Thrombotic thrombocytopenic purpura and hemolytic uremic syndrome (TTP/HUS). Description of a series of 35 patients

Subsequent to the implementation of a severity marker stamp in case notes, an audit was performed in 86 admissions with acute asthma to a specialist centre over a 12 month period. Compared to previous audit the documentation of severity markers was significantly better (PEFR: 52% vs 83% p = 0.001, Respiratory rate: 44% vs 81% p = 0.001, ABG: 72% vs 80% p = 0.04, air entry: 58% vs 86% p = 0.001, speech: 27% vs 86% p = 0.001, exhaustion: 4% vs 86% p = 0.001). In contrast to the previous audit where no patient received FiO2 > 0.35, 66% of the cases in the repeat audit received FiO2 0.60 (p = 0.001). The mean duration of admission was five days and showed highest partial correlation (r = 0.6) to the time in hours for the pulse to fall to 80/min. Multiple linear regression showed that this was the only variable best predicting the duration of admission (R2 = 0.3). Admission pulse rate (p = 0.04) and serum K+ (p = 0.04) best discriminated between patients admitted for over and under five days. Logistic regression identified only the admission pulse as significant in calculating the odds of the patient staying in the hospital for > 5 days.     

A conservation principle and its effect on the formulation of Na-Ca exchanger current in cardiac cells

In the rat the exact role of vagal fibers and the interaction between the extrinsic and intrinsic neural system in distention-induced gastrin release are still a matter of debate. Accordingly, the aim of the present study was to examine the contribution of afferent and efferent vagal fibers as well as intrinsic neurons on gastrin response to gastric distention. In anesthetized rats graded gastric distention by 5, 10 and 15 ml saline for 20 min caused a significant volume-dependent increase of plasma gastrin levels by 12+/-6 pg/ml (5 ml saline, n = 8, P =0.05), 26+/-7 pg/ml (10 ml saline, n = 10, P < 0.05) and 37+/-7 pg/ml (15 ml saline, n = 8, P < 0.01 ), respectively. To examine the role of the extrinsic vagal innervation, gastrin response to distention was studied in anesthetized rats after bilateral truncal vagotomy (n = 9) or selective afferent vagotomy following pretreatment with capsaicin (n = 6). Stimulation of gastrin release by 10 ml distention in sham-operated control rats was reversed to an inhibition after truncal vagotomy (26+/-7 vs. -11+/-4 pg/ml; P<0.05) and capsaicin-treatment (37+/-18 vs. -34+/-11 pg/ml; P<0.05). A contribution of cholinergic mechanisms to this vagovagal-mediated stimulation of distention-induced gastrin release was excluded, since atropine (100 microg/kg/h; n = 8) further augmented distention-stimulated gastrin release. Since bombesin/gastrin-releasing peptide (GRP)-neurons contribute to vagally stimulated gastrin secretion, we have examined gastrin response to distention in the presence of the specific bombesin-receptor antagonist D-Phe6-BN(6-13)OMe (400 microg/kg/h: n = 10). This bombesin-antagonist completely reduced distention-stimulated gastrin release in vivo. In contrast, distention of the isolated, extrinsically denervated stomach significantly decreased gastrin release by 13+/-5 pg/min (5 ml saline, n = 8, P < 0.05), 28+/-8 pg/min (10 ml saline, n = 11, P < 0.05) and 35+/-10 pg/min (15 ml saline, n = 8, P < 0.01), respectively, without changing the activity of bombesin/GRP-neurons. Distention-induced decrease of gastrin release was attenuated to 50 percent by atropine (10(-7) M: n = 10) or tetrodotoxin (TTX) (10(-6) M; n = 10), respectively. These data demonstrate, that in anesthetized rats distention-stimulated gastrin secretion depends on the activation of a vagovagal reflex and intrinsic bombesin/GRP-neurons. In contrast distention of the isolated rat stomach inhibits gastrin release in part via intrinsic cholinergic pathways and other as yet unknown mechanisms.     

Procedural memory stimulation in Alzheimer''s disease: impact of a training programme

The operative results of 23 patients with a specific or unspecific spondylodiscitis were documented over 2 years after the focus of the inflammation had been eradicated, bone chip had been interposed and a CDH instrumentation had been performed by an anterior approach only. These outcomes were compared with the results of 32 patients in whom the focus had been removed and the defect had been filled with bone graft from an anterior approach, followed by stabilisation with CD instrumentation through an additional dorsal approach. In the cases where CDH instrumentation was applied, the range of fusion averaged 1.3 segments. This was clearly less extensive than in dorsoventral stabilisation, in which on average 3.5 segments were fused. In 47 of 55 cases mobilisation was achieved without orthesis. Eight months after the operations bony fusion could be observed radiologically in all patients. The mean preoperative kyphotic angle of the affected segments was 14.4 degrees, compared to 4 degrees after the operation. The mean loss of reposition was measured to be about 2.7 degrees in both groups. Average operation time and blood loss were about 50% higher in the patients treated dorsoventrally. We conclude that even in the case of florid spondylodiscitis, a short-range anterior fusion of the affected spinal segment may be performed by use of a stable-angle implant without an increased risk of infection-related loosening.     

