Ruptured abdominal aortic aneurysms: factors influencing postoperative mortality and long-term survival.

Objective: To update mortality rates and long-term survival of patients admitted to the hospital with ruptured abdominal aortic aneurysm (AAA) and to study prognostic factors associated with mortality.

Design: Retrospective follow-up.

Materials: 309 patients (274 men, 35 women, average age 71) admitted to the hospital between January 1980 and January 1994 who were surgically treated for ruptured AAA were studied.

[How relevant are calculations of mean intracompartmental pressure in functional compartment syndrome?].

The intracompartmental pressure in the anterior tibial compartment was documented under standardized conditions in 29 patients walking at a speed of 4.5 km/h, as well as heel-and-toe running at a speed of 8 km/h. All pressure curves were integrated and the resulting mean pressure was compared with the arithmetic mean pressure indicated in the literature.

Salmeterol inhibits interferon-gamma and interleukin-4 production by human peripheral blood mononuclear cells.

T-lymphocytes play an important role in allergic asthma. In the present study, the effect of beta(2)-adrenoceptor agonists was examined on proliferation, interleukin-4 (IL-4) and interferon-gamma (IFN-gamma) production by human peripheral blood mononuclear cells (PBMC). The proliferation after 24 h phytohaemagglutinin (PHA) activation was significantly inhibited at high concentrations of salmeterol, isoprenaline and salbutamol (> or = 10(-6) M).