Radiation dose reduction during hysterosalpingography: an application of scanning-beam digital radiography

Hysterosalpingography was performed in 31 patients by means of a low-dose scanning-beam digital radiographic system. The technique permits adequate evaluation of gynecologic abnormalities while allowing significant reduction in radiation: 2.4-mR (6.1 X 10(-7) C/kg) exposure to the skin and 0.7-mrad (7 X 10(-6) Gy) mean dose to the ovaries per image obtained. Sixteen patients demonstrated readily recognizable and documented abnormalities, corroborated by laparoscopy, laparotomy, or other supportive evidence.     

Serving seniors better: service guidelines for supermarkets

Objective: Generate a list of service guidelines to enable supermarket managers to accommodate the needs of their older customers. Methods: Focus groups and a national telephone survey were conducted with Australian seniors to generate 10 service guidelines for supermarkets. Results: The 10 guidelines produced are considered to be of significant importance by Australian seniors, with some apparent differences in importance and relevance ratings between older and younger seniors, and males and females. Conclusions: Seniors have distinct service preferences when grocery shopping and their needs require special attention in the supermarket environment. In particular, they feel strongly about the quality of staff and equipment with which they come into contact.     

Comparison of five cultural procedures for isolation of Clostridium difficile from stools.

Several procedures have been described for the culture of Clostridium difficile from stool specimens. The goal of this study was to determine the effectiveness of five of these methods for the isolation of C. difficile from feces of patients suspected of having C. difficile-associated illness. A total of 564 stool specimens were cultured by using heat shock, ethanol treatment (ET), and direct plating on Carr-Scarborough cycloserine-cefoxitin-fructose agar (CCFA) with horse blood (C/S medium), BBL CCFA medium, and Remel C. difficile agar. Cytotoxin assays were performed on all specimens. A total of 113 specimens (20%) were positive for C. difficile by one or more methods. The numbers of positive cultures by using heat shock, ET, and direct plating on C/S medium, BBL CCFA medium, and Remel C. difficile agar were 79 (70%), 89 (79%), 91 (81%), 79 (70%), and 52 (46%), respectively. We concluded that ET and direct plating on C/S medium were the most effective procedures for isolating C. difficile from stool specimens and found significant variation in the performance of modified CCFA from different manufacturers.     

Retinal topography in reef teleosts. II. Some species with prominent horizontal streaks and high-density areae

The retinal ganglion cell layer of five species of reef teleosts was studied from Nissl-stained whole-mounts and the distribution of neural elements determined quantitatively. Iso-density contour maps of neurons in the ganglion cell layer revealed a temporal area centralis (ranging from 3.5 to 8.3 x 10(4) cells/mm2) which often extended into a horizontal streak (ranging from 1.4 to 5.0 x 10(4) cells/mm2) across the retinal meridian. Species possessing a marked horizontal streak were found to inhabit open water and perceive their environment with an uninterrupted view of sand-water horizon. The behavioural significance of these horizontal areas of acute vision is also discussed.     

Solitary bronchioloalveolar carcinoma: CT criteria

The computed tomographic (CT) scans of 30 patients with solitary bronchioloalveolar carcinoma were reviewed. Common features at CT included the peripheral or subpleural location of a pulmonary mass (25 cases), pseudocavitation (18 cases), heterogeneous attenuation (17 cases), irregular margins forming a star pattern (22 cases), and pleural tags (21 cases). Using these CT criteria, four independent observers attempted to identify cases of bronchioloalveolar carcinoma from a larger sample of lung cancers and benign lesions by categorizing a series of test cases into four probability categories. Although the bronchioloalveolar carcinomas were correctly ranked in the two highest probability categories 75% of the time (in 45 of 60 cases), there was considerable overlap with other lung lesions, particularly with adenocarcinoma and large cell undifferentiated carcinoma. However, even though the typical features of bronchioloalveolar carcinoma are not invariable or highly specific, they are characteristic enough to suggest the diagnosis.