Costs of neonatal care for low-birthweight babies in English hospitals

Aim:  To estimate mean costs of neonatal care for babies with birthweights ≤1800 g in a regional Level 3 unit and three Level 2 units providing short-term intensive care.
Method:  Babies ≤1800 g admitted to units in four hospitals in England over 15 months in 2001–2002 were audited until discharge. Unit costs (2005–2006 prices) were attributed to their resource items, including neonatal cot occupancy, pharmaceuticals, blood products and ambulance transfers. Bootstrapped mean costs were derived for the Level 3 unit and the Level 2 units combined.
Results:  The mean gestation period for 199 Level 3 babies was 29.5 weeks compared with 30.4 weeks for 192 Level 2 babies (p = 0.003). Mean costs excluding ambulance journeys were £17  861 per Level 3 baby and £12  344 per Level 2 baby. Level 3 babies <1000 g averaged £26  815, whereas Level 2 babies <1000 g were generally less costly than babies 1000–1499 g. Ambulances transported 76 Level 3 babies and 62 Level 2 babies; their adjusted mean costs were £18  495 and £12  881, respectively.
Conclusion:  By comprehensively costing resource components, the magnitude of total costs for low-birthweight babies has been revealed, thus demonstrating the importance of budgets for neonatal units being realistically determined by commissioners of neonatal services.     

新抗胆碱药[3H]三环哌酯对人脑M受体的作用

用放射配体受体结合试验法,研究了新化合物三环哌酯与人大脑皮质M受体的结合特性,并与QNB作了比较。饱和实验结果显示,[³H]三环哌酯的结合参数与[³H]QNB相近,两种配体的作用均符合单位点模型。竞争性抑制实验结果表明二者作用强度相当。[³H]三环哌酯的结合和解离速率常数均较[³H]QNB大,且其与皮质M受体的解离受季铵酚的变构调节,结果提示,两种配体与M受体有一些不同的结合特性,在M受体研究中,[³H]三环哌酯可以作为[³H]QNB的补充工具。     

Urogenital Infections in the Male and Their Implications on Fertility

Male infertility is a clinical manifestation which concerns approximately 15 % of all couples in Europe. Male causes for infertility are found in 50% of involuntarily childless couples. For Germany this counts for a number of an equivalent of 50 000 men/year, No causal factor is found in 60%-75% of cases （idiopathic male infertility）. Nevertheless, reduced male fertility can be the result of congenital and acquired urogenital abnormalities, increased scrotal temperature （varicocele）, endocrine disturbances, genetic abnormalities and immunological factors. Furthermore, urogenital inflammations and infections play an important role. Indications for microbiological assessment include abnormal urine samples, urinary tract infections, prostatitis, epididymitis, orchitis, ejaculate infections and sexually transmitted diseases. In the following review, different infectious diseases of the male urogenital tract and their implications on fertility were reviewed.     

Simultaneous 1H PFG-NMR and confocal microscopy of monolayer cell cultures: effects of apoptosis and necrosis on water diffusion and compartmentalization.

We induced apoptosis and necrosis in monolayer cultures of Chinese hamster ovary cells using okadaic acid and hydrogen peroxide (H2O2), respectively, and examined the effect on water diffusion and compartmentalization using pulsed-field-gradient (PFG) 1H-NMR and simultaneous confocal microscopy. In PFG experiments characterized by a fixed diffusion time (<4.7 ms) and variable b-values (0-27000 s/mm2), 1H-NMR data collected with untreated cells exhibited multiexponential behavior. Analysis with a slow-exchange model revealed two distinct cellular water compartments with different apparent diffusion coefficients (ADCs; 0.56, 0.06 x 10(-3) mm2/s) and volume fractions (0.96 and 0.04). During the first 12 hr of necrosis or apoptosis, the amount of water in the smallest compartment increased twofold before significant changes in cell density or plasma membrane integrity occurred. Over the same period, water content in the largest compartment decreased by a factor of >2 in apoptotic cells, in accordance with observed cell shrinkage, and changed little in necrotic counterparts, where only slight swelling was evident. These results indicate that PFG 1H-NMR serves as a sensitive indicator of early cell death in monolayer cultures, and can be used to distinguish apoptosis from necrosis. Measurements of restricted diffusion and water exchange are presented to elucidate the compartment origins and justify the model assumptions.