Serum erythropoietin quantitation in pregnancy using an enzyme-linked immunoassay.

During normal pregnancy there is a decrease in the hematocrit due to a disproportionate increase in the blood volume compared with the red cell mass. Using a new enzyme-linked immunoassay (Amgen Diagnostics), serum erythropoietin was quantified in normal nonanemic pregnancies throughout gestation and in third trimester anemic patients. We found that the mean hematocrit in normal pregnancy reached a nadir late in the second trimester and the serum erythropoietin plateaued at a 50% increase. Those pregnancies complicated by anemia defined by a hematocrit less than 30 vol% demonstrated a statistically significant increase in serum erythropoietin above those not anemic.     

The Canadian Cardiovascular Society grading scale for angina pectoris: is it time for refinements?

OBJECTIVE: To appraise the measurement properties of the Canadian Cardiovascular Society (CCS) classification of stable angina pectoris. DATA SOURCES: Relevant articles were identified through a MEDLINE search (1976 to November 1991). Bibliographies of retrieved articles were also reviewed. STUDY SELECTION: Studies chosen directly addressed the validity and reliability of the CCS scale. Recent studies and reviews of related topics (for example, silent ischemia) are selectively cited. DATA SYNTHESIS: No data address the scale's applicability, that is, how clinicians typically assign angina grades in practice. Comprehensiveness would be improved by coverage of the patient's perceptions of symptom burden; mixed exertional and rest symptoms; episodic or changing symptoms; and modifying factors. Reliability was assessed in one study with two clinicians; the interobserver, chance-corrected agreement on patient grading was 60%. Content validity (the ability of the scale to measure what it claims) is threatened by the unproven assumption of symptomatic or physiologic equivalence among diverse levels of different activities within any given grade of angina. Construct validity is uncertain, given weak relations between angina grade and noninvasive markers of ischemia, anatomical disease, or prognosis. The scale's responsiveness (the ability to detect the smallest clinically important changes) is limited by the reliance on four coarse gradations based on only ambulation or stair-climbing. CONCLUSIONS: The CCS scale for stable angina might be made more useful by developing measurements for patients' self-rated symptom burden and the changes they deem important; by adding items on clinical instability (that is, progressive symptoms or pain at rest); and by empirically testing the current scale to eliminate redundant or inconsistent elements.     

A survey of anxiety disorders clinics in Canadian hospitals.

A questionnaire on anxiety disorder services was sent to 240 Canadian hospitals, of which 117 responded. Eighteen of the responding hospitals had anxiety disorder clinics and saw an average of 208 patients a year. These clinics appear to be scarce although, according to epidemiological studies, there is a high prevalence of anxiety disorders in the community. The specific diagnoses of the patients seen in the specialty clinics and the treatments offered generally followed international patterns.     

Indium111 antimyosin for the detection of leiomyosarcoma and rhabdomyosarcoma

¹¹¹In-antimyosin monoclonal antibody complex passes through damaged myocardial cell membranes and binds to the intracellular myosin. Normal myocardial and other muscle cells show no uptake.Rhabdomyosarcoma and Leiomyosarcoma cells also contain intracellular myosin.and the cell membrane permeability is greater than normal. Significant uptake of ¹¹¹In-antimyosin was observed in patient with Leiomyosarcoma and Rhabdomyosarcoma suggesting that the reagent has a potential for the in vivo detection of these tumour types. Tumour to background ratios of 10:1 were measured in one case and in view of the fact that the site of accumulation is intracellular, antimyosin may have a potential as a carrier for therapeutic agents.     

HEMATOCRIT VALUES DURING PREGNANCY IN A NURSE-MIDWIFERY CASELOAD

This article reviews the normal hematologic changes in pregnancy and the kinetics of iron metabolism. The differences between iron depletion and anemia are described. The hematocrit levels of a nurse-midwifery caseload in a tertiary-care setting are described and compared with recently published population norms. Hematocrits of the sample compared favorably to the population hematocrits until 24 weeks' gestation, when the sample hematocrit mean became statistically lower and remained that way throughout pregnancy. Further analysis was done on the sample hematocrits, comparing differences in parity, age, pregnancy spacing, and AS versus AA hemoglobin. Parous women with a pregnancy interval >12 months had a higher mean hematocrit then nulliparous women. Mean hematocrits of age groups varied significantly only at the 29–32-week interval, with women younger than 18 having lower mean hematocrits than those ≥18. A trend of women with AS hemoglobin having higher hematocrits than women with AA hemoglobin was identified, reaching statistical significance at the 29–32-week interval.     

Syst-Eur--a multicenter trial on the treatment of isolated systolic hypertension in the elderly: first interim report.

Syst-Eur is a multicenter placebo-controlled outcome trial designed by the European Working Party on High Blood Pressure in the Elderly to investigate the effect of antihypertensive treatment on the incidence of stroke in elderly patients with isolated systolic hypertension (ISH). Eligible patients must be at least 60 years old and have a systolic blood pressure averaging 160-219 mm Hg with a diastolic blood pressure less than 95 mm Hg. The present paper is an interim report on the first 316 patients randomized into this trial. The placebo (n = 170) and active treatment (n = 146) groups were similar at randomization with respect to age (73 +/- 8 years; mean +/- SD), sitting blood pressure (178 +/- 12 mm Hg systolic; 85 +/- 7 mm Hg diastolic), percentage of men (34%), and percentage of patients with cardiovascular complications (29%). After randomization blood pressure fell more (p less than 0.001) in patients on active treatment than in those in the placebo group (19 +/- 20 mm Hg systolic; 6 +/- 10 mm Hg diastolic vs. 7 +/- 19 and 1 +/- 10 mm Hg for sitting blood pressure). This first interim report on the Syst-Eur trial demonstrates that a multinational trial in elderly patients with ISH is feasible and that a significant blood pressure difference between the two treatment groups can be achieved and maintained. New centers are being recruited in order to randomize a total of 3,000 patients.