Pulmonary absorption of instilled and inhaled DTPA in smokers.

Pulmonary absorption of DTPA (diamine-triethylene-penta-acetic acid) has been widely adopted as an index of pulmonary epithelial permeability. The aim of this study was to analyse: (1) if measurements of pulmonary absorption are influenced by the amount of fluid being administered to the lungs together with the DTPA; and (2) if all DTPA administered to the lungs is equally accessible for pulmonary absorption. To this end DTPA was instilled into a lung segment of six smokers in association with a bronchoscopy.

[Tuberculosis in children in Copenhagen during 1975-1985].

During the years 1975-1985, 25 Danish children (less than 15 years) and 40 children of immigrants in the Municipalities of Copenhagen and Frederiksberg had tuberculosis for the first time. The children were assessed at the time of diagnosis and were retraced in 1987. The incidence of tuberculosis among foreign children was 10-40 times that among Danish children.

Fractional gastrointestinal transit time: intra- and interindividual variation.

The intra- and interindividual variation in the gastrointestinal transit times was measured in 12 healthy adult test subjects using a scintigraphic method with 111In marked single unit tablets. Test conditions were semi-standardized. The variation within the same individual was as large as the variation between different subjects regarding the transit times through both the small and the large intestines.

Diabetes mellitus and ventilatory capacity: a five year follow-up study.

During a five year observation period, declines of forced vital capacity (FVC) and forced expiratory volume in one second (FEV1) were investigated in 200 subjects with diabetes mellitus (DM), 126 subjects who developed DM during that period and 9,051 nondiabetic subjects. After statistical adjustment for age, sex, height, and tobacco consumption we found that the subjects who developed DM during the observation period had the steepest declines of ventilatory function. Their annual declines of FVC (and FEV1) were on average 29 ml (and 25 ml) greater than the declines observed among the nondiabetic subjects.

The impact of unilateral ureteral obstruction on pelvic and parenchymal transit times in the pig kidney.

In 10 female pigs a partial unilateral ureteral obstruction was investigated for 3 weeks. The pigs were monitored with 131I-iodo-hippuran scintigraphies before obstruction and once a week during the course of obstruction. Parenchymal and pelvic mean transit times were calculated by deconvolution analysis.

Decline of the lung function related to the type of tobacco smoked and inhalation.

Data from a five year follow up study on 4372 smokers and 3753 non-smokers were analysed to investigate the influence of the type of tobacco smoked and whether the subjects said they inhaled or not on the decline in forced expiratory volume in one second (FEV1). The study sample comprised 1492 smokers of plain cigarettes and 1936 smokers of filter cigarettes, 1711 smokers of cheroots or cigars, and 233 male pipe smokers. Over the five years, smokers, especially those who said that they inhaled, had a higher rate of decline of FEV1 than non-smokers, in whom the average decline in FEV1 was 25 ml/year for women and 30 ml/year for men.

Cross-sectional internal diameters of human cervical and femoral blood vessels: relationship to subject's sex, age, body size.

Cross-sectional internal diameter measurements were made of right and left common carotid and right femoral arteries and right and left internal jugular, superficial femoral, and common femoral veins in 32 normal human subjects utilizing duplex ultrasonography. The relationships of these vessel sizes to the subject's sex, age, height, weight, and body surface area were analyzed statistically; and graphs were constructed, indicating the relationship of blood vessel diameters to the various body size parameters. Findings indicate that 1) for the femoral veins, body surface area had the best correlation with the internal diameter of the vein; 2) for the right internal jugular vein, body weight had the best correlation with the internal diameter of the vein; 3) correlation between vein diameter and body size of the subject is better for the femoral veins than for the internal jugular veins; 4) internal diameter of the femoral and internal jugular veins increases about 20% when they are distended by 15 degrees of positional inclination of the subject's body; 5) neither age nor sex of the subject influences the positional distensibility of the veins examined; 6) the cross-sectional internal diameter of the femoral and internal jugular veins, as determined by duplex ultrasonography, closely relates to the external diameter of these vessels as measured by direct in vivo application of calipers and to the maximum outside diameter of cannula the vessel will accept.

The constancy of the relation between pressure and flow in the upper urinary tract of the pig.

The long-term constancy of the pressure-flow relationship of the upper urinary tract of the pig was studied in 8 pyeloureteral units and the short-term constancy in 10 units. No constancy was found for neither pelvic baseline pressure nor for pelvic perfusion pressure with an interval of 10 weeks. Pelvic pressure is a very unstable parameter with time but variating within the normal range.

Determinants of chronic mucus hypersecretion in a general population with special reference to the type of tobacco smoked.

Data from a prospective study of 3884 smokers and 3676 non-smokers followed for five years were analysed to investigate the determinants of chronic mucus hypersecretion (CMH). During the follow-up 414 (10.7%) smokers and 140 (3.

Childhood tuberculosis in a developed country.

From 1975 to 1985, 25 Danish children (aged less than 15 yrs) and 40 children of immigrants were notified for tuberculosis in Copenhagen for the first time. A follow-up was undertaken in 1987. The annual rate of tuberculosis per 100,000 among the Danish children was 5 and among immigrant children 68-200 depending on the nationality.

[Immediate postoperative complications after total hip replacement].

With the object of illustrating the immediate postoperative complications connected with total hip replacement, a material of 512 hip replacements carried out in the Orthopaedic Department in Viborg Hospital during the period 1982-1987 was reviewed. Complications of significance for the postoperative course occurred in 16% and the mortality was 0.4%.

Effects of smoking and changes in smoking habits on the decline of FEV1.

The aim of this study was to examine the effects of cigarette smoking and changes in smoking habits on the decline of forced expiratory volume in the first second of expiration (FEV1). We studied 7,764 men and women for 5 yrs. The subjects were grouped according to self-reported smoking habits during the observation period.

