Peroral anticoagulant therapy--are the TT-values reliable?

As part of the Norwegian Medical Association's quality assurance programme for the primary health care sector we have investigated the lasting quality of the specimens drawn for determination of Thrombotest. Blood drawn into siliconated glass tubes resulted in varying Thrombotest values, depending on the time of analysis after specimen collection. Reliable Thrombotest values are needed to be able to administer the correct dosage of warfarin. Thrombotest analysis should therefore be performed within two hours, or after 48 hours of specimen collection.     

Fatal rhino-orbital-cerebral zygomycosis

Rhinocerebral zygomycosis is usually an aggressive, fulminant and, at times, fatal disease most often affecting poorly controlled diabetics of all ages. We report the case of a 13-month-old white boy, a previously undiagnosed diabetic. He came to our hospital with recurrent epistaxis, decreasing consciousness, and a small visible infection at the inner canthus of the left eye. Initial evaluation revealed that the patient was in diabetic ketoacidosis. Despite aggressive medical and surgical treatment, his condition deteriorated rapidly, including the development of diabetes insipidus, and he died 4 days after admission. At autopsy, he was found to have fungal cerebritis (Rhizopus) with multiple areas of infarction and massive cerebral edema.     

Estimation of changes in single muscle fibre diameter in different solutions by diffraction studies

Studies of the effects of varying tonicity on the contraction of muscle fibres requires a knowledge of the corresponding changes in fibre diameters, if the observed mechanical changes are to be attributed to various factors, including that of the interfilamental spacing. Hitherto, measurements of such changes in fibre diameters involved tedious measurements of the diameters of the fibres at numerous points along its length. We now describe a technique whereby the change in fibre diameter can be deduced from measurements of the corresponding intensity ratio of laser diffraction lines when the fibre is bathed in solutions of differing tonicities.     

North American Society of Pacing and Electrophysiology policy statement. The NASPE/BPEG defibrillator code

A new generic code, patterned after and compatible with the NASPE/BPEG Generic Pacemaker Code (NBG Code) was adopted by the NASPE Board of Trustees on January 23, 1993. It was developed by the NASPE Mode Code Committee, including members of the North American Society of Pacing and Electrophysiology (NASPE) and the British Pacing and Electrophysiology Group (BPEG). It is abbreviated as the NBD (for NASPE/BPEG Defibrillator) Code. It is intended for describing the capabilities and operation of implanted cardioverter defibrillators (ICDs) in conversation, record keeping, and device labeling, and incorporates four positions designating: (1) shock location; (2) antitachycardia pacing location; (3) means of tachycardia detection; and (4) antibradycardia pacing location. An additional Short Form, intended only for use in conversation, was defined as a concise means of distinguishing devices capable of shock alone, shock plus antibradycardia pacing, and shock plus antitachycardia and antibradycardia pacing.     

Expression of the smooth-muscle proteins alpha-smooth-muscle actin and calponin, and of the intermediate filament protein desmin are parameters of cardiomyocyte maturation in the prenatal rat heart

Tip growth of plant cells has been suggested to be regulated by a tip-focused gradient in cytosolic calcium concentration ([Ca2+]c). However, whether this gradient orients apical growth or follows the driving force for this process remains unknown. Using localized photoactivation of the caged calcium ionophore Br-A23187 we have been able to artificially generate an asymmetrical calcium influx across the root hair tip. This led to a change in the direction of tip growth towards the high point of the new [Ca2+]c gradient. Such reorientation of growth was transient and there was a return to the original direction within 15 min. Root hairs forced to change the direction of their growth by placing a mechanical obstacle in their path stopped, reoriented growth to the side, and grew past the mechanical blockage. However, as soon as the growing tip had cleared the obstacle, growth returned to the original direction. Confocal ratio imaging revealed that a tip-focused [Ca2+]c gradient was always centered at the site of active growth. When the root hair changed direction the gradient also reoriented, and when growth returned to the original direction, so did the [Ca2+]c gradient. This normal direction of apical growth of Arabidopsis thaliana (L.) Heynh, root hairs was found to be at a fixed angle from the root of 85 +/- 6.7 degrees. In contrast, Tradescantia virginiana (L.) pollen tubes that were induced to reorient by touch or localized activation of the caged ionophore, did not return to the original growth direction, but continued to elongate in their new orientation. These results suggest that the tip-focused [Ca2+]c gradient is an important factor in localizing growth of the elongating root hair and pollen tube to the apex. However, it is not the primary determinant of the direction of elongation in root hairs, suggesting that other information from the root is acting to continuously reset the growth direction away from the root surface.