Postgraduate qualifications of British doctors

Among British-qualified doctors of 1974 and 1977, about 80% held postgraduate qualifications of some kind. The commonest qualifications were DRCOG, MRCP and MRCOG. There were considerable differences between medical schools in the numbers of qualifiers taking various examinations. Apart from the MRC Psych, DRCOG and Family Planning Certificate, qualifications were more commonly held by men than women. Tables show the type of work being done 9-13 years after leaving medical school by holders of various postgraduate qualifications; e.g. 60% of MRCP holders were working in medicine or a medical specialty and 84% of FRCS holders in general surgery or a surgical specialty. Discussion deals with the plurality, specificity, variability, perceived necessity, sufficiency, international utility and career significance of British postgraduate qualifications.     

援外针灸临床综述(二)

介绍我国援外医疗队在 3 6个国家以 17种治疗方法为主治疗 40多种病的概况。     

TUVP手术时间对血红蛋白及电解质的影响

目的 了解经尿道前列腺汽化电切手术时间对血红蛋白及血清电解质的影响。方法 对64例经尿道前列腺汽化电切术患按手术时间分组，观察手术前后血红蛋白及血清电解质的变化。结果 手术时间对血清电解质的降低有的影响，对血红蛋白降低的影响不显。结论 减少TUR综合征的关键是要操作熟练，缩短手术时间及手术中注意止血。     

A method for calculating the mean absorption time of drugs undergoing reversible and first-pass metabolism

A method has been derived for calculating the mean absorption time of an oral drug and its interconversion metabolite which is generated from the drug systemically and presystemically. The method evolves from the convolution integral and requires plasma AUC and AUMC values after separate intravenous administration of the drug and its interconversion metabolite and oral administration of the drug. It can also be used to calculate the mean input time of a drug undergoing reversible metabolism and administered by any other extravascular route. Results of a simulation study using both errorless and errant data indicate that, when the absorption rate constant of a drug or its interconversion metabolite is not much larger than the apparent elimination rate constant, the proposed method performs satisfactorily. However, when the absorption rate constant of a drug or its interconversion metabolite is much larger than the apparent elimination rate constant, the proposed method appears to be inaccurate.     

Ambulatory monitoring of ultraviolet erythema in photosensitive subjects

Little is known about whether patients with photosensitive disorders exhibit a different ultraviolet erythema time course from subjects with a normal response to sunlight. We have described the application of an instrument for ambulatory monitoring of the development of ultraviolet erythema by a reflectance method in a group of patients with chronic actinic dermatitis (CAD) and in a group of normal subjects. Investigations of the time course have been reported previously but the techniques used relied upon manual measurement. Consequently sampling frequencies have been considerably lower than the one-minute sample rate used here. We have not demonstrated any difference in the rate at which erythema develops and peaks between patients with CAD and subjects with a normal response to sunlight.     

Fluid shear induced endothelial cell detachment from glass - influence of adhesion time and shear stress

In this study, human umbilical vein and human saphenous vein endothelial cells were seeded on glass and exposed to fluid shear in a parallel-plate flow chamber. Cell retention, morphology and migration were studied as a function of shear stress and of adhesion time prior to exposure to shear. Three-hour and 24-h adhesion times gave rise to comparable cell retention values after 2 h of flow for both cell types. Cell retention decreased from 85 to 20% as shear stress increased from 88 to 264 dynes cm⁻² (8.8 to 26 Pa). Mean spreading areas decreased after the onset of flow, but subsequently stabilized to plateau values, which were smaller at higher shear stresses. Shape factors increased faster to higher values as cells were exposed to higher shear stresses, without any obvious preference in orientation of the cells with respect to the direction of flow. Migration was unidirectional with flow and linear with time. Migration was faster for cells which had adhered for 24 h than for cells which had adhered for 3 h and was accompanied by the presence of fibrillar structures left behind on the surface upstream of migrating cells. It is concluded that after 3 h adhesion to glass, cells have adhered with an adhesion strength that does not substantially increase during the next 21 h. However, during this time changes in cell-substratum interactions seem to occur judging by the differences in, e.g., migration rates.     

Effect of ethanol on sustained attention in rats

 Acute exposure to ethanol produces deficits in sustained attention in humans, but these attentional deficits have not been modeled in animals. In this study, an operant task was used to investigate the effects of low and moderate doses of ethanol on sustained attention in rats. Performance on a two-choice reaction time task over a 1-h session was assessed immediately following administration of ethanol (0.0, 0.5, 0.75, 1.0 and 1.5 g/kg IP). Each rat was required to respond to a light stimulus of variable duration (20, 100, and 500 ms) occurring at one of two locations. Under control and saline conditions, increases in stimulus length systematically increased choice accuracy and decreased reaction time. Ethanol produced a dose-dependent decrease in choice accuracy that interacted with time, with an initial impairment that was stimulus length-dependent followed by a general vigilance decrement. The data demonstrate that ethanol impaired the ability of rats to direct and sustain attention to brief, infrequent stimuli, and provide a model for further investigations into the underlying neurobiological mechanisms for ethanol-induced attentional deficits. Received: 19 March 1996 / Final version: 30 August 1996