Heart transplantation in Finland 1985-1995

BACKGROUND: Clearance of large molecules from the interstitial space is an important function of lymphatics and is affected by local pathologic changes. OBJECTIVE: To determine if the clearance rate of interstitially injected albumin is correlated to tumour characteristics and outcome in women with invasive breast cancer. METHOD: In a consecutive series of women coming to biopsy for suspected breast cancer, technetium-tagged albumin was injected into the tissue adjacent to the palpable mass. The isotope disappearance rate was measured over two hours. Also assessed were the maximum vessel density (MVD-using Factor VIII polyclonal antisera), the proliferation rate (using Ki-67 antisera), node status, tumour size, histologic and nuclear grade, mitotic rate, and p53 and c-erbB-2 oncoproteins. All patients were followed until relapse and for a minimum of 10 years. RESULTS: In multivariate analysis, an association between relapse-free survival and isotope clearance rate was suggested (p = 0.024). The best outcome was seen in patients with the least isotope clearance. Node status, size, histologic and nuclear grade, and mitotic rate correlated with survival. MVD did not correlate with survival and was inversely related to the isotope clearance rate. Tumour proliferation rate, and the c-erbB-2 and p53 oncoproteins did not relate to outcome. CONCLUSION: The role of lymphatics in breast cancer is difficult to study. Measurement of interstitial clearance may be a useful technique and could be a prognostic factor.     

Globally convergent edge-preserving regularized reconstruction: anapplication to limited-angle tomography

We introduce a generalization of a deterministic relaxation algorithm for edge-preserving regularization in linear inverse problems. This algorithm transforms the original (possibly nonconvex) optimization problem into a sequence of quadratic optimization problems, and has been shown to converge under certain conditions when the original cost functional being minimized is strictly convex. We prove that our more general algorithm is globally convergent (i.e., converges to a local minimum from any initialization) under less restrictive conditions, even when the original cost functional is nonconvex. We apply this algorithm to tomographic reconstruction from limited-angle data by formulating the problem as one of regularized least-squares optimization. The results demonstrate that the constraint of piecewise smoothness, applied through the use of edge-preserving regularization, can provide excellent limited-angle tomographic reconstructions. Two edge-preserving regularizers-one convex, the other nonconvex-are used in numerous simulations to demonstrate the effectiveness of the algorithm under various limited-angle scenarios, and to explore how factors, such as the choice of error norm, angular sampling rate and amount of noise, affect the reconstruction quality and algorithm performance. These simulation results show that for this application, the nonconvex regularizer produces consistently superior results.     

The expression of CD4 and CD8 molecules conditions the behavior of V beta + murine thymocytes upon superantigenic challenge

We investigated the capacity of the Staphylococcal enterotoxin (SE) B, a superantigen (SAg) specific for TCR V beta domain, to modulate V beta 8+ thymocytes selection in adult mice. Thymocytes were collected at various time intervals after SEB injection (10 and 100 micrograms) and V beta 8+ modulation was analysed by three color flow cytometry. SEB failed to affect V beta 8+ thymocytes comprised in the less mature compartments, namely, CD4+8+ and CD4-CD8-, whereas it selectively affected V beta 8+CD4+8+ (downward modulation) and V beta 8+CD4-8+ thymocytes (upward modulation). The different response to SEB challenge between CD4+8- and CD4-8+ thymocytes appeared dependent on the CD4/MHC class II interaction, as V beta 8+CD4-8+ thymocytes carrying a transgenic CD4 molecule capable of interacting with MHC class II showed the same response of V beta 8+CD4+8- thymocytes. At variance with thymocytes, however, V beta 8+CD4+8- and V beta 8+CD4-8+ splenic T lymphocytes responded to SAg challenge in identical manner (upward modulation) highlighting the importance of maturation status and/or microenvironment in SAg response. V beta 8+ thymocytes remaining in the thymus were assessed for their capacity to respond to a SAg challenge. Thus, thymocytes were obtained at various time intervals after SEB injection and cultured in the presence of SEB or SEA, a Sag specific for V beta 10 as control. A reduced mitotic response to SEB but not to SEA was noticed irrespective of the number of V beta 8+ responding cells present in culture. It is concluded that SAgs affect TCR specific thymocytes by conditioning their redistribution and inducing an anergic status.     

Solution for M/G/1 queues

M/G/1 type queueing systems are frequently found in the performance evaluation of communication systems. The authors develop a new solution method for these queues: their results are an alternative to both standard forms of exact analysis, and to diffusion approximations, while offering comparable computational complexity to the latter     

Electrophysiological properties and cholinergic responses of rat ventral oral pontine reticular neurons in vitro

This study analyses the relationship between the use of rotating instruments, the production of a smear layer and the presence of alterations to enamel microstructures. The rotating instruments used were carbide (8-12 blade) and diamond tipped (30-15 m) cutters. Cavities were made in extracted teeth. Subsequently, half the sample was analysed using the rugosimeter before and after the application of ortophosphoric acid at 35% for 15 and the other half suing a Scansion Electronic microscope (SEM). The results obtained showed on the one hand that carbide cutters leave a smoother surfacer than diamond tipped cutters, and on the other that the smear layer is eliminated better by carbide cutters compared to diamond tipped cutters. Moreover, there are no major traumatic-type alterations at the level of the enamel affecting the microstructure after the use of carbide cutters.     

Differentiation of Arthroderma spp. by random amplification of polymorphic DNA (RAPD) and Southern hybridization

To develop the molecular differentiation analysis of dermatophytes, we carried out RAPD and Southern hybridization analyses using genomic DNAs of six Arthroderma species, including A. fulvum, A. grubyi, A. gypseum, A. incurvatum, A. otae and A. racemosum. The RAPD analysis gave different band patterns specific to each of the six Arthroderma fungi. However, minor differences in the banding patterns were observed between the strains of plus (+) and minus (-) mating types of A. gypseum, A. fulvum and A. incurvatum. Southern blot analysis using a probe (1S) obtained from A. grubyi DNA gave specific bands only in the DNA samples of A. grubyi and A. incurvatum. On the other hand, Southern blot analysis using a probe (C3) obtained from A. otae DNA gave specific bands in all six Arthroderma species examined, and the size of the bands were specific to each species. These findings indicate that RAPD and Southern hybridization analyses are useful in the differentiation of these Arthroderma species.