Intravenous and intracoronary fibrinolytic therapy in acute myocardial infarction: Overview of results on mortality, reinfarction and side-effects from 33 randomized controlled trials

During the past 25 years, 24 randomized trials of intravenous(IV) fibrinolytic treatment have been reported, involving atotal of some 6000 patients in the acute phase of myocardialinfarction. Most tested IV streptokinase (SK), but a few testedIV urokinase (UK). In the past 2 or 3 years numerous small randomizedtrials of intracoronary (IC) SK have been started, 9 of which,involving a total of about 1000 such patients have been reported.Because all of these IV and IC trials were small (the largestincluding only 747 patients), their separate results appearcontradictory and unreliable. But, an overview of the data fromthese trials indicates that IV treatment produces a highly significant(22%±5%, (P<0.001) reduction in the odds of death,an even larger reduction in the odds of reinfarction, and anabsolute frequency of serious adverse effects to set againstthis that is much smaller than the absolute mortality reduction.The apparent size of the mortality reduction in the IV trialswas similar whether anticoagulants were compulsory or optional,whether treatment was in a coronary cure unit or an ordinaryward and, surprisingly, whether treatment began early ( <6h from onset of symptoms) or late (generally 12–24 h).In addition, there was no evidence that UK was more effectivethan the less expensive SK, or that, despite their technicalcomplexity, the new IC regimes were more effective than theold IV regimes. Even the IV schedules that have been studied in randomized trialswere, however, quite complex, and the IC schedules were farmore so. Perhaps partly because of this, none of them is widelyused. If so, then some much simpler, and hence more widely practicable,IV SK regimes should be developed and tested. For example, asimple one hour high-dose IV SK infusion, without anticoagulation,will successfully convert virtually all of the available plasminogeninto plasmin. But, it may be several years before the net effectson mortality of any more widely practicable IV SK regimes canbe agreed unless many of the hospitals that do not wish routinelyto use IC regimes or the complex previous IV regimes will collaboratein multicentre randomized trials that can, if necessary, continuerapid intake until some tens of thousands of patients have beenrandomized, and some thousands of deaths have been observedamong the control and treated patients. The same, of course,may be true for any other fibrinolytic regimes (e.g. infusionof tissue plasminogen activator) if their net effects on mortalityare comparable to those of IV SK.     

HEIGHT, OCCUPATION AND BACK PAIN IN A NATIONAL PROSPECTIVE STUDY

Back pain is an important public health problem but there isa paucity of knowledge about risk factors and causal mechanisms.Previous studies have shown that tall men are more at risk ofback pain, although observations in women have been less consistent.This paper presents findings from a national longitudinal studyof 3262 men and women aged 43 yr. Standing height and sittingheight were related to 18-month reported prevalence of ‘sciatica,lumbago or severe backache’ in both men and women. Thepaper investigates explanations for these findings using previouslycollected data on childhood growth and detailed lifetime occupationalhistories. Neither greater susceptibility of tall men to heavylifting, nor the timing of growth, were able to account forthese relationships. To assess further the association betweenheight and back pain, information is needed on the relationshipbetween stature and characteristics of spinal structure. KEY WORDS: Longitudinal, British, Growth, Adults, Lifting, Spine     

护理是什么?--诠释植根中国文化的护理概念

目的:了解中国护士对护理概念的理解和认识,以诠释具有中国特色的护理概念.方法:采用质性研究与量性研究相结合的方法,分为两个研究阶段完成了资料的收集和分析.第一阶段采用随机抽样的方法对全国省、市、区级综合医院和中医院的护士进行了问卷调查,要求调查对象详尽地书写个人对护理工作的体验和观点.共回收了254份问卷,然后采用范甘的"查验解说"分析方法,提取出了护士用于描述护理概念的含义、特点、目标、活动和职责的词语和句子共117项.第二阶段对全国八个地区的护士做了进一步的问卷调查,以了解护士对这些词句的认同度,共收回1782份问卷.结果:护士对这些词句的认同度颇高.我国护士对护理一词的理解,已由前专业转化到专业的用词,并认为护理是情、理、知、行的组合.护理特点是由"情"反映出来关顾的意识,"理"的伦理的意识,"知"的知识的意识和"行"的实践的意识.护士认同护理的目标是要面向全人类、社会、个体和临终.护士对护理的活动及护理职责的理解是正面多于负面.结论:现阶段我国护士对护理概念的理解和认识可以概括为:了解个人健康状况的动态变化,对所出现的健康问题进行辨证,准确施护,帮助个人掌握健康知识,从自身状况出发,防治疾病,增强对疾病的应对及适应的能力,达到身心最佳状态.     

