A persisting secular trend for body measurements in Dutch children. The Oosterwolde 11 study

To investigate whether the secular trend for growth in Dutch children still exists, the Oosterwolde I study of 1980 was repeated in 1989. A persisting secular trend was visible for height while the z scores of body proportions show no change during the past 10 years, which suggests that there is no change in the timing of puberty.     

A retrospective study to determine the risk of red cell alloimmunization and transfusion during pregnancy

A retrospective review of post-delivery antibody records was performed at a teaching hospital and a community hospital to determine the frequency of new red cell alloantibody production and transfusion during pregnancy. If alloantibody was undetected at delivery, it was assumed that alloimmunization had not occurred. When antibody was detected, a chart review was performed to determine if the antibody was present at the beginning of the pregnancy or was newly produced during the pregnancy. A total of 17,568 pregnancies were reviewed. Antibody was detected at delivery in 948 (5.4%) cases, of which 89.5 percent (848/948) involved passive anti-D or clinically insignificant antibodies. The remaining 100 pregnancies involved clinically significant IgG antibodies. In 58 pregnancies, the antibody was detected in the first trimester, and in 42, new antibody production occurred during the pregnancy. Thus, the prevalence of new antibody production during pregnancy was 0.24 percent (95% confidence interval [CI], 0.17-0.32). Transfusion records indicated that the prevalence of transfusions during pregnancy was 0.09 percent (95% CI, 0.04-0.14). None of the women with new alloantibody formation during their pregnancies required transfusion; hence, new alloantibody production and the need for transfusion appear to be independent events. The probability of these events occurring together was 2.1 × 10(-6), or 1 in 500,000 deliveries.     

Strains of Mycobacterium terrae complex which react with DNA probes for M. tuberculosis complex.

Following a recent report that two isolates of Mycobacterium terrae complex had given positive reactions with M. tuberculosis complex DNA probes, a joint study was undertaken to determine the extent of these findings in the clinical culture collection holdings of two state health laboratories. A total of 117 M. terrae complex strains (identified by standard biochemical methods) were subjected to M. tuberculosis complex probe testing with the two then-available kits (from Syngene, Inc., and Gen-Probe, Inc.). In addition to the two original isolates first reported, two further M. terrae complex isolates were found to react with the M. tuberculosis complex probes. Two modifications of the Accuprobe (Gen-Probe, Inc.) test method were evaluated. Extension of the selection time to 8 min was the most convenient modification and rendered the M. terrae complex isolates negative when tested with the Accuprobe M. tuberculosis complex probe. However, the effects of increased selection time on the overall sensitivity of the M. tuberculosis complex probe require further study.