JAMA : the journal of the American Medical Association
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To describe the case characteristics of a series of patients poisoned with carbon monoxide (CO) resulting from indoor burning of charcoal briquets. ⋯ Carbon monoxide poisoning is a significant hazard from indoor use of charcoal briquets. All cases are avoidable and public awareness of the risk should be enhanced.
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To assess the extent of functional and vocational rehabilitation achieved by elderly inner-city patients sustained on maintenance hemodialysis. ⋯ Maintenance hemodialysis does not return inner-city elderly patients to their predialysis level of functioning. Few elderly, diabetic hemodialysis patients conduct any substantive portion of their lives outside their homes. For nondiabetic patients, the modified Karnofsky score of whites (70.4 +/- 11.9) and blacks (66.5 +/- 15.3), though low, was equivalent (P < .4).
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To evaluate human immunodeficiency virus (HIV) type 1-specific cellular immune responses in HIV-seronegative health care workers with occupational high-risk exposures to HIV-infected (HIV-positive) patients. ⋯ Human immunodeficiency virus-specific T-helper activity was detected in six (75%) of eight HIV-negative health care workers with exposure to HIV-positive body fluids. Potent HIV-specific T-helper activity was detectable 4 to 8 weeks after the exposure and was lost in individuals followed up for 8 to 64 weeks. Three health care workers remained responsive at 8, 19, and 24 weeks. Exposure to HIV without evidence of subsequent infection appears to result in activation of cellular immunity without activation of antibody production.