Relation between possible under-diagnosed/treated glucose dysmetabolism, delayed villous maturation, and lethal fetal pneumonia.

Background: Gestational diabetes mellitus (GDM) is a known risk factor for stillbirth (Rosenstein et al., 2012) [1]. Delayed villous maturation (DVM), predominantly seen in term placentas in pregnancies complicated with glucose dysmetabolism, may in part be a consequence of excessive maternal glucose leading to release of fetal insulin and other growth factors that promote excessive placental growth at the expense of villous maturation (Redline, 2012) [2].

Abnormal placental villous maturity and dysregulated glucose metabolism: implications for stillbirth prevention.

Objectives: In the UK one in 250 pregnancies end in stillbirth. Abnormal placental villous maturation, commonly associated with gestational diabetes, is a risk factor for stillbirth. Histopathology reports of placental distal villous immaturity (DVI) are reported disproportionately in placentas from otherwise unexplained stillbirths in women without formal diagnosis of diabetes but with either clinical characteristics or risk factors for diabetes.

Letters.

IRRIGATION OF WOUNDS OEDEMA AND LEG ULCERS PREPARING WOUND SAMPLES FOR ANALYSIS EDUCATION NEEDED.

Treatment of leg ulcers.

A system of treatment of venous leg ulcers by leg elevation, dry gauze dressings and inelastic bandage boots is compared with regimens in which a series of elastic bandage boots are applied to squeeze oedema from swollen ulcerated legs.

An hypothesis concerning the role of the Golgi apparatus in the phenomenon of memory.

The hypothesis considers the anatomy and physiology of the memory-storing neuron from the viewpoint that an eccentrically placed nucleus with a Golgi Apparatus situated between it and the proximate cell membrane could be the mechanism for the storage and retrieval of experience and thought processes. Metabolites which enter the Golgi Apparatus are filtered and refined before being discharged from the surface which faces the cell membrane. They travel by the shortest route to a special location on the nearest part of the cell membrane.

The role of the brain cell nuclei in the function of memory.

The neurophysiological basis of memory may lie in the significance of eccentric cell nuclei found in neurons in certain parts of the brain. Embryonic nerve cells are spherical with central nuclei, whereas fully developed neurons in specific parts of the adult brain are non-spherical with eccentric nuclei. The hypothesis proposes that the mechanism of the sodium pump of the cell membrane is affected by the proximity of the nucleus.

Vertical leg drainage of odema in treatment of leg ulcers.

Since oedema of adjacent tissue is a major factor in preventing healing of leg ulcers conservative treatment should aim to dry out the ulcer area before bandaging and to keep it dry afterwards. A method of postural drainage of oedema is described in which the patient lies supine with the legs raised vertically for two days. Non-stretch Viscopaste bandages are then applied and the patient allowed to move about normally, but instructed to continue vertical leg drainage for a period each day.