Diagnosis-related groups: a comparative analysis of hospital activity in different countries

Comparative study of hospital activities in the Novgorod district and nine countries of the European Community, carried out within the framework of the International Project CAMISE (Case Mix and Severity) of the European Community on the basis of the classification system for diagnosis-related groups, showed a lower Case Mix Index, a longer hospital stay for all major disease, and a lower surgical activity in the hospitals of the Novgorod district in comparison with other European countries. The detected differences are largely due to specific features in the organization of hospital service in Russia (no special hospitals for acute and chronic patients, no nursing homes) and insufficiently intensive therapeutic and diagnostic process.     

The problems of the experimental and clinical pharmacology of venotropic drugs

The article deals with problems of phenomenology of the selective vasomotor response of veins to the effect of drugs, analyses the peripheral and central hemodynamic effects of venotropic drugs, discusses and systematizes the principles of correct quantitative evaluation of venomotor reactions. Some representatives of the group of venotropic drugs are characterized and the main problems of their clinical use are discussed. The problems of promising trends of research are formulated.     

Central core disease (its clinical and laboratory diagnosis)]

In vivo mercury significantly inhibited ovarian maturation in the red swamp crayfish, Procambarus clarkii. 5-Hydroxytryptamine (5-HT) induced ovarian maturation in vivo. Cadmium and mercury inhibited this 5-HT-induced maturation. Ovarian explants incubated with mercury and either brain or muscle demonstrated significant inhibition of [14C]leucine incorporation into ovarian proteins compared to the corresponding groups incubated without mercury. In the absence of mercury the brain, which contains a gonad-stimulating hormone (GSH), induced significantly more incorporation of this amino acid than occurred in the ovaries incubated with muscle. These metals may have exerted their inhibitory effects by directly inhibiting protein synthesis in the ovaries, inhibiting 5-HT-stimulated GSH release, and preventing the ovaries from responding to this hormone.     

A randomized study comparing retroperitoneal drainage with no drainage after lymphadenectomy in gynecologic malignancies

Drug-nutrient interactions affecting chromium were investigated in this study. Rats were injected with indomethacin to reduce endogenous prostaglandin synthesis and dosed with prostaglandin analogues or prostacyclin. Effects on absorption, tissue distribution and urinary excretion of 51Cr from 51CrCl3 were evaluated using a 2 x 4 factorial experimental design. Forty-eight adult male rats were food deprived for 12 h and then injected intraperitoneally with indomethacin (5 mg/kg body wt) or placebo. Thirty minutes later, rats were intubated and dosed with one of four treatments: a prostaglandin E1 analogue (misoprostol) at 50 microg/kg body wt; a prostaglandin E2 analogue (16,16-dimethylprostaglandin E2) at 7.5 microg/kg body wt; prostacyclin at 20 microg/kg body wt; or control (7.64 mmol/L Tween-80 suspended in 0.15 mol/L NaCl containing 0.48 mol/L ethanol). Immediately after intubation, rats were dosed with 3.7 mBq of 51CrCl3 by micropipette. Blood was collected from the tail at intervals after 51Cr dosing. Six hours after dosing, 51Cr rats were exsanguinated by cardiac puncture. Indomethacin, an inhibitor of prostaglandin synthesis, significantly increased (P < 0.05) 51Cr in blood at all time periods tested except at 15 min. In tissues, indomethacin significantly increased 51Cr retention. Urinary 51Cr excretion at 6 h was higher (P < 0.05) in indomethacin-pretreated rats than in control rats. Administration of indomethacin, which blocks prostaglandin synthesis, enhanced 51Cr absorption, whereas dosing with 16,16-dimethylprostaglandin E2 decreased 51Cr absorption.     

Recombinant vaccinia virus expressing Japanese encephalitis virus protein E

Contrasts are drawn between dental care based on fee-for-service and managed care financial arrangements. The advantages of fee-for-service include (for the profession) slow acceptance of managed care in dentistry compared to medicine; (for society and the patient) more community service, higher technical quality of work, and stimulation of innovations; and (for the individual dentist) the strong dentist-patient bond as well as professionalism.