Systemic anaphylaxis following parenteral orgotein administration.

We present a patient displaying a systemic anaphylactic reaction after local infiltration of orgotein. An IgE-mediated mechanism was demonstrated with skin tests and specific IgE measurement. It is concluded that orgotein can rarely cause IgE-mediated anaphylaxis.

Recovery from staphylococcal septicaemia in neutropenic patients without removal of the previously inserted central venous catheter.

Objectives: An open clinical study was conducted in the haematological department of an intensive care unit to investigate cure of staphylococcal septicaemia in neutropenic central venous catheter carriers without removal of the line.

Methods: Thirteen neutropenic patients with a central venous catheter were investigated. These patients were under treatment for haematological malignancies and had at least 2 blood cultures positive for Staphylococcus aureus or coagulase-negative staphylococcus.

Opposite regulations by androgenic and thyroid hormones of V1 myosin expression in the two types of rabbit striated muscle: skeletal and cardiac.

The finding that V1 cardiac myosin is expressed in masticatory skeletal muscles of the rabbit provided a unique opportunity for comparing the hormonal regulation of V1 in skeletal and cardiac muscles. Thyroid hormones had no significant effect on the postnatal expression of V1 in masticatory muscles, but increased this expression in cardiac ventricles. In contrast, androgenic hormones reduced V1 expression in masticatory muscles, but did not affect it significantly in cardiac ventricles.

Nerve repair using freezing and fibrin glue: immediate histologic improvement of axonal coaptation.

Despite the fine microsurgical techniques available, injuries to peripheral nerves are still a surgical problem. Sutures placed in the epineurium or perineurium cause compression, brushing, and misdirection of endoneural tissue. A technique of nerve repair using freezing to trim the nerve and fibrin glue to coat it before thawing is described.

[Longitudinal excursion of the sciatic nerve: an experimental study in the adult rat].

Every nerve must have the capacity to adapt to different positions by passive movement relative to the surrounding tissue. This capacity is called longitudinal excursion (LE). The LE of the sciatic nerve has been studied in 40 Wistar rats.

Absenteeism as a symptom of occupational ill-health in hospitals and its repercussion on quality assurance.

The purpose of the present study was to evaluate the importance of absenteeism due to illness in the hospital organization. A measurement of absenteeism due to illness among hospital professionals of the National Health System in the Alicante province (Spain) during the years 1988, 1989 and 1990 was carried out, as well as its repercussion on quality assurance in health care. The absenteeism index (frequency) was 5.

Improved detection of HIV p24 antigen in serum after acid pretreatment.

HIV-1 p24 antigen was detected in 554 sera (509 from HIV-1 seropositive individuals and 45 sera from seronegative controls) using a conventional method with acid pretreatment of the sample in order to separate the p24 antigen/anti-p24 antibody immune complexes. In asymptomatic individuals there was a substantial increase in antigen detection (48.2% vs 8.

Reinnervation of denervated extensor digitorum longus of the rat by the nerve of the soleus does not induce the type I myosin synthesis directly but through a sequential transition of type II myosin isoforms.

The fast-contracting extensor digitorum longus (EDL) muscle of 1-month-old rats was denervated and reinnervated by the nerve innervating the slow-contracting soleus muscle. After variable periods of time, the myosin isoform content of the EDL was analyzed by sensitive electrophoretic techniques, which allowed to discriminate between the slow-type I and the three, IIA, (IID or IIX) and IIB, fast-type II myosin isoforms. Compared to the control EDL, which contains predominantly the IIB isoform, the operated muscles contained variable proportions of all the isoforms.

Effects of aprotinin on hemorrhagic complications in ARDS patients during prolonged extracorporeal CO2 removal.

The effects of aprotinin, a broad-based proteinase inhibitor, in the management of hemorrhagic complications during prolonged venovenous extracorporeal CO2 removal in patients with adult respiratory distress syndrome are not evaluated. In two patients, aprotinin infusion was added to heparin to treat bleeding, occurring after few days of bypass and responsible for respiratory and hemodynamic deterioration. After aprotinin infusion (loading dose of 2 x 10(6) kIU followed by a continuous infusion of 5 x 10(5) kIU/h) combined with heparin, bleeding vanished until the end of bypass.

Grammatic representation of beat sequences for fuzzy arrhythmia diagnosis.

The final stage of a system for automatic monitoring of cardiac arrhythmias is the diagnosis of the rhythm or arrhythmia present in the patient during the monitoring process. In this paper we approach the detection process by means of the analysis of the electrocardiographic signal (ECG) on a surface lead produced by those arrhythmias which can be recognized by identifying specific beat sequences and taking into account contextual information, mainly rhythm information. We have developed a diagnosis process for arrhythmias which uses a fuzzy classification of beats according to their etiology or focus of origin.

Fuzzy K-nearest neighbor classifiers for ventricular arrhythmia detection.

