Bruger:Jørgen Degn

Lumbar disk prolapse surgery. Can intervention at an incorrect level be prevented?

Degn JD, Gjerris F. Ugeskr Laeger. 2004 May 3;166(19):1757-9. Danish.

Chlamydia pneumoniae infection in adults with chronic cough compared with healthy blood donors

Birkebaek NH, Jensen JS, Seefeldt T, Degn J, Huniche B, Andersen PL, Ostergaard L. Eur Respir J. 2000 Jul;16(1):108-11.

Bordetella pertussis and chronic cough in adults

Birkebaek NH, Kristiansen M, Seefeldt T, Degn J, Moller A, Heron I, Andersen PL, Moller JK, Ostergård L. Clin Infect Dis. 1999 Nov;29(5):1239-42.

To evaluate Bordetella pertussis as a cause of persistent cough in adults, we examined 201 patients who had a cough for 2-12 weeks and no pulmonary disease. We obtained the following at presentation: medical history, chest radiograph, respiratory function measurement, nasopharyngeal aspirate for polymerase chain reaction (PCR), nasopharyngeal swab specimen for culture, and a blood sample (acute serum). Four weeks later a second blood sample (convalescent serum) was obtained. Control sera were obtained from 164 age-matched healthy blood donors with no history of cough during the previous 12 weeks. Four patients were B. pertussis culture-positive; 11 (including the culture-positive patients) were B. pertussis PCR-positive; and 33, including 10 of the 11 PCR-positive patients, had serological evidence of recent B. pertussis infection. Pertussis-positive and -negative patients could not be discriminated by a history of cough. We conclude that B. pertussis infection is a common cause of persistent cough in adults. This is of concern, because these patients may be B. pertussis reservoirs from which transmission may occur to infants, in whom the disease can be devastating.

Effect of nerve crush on perikaryal number and volume of neurons in adult rat dorsal root ganglion

Degn J, Tandrup T, Jakobsen J. J Comp Neurol. 1999 Sep 13;412(1):186-92.

Assumption-free stereological methods were applied to assess the effect of nerve crush on perikaryal number and mean volume of neuronal subpopulations in adult rat dorsal root ganglion (DRG). The L5 spinal nerve of 20 Wistar rats was crushed approximately 7 mm distal to the DRG, and the contralateral spinal nerve and DRG were left intact and used as controls. After four, 15, 45, and 120 days, the rats were killed, and the tissue was fixed and processed for subsequent preparation of 30-microm-thick sections. Estimates of neuron number were obtained with the optical fractionator technique and estimates of the mean perikaryal volume with the vertical planar rotator principle. Perikaryal loss was progressive during the early study period but stabilized 45 days after nerve injury. The mean number (n) of all neurons in intact L5 DRG was 16,400 (S.D. = 2,000). The loss of perikarya was 16% (P < 0.05) after four days, 15% (P < 0.05) after 15 days, 30% (P = 0.059) after 45 days, and 34% (P < 0. 05) after 120 days. B cells were lost at an earlier time than were A cells, and the B cell loss was more pronounced (39% vs. 22%, respectively, after 120 days). For A cells, the mean perikaryal volume was initially reduced but was normalized at the end of the study. Distributions of perikaryal volume showed that the curves of both A and B cells were uniformly displaced toward smaller values 15 and 45 days after injury. Neuronal loss caused by crush seems similar to that seen in rats exposed to permanent axotomy (Vestergaard et al. [1997] J Comp Neurol 388:307-312) at the same location, indicating that survival of perikarya is not dependent on possibility for fiber growth.