Long term follow-up of prophylactic caval clipping

120 high risk patients who underwent prophylactic inferior vena cava clipping were retrospectively evaluated to determine the incidence of post clipping leg swelling and pulmonary embolism. Each one of those patients had at least two criteria for the clipping. These criteria of high risk factors were precisely identified. There were two patients who had postoperative pulmonary embolism but none of them was fatal, i.e. less than two per cent. Two patients developed severe leg swelling (less than two per cent) and six had mild leg swelling (less than six per cent). Prophylactic inferior vena cava clipping is a safe and effective mean to prevent post-operative pulmonary embolism.     

Hemodynamic and alveolar protein studies in noncardiac pulmonary edema

Hemodynamic data were obtained within 15 hours of admission in 11 previously healthy patients (20 to 51 years of age, 7 men and 4 women) who had developed transient, reversible pulmonary edema without cardiac dilation in association with near-death from freshwater drowning (2 cases), pentobarbital overdose, heroin overdose (2 cases), smoke inhalation, chest trauma, sepsis (2 cases), pancreatitis, or prolonged abdominal surgery with suspected sepsis. Using a balloon-tipped flow-directed catheter, the pulmonary artery systolic/diastolic pressures (in mm Hg) were 25/12, 22/9, 31/11, 26/15, 20/10, 35/15, 40/15, 32/18, 20/10, 24/10, and 20/7; the corresponding pulmonary capillary wedge pressures (in mm Hg) were 8, 9, 6, 14, 6, 6, 15, 15, 10, 10, and 5, respectively. Plasma colloidal osmotic pressures measured in the latter 5 cases were 26, 18, 18, 18, and 15 mm Hg, respectively. In addition, the protein content of the alveolar fluid was 5.1, 3.4, 4.0, and 7.1 g per 100 ml in 4 patients. The concentration and distribution of the protein in plasma and alveolar fluid were very similar. These findings provide strong efidence that altered capillary permeability is responsible for the pulmonary edema.     

Physico-chemical properties and partial N-terminal amino acid sequence of chicken serum albumin

Studies have been made on the molecular weight, solubility, electrophoretic mobility, isoelectric point and N-terminal fragments containing 4 amino acids of the serum albumin in two strains of hens and their hybrids. In all the animals studied, the albumin had Asp as the N-terminal amino acid. Amino acid sequence in the 4-acid fragments was also identical: NH2--Asp--Ala--His--Lys. With respect to all the physico-chemical parameters investigated (except isoelectric point), proteins of the parental strains and of their hybrids did not exhibit significant differences.