Unemployment causes ill health: the wrong track

It is not unemployment per se that causes ill health. It can be a very desirable state. There are no diseases specific to unemployment. Contrast this with employment. Unemployment shares with all other socio-environmental situations risk of exposure to common physical, social and psychological stressors that predispose to disease. Focus for action and research should be on reducing such stressors and not on provision of full employment. The former is likely to be possible and beneficial. The latter is likely to be impossible and carries a risk of making matters worse. As an immediate first step, that will reduce 'cratogenic' disease, people in authority should stop misleading the public into believing that unemployment is the cause of ill health.     

Continuous mixed venous oximetry in critically ill surgical patients. 'High-tech' cost-effectiveness

Mixed venous oxygen saturation (Svo2) provides a measure of cardiorespiratory ability to meet the body's needs for oxygen. The Svo2 was measured continuously in 20 critically ill surgical patients using a pulmonary-artery oximetry system. The accuracy of the technique was validated by comparing initial continuous Svo2 to the laboratory determination of Svo2. Oximetry was used to guide therapeutic decisions regarding fluid, inotropic agents, vasodilators and ventilator setting and was useful in ten cases. Sepsis developed in nine patients; this severely limited the usefulness of the technique. With clinical decision making based on oximetry, there was a savings per catheter of 2.65 cardiac output determinations and 5.9 venous blood gas determinations, resulting in a net savings per catheter of +75.     

Curative local excision of rectal adenocarcinoma

The records of all 28 patients with rectal adenocarcinoma treated by potentially curative local excision by one surgeon (A.M.C.) between 1970 and 1984 were reviewed. Patient age, sex, tumour size, site, degree of differentiation and level of invasion are reported. The procedure was associated with no mortality and minimal morbidity. Twenty-two patients, followed for an average of 51 months, have either died of other causes or remain free of recurrent or disseminated malignancy. Six patients have required further surgery for local recurrence. Of these, one patient has had a repeat local excision while the remaining five patients have had an abdominoperineal excision of the rectum. All six patients, followed since the second operation for an average of 50 months, are free of further recurrent or disseminated disease. The results reported in this review suggest that in a selected group of patients with rectal adenocarcinoma curative local excision may offer a safe alternative to more radical forms of surgery.     

Delta hepatitis virus infection in China

To assess the prevalence, epidemiological features and prognostic implications of hepatitis D (Delta) in Sichuan Province, The People's Republic of China, 649 sera (515 from HBsAg positive patients and 134 from HBsAg negative subjects) were tested by radioimmunoassay (RIA) for antibody to the hepatitis D virus (anti-HD). Forty-seven sera (7.2%) showed some degree of reactivity. Serial dilutions of these sera indicated that prozoning was not responsible for the equivocal results. Thirty-four of the 47 sera were submitted under code to a second laboratory for independent analysis. According to those results anti-HD antibodies were detected in four of these sera. The overall prevalence of anti-HD in the HBsAg positive patients therefore was 0.8% (4/515). On the basis of clinical, biochemical and histological data 427 HBsAg positive sera were further divided into acute Type B hepatitis, chronic Type B hepatitis, healthy carrier state and hepatocellular carcinoma (HCC) subgroups. Two of 65 (3.1%) anti-HD positive sera belonged to the acute Type B hepatitis group; one of 104 (0.9%), the chronic Type B hepatitis group and one of 246 (0.4%), the healthy carrier group. No antibody was detected in sera from 12 HBsAg positive HCC patients. All HBsAg negative patients were negative for anti-HD antibody. The results of this study indicate that despite a high prevalence of hepatitis B virus infection, positive serology for delta virus is uncommon in Sichuan Province, The People's Republic of China.     

