Recall of medication during pregnancy: Validity and accuracy of an adjusted questionnaire

Objective — To study the validity and accuracy of an adjusted questionnaire on medical drug use during pregnancy eight years after the pregnancy. Methods — The ability of a questionnaire on medication during pregnancy to detect actual use (= sensitivity) was tested against information collected 8 years previously (in 1983–1984) from 473 women with high-risk pregnancies who delivered at the University Hospital Nijmegen, the Netherlands. Results — For separate drug groups, the sensitivity varied between 5% and 91%. The timing of use was recalled moderately well. Although specific questions on drug groups did improve the sensitivity as compared to an earlier questionnaire, the improvement was not enough to make the questionnaire valid. High maternal education, low birth weight, low gestational age and a low 5-min Apgar score were related to better recall. The sensitivity of the questionnaire depended on the behavioural score of the child, implying recall bias. Conclusion — Questionnaire data on drug use during pregnancy obtained eight years after delivery are not a valid source of information.     

Predictors of violence in civilly committed acute psychiatric patients

The authors investigated the relationship between community violence and violence in the hospital for patients hospitalized through emergency civil commitment. The medical charts of 238 patients involuntarily admitted to a university-based acute inpatient unit were reviewed for evidence of violence during the 2 weeks before commitment and the first 72 hours of hospitalization. Patients who were violent in the community were more likely to be violent in the hospital. A discriminant function analysis was used to identify the combination of information concerning community violence and patient background characteristics that most efficiently predicted which patients were violent during emergency commitment.     

The orthopan tomoscintigram — a new application of emission computed tomography for facial bone scanning

The exact regional correlation of findings of facial bone scans, planar or SPECT, to dental orthopan X-ray films (OPT) is difficult because of the very different projection techniques. To improve correlative imaging in this regard a projection algorithm was developed that uses SPECT data of the skull for reconstructing an orthopan tomoscintigraphic projection. Fourteen conventional SPECT slices of the upper and lower jaws were obtained during bone scanning. All mandibular slices were superimposed resulting in a horseshoe shaped structure, which was marked by an ROI which was divided into segments. All 14 SPECT slices were then masked by this segmental ROI, thereby marking the teeth-carrying bone in all slices. The information from this horseshoe like ROI is then transformed into lines. Line by line arrangement results in an orthopan projection, the orthopan tomoscintigram. This new display allows 1:1 true scale superimposition with the X-ray OPT and markedly facilitates correlative imaging.     

Mobilization and evolutionary history of miniature inverted-repeat transposable elements (MITEs) in Beta vulgaris L.

We have identified three families of miniature inverted-repeat transposable elements (VulMITEs) in the genome of sugar beet (Beta vulgaris L.), evidently derived from a member of the Vulmar family of mariner transposons. While VulMITEs I are typical stowaway-like MITEs, VulMITEs II and VulMITEs III are rearranged stowaway elements of increased size. The integration of divergent moderately and highly repetitive sequences into VulMITEs II and, in particular in VulMITEs III, respectively, shows that amplification of repetitive DNA by MITEs contribute to the increase of genome size with possible implications for plant genome evolution. Fluorescent in-situ hybridization (FISH), for the first time visualizing stowaway MITE distribution on plant chromosomes, revealed a dispersed localization of VulMITEs along all B. vulgaris chromosomes. Analysis of the flanking sequences identified a dispersed repeat as target site for the integration of the stowaway element VulMITE I. Recent transposition of VulMITE I, which most likely occurred during the domestication of cultivated beets, was concluded from insertional polymorphisms between different B. vulgaris cultivars and species. ^†Sequence data from this article have been deposited in the EMBL/GenBank Data Library under the accession nos. AM231630-AM231653 and AM259123-AM259125.     

Low viscosity histidine-tryptophan-ketoglutarate graft flush improves subsequent extended cold storage in University of Wisconsin solution in an extracorporeal rat liver perfusion and rat liver transplantation model.

Adequate flushing for liver donation requires large fluid volumes delivered at a high flow. This can be achieved more effectively with crystalloid solutions than with colloid-based solutions. This study examined the combination of initial histidine-tryptophan-ketoglutarate solution (HTK) graft flush and subsequent storage in University of Wisconsin solution (UW) to that of the single use of each solution. Livers from inbred Wistar rats were procured using aortic perfusion with UW or HTK for initial perfusion and reflushed after 30 minutes using either solution. In a third group, after perfusion with HTK, organs were reflushed with UW. A 60-minute in-vitro recirculating perfusion was performed after 24 hours of cold storage in the subsequent solution, as well as allotransplantation after 18 and 24 hours of cold storage. In extracorporeal perfusion, the HTK flush followed by UW storage was superior compared to the single use of either UW or HTK solution, as measured by portal venous pressure, bile flow, liver enzymes released into the effluent perfusate, glycerol leakage, and histological examinations. These data were consistent with the transplantation study. Histological damage and enzyme release after 5-day survival were lowest in the HTK flush and subsequent UW storage groups following 18 hours of cold storage; likewise, the 5-day survival was superior following 24 hours of cold storage. In conclusion, the combined use of HTK solution for initial graft rinse and subsequent storage in UW solution resulted in a cumulative protection. Choosing low-viscosity HTK solution for the initial organ flush may represent a feasible improvement in liver preservation, which also further reduces the required amount of UW solution.     

Magnetic Forces on Orthodontic Wires in High Field Magnetic Resonance Imaging (MRI) at 3 Tesla

BACKGROUND: In a previous investigation we reported on magnetic forces in the static magnetic field of a 1.5 Tesla MRI system. The aim of the present investigation was to assess forces on orthodontic wires in a high field strength MRI system at 3 Tesla. MATERIALS AND METHODS: Thirty-two different orthodontic wires (21 archwires, eight ligature wires and three retainer wires) were investigated in a 3 Tesla high field strength MRI system (Intera, Philips Medical Systems, Best, The Netherlands). Translational forces were measured by the deflection angle test (ASTM F2052-02), and rotational forces assessed on a 5-point qualitative scale. RESULTS AND CONCLUSION: Translational forces ranged between 43.5 mN and 136.1 mN for retainer wires and between 0.6 mN (Noninium) and 208.4 mN (Orthos Stainless Steel) for steel archwires. Translational forces were up to 53.8 times as high as gravitational forces for retainer wires and up to 54.5 times as high for steel archwires, associated with marked rotational forces for the most part. Archwires manufactured from nickel-titanium, titanium-molybdenum and cobalt-chromium and different ligature wires showed no or negligible forces in the magnetic field. Carefully ligated wires should not present a risk due to translational and rotational forces in the high field MRI system at 3 Tesla.