Changing patterns in aortoiliac reconstruction: a 7-year audit

A prospective vascular audit was performed in this hospital between 1988 and 1994. There was a substantial increase in the number of vascular reconstructions (78 in 1988; 141 in 1994). Aortobifemoral grafts for occlusive disease comprised 18 per cent of the operations in 1988 and 0.7 per cent in 1994 (95 per cent confidence interval 0.086-0.259). There was a corresponding increase in the number of extra-anatomic grafts (from 3 to 20.6 per cent). There was a threefold increase in the number of percutaneous angioplasties performed for iliac occlusive lesions (14 in 1988; 41 plus 13 iliac stent procedures in 1994). This had no impact on the total rate of surgical intervention for aortoiliac disease, although it probably aided the shift to extra-anatomic reconstruction by dilatation of the donor side. To investigate whether this change is national, rather than local, graft sales figures were obtained from two vascular graft companies; these confirmed a national trend away from aortobifemoral grafting and provide some evidence to support an increase in extra-anatomic bypass grafting.     

A SAS macro for stepwise correlated binary regression

Changes in complete blood count (CBC), bone marrow, reticulocyte count, coagulation profile, biochemical analysis, and serum iron, transferrin, and immunoglobulin M (IgM) concentrations were measured three and 10 days after splenectomy in 12 dogs. Spleens were cultured aerobically for bacteria and submitted for histopathological evaluation in 23 dogs undergoing splenectomy. There were no consistent changes in red blood cell (RBC), white blood cell (WBC), or platelet counts; bone-marrow samples; or biochemical profiles. Serum iron, transferrin, and IgM concentrations remained normal. Eight (35%) bacterial cultures yielded growth. Five of the 23 dogs had pyrexic episodes two-to-five days after surgery. In contrast to previous reports done on healthy dogs, this study shows that dogs with splenic disease have no characteristic changes in hematological or biochemical parameters after splenectomy. Rather, the changes tended to reflect the primary disease process. Splenic vascular compromise or a decrease in processing of bacteria may have resulted in the bacterial growth. There was no direct correlation to pyrexic postoperative episodes.     

Pharmacological actions of Pongamia pinnata seeds--a preliminary study

Direct ethanolic and sequential petroleum ether, chloroform, acetone and ethanolic extracts (50-100 mg/kg, i.p.) of P. pinnata seeds given 30-60 min before revealed anti-inflammatory, analgesic and anti-ulcerogenic activities in rats. The activities were present maximum in petroleum ether and chloroform extracts. However, the extracts also showed shortening of pentobarbitone induced 'sleep time' in rats.     

Pronoun resolution without pronouns: some consequences of memory-based text processing

A memory-based processing approach to discourse comprehension emphasizes the rapid deployment of information in memory to facilitate understanding of the text that is currently being read. S. B. Greene, R. J. Gerrig, G. McKoon, and R. Ratcliff (1994) demonstrated that when a text described the reunion of 2 characters who had previously discussed a 3rd character, the accessibility of the 3rd character increased, and the use of an unheralded pronoun (R. J. Gerrig, 1986) to refer to that character was felicitous. In experiments in this article, the authors demonstrate that concepts related to the unheralded pronoun also increase in accessibility and that those concepts form associations in memory with concepts present in the discourse at the time the pronoun is used. The authors also show that the increase in accessibility for the referent of the pronoun, as well as the appropriate long-term memory associations, occurs even in the absence of the pronoun.