Post renal transplant thrombotic microangiopathy: A single centre experience

SUMMARY: Thrombotic microangiopathy (TMA) is a rare complication of renal transplantation. This study is a review of our experience of seven cases of TMA occurring between 1986 and 1995, an incidence of 0.8%. One patient had a recurrence of TMA in her graft having an episode of haemolytic uraemic syndrome as the cause of her original kidney failure. the other six patients had a rejection episode either at the time of diagnosis of TMA or a mean of 12 days prior to the diagnosis of TMA. All patients were treated with plasma exchange and those on cyclosporin had their dose reduced. Two patients had graft loss while the remainder had successful outcomes with stable graft function 3–11 years post diagnosis of TMA. We conclude that, in our experience rejection played a prominent role in the disease pathogenesis and that cyclosporin could be continued successfully albeit at a reduced dosage.     

HPLC柱切换法测定血浆和尿样中头孢克肟浓度

用双泵HPLC柱切换系统直接进样测定血浆和尿样中头孢克肟(cefixime,CFIX)的浓度。血浆和尿样的回收率分别为99.1%和98.6%;最低检测浓度分别为0.05和0.2μg/ml;日内和日间的RSD小于5%;血浆和尿样浓度分别在0.1～3.2和1.0～32μg/ml范围内呈线性相关。此方法集样品净化、富集成分和色谱分析一次连续进行,操作简便、快速,可以进较大的样品量,灵敏度相对明显提高。     

Anti-immobility activity of different antidepressant drugs using the tail suspension test in normal or reserpinized mice

Summary— The tail suspension test is a screening procedure recently used in mice to detect antidepressant activity of drugs. The ability of amine re-uptake inhibitors to decrease immobility in non-reserpinized and in reserpinized mice was studied. Reserpine (4 mg/kg ip) was injected 4 h previously. Anti-depressants were administered ip, 60 min before tail suspension. Animal activity was recorded for 6 min. Preferential serotonin re-uptake blockers (fluoxetine, fluvoxamine, clomipramine) were poorly active in non-reserpinized mice and inactive in reserpine-treated mice. Noradrenergic drugs (desipramine, demexiptiline, viloxazine) were more efficient in reserpinized than in non-reserpinized mice. The mixed serotonin- noradrenaline re-uptake inhibitor (imipramine) shows an activity which should be considered between serotonin re-uptake inhibitors and noradrenaline re-uptake inhibitors. DA re-uptake inhibitors (amineptine, GBR 12909) exhibited the highest anti-immobility effect in non reserpinized animals but were of low efficacy after reserpine treatment. Amphetamine differed from dopamine re-uptake inhibitors by its better activity in reserpinized animals. Moreover, it was the only drug showing an equal anti-immobility effect in non reserpinized and reserpinized mice because the dose of 8 mg/kg of amphetamine reduced immobility in reserpinised mice with the same intensity as the dose of 4 mg/kg in non reserpinised mice whereas no other drugs tested in this study achieved the same effect. Comparison of anti-immobility activities of putative antidepressants in non-pre-treated and in reserpine-pre-treated mice, using the tail suspension test, may be useful to discriminate amphetamines from antidepressant drugs and to differentiate between categories of amine re-uptake blockers.     

The directional characteristics of some ultrasonic doppler blood-flow probes

A knowledge of the shape of the fields generated by Doppler ultrasonic probes is of particular importance in vessel imaging and in blood flow research. In this study the combined effects of the transmitting and receiving crystals of four types of commonly used Doppler probe have been calculated numerically using two different theoretical models, and the results compared with experimental measurements. The results show that there is a considerable variation in the fields produced by transducers of the same type, and that the correspondence between the theoretical and experimental results can be improved in most cases by using a model in which each crystal vibrates like a flexible plate rather than like a rigid piston. Theoretical iso-echo contours at various distances from the transducer face are presented for each of the four types of transducers studied.