Bronchoscintigraphic visualization of the acute effect of tobacco exposure and terbutaline on mucociliary clearance in smokers.

The aim of this study was to examine the acute effect of tobacco smoke exposure and inhaled terbutaline on mucociliary clearance in 9 healthy smokers. It was based on a recently described method for scintigraphic visualization of the bronchi (bronchoscintigraphy). After an initial bronchoscintigram had been made by having the subjects inhale aerosolized 99mTc-albumin, they inhaled either terbutaline or placebo from a metered-dose inhaler.

Emergence of isolates resistant to ampicillin.

Clinical isolates of Streptococcus faecium demonstrating ampicillin resistance were recovered from eight pediatric patients. Sites of isolation included blood, surgical wound, bile drainage, urine, burns, and peritoneal fluid. Seven patients had prolonged hospitalization, and all had been treated with broad-spectrum antibiotics prior to isolation of the resistant enterococcus.

Chronic obstructive lung disease in Copenhagen: cross-sectional epidemiological aspects.

We analysed data from the Copenhagen City Heart Study to study the prevalence, possible risk factors for, and inter-relations between bronchial hypersecretion (BH) and chronic airflow limitation. The study sample consisted of 12,698 subjects between 20 years and 90 years of age, randomly selected from the population of the city of Copenhagen. The age-adjusted overall prevalence of BH in the population of Copenhagen was estimated to be 10.

Conceptual and design features of a practical, clinically effective intravenous mechanical blood oxygen/carbon dioxide exchange device (IVOX).

Conceptual and design features of a new intravascular blood gas exchange device include: placing multiple, thin-walled microporous hollow fibers in an elongated arrangement with a small overall outside diameter; covering the outer surface of each microporous hollow fiber with an ultra-thin continuous silicone coating; forming the hollow fibers into a configuration that produces disturbed flow of blood over the external surface of each fiber; placing the device in the subject's vena cava through a femoral or jugular venotomy; producing a flow of oxygen through the lumens of the hollow fibers, permitting exchange of oxygen and carbon dioxide between the venous blood outside and the gas inside the hollow fibers. Based on these principles, a practical, easily insertible, disposable, intravenacaval blood gas exchange device (IVOX) has been fabricated. Currently, devices with from 2,000 to 6,000 square centimeters of gas transfer surface area are being placed in the vena cavae of dogs and sheep for up to 7 days without altering the animal's hemodynamics, without producing serious hematologic sequelae, and with the capability of transferring in excess of 100 ml of oxygen and carbon dioxide to and from the venous blood of an intact, awake, standing animal.

Effect of change in particle number on pulmonary clearance of aerosolized 99mTc-DTPA.

Pulmonary clearance (PCl) of inhaled aerosolized 99mTc-diethylenetriamine pentaacetic acid (DTPA) across the alveolocapillary membrane is diffusion limited. Therefore, if the mixing of the 99mTc-DTPA in the aqueous hypophase underlying surfactant is slow or incomplete or if there were no hypophase, an increase in the alveolar surface area occupied by 99mTc-DTPA particles would increase the absorption rate. The aim of this study was to examine whether there is an effect on PCl of changing the number of inhaled particles.

Antimicrobial susceptibility of Bordetella avium and Bordetella bronchiseptica isolates.

Two veterinary pathogens, Bordetella bronchiseptica and Bordetella avium, were tested for their antimicrobial susceptibilities. Of the 20 antimicrobial agents tested, both species were consistently resistant to penicillin and cefuroxime but susceptible to mezlocillin, piperacillin, gentamicin, amikacin, and cefoperazone.

Technetium-99m DTPA does not break down during ultrasound nebulization.

For several years aerosolized 99Tcm-DTPA has been used for studies of pulmonary permeability. Comparable results have been obtained regardless of the 99Tcm-DTPA having been nebulized in an ultrasound nebulizer or a jet nebulizer. It was therefore surprising when in a recent study it was observed that more than 90% of a commercially available 99Tcm-DTPA (Squibb) was dissociated into 99TcmO4- and DTPA during ultrasound nebulization.

The use of leaf GPI and IDH isozymes to examine the origin of polyembryony in cultured ovules of seedless grape.

Isozyme analysis of young leaf tissue was performed on progeny produced from cultured ovules resulting from crosses of seedless × seedless grapes. Two polymorphic loci, Idh and Gpi-c, were found to segregate in a simple Mendelian fashion in the populations examined. Analyses of 70 seedlings indicated that most seedlings produced by this method were zygotic.

Long term sequelae after talc pleurodesis for spontaneous pneumothorax.

After talc pleurodesis performed between 1954 and 1964 because of spontaneous pneumothorax during thoracoscopy, 99 patients were followed up. Only 2 patients experienced a pneumothorax relapse. Mesothelioma was not observed in any case, X-ray changes in the Pleura were moderate, and lung function did not show any significant restriction.

Specific serum immunoglobulin D, detected by antibody capture enzyme-linked immunosorbent assay (ELISA), in cytomegalovirus infection.

An antibody capture enzyme-linked immunosorbent assay (ELISA) was developed for the detection of immunoglobulin D (IgD) antibodies to cytomegalovirus (CMV) in sera from blood donors and various groups of patients infected with CMV. This method has previously been found especially valuable in detecting specific antibodies of the IgM, IgE, IgA and IgG class in patients with CMV infection. Specific CMV IgD antibodies were found in 37% of CMV seropositive blood donors and in 47 (88%) of the 53 patients investigated, including bone marrow transplant and renal allograft transplant patients, patients with CMV mononucleosis, neonates with CMV infection and AIDS patients with CMV infection.