We report a study of the efficiency of 4 classifiers (the K-nearest-neighbor and single-nearest-prototype algorithms, each as parametrized by both Fuzzy C-Means and Fuzzy Covariance clustering) in the detection of ventricular arrhythmias in ECG traces characterized by 4 features derived from 7 spectral parameters. Principal components analysis was used in conjunction with a cardiologist's deterministic classification of 90 ECG traces to fix the number of trace classes to 5 (ventricular fibrillation/flutter, sinus rhythm, ventricular rhythms with aberrant complexes and 2 classes of artefact). Forty of the 90 traces were then defined as a test set; 5 different learning sets (numbering 25, 30, 35, 40 and 45 traces) were randomly selected from the remaining 50 traces; each learning set was used to parametrize both the classification algorithms using both fuzzy clustering algorithms and the parametrized classification algorithms were then applied to the test set.

The same myosin isoforms are found in the female and male sexually dimorphic levator ani muscle of the rat, but their postnatal transitions are not synchronous.

The levator ani of the female adult rat is greatly atrophied in comparison to the same muscle in males. In the present study, the female levator ani was, nevertheless, found to contain type IIb myosin isoforms similar to those contained in the male muscle. These adult type isoforms were, however, synthesized later in the female than in the male levator ani: the half-transition times of the myosin transition curve were 20 days postnatal in the male and 35 days postnatal in the female.

Lipoleiomyoma of the ovary: report of a case and review of the English literature.

The purpose of this communication is to report a case of lipoleiomyoma of the ovary. It appears to be the first case of this condition reported in the English literature. Reference to its possible histogenesis is made.

[Effect of age on the number and size of myelinated nerve fibers. A study after localized freezing on section-suture of the sciatic nerve in the pubescent rat].

The regeneration of the myelinated fibers has been studied after a localized congelation or a section followed by an immediate suture in the left sciatic nerve of rats aged of 1 1/2, 3, 6, 12, 18 and 24 months at the moment of the operation. The regenerated fibers has been observed in the left internal gastrocnemius nerve, the right nerve being considered as the sham. For each nerve, the number and the caliber of the myelinated nerves has been systematically registered at standard levels allowing to calculate the average diameter of the fibers, their repartition and to draw their histogram.

[Effect of age on the number and size of myelinated nervous fibers. A qualitative and quantitative study in the rat].

The number and the average diameter of the myelinated fibers have been recorded in the both medial gastrocnemius nerves in the rat. The study concerned foetus at the end of the intra-uterine life as well as old rats (24 months). It seemed the absolute necessity to collect these data before studying the consequences of age on nervous regeneration.

Muscle-specific response to thyroid hormone of myosin isoform transitions during rat postnatal development.

Transitions from embryonic and neonatal to adult-type-II isomyosins are known to be related to the increase in the thyroid hormone plasma concentration during postnatal development. These transitions have been shown, however, to occur at different times, depending on the muscle, suggesting that each muscle responds differently to the thyroid hormone. We have investigated quantitatively the effects of experimental hypothyroidism and hyperthyroidism on isomyosin transitions from birth until the 45th postnatal day in eight rat muscles: diaphragm, intercostals, gastrocnemius medialis, soleus, plantar muscles of the foot, tongue muscle, levator ani and bulbocavernosus complex, and masseter.

Multimicroprocessor system for online monitoring in a CCU.

A real-time monitoring system for physiological signals, developed for patients in coronary care units (CCUs), is described. This system monitors the signals that have the greatest clinical value in a CCU environment (ECG and cardiovascular pressures), taking charge of detecting dangerous situations and of extracting information significant to the correct monitoring of the patient. The information it extracts, mainly from the ECG, is presented to the user in an ergonomic way using written reports and graphs which collect and compile the information, facilitating its interpretation.

Fuzzy beat labeling for intelligent arrhythmia monitoring.

The performance in automatic diagnosis of cardiac rhythm based on the analysis of the electrocardiographic signal (ECG) is strongly conditioned by the correct classification of each beat detected. In this work we present a fuzzy classifier of beats that applies empiric criteria and that permits it to ignore the frequent lack of clarity in the information coming from previous stages within ECG processing. The classification of each beat is performed applying diffuse conditional statements which represent the knowledge of the cardiologist expert and that use a set of descriptions of the temporal and morphological attributes of the analyzed beat.

[Functional evaluation of the corneal endothelium using anterior segment fluorophotometry].

The AA have studied the permeability of the corneal endothelium by anterior segment fluorophotometry using instillation of fluorescein. The Fluorotron Master TM has been modified with the introduction of a new slit (58.4 microns) and of the voltage output (6.

Myosin isoform transitions in regeneration of fast and slow muscles during postnatal development of the rat.

Regeneration of rat fast (gastrocnemius medialis) and slow (soleus) muscles was examined after degeneration of myofibers had been achieved by injection of cardiotoxin into the hindleg during the first week after birth. Myogenesis in the regenerating muscles was compared to postnatal myogenesis in the contralateral and in control muscles. Synthesis of embryonic and neonatal myosin isoforms was initiated 3 days after injury.

Algorithmic sequential decision-making in the frequency domain for life threatening ventricular arrhythmias and imitative artefacts: a diagnostic system.

A preliminary study to approach the problem of reliably detecting life threatening ventricular arrhythmias in real time is described. An algorithm (DIAGNOSIS) has been developed in order to classify ECG signal records on the basis of the computation of four simple parameters calculated from a representation in the frequency domain. This algorithm uses a set of rules constituting an operative classification scheme based on the comparison of the parameters with a set of pre-established thresholds.