood was drawn between 8 and 10 a. m. The determinations of serum calcium were made by one of us (E. M. G.) using the Clark-Collip 1 modification of the Kramer-Tisdall 2 method. A total of 80 readings were made. Table I presents the range in the serum calcium and the mean of the 8 determinations for each individual in the group. The mean low reading for the group was 10.23 mg., the mean high reading 11.01 mg., giving a mean range of 0.78 mg. In a group of women with normal menstrual periods studied by us, 3 the range was 1.15 mg. This difference in range, however, is not sufficient to be of significance. The mean reading for the entire group was 10.57 mg. In our group of normal women we found a mean of 10.01 mg., again a difference of no significance. Table II presents the mean serum calcium for each week of the menstrual cycle. The lowest reading of 10.49 mg. occurs in the rest period, while in the normal group, the lowest reading occurred in the menstrual week. The apparent cyclic variation in calcium levels in relation to menstruation found in the women with normal menses, with a pre-menstrual rise and post-menstrual fall in serum calcium was not observed in this group with dysmenorrhea.

Concentrations of Sulfadiazine in Human Saliva Attained by Chewing Paraffin Containing Sulfadiazine

Summary Khen 0.325 g of sulfadiaziue is incorporated into approximately 1.5 g of parafin, and the paraffin-sulfadiazine mixture is chewed by human subjects, hieh concentrations of free sulfadiazine were attained in the saliva. Such a procedure may favorably affect the course of acute hemolytic streptococcic infections such as pharyngitis and tonsillitis without recourse to larger systemic doses.