Virtual histology intravascular ultrasound in carotid interventions.

PURPOSE: To report early clinical experience with virtual histology intravascular ultrasound (VH IVUS) in carotid endoluminal repair. TECHNIQUE: A 2.9-F, 20-MHz catheter that utilizes computer software to demonstrate the histological components of arteriosclerotic plaque was evaluated during carotid angioplasty and stenting. VH IVUS images were created following a pullback through the carotid stenosis and produced a color-coded map of the different histological constituents of the disease (dark green: fibrous, yellow/green: fibrofatty, white: calcified, and red: necrotic lipid core plaque). CONCLUSION: VH IVUS produces a color-coded map of the different histological components of artery plaque. It has the potential to predict how the plaque is likely to behave at the moment of endoluminal treatment.     

“维生素AD、铁营养强化奶的研制”研究报告

目的:研制维生素AD、铁营养强化奶,用于群体有效防治维生素AD、铁缺乏.方法:应用微胶囊技术科学配方成维生素AD、铁营养粉,添加到鲜牛奶中.结果:工业化生产维生素AD、铁营养强化奶.结论:该产品取得了很好的社会效益和经济效益.     

The effect of various anaesthetics on the spatial tuning of two major wave peaks in the transient pattern electroretinogram of the cat: evidence for pattern and luminance components

The main PERG component of the transient contrast reversal pattern electroretinogram (PERG) in cats was a negative wave (3.5 microV average, SD 1.7 microV) peaking at about 130 msec (N130) with a spatial resolution above 5.5 c/deg, close to behavioural estimates. The early positivity (P35) was more variable, smaller and had lower spatial resolution. Different anaesthetic protocols affected both the waveform and the amplitude by spatial frequency functions. Responses of urethane anaesthetised cats were like those reported previously for decerebrate cats or cats paralysed and ventilated with N2O/O2/CO2 (75%/24%/1%). P35 was evoked only by coarse stimuli and N130 amplitude decreased linearly as spatial frequency increased. When the luminance response amplitude, predicted from the optical transfer function of the eye, was subtracted, spatial tuning appeared. An anaesthetic mixture of ketamine hydrochloride and xylazine depressed both P35 and N130 at low spatial frequencies while enhancing them at high frequencies. In paralysed animals ventilated with N2O/O2 (67%/33%) P35 was larger and recordable to 1.6 c/deg. Peak times were reduced and the inter-peak time halved. Other anaesthetics depressed the ERGs. These effects suggest that cats are a good model for studying N130 in isolation or its interaction with P35 and that both PERG peaks include luminance and pattern components.     

Lymph node dissection for head and neck cancer

A retrospective analysis of 141 neck dissections performed at the Royal Melbourne Hospital from 1975 to 1981 has been carried out with a view to identifying the prognostic factors. When a neck dissection is performed, the site of the primary disease did not affect the 5 year survival rate. A conservation neck dissection, especially when performed electively, had the best prognosis. Radiotherapy did not affect the overall survival rate in patients having a neck dissection, while chemotherapy appeared to exert a beneficial effect on patients with advanced disease. While clinical nodal staging was an important prognostic indicator, the number of nodes pathologically involved was not. Histologic differentiation of the tumour was not prognostically significant, whereas extracapsular nodal disease was. Most (70%) treatment failures occurred in the neck, while systemic metastases occurred in 12% of patients.     

Link between the ability to detect and manage emotional disorders: a study of general practitioner trainees.

Independent ratings were made of videotaped consultations involving six general practice vocational trainees, of whom three were poor identifiers and three were able identifiers of emotional illness. Taped consultations were selected so that each trainee was rated interviewing five patients with low general health questionnaire scores, and five patients with high scores. It was found that able identifiers of emotional illness were more likely than poor identifiers to offer patients information, advice and treatment relevant to their illness, and that they did so in a manner likely to maximize patient satisfaction and cooperation. This was true for both distressed and non-distressed patients. It is argued that both the ability to identify emotional disturbances and the ability to manage emotional illness are characteristics of a generally superior interview style. This may reflect a common variable: the possession of good communication skills.     

Changes in Escherichia coli resistance to co-trimoxazole in tuberculosis patients and in relation to co-trimoxazole prophylaxis in Thyolo,Malawi

In Thyolo district, Malawi, an operational research study is being conducted on the efficacy and feasibility of co-trimoxazole prophylaxis in preventing deaths in HIV-positive patients with tuberculosis (TB). A series of cross-sectional studies were carried out to determine i) whether faecal Escherichia coli (E.coli) resistance to co-trimoxazole in TB patients changed with time and ii) whether the resistance pattern was different in HIV positive TB patients who were taking co-trimoxazole prophylaxis. Co-trimoxazole resistance among E.coli isolates in TB patients at the time of registration was 60% in 1999 and 77% in 2001 (p<0.01). Resistance was 89% among HIV-infected TB patients (receiving co-trimoxazole), while in HIV negative patients (receiving anti-TB therapy alone) it was 62% (p<0.001). The study shows a significant increase of E.coli resistance to co-trimoxazole in TB patients which is particularly prominent in HIV infected patients on co-trimoxazole prophylaxis. Since a high degree of plasmid-mediated transfer of resistance exists between E.coli and the Salmonella species, these findings could herald limitations on the short and long term benefits to be anticipated from the use of co-trimoxazole prophylaxis in preventing non-typhoidal salmonella bacteraemia and enteritis in HIV infected TB patients in Malawi.