Twins with moyamoya disease

Moyamoya disease is a progressive disease which involves the internal carotid arteries and its branches bilaterally. The disease is reported both in adults and in children. Moyamoya disease is frequently seen in Japanese patients having certain human leucocyte antigen (HLA) haplotypes including HLA-Aw24, Bw46 and Bw54. Twin cases are rarely reported in the literature. We hereby present the first Turkish monozygotic twins with moyamoya disease whose HLA haplotypes are A2, A9, B21, Bw22, Bw4, Bw6, Cw3, and DR2, DR4, DRw52, DRw53, Dq7. The patients with advanced disease were given nifedipine and intravenous immunoglobulin (400mg/kg/d for 5 days). During the 11 months of follow-up, the patients were attack free.     

Coronary calcification and its association with mortality in haemodialysis patients

Aim:   Coronary artery calcification (CAC) has been associated with higher mortality in chronic renal disease. The purpose of this study was to assess coronary artery calcium score (CaCs) in haemodialysis patients and to correlate calcium scores with clinical parameters and mortality.
Methods:   A cross-sectional study was conducted in 59 haemodialysis patients. CaCs was assessed by multidetector-row computed tomography and stratified as: CaCs of less than 10 Agatston units (U), no calcification; CaCs of 10–400 U, mild-to-moderate; and CaCs of more than 400 U, severe calcification. The effects of age, haemodialysis duration and biochemical and inflammatory markers on CaCs logarithm were evaluated by multiple linear regression analysis. Cox regression analysis was used to measure the impact of CaCs of more than 400 on 2-year mortality.
Results:   Coronary calcifications were detected in 64.5% of patients, and the median of CaCs was 31.7 U (0–589.7) with a range of 0–5790.0 U. Twenty-one (35.5%) patients had mild-to-moderate and 17 (29%) severe CaCs. Patients with severe CaCs were older and showed a higher prevalence of ischaemic heart disease and a higher body mass index ( P  = 0.04). A trend towards higher C-reactive protein levels was found in patients with severe CaCs. Advanced age was the only variable that influenced CaCs logarithm independently. The effect of severe CaCs on 2-year mortality did not persist after adjustment for other covariates.
Conclusion:   Coronary calcification was highly prevalent in these uraemic patients on chronic haemodialysis. A correlation was evidenced between CaCs and advanced age, but severity of the CAC score did not have an impact on 2-year mortality of this cohort.     

Hyalocyte-Like Cells are more Numerous in the Posterior Chamber than they are in the Vitreous of the Rabbit Eye

The distribution and concentration of free cells inside the eye chambers of rabbits were investigated using semi-quantitative analysis of histological paraffin sections. Studies using light (methacrylate sections) as well as transmission and scanning electron microscopy were undertaken for the morphological characterization of the free cells. Immunocytochemistry and autoradiography were employed in an attempt to find out their nature and their origin, respectively. It was observed that cells morphologically similar to the vitreous hyalocytes were more numerous inside the posterior chamber than were the hyalocytes in the cortical vitreous. Neither the hyalocytes nor the posterior-chamber cells reacted with an antibody to rabbit macrophages. The finding of labeled free cells after an intravitreal injection of³H-thymidine indicates that these cells can renew themselves and that their number does not depend exclusively on monocytes migrating from the blood stream to the eye chambers, as is believed to occur. In conclusion, hyalocytes or hyalocyte-like cells are more concentrated in the posterior chamber than they are in the vitreous. Both the hyalocytes and the posterior-chamber cells could not be characterized as fully developed macrophages.     

Histological changes following epidural injection of midazolam in the neonatal rabbit

Midazolam can produce antinociceptive effects when used via intrathecal or epidural routes. Neurotoxicity studies are scanty especially for neonates. The aim of this study was to carry out electron microscopic (EM) examinations in the neonatal rabbit to determine the histological effects of epidural midazolam on spinal cord. Twenty white New Zealand neonatal rabbits were randomly assigned to three groups receiving single dose of 0.9% saline (Group I; Control, n =4), 0.9% saline titrated to pH=3.9 by addition of hydrochloric acid (Group II; n =6), midazolam 250 μg·kg⁻¹ (Group III; n =12) epidurally. Half of each group were sacrificed on the second day and the remainder on the seventh day and spinal cord sections were evaluated by EM. Control group displayed normal histology on grids. Group II and II showed a variable degree of neurotoxic effects such as degeneration of vacuoles, cytoplasm and neurofilaments, disruption of myelin sheaths, lysis of cell membranes, perivascular oedema, pyknosis of nuclei. The toxic effects of acidic saline and midazolam are similar, in view of these results the epidural use of acidic midazolam (commercially available preparations) in neonates should be avoided.