Ocular trauma resulting from the explosive rupture of a liquid center golf ball

The likelihood of a patient seeking consultation with an ocular injury due to puncturing and subsequent explosive rupture of a golf ball seems remote. This very set of circumstances occurred at our V.A. Medical Center Optometry clinic. Golf ball manufacturers receive inquiries each year concerning the makeup of these liquid centers. Lack of current available information from ophthalmic journals or poison control centers prompted an inquiry into the exact nature of these golf balls. Further concern was for the measured alkalinity and extreme pressure exhibited by the liquid center golf ball brought in by the patient just after injury occurred. A case report is presented. Retrospective evaluation of previous literature is reviewed as well as information from golf ball manufacturers.     

Isohydric regulation of plasma potassium by bicarbonate in the rat.

pH and bicarbonate affect many metabolic reactions but each may change independently. To study bicarbonate's effect onplasma potassium, blood bicarbonate in normal, hypokalemic or hyperkalemic rats was either maintained constant, lowered by hydrochloric acid or raised by sodium bicarbonate administraion. Blood pH was maintained constant by changing PCO2. In normokalemia lowering bicarbonate increased plasma potassium 2.0mEq above values obtained in the other groups. To eliminate urinary potassium losses, experiments were also performed in rats with bilateral ureteral ligation. Again, plasma potassium concentration rose significantly more in the lowered bicarbonate group. Similarly, in hypokalemia, plasma potassium rose 1.2 and 0.4mEq in the lowered and unchanged groups, but fell 0.2mEq/liter in the elevated group. Differences could not be ascribed to renal potassium losses as potassium excretion was essentially zero in each group. In hyperkalemia, plasma potassium concentration remained elevated for 150 min in the lowered bicarbonate group but fell 1.3 and 2.0mEq in the unchanged and elevated groups, respectively. Urinary potassium losses in the three groups were statistically identical. In all experiments blood pH was maintained unchanged during the experiment. The data show that bicarbonate, independent of blood pH, alters transcellular potassium distribution suggesting the usefulness of bicarbonate therapy in hyperkalemia even at a compensated blood pH.     

Screening tests for blood donors presumed to have transmitted the acquired immunodeficiency syndrome

We investigated 18 sets of blood donors from 12 to 50 months after they donated blood to recipients who subsequently developed the acquired immunodeficiency syndrome (AIDS). Within each donor set, only one donor was suspected of having transmitted the disease (ie, member of an AIDS risk group). The other donors (n = 189) were not risk group members and served as controls. A number of laboratory tests distinguished suspected from nonsuspected donors, including determination of T helper/T suppressor cell ratio, antibody to hepatitis B core antigen, and immune complexes, but none of these was as sensitive and specific as tests for antibody to the human retrovirus, HTLV-III/LAV.     

Demonstration of reduced mitogenic and osteoinductive activities in demineralized allogeneic bone matrix from vitamin D-deficient rats.

Osteoinduction is the formation of ectopic bone that follows implantation of demineralized allogeneic bone matrix (DABM) and is believed to be secondary to the release of associated inductive factors from bone matrix. To clarify the role of vitamin D in osteoinduction, we implanted DABM from vitamin D-deficient rats (-D rats) into normal rats (+D rats). Because mitogens and osteocalcin might be involved in osteoinduction, these were measured. Mitogenic activity in extracts from mineralized allogeneic bone matrix (ABM) and DABM from both +D and -D rats was determined with an assay that utilizes monolayer cultures of embryonic chick calvarial cells. Osteocalcin in serum and DABM was measured by radioimmunoassay. DABM from -D rats did not promote osteoinduction as effectively as DABM from +D rats. Resorption of implant matrix from -D rats was diminished compared with resorption of matrix from +D rats (P less than 0.01), and the decrease was attributed to a corresponding decrease in the number of osteoclasts in the implants (P less than 0.02). Bone formation (P less than 0.01) and total implant mineralization (P less than 0.001) were significantly reduced in implants from -D rats, and the reductions corresponded with a decline in the number of osteoblasts (P less than 0.05). Mitogenic activity in DABM from +D rats was only slightly decreased as compared with activity in ABM, but DABM from -D rats contained significantly less activity (P less than 0.001). No mitogenic activity was identified in implants of DABM from either +D or -D rats 3 wk after implantation. Serum osteocalcin was significantly higher in -D as compared with +D animals. In contrast, the concentrations of osteocalcin in DABM from the two groups of animals were not significantly different from each other. These findings indicate that the diminished osteoinductive activity of DABM from -D rats results from deficiency of one or more mitogenic factors that are essential for inducing the proliferation and differentiation of bone cells at the implant site and that osteocalcin does not play a role in this regard.