South African medical journal = Suid-Afrikaanse tydskrif vir geneeskunde
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We retrospectively studied the records of all patients with poisoning due to excessive iron ingestion admitted to a children's hospital during a 7 1/2-year period. There were 80 such children, aged between 0,6 and 3,93 years. Almost half were severely poisoned. ⋯ Late morbidity from brain damage and intestinal strictures was not assessed. Many cases of iron poisoning in childhood could be prevented by strip-packaging of iron tablets. Parenteral desferrioxamine should be given without delay whenever a child is suspected of having swallowed excessive iron tablets.
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Comparative Study Clinical Trial Controlled Clinical Trial
Analgesics for pain relief after gynaecological surgery. A two-phase study.
A two-phase, double-blind study was performed to assess the efficacy of various drugs in the relief of postoperative pain. Oral analgesia with two compounds (paracetamol 320 mg, caffeine 32 mg, codeine phosphate 8 mg and meprobamate 150 mg (Stopayne; Rio Ethicals) and dipyrone 500 mg, pitofenone hydrochloride 5 mg and fenpiverinium bromide 0,1 mg (Baralgan HS; Albert)) was found to produce satisfactory pain relief, and it is suggested that these oral compounds may be used from 12 hours postoperatively in uncomplicated cases. Parenteral administration of either pethidine 100 mg or dipyrone 2500 mg was found to be an ineffective form of pain relief, and it is suggested that the use of these drugs should be reviewed. In both phases of the study side-effects were infrequent and mild, and smoking did not have an influence on the results.
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Comparative Study
Adult respiratory distress syndrome in cases of severe trauma--the prophylactic value of methylprednisolone sodium succinate.
The more important known pathogenetic mechanisms apparently responsible for the development of adult respiratory distress syndrome (ARDS) are briefly discussed. Reactions in the development of ARDS for which corticosteroids are possibly beneficial are pointed out. ⋯ MPSS was administered to 47 seriously injured patients and omitted from the management regimen of 45 patients comparable as regards age and severity of injury. The percentage of patients who developed ARDS was significantly lower in the group that received MPSS than in the control group.
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Between January 1981 and December 1983, 53 systemic-to-pulmonary artery shunts, Blalock-Taussig shunts (BTSs) and modified Blalock-Taussig shunts (MBTSs) were carried out either as a preliminary procedure before complete correction of heart defects or as a means of permanent palliation. Central shunts continue to pose early and late problems and we seldom use them. Fifteen patients underwent a BTS and 38 an MBTS with a 5 mm polytetrafluoro-ethylene (PTFE) graft. ⋯ Long-term results are difficult to assess accurately because of problems with follow-up. Eight of the 53 patients had mild congestive heart failure which responded to digitalis. Because of the reliability and excellent late patency of the PTFE prosthesis, we consider it to be superior to the Waterston shunt for relief of cyanosis in the neonate and infant and as reliable as the BTS.
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This study was undertaken to investigate the subjective impression that medical articles written by a single author predominated a decade ago, whereas multiple authorship is the rule today. Samples from 1971 and 1982 issues of the South African Medical Journal were studied, and the impression is shown to be valid. The mean number of authors per article increased from 1,77 in 1971 to 2,35 in 1982, while the proportion of articles with only 1 author decreased from 60,8% to 40,8%. Possible reasons for this are mentioned, of which the pressure to publish may not be the least.