Hypomagnesaemia causing myopathy and hypocalcaemia in an alcoholic

A well-nourished alcoholic patient developed a subacute myopathy which responded rapidly to correction of severe hypomagnesaemia. The finding of profound hypocalcaemia prompted the measurement of serum magnesium. Magnesium deficiency should be looked for in any alcoholic patient with a myopathy as the prognosis seems better than in many other forms of alcoholic myopathy. Correction of the magnesium deficiency corrects the hypocalcaemia without the need for calcium supplementation.     

The Edgecombe County High Blood Pressure Control Program: the process of medical care and blood pressure control

As part of the Edgecombe County High Blood Pressure Control Program, a medical record review was conducted within a multispecialty private group practice in the county. The purposes of the review were to assess the relationship between the process of medical care and blood pressure control and to explore the variation in level and impact of medical care by race and sex. At the end of a three-year period, 41 percent of 628 hypertensive patients from the practice had uncontrolled diastolic blood pressure (DBP), as defined by Hypertension Detection and Follow-up Program criteria. The percentage of uncontrolled hypertensives ranged from 53 percent for black men to 34 percent for white women. Hypertensive patients whose physicians were more aggressive in their use of antihypertensive drug therapy were more likely to be controlled. The effect of the level of physician drug aggressiveness tended to be more pronounced for blacks than for whites. Differences by race in exposure to and efficacy of aggressive drug treatment may influence racial variation in blood pressure control.     

Interaction between ciprofloxacin and vancomycin against staphylococci

The interaction between ciprofloxacin and vancomycin against nine isolates of Staphylococcus epidermidis from cases of infective endocarditis and three strains of S. aureus was studied. Killing curves indicated the presence of antagonism in the early stages, the clinical significance of which is uncertain. No synergy was found and the combination therefore does not appear to offer any advantages over vancomycin alone for the treatment of staphylococcal infections.     

Incidence and clinical features of glossopharyngeal neuralgia, Rochester, Minnesota, 1945-1984.

The annual crude incidence rate of glossopharyngeal neuralgia per 100,000 population in Rochester, Minn., for 1945 through 1984, was 0.7 for both sexes combined, suggesting that glossopharyngeal neuralgia is a rare disease. There were no significant differences between the sexes (p greater than 0.10) in the overall age-adjusted (to the total 1980 US population) rates: 1.1 for men and 0.5 for women. Overall age-specific crude rates increased slightly with age. Our results and conclusions, achieved by comparing our data with a large referral study at Mayo Clinic, suggest that glossopharyngeal neuralgia is generally a mild disease, since mild attacks are not uncommon, the average annual recurrence rate for a second episode is low (3.6%), and only one fourth of the cases had to have surgery for relief of symptoms. Bilaterality is not uncommon; it was observed in one fourth of the patients, all of whom had mild disease.     

Elimination of the transient ipsilateral retinotectal projection is not solely achieved by cell death in the developing chick.

During development of the projection from the retina to the brain in the chick, a transient ipsilateral retinotectal projection forms and disappears. This disappearance is coincident with a wave of ganglion cell death in the retina. The contribution of cell death to the disappearance of this projection, as opposed to another mechanism such as axon retraction, was examined. Retinal ganglion cells with a projection to the ipsilateral tectum were retrogradely labeled by injection of long-lasting fluorescent dyes into the tectum prior to the onset of ganglion cell death. Large injections of fast blue labeled approximately 1800 ganglion cells in the ipsilateral retina before the period of cell death began. If the injected embryos were allowed to survive past the peak period of ganglion cell death, the average number of labeled ganglion cells in the ipsilateral retina was reduced by somewhat more than half. It is possible that the remaining labeled ganglion cells projected only to nontectal visual nuclei and were labeled by fast blue that had diffused out of the tectum. This was tested by repeating the study using very localized injections of 1,1'-dioctodecyl-3,3,3',3'-tetramethylindocarbocyanine perchlorate or fluorescent microspheres into the tectum. These small injections confirmed that cells with transient projections to the ipsilateral tectum survived past the elimination of this projection. Thus, ipsilaterally projecting ganglion cells have, at most, a slightly greater propensity for death than the average ganglion cell, and elimination of the transient ipsilateral retinotectal projection in chick can be explained only, in part, by the mechanism of cell death.(ABSTRACT TRUNCATED AT 250 WORDS)     

A comparison of three methods of repairing the hard palate.

