Dynamic skinfold thickness measurement in infants fed breast-milk, low- or high-sodium formula

A stratified sample of normal infants born at term at Johannesburg Hospital, who attended the hospital for a routine 6-week follow-up visit, were selected to include 43 infants who were exclusively breast-fed, 42 fed a low-sodium formula and 39 fed a high-sodium formula (greater than 10 mmol sodium/l). Dynamic skinfold thickness measurements (DSTM), designed to assess the amount of interstitial fluid, were performed on each infant by the application of a skinfold caliper for a 3-second sampling period at two sites. The curves generated by these applications were recorded and analysed by microcomputer. There were no differences between any of the feeding groups for DSTM measurements of blood pressure suggesting that the range of sodium ingested by these groups of infants had no significant effects on extracellular water content. However, using multiple linear regression, both DSTM and blood pressure were best predicted by body weight and not by age or any other anthropometric measurement. Thus the normal postnatal decrease in extracellular fluid volume and increase in blood pressure appears to be most closely related to an increase in body weight.     

Deep palmo-plantar wart causing extensive bone erosion: brief report

A case is described in which a deep palmo-planar wart (myrmecia) caused erosion of the underlying phalanx.     

Continuous parathyroid hormone induces cortical porosity in the rat: effects on bone turnover and mechanical properties.

We examined the time course effects of continuous PTH on cortical bone and mechanical properties. PTH increased cortical bone turnover and induced intracortical porosity with no deleterious effect on bone strength. Withdrawal of PTH increased maximum torque to failure and stiffness with no change in energy absorbed. INTRODUCTION: The skeletal response of cortical bone to parathyroid hormone (PTH) is complex and species dependent. Intermittent administration of PTH to rats increases periosteal and endocortical bone formation but has no known effects on intracortical bone turnover. The effects of continuous PTH on cortical bone are not clearly established. MATERIALS AND METHODS: Eighty-four 6-month-old female Sprague-Dawley rats were divided into three control, six PTH, and two PTH withdrawal (WD) groups. They were subcutaneously implanted with osmotic pumps loaded with vehicle or 40 microg/kg BW/day human PTH(1-34) for 1, 3, 5, 7, 14, and 28 days. After 7 days, PTH was withdrawn from two groups of animals for 7 (7d-PTH/7d-WD) and 21 days (7d-PTH/21d-WD). Histomorphometry was performed on periosteal and endocortical surfaces of the tibial diaphysis in all groups. microCT of tibias and mechanical testing by torsion of femora were performed on 28d-PTH and 7d-PTH/21d-WD animals. RESULTS AND CONCLUSIONS: Continuous PTH increased periosteal and endocortical bone formation, endocortical osteoclast perimeter, and cortical porosity in a time-dependent manner, but did not change the mechanical properties of the femur, possibly because of addition of new bone onto periosteal and endocortical surfaces. Additionally, withdrawal of PTH restored normal cortical porosity and increased maximum torque to failure and stiffness. We conclude that continuous administration of PTH increased cortical porosity in rats without having a detrimental effect on bone mechanical properties.     

Serum zinc and copper levels in healthy South African women at term and during the first year after childbirth

Serum zinc and copper levels were measured longitudinally in 55 healthy middle and upper socio-economic group white mothers living in Cape Town from the birth of the baby to 12 months after parturition. Mean maternal serum zinc levels showed a significant rise (P less than 0.05) from delivery (66.34 +/- 21.07 micrograms/100 ml) to 12 weeks (87.88 +/- 15.93 micrograms/100 ml), but no further changes were detected at 24, 36 and 52 weeks after parturition. The mean maternal serum copper levels decreased from 217.73 +/- 64.34 micrograms/100 ml at delivery to 141.65 +/- 45.60 micrograms/100 ml at 12 weeks (P less than 0.05); they remained constant at all the other sampling periods. No differences (P greater than 0.05) were noted at all the different sampling periods between mean serum zinc levels of primiparous and multiparous mothers, but mean serum copper levels were significantly higher (P less than 0.05) in the primiparas. The mean serum zinc and copper levels of healthy white South African mothers at delivery and 12 months after parturition correspond with those for Northern American mothers. Normal non-pregnant adult serum zinc and copper levels were attained within 12 weeks of delivery.     

P63Stem Cell and Immunotherapy Services, NHS Blood and Transplant, Birmingham, UK

Over 20 years ago, the Birmingham Blood Centre established a facility for the cryopreservation of bone marrow (BM) for patients in the West Midlands suffering from haematopoietic disorders and for whom a bone marrow transplant was indicated. Today, the use of mobilised peripheral blood (PBSC) has overtaken bone marrow as the source of stem cells for transplantation and the numbers of patients benefitting and the diversity of conditions being treated has increased enormously. Allogeneic transplants, using stem cells from healthy donors, have become increasingly successful as a result of an improving understanding of the complexities of the HLA histocompatibility system. Additionally umbilical cord blood (HUC), which in the 1980s was recognised as a source of stem cells, can now be collected and used for transplantation. As scientific knowledge and the clinical management of patients has advanced, so too have laboratory methods for manipulating cell products to enrich or deplete certain cell populations (e.g. by CD34+cell selection) in order to minimise potentially fatal graft-versus-host disease (GVHD) or to eliminate tumour cells in the case of autologous patients. Donor lymphocytes (DLI) may also be collected and used to aid a graft-versus-leukaemia (GVL) effect. The laboratory is currently developing protocols for immunotherapy using virus-specific T cells which can be prepared and infused to combat potentially fatal CMV disease post-transplant. Clinical trials of vaccines employing tumour specific dendritic cells for treating patients with hepatocellular carcinoma (HCC) and metastatic melanoma (MM), which do not respond to conventional treatments, are also underway. The advances and expansion in the Stem Cell and Immunotherapy (SCI) service in Birmingham over the last 10 year period are reflected in the table below:
 

     

Brief report: recent findings on the Sexual Aversion Scale.

This study provides additional information on the psychometric properties of the Sexual Aversion Scale (SAS). Results suggest a positive relationship between sexual aversion, generalized anxiety, and history of sexual victimization. Variables such as age and religiosity were unrelated to scores on the SAS, although females reported significantly more sexual anxiety than males. The factor structure of the SAS is described and suggests that sexual aversion is a multifaceted problem with at least three and possibly four different dimensions.     

Minimum distinguishable difference in concentration: a clinically oriented translation of assay precision summaries.

A trend to market-driven health care in many parts of the world is focusing increasing attention on getting maximum value from available resources. Laboratories are not exempted. Well-informed clinical input has a potentially valuable role in any laboratory rationalization process. However, a communication difficulty exists in the sense that, although laboratory workers, commercial developers, regulatory bodies, etc., are thoroughly conditioned to using assay coefficient of variation as a general performance measure (for excellent reasons), this is not necessarily the most intuitive or informative scale from a clinician's perspective. Here we use routine clinical data from an immunoradiometric assay of thyrotropin to illustrate, first, a general approach to estimation and prediction of reproducibility, and second, an alternative summary that expresses the discriminatory power of an assay. This latter measure, our experience suggests, is more suited to the way clinicians perceive assays and assay results. The overall aim is improved clinician/laboratory communication.