Surgical strategies in very-low-birthweight neonates with necrotizing enterocolitis

Very-low-birthweight (VLBW) neonates are more prone to complications and death than term infants are. In a 15-year period, 19 neonates with VLBW were operated on for necrotizing enterocolitis (NEC). Indications for operation were pneumoperitoneum in 12 and deterioration of general condition in 7. Bowel resection and intestinal diversion was performed in 12, a lateral enterostomy at the site of perforation was created in 5, and 2 neonates with necrosis of the whole bowel underwent an exploratory laparotomy without any further surgical treatment. Surgical complications were found in one-third of the patients. The mortality rate was significantly higher when the ileum was affected. The survival rate was 68%. Prior to 1984 the survival rate was 37% (3/8); subsequently, it has improved to 91% (10/11) as a result of improved intensive therapy.     

Height-related risk factors for prostate cancer

Previous studies have reported that adult height is positively associated with the risk of prostate cancer. The authors carried out a population-based case-control study involving 317 prostate cancer cases and 480 controls to further investigate the possibility that height is more strongly associated with advanced, compared with localized forms of this disease. Since the inherited endocrine factors, which in part determine height attained during the growing years, may influence the risk of familial prostate cancer later in life, the relationship with height was also investigated for familial versus sporadic prostate cancers. Adult height was not related to the risk of localized prostate cancer, but there was a moderate positive association between increasing height and the risk of advanced cancer (relative risk (RR) = 1.62; 95% confidence interval (CI) 0.97-2.73, upper versus lowest quartile, P-trend = 0.07). Height was more strongly associated with the risk of prostate cancer in men with a positive family history compared with those reporting a negative family history. The RR of advanced prostate cancer for men in the upper height quartile with a positive family history was 7.41 (95% CI 1.68-32.67, P-trend = 0.02) compared with a reference group comprised of men in the shortest height quartile with a negative family history. Serum insulin-like growth factor-1 levels did not correlate with height amongst men with familial or sporadic prostate cancers. These findings provide evidence for the existence of growth-related risk factors for prostate cancer, particularly for advanced and familial forms of this disease. The possible existence of inherited mechanisms affecting both somatic and tumour growth deserves further investigation.     

A comparison of two crisis housing alternatives to psychiatric hospitalization

This study compared outcomes for demographically matched clients four months after their admission to two short-term crisis programs. The programs provided crisis housing and case management services as alternatives to psychiatric hospitalization for clients with severe and persistent mental illness. One program met housing needs by purchasing shelter in hotels and boarding houses, and the other provided lodging in an eight-bed crisis house. In both programs, two-thirds of the clients avoided hospitalization during four-month follow-up, and both programs were effective in stabilizing clients' housing and financial situations. Clients in the purchase-of-housing program showed an increase in substance abuse problems at follow-up. Average client costs were similar in the two programs. A critical program difference was the substantially higher staff turnover in the crisis house, which was later replaced with scattered-site crisis housing.     

Infrared spectroscopic studies on polyethylene, 2. The characterisation of specific types of alkyl branches in low-branched ethylene polymers and copolymers

Bands characteristic for some specific branches have been found in two regions of the IR spectra of near linear polyethylenes made by the Phillips process. Polymers with methyl branches give a band at 935 cm^?1, probably the methyl rocking mode. The intensity of this band is proportional to the methyl branch content, thus providing a quantitative method for its estimation. No band specific for ethyl branches has been found, but propyl and longer branches show one at 890 cm^?1 and this is also assigned to the rocking mode. This band is observed more readily if the polymers are brominated at ambient temperature, to remove interfering unsaturation bands. The results for methyl and ethyl branched near linear polymers differ significantly from those obtained with polypropylene, poly(1-butene), and ethylene copolymers with high concentrations of methyl and ethyl branches. This is very probably the result of the presence of blocks of the repeating unit ? CH₂? CH(R)? in the latter materials. Methyl branched polymers show a band at 1150 cm^?1, assigned to the methyl wagging mode of branches present in the crystalline phase. Its intensity is proportional to the methyl branch content and it may be used for quantitative purposes. Ethyl and longer branches do not give a methyl wagging band of detectable intensity.