Mycology quality assessment: United Kingdom national scheme.

A mycology quality assessment scheme introduced in 1986 was assessed: 289 laboratories participated in the scheme, and six distributions, each containing four specimens, were made. Levels of performance varied considerably among participating laboratories: performance was highest with the commoner organisms distributed, but some laboratories, encouragingly, achieved a consistently high level of species identification. A questionnaire distributed to participants showed that a wide range of methods are commonly used, some of which are contrary to good practice. As the scheme continues, selection of organisms considered to be relevant and of use to participants will become difficult.     

The type and antibody screen, revisited.

The type and antibody screen is a safe, economical substitute for "routine" two-unit crossmatch in those elective surgical procedures rarely necessitating blood transfusion. This report confirms a previous finding that the type and antibody screen is 99.99% effective in preventing the transfusion of incompatible blood. The type and antibody screen is even safer than the stated 99.99%, when the immediate spin, saline and albumin procedures (the initial portion of the authors' complete crossmatch) are performed prior to releasing blood in an emergency situation. The immediate spin procedures not only verify the ABO compatibility but also detect any high-titer antibodies directed against low-incidence antigens that might not have been present on the screening reagent erythrocytes. The use of the type and antibody screen is applicable only in those medical facilities that have moderate reserves of blood readily available for transfusion.     

Neuropsychological complaint base rates in personal injury, revisited.

Recent research supports the need for consideration of neuropsychological base rate phenomena in personal injury claimants. This response describes the utility of a preinjury versus postinjury procedure for alleviating possible false positive errors in postinjury behavioral symptoms, while concurrently minimizing likelihood of false negative errors.     

Telemicroscopy by the Internet revisited.

This paper reports a fundamentally new concept for internet-based telemicroscopy. By separating a telemicroscopy application into three tasks - microscope control program, external server, and client application - it is possible to establish a telemicroscopy session between two arbitrary end points on the Internet even if both of the end points are secured by firewall (microscope and client application). The advantages of such a distributed system, compared with the classical point-to-point systems, are discussed. The telemicroscopy system is combined with a telepathology database, which is capable of automatically recording telemicroscopy sessions, allowing a convenient combination of interactive remote microscopy and store and forward telepathology. In addition to remote primary diagnosis, it is easily possible to discuss difficult cases within dedicated user groups, no matter whether images originate from a telemicroscopy session, or are manually entered into the database.     

Physical size,school performance,and visual-motor maturity in the Philippines

The broad theoretical issue approached in this work is whether supposedly adaptive or maladaptive biological variation has any real impact on people's lives and well-being. From a poor barrio of a rural lowland Philippine fishing community, a sample of 25 boys and 25 girls who had completed first grade at 8 years was measured. This population may be considered moderately undernourished by NCHS but not Philippine standards. Correlations between anthropometry, school grades, and visual-motor skills were calculated. Grades, taken here to have both cognitive and social-behavioral components, correlated best to percentage of median height (NCHS and Philippine), less strongly but still significantly to visual motor skill, and not to weight for height. Visual-motor skills (estimated by the Beery VMI) did not correlate to anthropometry. Visual-motor performance, however, is low by U.S. standards, a finding discussed in a behavioral context.     

Serotypes of enterotoxigenic Escherichia coli in Thailand and the Philippines.

The serotypes of 386 enterotoxigenic Escherichia coli (ETEC) isolated from 82 individuals with and without diarrhea in Thailand and the Philippines were determined. The 136 strains producing both heat-labile toxin (LT) and heat-stable toxin (ST) belonged to 12 different O serogroups; however, 83% (113/136) were of one of four serogroups (O6, O8, O25, and O78), and 76% of (104/136) belonged to one of seven O:K:H serotypes. Only 14% (28/196) of LT-only-producing ETEC belonged to serogroups most common among LT and ST strains, and these 196 strains belonged to 35 different O:K:H serotypes. Three O serogroups (O20, O27, and O78) accounted for 94% (52/54) of strains producing only ST. Although only 4% (2/54) of ST-only ETEC belonged to the seven serotypes most commonly found among strains which produced LT and ST, 85% of ETEC belonged to three other serotypes, O20:K?:H21, O27:K?:H7, and O78:H-. A total of 46% (37/80) of ETEC of serotypes O6:H16, O8:H9, O25:H42, and O78:H12 were resistant to two or more antibiotics in comparison to 68% (208/306) of ETEC of other serotypes (P less than 0.001). In Thailand and the Philippines, E. coli which produced LT and ST or ST alone, but not those which produced LT alone, were restricted in their O:K:H serotypes.     

Primary Cerebral Alveolar Echinococcosis: Mycology to the Rescue

A case of primary cerebral alveolar echinococcosis with a favorable outcome is reported. A universal fungal PCR enabled this diagnosis, while the initial serological analysis remained noncontributive.