Intakes and major dietary sources of cholesterol and phytosterols in the British diet

Cholesterol intakes in Britain have been re-estimated by analysing Total Diet samples taken in 1991 and from 1993 National Food Survey records. The Total Diet samples contained only 284 mg/day compared with 319 mg/day in 1987 and 337 mg/day in 1981, while the National Food Survey showed intakes had fallen to 238 mg/day from 259 mg/day in 1990 and 405 mg/day in 1970-75. More details of the intakes by adults in 1986/87 are given, and compared with the results from the other methods. Daily intakes of eight phytosterols were also estimated, the main ones being β-sitosterol, campesterol, stigmasterol and 57-stigmastenol whose intakes were 104, 49, 10 and 4 mg/day, respectively, in 1991. These intakes had increased since 1981, reflecting the rising consumption of vegetable oils.     

Distortion-product emissions and auditory sensitivity in human ears with normal hearing and cochlear hearing loss.

Distortion product emissions (DPEs) at 2f1-f2 frequencies were measured in 53 human ears; 21 of them exhibited cochlear hearing loss. DPEs were obtained as a function of stimulus level (DPE growth curves) at seven frequency regions between 707 Hz and 5656 Hz. Several distinctly different shapes or patterns of DPE growth curves were observed. These included single-segment monotonic growth curves with and without saturation at moderate and high stimulus levels, diphasic growth curves with nulls at moderate stimulus levels, and non-monotonic growth curves with negative slopes at high stimulus levels. Low-level, irregularly shaped segments were more frequent in normal-hearing ears, suggestive of normal low-level active nonlinearities from the outer-hair-cell subsystem. High-level, steeply sloped segments were frequent in hearing-impaired ears, suggestive of residual nonlinearities from a cochlear partition without functional outer hair cells. The stimulus level at which the DPE could just be distinguished from the noise floor, the DPE detection threshold, demonstrated moderate positive correlations (r's from 0.50 to 0.81) with auditory thresholds when all ears, both normal and impaired, were considered together. Those correlations were not strong enough to quantitatively predict auditory thresholds with any great accuracy. However, DPE thresholds were able to predict abnormal auditory sensitivity with some precision. DPE thresholds correctly predicted abnormal auditory sensitivity 79% of the time in the present study, and up to 96% of the time in previous studies. These results suggest that DPE thresholds may prove useful for hearing screening in cases where cooperation from the subject is limited or where corroboration of cochlear hearing loss is required. Different patterns of DPE growth curves suggest underlying micro-mechanical differences between ears, but the differential diagnostic value of those patterns remains to be determined.     

Treatment of experimental osteomyelitis by surgical debridement and the implantation of bioerodable,polyanhydride-gentamicin beads

Osteomyelitis was induced in the radius in 77 rabbits and confirmed by histological examination and culture. At 4 weeks, the wounds were debrided and the animals were treated with (a) fatty acid dimersebacic acid beads (a bioerodable composite) impregnated with 20% or (b) 10% gentamicin sulfate, (c) placebo beads and intramuscular gentamicin sulfate. (d) placebo beads alone, or (e) debridement only. After 4 weeks, eradication of infection was determined by histological examination and culture. Osteomyelitis was eradicated in 93% of the animals treated with the beads and 20% gentamicin, in 67% of those treated with the beads arid 10% gentamicin, in 25% of those treated with placebo beads and intramuscular gentamicin, in 7% of those treated with placebo beads alone, and in 12.5% of those treated with debridement only (p values from <0.001 to 0.02). Fatty acid dimer-sehacie acid beads with gentamicin were then implanted in noninfected rabbits, and gentamicin sulfate concentrations in bone, serum, urine, and wound exudate were measured. Gentamicin sulfate was detectable in bone for as long as 8 weeks after implantation. Levels as high as 4,746 g/ml were present in the wound exudate for the first 7 days. Levels in the serum peaked at 1.03 μg/ml. Urine levels peaked at 135 μg/ml.     

PREVIOUS INTRAVENOUS CHEMOTHERAPY DOES NOT ALTER RESPONSE RATE OR SURVIVAL TIME OF PATIENTS WITH HEPATIC METASTASES FROM COLORECTAL CANCER TREATED BY HEPATIC ARTERY CHEMOTHERAPY

Background : The present paper addressed the issue of whether pretreatment with intravenous (IV) chemotherapy affects response rate or survival in patients receiving hepatic artery chemotherapy (HAC). Methods : Case note reviews of 164 patients treated in a teaching hospital from June 1990 to July 1996 were carried out. Results : The response rate and carcino-embryonic antigen (CEA) fall in the two groups was almost identical. There was a nonsignificant survival advantage in the non-pretreatment group. Conclusions : Previous administration of IV chemotherapy did not affect the CEA response of patients receiving HAC.     

Systematic and random errors in compression testing of trabecular bone

We sought to quantify the systematic and random errors associated with-artifacts in the platens compression test for trabecular bone. Our hypothesis was that while errors may depend on anatomic site, they do not depend on apparent density and therefore have substantial random components. Trabecular bone specimens were first tested nondestructively using newly developed accurate protocols and then were tested again using the platens compression test. Percentage differences in modulus between the techniques (bovine) proximal tibia [n = 18] and humerus [n = 17] and human lumbar spine, [n = 9] were in the range of 4-86%. These differences did not depend on anatomic site (p = 0.21) and were only weakly dependent on apparent density and specimen aspect ratio (r² < 0.10). The mean percentage difference in modulus was 32.6% representing the systematic component of the end-artifact error. Neglecting the minor variations explained by density and specimen size (approximately 10%), an upper bound on the random error from end-artifacts in this experiment was taken as the SD of the modulus difference (±18.2%). Based on a synthesis of data taken from this study and from the literature, we concluded that the systematic underestimation error in the platens compression test can be only approximated and is in the range of 20-40%; the substantial random error (±12.5%) confounds correction, particularly when the sample size is small. These errors should be considered when interpreting results from the platens test, and more accurate testing techniques should be used when such errors are not acceptable.