A device for osteosynthesis in fractures of the mandibular condyle

Using the above device and fixation of osteal fragments by brackets with the storage it is possible to overcome all the differences which are observed during osteosynthesis on the condyle process of the lower jaw. The device is simple to use and, therefore, may be recommended for wide clinical use.     

Maternal and paternal alcohol consumption and miscarriage

Summary. To explore the role of parental alcohol consumption in miscarriage we interviewed 80 women who miscarried about their own and their partners' drinking habits. A control group of 81 gestational-age-matched women whose pregnancy ended in the delivery of a healthy infant at term were similarly questioned. The use of alcohol by women and men was equally frequent in both groups. Before pregnancy, the mean alcohol consumption per week had been about 1–2 drinks for the women and 4–5 drinks for the men. During the presumed day of conception, 13% of the women who miscarried and 11% of the women in the control group had drunk on average 3–4 drinks; the other women had been abstinent at this time. Of the partners, 13% and 15%, respectively, had taken a mean of 4–5 drinks. In both groups 58% of the subjects continued to consume alcohol during pregnancy. The mean consumption was about one drink a week by the women who miscarried and half a drink a week in the control group. Of women who miscarried, 36 had a blighted ovum and in this subgroup alcohol consumption in both women and men was similar to that in the other women who miscarried and their partners, suggesting that alcohol is not causally related to the development of a blighted ovum. These results suggest that moderate maternal or paternal alcohol consumption does not increase the risk of miscarriage.     

The psychiatric patient's right to self-determination: a preliminary investigation from the professional nurse's point of view

The aim of this preliminary empirical investigation was to explore the concept of self-determination and to discuss its applicability to psychiatric nursing. The data were collected with a questionnaire submitted to professional nurses ( n =127) working on long-term wards in four Finnish hospitals. Data analysis combined the methods of content analysis and quantitative statistics. A tentative concept apparatus was created in order to provide nursing science with a broader understanding of the issue at hand. Nurses identified various factors that act to restrict and to support self-determination: the most common restrictive factor was the patient's illness or condition, and the most common supportive factor was nursing intervention. Views differed on the importance of self-determination in the case of psychiatric patients; over half of the nurses described the right to self-determination as very important. On the basis of the findings it is concluded that self-determination is a valid concept for the psychiatric patient. It was also thought to serve the needs of education as well as evaluation.     

The effect of ICI 74,917 on asthma and bronchial provocation tests

A study was made of the protective action of the anti-allergic drug ICI 74,917, a phenanthroline derivative, in specific allergen provocation tests and in combating clinical symptoms in thirteen asthmatic out-patients. It was found that ICI 74,917 was able to diminish allergen-induced bronchoconstriction significantly (P< 0.01) during both the placebo period and during chronic treatment with ICI 74,917 for 4 weeks. The results obtained during these two periods did not differ significantly. There was not, however, any statistically significant difference in the symptom scores or PEF rates during the treatment with ICI 74,917 or placebo for 1 month. This may indicate that although ICI 74,197 is able to prevent bronchoconstriction in an allergen provocation test, it failed to improve asthma clinically. No signs of the phenomenon of tachyphylaxis were observed in the present study. The Student's t-test was used in the statistical analysis.     

The effect of biliary obstruction on some properties of alkaline phosphatase of rat liver

Alkaline phosphatase in extracts of livers of rats with occluded bile ducts is significantly more stable to heat than the enzyme extracted from normal liver. There is also some increase in the ratio of orthophosphatase to inorganic pyrophosphatase activity in the former case, but no differences were detected in electrophoretic mobility or in Michaelis constants for orthophosphate hydrolysis. Within a particular group of animals, e.g. normal or bile duct-ligated, the properties of the enzyme show little variation.