OBJECTIVE: To compare growth, speech, and nasal symmetry outcomes of three methods of hard palate repair. PATIENTS: Consecutive available records of children born with unilateral bony complete cleft lip and palate over the period 1972 to 1992. INTERVENTIONS: Identical management of lip, nose, alveolus, and soft palate. Hard palate repair by Cuthbert Veau (CV) from 1972 to 1981, von Langenbeck (vL) from 1982 to 1989, or medial Langenbeck (ML) from 1989 to 1991. OUTCOME MEASURES: For growth: GOSLON yardstick or 5-year model index. For speech: articulation test. Nasal anemometry. For nasal symmetry: Coghlan computer-based assessment. All these measures were developed during the period of data collection but not for this project. RESULTS: There was a strong trend toward more favorable anteroposterior maxillary growth with the change from CV to vL to ML techniques. This fell short of statistical significance because of the small sample size. There was a significant reduction in cleft-related articulation faults (p =.01) considered to be related to improved arch form. In the absence of improved rates of velopharyngeal insufficiency or nasal symmetry, increased surgical experience was discounted as a significant contribution to improved growth and articulation outcomes. CONCLUSIONS: Reduced periosteal undermining and residual exposed palatal shelf from CV to vL to ML improved incisor relationships and articulation.     

Pre-operative assessment of anal fistulas using endoanal ultrasound

Objective To study the accuracy of endoanal ultrasound in pre‐operative assessment of cryptoglandular anal fistulas, with respect to the site of the internal opening, type and depth of the fistula tract. Patients and methods A consecutive series of 151 patients with anal sepsis underwent pre‐operative endoanal ultrasound assessment of a suspected anal fistula. Hydrogen peroxide was used to define the tract when there was doubt as to the course of the fistula. All patients subsequently had surgical exploration under anaesthesia, irrespective of findings at sonography. The site of the internal opening, depth and type of fistula were recorded at surgery, and concordance with the ultrasound was assessed. Results One hundred and forty‐five patients were subsequently shown to have a fistula at surgical exploration. Type of fistula: Two thirds were transsphincteric (63%) and one third were inter sphincteric (32%), with a few submucosal, and supra sphincteric fistulas. Ultrasound correctly predicted surgical findings in 82% of patients (124/151). Concordance was highest for transsphincteric fistulas (87%). Internal opening: Accuracy of predicting the site of the internal opening was 93% (140/151). The commonest site for the internal opening was the midline posteriorly (49%), followed by the midline anteriorly (25%), the rest lay laterally. Fistula depth: Ultrasound and surgical assessment of the depth of fistulas was concordant in 120 of 145 patients (83%). Conclusions Endoanal ultrasound has a high accuracy of predicting the site of internal opening of an anal fistula. Endoanal ultrasound is able to assess the type and depth of a fistula. This information is useful for pre‐operative planning of fistula treatment.     

Immature Megakaryocytes in the Mouse: Morphology and quantitation by acetylcholinesterase staining

Three types of immature megakaryocytes, detected by their morphological properties, have been characterized in bone marrow of normal C57BL/6 mice. Morphological classification of these cells was carried out by determining (1) presence and relative amount of acetylcholinesterase, (2) cell size, (3) nuclear/cytoplasm ratio, and (4) nuclear shape. The immature megakaryocytes were classified as: (A) cells distinguished by a round nucleus (10.6 +/- 1.1 mu diameter; mean +/- SEM), which had the highest nucleus / cytoplasm ratio and lowest content of acetylcholinesterase; (B) cells with an indented nucleus (13.0 +/- 1.9 mu diameter), which had increased acetylcholinesterase content and reduced nucleus/cytoplasm ratio compared to the round-nucleus cell type; and (C) lobed-nucleus cells (14.5 +/- 2.9 mu diameter), which showed further increase in acetylcholinesterase content and reduction in nucleus/cytoplasm ratio. Increased numbers of immature megakaryocytes were detected, indicating that a proportion of these cells are undetected using conventional staining techniques. Based on the observed alterations in size, acetylcholinesterase content, and nuclear complexity, it was concluded that these cells constitute part of a progressive maturation sequence intermediate between the progenitor cell (CFU-Mk) and mature easily recognizable megakaryocytes.