The influence of different levels of dietary fat on the incidence and growth of MNU-induced mammary carcinoma in rats

This study describes the influence of isocalorically fed diets (containing different amounts of fat) on tumor incidence and parameters of fat metabolism in female Sprague-Dawley rats. Comparisons are made between rats induced with methylnitrosourea (25 mg/kg body wt) and untreated controls (Group I). The animals received either control diets (3.9% fat by weight, Groups I and II) or fat-enriched diets (10.7%, Group III; 15.6%, Group IV; 21.4%, Group V) over a period of 180 days. At the termination of the experiment, intake of the diet containing 10.7% fat by weight (24% fat per total calories) was associated with the highest tumor incidence. Comparing the different diets, liver lipid concentrations in the individual groups increased with increasing dietary fat, whereas the total lipid in plasma decreased. During the feeding period, total lipid of the liver and plasma, and plasma cholesterol, increased in all groups, but triglycerides of plasma decreased. However, when plasma cholesterol and triglycerides were calculated as a relative amount of total lipid in plasma, cholesterol was found to be significantly decreased in Groups III and IV, and triglycerides were increased in Group III but decreased significantly in Groups I, II, and V at the end of the experiment.     

Therapeutic potential of choline magnesium trisalicylate as an alternative to aspirin for patients with bleeding tendencies

We have compared the effects of acetyl salicylic acid (ASA, aspirin) and choline magnesium trisalicylate (CMT), a non-acetylated salicylate product, on platelet aggregation in human whole blood ex-vivo. Using a whole blood platelet counter, platelet aggregation was quantified by measuring the fall in the number of single platelets at peak aggregation in response to collagen, arachidonic acid (AA), as well as spontaneous aggregation. In double blind and random order, 12 healthy volunteers received, on two separate occasions 10 days apart, a single oral dose of 652 mg ASA or 655 mg CMT. Despite a comparable absorption of salicylic acid from the two drugs, ingestion of ASA resulted in a marked inhibition of platelet aggregation induced by collagen (p less than 0.005), AA (p less than 0.01) and spontaneous aggregation (p less than 0.01), whereas such effects were not observed after CMT ingestion. We suggest that CMT may have therapeutic potential as an alternative to aspirin when inhibition of platelet aggregation can induce bleeding complications.     

Charcot's spine with neurological deficit: computed tomography as an aid to treatment

A patient with Charcot's disease of the lumbar spine presented with weakness of one extremity. Myelographic and x-ray film studies indicated stenosis and compression due to degenerative changes. Although decompression and fusion were considered, computed tomographic scans indicated the wide extent and location of the destructive changes. Nonoperative treatment was elected because of the high risk of fusion failure and instability.     

Radiation-induced meningioma. 3 cases

During the same year (1984), we have seen 3 cases of meningiomas following radiation therapy of the brain for previously diagnosed tumors. A causal relationship between irradiation and meningioma has been postulated. Nevertheless, the coincidental occurrence in same patient of two different histological lesions is possible. The neoplasms developed after irradiation are of mesenchymal origin; they are fibrosarcomas, osteogenic sarcomas and meningiomas.     

Use of high-frequency jet ventilation in vertical partial surgery of the larynx

High-frequency jet-ventilation (HFJV) was applied to 30 patients undergoing vertical partial surgery of the larynx for carcinoma of the vocal cords. This technique gave good surgical conditions as it interfered little with the air-ducts. It was carried out with a catheter of only 3 mm external diameter; control of ventilation during surgery was adequate, the average PaO2 being 27.9 +/- 5.6 kPa (209.3 +/- 4.2 mmHg) and the average PaCO2 5.4 +/- 1.4 kPa (40.5 +/- 10.5 mmHg). It avoided also the need for a tracheotomy. In the past, anaesthetic techniques were local anaesthesia combined with neuroleptanalgesia, endotracheal intubation or preoperative tracheotomy. None of these methods being satisfactory, our practice now includes first a nasotracheal intubation with an armoured tube at the beginning of the surgical procedure, followed by HFJV during the removal of the vocal cord, the tracheal tube being slightly pulled out. The tracheal tube is then put back in place before the thyroid cartilage is closed. The contra-indications are the same as those of HFJV. There are two types of complications: complications of HFJV itself, and postoperative complications due to the absence of tracheotomy. No accidents were observed. The only incidents seen were related to the lack of tracheotomy: subcutaneous oedema of the neck during the postoperative period in eight patients and moderate tracheobronchial congestion in five patients.