Prophylactic long-term oral tocolysis of multiple pregnancies

After admission to hospital for bed rest, 200 women with multiple pregnancies were randomly allocated to receive either 4 mg of salbutamol orally five times daily, or to receive no drug. After an average of 6 weeks treatment, no difference between the experimental groups could be detected with respect to duration of gestation, birthweight or any other of the outcomes of pregnancy observed.     

Correlation of perinatal brain growth with age, body size, sex, and race

This study compares the weight of the human brain to gestational age and body dimensions. A new formula for calculating the rate of growth is proposed. It consists of a second order polynomial function: Y = A0 + A1X + A2X2, in which Y is brain weight, body weight, height, or body surface area; X is gestational age in weeks and A0, A1, and A2 are statistically estimated coefficients. In utero, the growth rate is most rapid for body weight, followed in decreasing order by brain weight, body surface area, and height. Brain growth is the same for both sexes in black and white races; it accelerates between the 20th and 45th weeks of gestation. The size of the newborn infant brain is directly related to gestational age and body size and is not determined by sex or race.     

Non-target visual event-related potentials in evaluation of children with minor head trauma

In 50 children, 4 months to 12 years of age, with minor head trauma non-target visual event-related potentials were performed and compared to a second registration of the potentials some months later. On following-up there was a clear tendency for a relative improvement of the latencies of the endogenous potentials. In this way non-target visual event-related potentials proved to be of value in the investigation of mental impairment in early childhood.     

Pituitary abnormalities in eating disorders: further evidence from MRI studies

1. The frequent occurrence of hypothalamo-pituitary dysfunction in patients with eating disorders as well as prior reports that nutritional and endocrine status influence pituitary morphology, led us to hypothesize that pituitary size and shape may be altered in patients with eating disorders. 2. Magnetic resonance imaging (MRI) does not use ionizing radiation and is currently one of the most feasible modalities available to study the pituitary gland in vivo. Using MRI, we have previously reported in a preliminary study that female patients with eating disorders had significantly smaller pituitary glands than controls. In addition MRI excluded any pituitary mass lesions. 3. In this report, we confirm our previous MRI findings and provide further evidence of pituitary abnormalities in an expanded sample of eating disorder patients. Preliminary data on pituitary volume estimates from MRI scans are provided for a subset of patients and controls.     

Alpha 2-antiplasmin, plasminogen activator inhibitor (PAI) and dilute blood clot lysis time in selected disease states.

This paper is an attempt to assess the relevance of the inhibitors of fibrinolysis for clot lysis in selected disease states and to discuss the mechanisms leading to acquired abnormal levels of such inhibitors. When compared to 20 control subjects the 30 hypertriglyceridemic patients (14 with type IIb and 16 with type IV) displayed significantly (p less than 0.001) increased plasma plasminogen activator inhibitor (PAI) activity (221 +/- 88% and 290 +/- 104% respectively; mean +/- SD), moderately (p less than 0.01) increased alpha 2 antiplasmin (alpha 2AP) level (112 +/- 11% and 115 +/- 16%) and accordingly an obviously prolonged dilute blood clot lysis time (DBCLT). Neither PAI activity and alpha 2AP level nor DBCLT were significantly different from controls in the 10 patients with hyperlipoproteinemia type IIa. The 18 patients with severe hepatic cirrhosis had low alpha 2AP level (59 +/- 19.7%) and accelerated clot lysis, while mean PAI activity (160 +/- 87%) was slightly (p less than 0.05) increased. In the 17 nephrotic patients alpha 2AP was increased (115 +/- 12%) while PAI activity was similar to controls and DBCLT rather shorter. Two liver secretion enzymes, namely serum cholinesterase and plasma protein C, were found to be decreased in cirrhotic patients, similar to control values in hyperlipoproteinemia type IIa and obviously increased in nephrotic patients as well as in hypertriglyceridemic subjects. The relevance of PAI and alpha 2AP for clot lysis was considered in relation to data in the literature concerning the behaviour of t-PA and factor XIII.(ABSTRACT TRUNCATED AT 250 WORDS)