Computer simulation of the precordial QRS complex: effects of simulated changes in ventricular wall thickness and volume

Over a 4-year period 40,923 operations and 44,716 surgical admissions were monitored for both community and hospital onset infections. One thousand eight hundred sixty-five patients had 1966 surgical wound infections and 2056 remote infections including 1652 hospital onset and 404 community onset infections. One thousand one hudnred forty-four patients with multiple infections averaged 40 days in the hospital contrasted with 24 days for 721 patients with a single wound infection. The total excess cost of hospitalization for these patients was $951,150. A statistically significant reduction occurred for urinary tract infections, lower respiratory infections and clean and contaminated surgical wound infections. It is suggested that these are all inter-related and a significant reduction in surgical wound infections can be achieved through control of infections at remote sites, particularly those associated with medical devices. The coagulase positive staphylococcus is still the most important single bacterial species in the primary etiology of surgical wound infections. When the gastrointestinal tract is entered or "supra" infecting organisms appear, gram negative bacteria and mixed gram negative and gram positive infections are dominant. Reduction in remote site infections occurring in surgical patients is necessary to reduce the incidence of surgical wound infections, suggest preventive and control measures, and document the effectiveness of such measures.     

Eosinophilic granular ceels in oligodendrogliomas. An ultrastructural study

In three cases of oligodendrogliomas, atypical cells rich in eosinophilic cytoplasm, resembling plump astroyctic or astroblastic cells, were studied under the electron microscopy. These cells showed finely granular cytoplasm with routine hematoxylin-eosin preparation; ultrastructurally, they exhibited abundant, round cytoplasmic bodies of autophagic-vacuole type, in addition to other fine structures characteristic of oligodendroglioma cells.     

Induction of labor by acupuncture electro-stimulation

Induction of labor by acupuncture electro-stimulation was carried out in 31 patients. This was successful in 21 cases. The pattern of uterine contractions induced in these patients was similar to that in normal labor. No serious fetal or maternal complications occurred. The delay between the commencement of stimulation and the onset of contractions suggests that a humoral mechanism may be involved.     

A delayed suppression of the renin-aldosterone axis following saline infusion in human hypertension

The purpose of this study was to compare the acute suppressibility of the renin-angiotensin-aldosterone (RAA) axis in normotensive (n = 23) and essential hypertensive (n = 62) subjects. Only those hypertensive subjects with normal plasma renin activity (PRA) levels (sodium restricted, upright) were included in the study. Acute suppression of the RAA axis was determined by measuring PRA, plasma angiotensin II (A II), and plasma aldosterone (PA) at frequent intervals during the infusion of isotonic saline (500 ml/hour for 6 hours). Although all parameters fell significantly from control levels by 20-30 minutes in the normotensive subjects, we found that 60% of the hypertensive subjects showed no significant decline in PRA or PA until 120-240 minutes after beginning the infusion. The other hypertensive subjects showed normal RAA suppression. In addition, while there were no significant differences between the three groups in control PRA or PA levels, we found that the PA levels from 30 to 240 minutes during the saline were significantly higher (P less than 0.01) in the hypertensive subjects with delayed suppression. That there were two distinct populations in the hypertensive group was suggested by the bimodality of the frequency response curve, with peaks occurring at 30 and 240 minutes. These studies indicate an abnormality in the acute suppression of the RAA axis in a substantial proportion of subjects with normal renin essential hypertension. Since previous studies in normal subjects have reported that the early phase of response to saline infusion is related to the sodium ion per se and not to intravascular volume expansion, we have come to the conclusion that the present data are consistent with the hypothesis that the delayed suppression hypertensive group has a diminished ability to respond to the sodium ion.     

Personal and peers' word associations in relation to children's false recognition errors.

