International nurse recruitment and NHS vacancies: a cross-sectional analysis.

BACKGROUND: Foreign-trained nurse recruits exceeded the number of new British-trained recruits on the UK nurse register for the first time in 2001. As the nursing shortage continues, health care service providers rely increasingly on overseas nurses to fill the void. Which areas benefit the most? And where would the NHS be without them? METHODS: Using cross-sectional data from the 2004 Nursing and Midwifery Council register, nurse resident postcodes are mapped to Strategic Health Authorities to see where foreign recruits locate and how they affect nurse shortages throughout the UK.

The effect of HMOs on fee-for-service health care expenditures: evidence from Medicare revisited.

This paper implements a new method for calculating the extent of selection in the aged Medicare HMO market. Selection is measured as the difference in average costs between new Medicare HMO enrollees and Medicare fee-for-service stayers with data from 1990 to 1994. Results suggest Medicare HMO enrollees were 1030 US dollars cheaper in their first year of enrollment.

Chronic lymphocytic-leukemia with pleomorphic lymphocytes (cll-pleo) - a comparative-study with typical cll.

Cell suspensions from the peripheral brood of 21 cases of chronic lymphocytic leukemia with pleomorphic lymphocytes (CLL-pleo) and 155 cases of typical CLL were analyzed to define the phenotype of the former and compare it with the phenotype of the latter. CLL-pleo was characterized by weak fluorescence intensity of surface immunoglobulin (mean channel number on flow cytometry <200), positive mouse rosettes and CD5, and negative CD22 and tartrate resistant acid phosphatase. Comparison of the positive rates of the markers and of the mean percentages of marker-expressing cells showed no statistical difference between CLL-pleo and typical CLL.

Diagnostic value of clonality of surface immunoglobulin light and heavy chains in malignant lymphoproliferative disorders.

Cell suspensions from the peripheral blood of B-chronic lymphoid leukemias (B-CLL, n = 274) and reactive lymphocytosis (RLC, n = 132) and from solid tissue samples of B-non-Hodgkin's lymphoma (B-NHL, n = 466) and reactive lymphadenopathy (RLA, n = 324) were analyzed to evaluate the diagnostic value of clonality of L- and H- chains in B-CLL and B-NHL. Cutoff levels for monoclonal L-chain (mono-L) and monoclonal H-chain (mono-H) were defined. In B-CLL, the association patterns of L- and H- chains were as follows: mono-L/mono-H, 245 cases (89.

Chronic lymphocytic leukemia with low lymphocyte count.

Background: A peripheral blood absolute lymphocyte count (ALC) of greater than 5 x 10(9)/l is considered the required minimum for diagnosis of chronic lymphocytic leukemia (CLL). Cases with low ALC (CLL-LLC), less than 5 x 10(9)/l, have not been included in the current staging systems, and would not be suspected of having CLL, or investigated for the disease, especially in the absence of clinical manifestations. On the other hand, the diagnostic value of the differential lymphocyte counts have not been emphasized.