Search

One of the main goals of college- and university-sponsored travel is to broaden the global perspectives of student travelers, thereby enhancing their ability to effectively communicate and work with people from different cultural backgrounds. Pre-travel consultations are important for all students traveling internationally, and especially for those facing current or past health inequities and marginalization. To offer high quality, inclusive services, college travel health clinicians must understand both the student traveler population and cultural norms at the travel destinations, especially those related to health and safety. This article provides an overview of health equity definitions and pre-travel preparation through an equity lens. It also reviews travel health equity-related clinical implications including: helping to prepare student travelers for issues related to gender, sexuality, identity, and sexual assault; assisting travelers with preexisting health conditions and disabilities; and serving older student travelers and travelers with financial limitations.

Children presenting to the emergency department with hip pain and fever are at risk for significant morbidity due to septic arthritis. Distinguishing between septic arthritis and other causes of hip pain may be challenging. Sonographic visualization of the hip with real-time ultrasound-guided arthrocentesis may allow faster differentiation between etiologies, hastening definitive therapy and improving analgesia. This report describes the use of hip sonography in a case of Lyme arthritis. The authors review the medical literature in support of bedside hip sonography and discuss how to perform ultrasound-guided hip arthrocentesis. Clinical findings in septic and Lyme arthritis are also described.

The results of ultrastructural studies and transmission electron microscope microanalysis of two Scenedesmus strains experimentally exposed to copper sulfate are presented. A fine-structural examination of the cells revealed the presence of nuclear inclusions in the form of central dense-core complexes. Cytoplasmic structures resembling the intranuclear inclusions were occasionally found in the cells. TEM-X-ray microanalysis of these structures has provided evidence that the inclusions contain copper. It is concluded that their presence may be regarded as a detoxifying mechanism.

Crystals (30--100 micrometer) of selected naturally occurring apatite (Ca10 (PO4)6(OH, F)2) samples were added to P-free (less than 0.001 microgram/ml total P) Bristol's medium (1-1000 microgram/ml of apatite) as the sole source of ortho-PO43-. The media were inoculated with washed, non-axenic cells of three chlorophycean algal species cultivated under PO43--deficient conditions. Phase-contrast and scanning electron microscopy revealed that at low slurry densities (1-10 microgram/ml of apatite), Ankistrodesmus braunii (ATCC 2744) cells were morphologically distorted. At concentrations of 100 and 1000 microgram/ml of apatite, more than 85% of the cells had undergone autospore formation within 7--10 days of incubation at 20 degrees C. Most autospores formed failed to germinate under high nutrient conditions. Scenedesmus longus (No. 1236) formed colonies when cultivated in Bristol's medium but daughter cells displayed a Chodatella-like unicellular morphology when grown in apatite media. Test algal species (Chlamydomonas dysosmos, S. longus, A. braunii) showed a marked preference for growth on apatite crystals over non-nutritive surfaces. Unialgal and mixed-algal cultures produced an extensive matrix of extracellular fibrous material in response to growth on crystals at concentrations greater than 10 microgram/ml of apatite.

Aeromonas sp. will methylate trimethyl lead acetate (Me3PbOAc) to volatile tetramethyl lead (Me4Pb). Examination of cultures grown in the presence of Me3PbOAc revealed no major irregularities between cells of the treated and untreated cultures. Some cells, however, showed evidence that intracytoplasmic materials had been leached from the cells. The lead-treated cells were interpreted to contain lead ions on the basis of energy-dispersive X-ray analysis.

The toxicity of tetramethyl lead (Me4Pb) towards freshwater algae was studied by bubbling biologically generated Me4Pb from one flask containing 5 mg of Pb 1-1 as Me3PbOAc into the culture medium in another flask where a test alga Scenedesmus quadricauda was grown. As Me4Pb is not soluble in water and is volatile, the exposure of an alga to this lead compound was only momentary. It was estimated that less than 0.5 mg of Pb(Me4Pb) had passed through the culture medium. The primary productivity and cell growth (determined by dry weight), however, decreased by 85% and 32% respectively, as compared with the controls without exposure to Me4Pb. Furthermore, cells exposed to Me4Pb tended to clump together and striking alterations in cell fine-structure were observed. An electron microscopic analysis by an energy dispersive spectrometer revealed that Pb ions had penetrated the cell and were deposited within concretion bodies. Similar results were obtained with the green algae Ankistrodesmus falcatus and Chlorella pyrenoidosa.

Conversion of inorganic and organic selenium compounds to volatile selenium compounds (dimethyl selenide, dimethyl disetenide, and an unknown compound) by microorganisms in lake sediment has been observed. This conversion could also be effected by pure cultures of bacteria and fungi. Such transformations are significant in the transportation and cycling of elements in the environment.

Bacteria isolated from lake sediment samples reduced sodium selenite to elemental selenium. Finestructural observations were made on a number of different bacterial species cultured in the presence of sodium selenite. Examination of Escherichia coli and a Pseudomonas species revealed electron-dense deposits of irregular shape, composed of smaller units, within the cytoplasm but not on the cell wall and cell membrane. Cells of Aeromonas and Flavobacterium species exhibited conspicuous intranuclear fibrillary aggregates and different electron-dense inclusions. It appeared that the membrane structures were somewhat more easily stained in some bacterial cells after growth on agar plates containing sodium selenite. The deposits and fibrillary accumulations were interpreted to contain selenium on the basis of energy dispersive X-ray analysis. Control preparations and cells grown in the presence of sodium selenate were void of any fine-structural abnormalities. Alterations in fine structure are discussed in relation to the metabolism of selenium by bacterial cells and possible sites of inhibition.