A study of the value of electrophoretic and other techniques for typing Acinetobacter calcoaceticus

Forty-four isolates of Acinetobacter calcoaceticus var anitratus collected during hospital outbreaks were studied using polyacrylamide gel electrophoresis (PAGE), plasmid analysis, antibiograms and biochemical tests to determine their degree of similarity. Reproducibility tests were also carried out on the PAGE and biochemical techniques to determine their validity when used to compare bacteria of the same type isolated intermittently. PAGE data was analysed densitometrically and isolates compared using a similarity matrix. All methods were able to subdivide the isolates, but results did not always correlate well between methods. Reproducibility data indicated that careful attention to technique is required when organisms are examined by PAGE sequentially. Results suggest that no single biotyping technique is likely to be adequate and that electrophoretic, biochemical and antibiogram data may complement one another and other epidemiological data in the typing of these organisms.     

Heart rate analysis in 24 patients treated with 150 mg amitriptyline per day

Twenty-four patients treated with 150 mg amitriptyline per day for an episode of major depression underwent a standardized heart rate analysis (HRA) before therapy and after 14 days. The battery of cardiovascular reflex tests included the determination of the coefficient of variation (CV) while resting and during deep respiration, a spectral analysis of heart rate, the heart rate response to standing, and the Valsalva manoeuvre. The results of the initial HRA did not differ from a group of 24 normal control subjects matched for age and sex. On day 14 of treatment the patients showed significantly reduced values of heart rate variability in all tests (P<0.0001), probably due to the anticholinergic side effects of amitriptyline. Heart rate increased form 78.1 to 93.6 bpm on average (P<0.0001). Abnormal CV at rest was registered in 96% of the patients; during deep respiration 29% showed abnormal CV results. An abnormal spectral analysis was found in 100% of the cases (low frequency peak: 42%, mid-frequency peak: 100%, high frequency peak: 79%). The heart rate response to standing was abnormal in 75% and the Valsalva test in 33% of the cases. Eighty-eight percent of the patients fulfilled the criteria of a cardiovascular autonomic neuropathy under the conditions of amitriptyline therapy. As yet, the consequences of these changes for the patients have not been sufficiently elucidated.     

埃塞俄比亚德布拉巴汗地区盲目分析

埃塞俄比亚德布拉巴汗市医院眼科门诊病人１４３６人中查出盲目患者１６８人，占门诊病人的１１．７％。其中双眼盲６７人，占门诊病人的４．６７％，占盲人的３９．８８％；单眼盲１０１人，占门诊病人的７．０３％，占盲人的６０．１２％。通过分析，初步找出了在埃塞的三大致盲病因，即白内障、青光眼和眼外伤。其中白内障具有重要的开盲意义。     

正常闪光视网膜电图的频域分析

应用快速傅里叶转换技术对正常视网膜电图进行频域分析，发现其ａ、ｂ波的优势频及能量集中在５－７５Ｈｚ；与ＯＰＳ波的分离点为７７ＨＺ，从而提出单纯记录ａ、ｂ波及ＯＰＳ波各自的较理想的通频带。     

Role of immune complexes in thyroid diseases

Institute of Biochemistry, Academy of Sciences of the Uzbek SSR, Tashkent. (Presented by Academician of the Academy of Medical Sciences of the USSR Yu. A. Pankov.) Translated from Byulleten' Éksperimental'noi Biologii i Meditsiny, Vol. 113, No. 2, pp. 168–170, February, 1992.     

真皮下血管网岛状皮瓣抗菌力的实验研究

为研究真皮下血管网薄皮瓣用于感染创面的可行性，在家猪臀部两侧分别形成以旋髂深血管主干分支为蒂的传统岛状皮瓣和远侧５０％修薄的真皮下血管网岛状皮瓣。用细菌计数、吖啶橙荧光染色测定白细胞吞噬指数和白细胞内杀菌率，应用激光多普勒、墨汁灌注、透明标本等方法，对两种皮瓣的抗菌力作自身对照研究。结果表明，真皮下血管网岛状皮瓣的抗菌力明显降低，可能与皮瓣修薄后血供减少，白细胞功能相应降低有关。     

Decision making in diagnostic radiology

Radiology can be more interesting if the principles of decision making are understood and used to the advantage of the radiologist, referring clinician and patient. This article seeks to revise the principles that radiologists use intuitively. Particular emphasis is placed on the importance of the pre-test probability, as it can be shown to: (i) vary with the referral pool of patients; (ii) be a major determinant of the amount of additional information gained from the test; (iii) alter the sensitivity and specificity of the test; and (iv) determine largely the significance of a positive or negative test result. An investigation helps a clinician by providing information that will move the probability of disease above an action threshold or below its exclusion threshold. If this does not occur as a result of one study, another is selected. This article also describes the factors involved in such a decision tree analysis, as well as discussing the reasons for both selecting a particular examination and deciding when a test should not be performed.     

Calculation of cyclic voltammetric responses for the catalytic reduction of substrates via intramolecular electron transfer within a catalyst-substrate complex formed on electrode surfaces

Cyclic voltammetric responses are calculated for the case where the reduction of a substrate proceeds only via intramolecular electron transfer to the substrate molecule when it is bound to reduced catalyst molecules present in a single monolayer on the electrode surface. The dependences of the voltammetric responses on the equilibrium constant for the formation of the catalyst-substrate complex, the rate of its formation and the rate of intramolecular electron transfer are discussed. Procedures are described for estimating the rate constant for the intramolecular electron transfer reaction and for discriminating between mechanistic possibilities.     

Path analysis and sib-pair linkage

When the distance between linked loci is expressed in terms of the correlation between the identity-by-descent (idb) values of the loci, then a path model may be used to order loci with data on sib-pairs and their parents. The relationship between the recombination fraction and the correlation coefficient is developed and a method for fitting a covariance matrix predicted by a specific ordering of loci to an observed covariance matrix is proposed. © 1993 Wiley-Liss. Inc.