Attempted to show that false recognition errors would be more frequently elicited by children's personal associates to a set of target words than by associates based on peer norms; Ss were 80 White middle-class 2nd and 5th graders (mean ages, 7.6 and 10.6 yrs, respectively). In Session 1 Ss gave oral associations to 34 words. In the 1st phase of Session 2, target words were each read aloud once and Ss were required to memorize them; in the 2nd phase Ss worked for 5 min on a maze task to prevent rehearsal; and in the final phase, a 40-item recognition list was read. Ss determined whether a word was one they had been asked to remember. As predicted, responses occurred with decreasing frequency to target, personal, peer, and control words. Consistent with the expectation that personal associates would more frequently elicit false recognition errors than would peer associates, the difference between personal and control responses was larger than the difference between peer and control. (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2010 APA, all rights reserved)     

White children's attitudes toward Blacks and the physically handicapped: A developmental study.

Children's behavior toward adults who differed from them along 2 dimensions was examined from a developmental perspective. A total of 80 White kindergartners and 4th graders were tested individually by either a Black or a White female adult who either was or was not seated in a wheelchair. Three kinds of behavior toward the adult were measured: physical distancing, imitation, and helping. On the basis of previous findings, it was predicted that children at both age levels would show more physical avoidance, less imitation, and less helping in the presence of other-race and handicap cues, as compared with own-race and nonhandicap cues. On all 3 types of behavior, the White E was favored over the Black E in both the wheelchair and nonwheelchair conditions. In addition, there were interaction effects involving race, handicap, age, and sex that suggest the operation of complex developmental processes in the formation of attitudes toward different types of stigmatized individuals. (15 ref) (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2010 APA, all rights reserved)     

Transport of testosterone and estrogen from dairy-farm waste lagoons to groundwater

Although concentrated animal feeding operations constantly generate physiologically active steroidal hormones, little is known of their environmental fate. Estrogen and testosterone concentrations in groundwater and their distribution in sediments below a dairy-farm wastewater lagoon were therefore determined and compared to a reference site located upgradient of the farm. Forward simulations of flow as well as estrogen and testosterone transport were conducted based on data from the sediment profile obtained during drilling of a monitoring well belowthe dairy-farm waste lagoon. Testosterone and estrogen were detected in sediments to depths of 45 and 32 m, respectively. Groundwater samples were directly impacted by the dairy farm, as evidenced by elevated concentrations of nitrate, chloride, testosterone, and estrogen as compared to the reference site. Modeling potential transport of hormones in the vadose zone via advection, dispersion, and sorption could not explain the depths at which estrogen and testosterone were found, suggesting that other transport mechanisms influence hormone transport under field conditions. These mechanisms may involve interactions between hormones and manure as well as preferential flow paths, leading to enhanced transport rates. These types of interactions should be further investigated to understand the processes regulating hormone transport in the subsurface environment and parametrized to forecast long-term fate and transport of steroidal hormones.     

Moisture migration in idealized bilayer systems: relationships among water-associated properties, structure, and texture

The effects of composition and thermal treatment on the water sorption and diffusional properties of idealized protein gels arranged in bilayer configurations were determined; these water binding/migration properties were related to the mechanical characteristics of the gels. Samples were prepared from whey protein concentrate (WPC), they consisted of water:WPC ratios of 1.5 to 5.67, and were thermally set for 20–60 min. Moisture migration rates from samples interfaced with filters were determined, as were moisture sorption capacities of samples immersed in water. The physical properties of the gels were assessed by uniaxial compression and microscopy. Results showed that gel strength and consequent extent of protein interaction—as affected by thermal treatment—controlled the ability of the gel structure to absorb water. Sorption was exponentially correlated with gel modulus and linearly correlated with a function of protein content, heating time, and immersion time. Rates of diffusion from interfaced gels were dependent solely on water content. It was concluded that the degree of protein interaction, whether influenced by concentration or thermal treatment, affected network extensibility and thus the capacity of the gels to act as receptors of moisture. Results have implications for the functionality of shelf-stable sandwiches and other multicomponent foods.