Quality in emergency departments: a study on 3,285,440 admissions.

Introduction: A multi-centre study has been conducted, during 2005, by means of a questionnaire posted on the Italian Society of Emergency Medicine (SIMEU) web page. Our intention was to carry out an organisational and functional analysis of Italian Emergency Departments (ED) in order to pick out some macro-indicators of the activities performed. Participation was good, in that 69 ED (3,285,440 admissions to emergency services) responded to the questionnaire.

[Thyroid function in the euthyroid elderly subject: evidence of low T3 syndrome].

The presence of a low T3 syndrome was confirmed in elderly euthyroid patients. The condition is characterised by lower circulating total (TT3) and free triiodothyronin (FT3) than in adults with no clinical symptoms of hypothyroidism. A total of 133 subjects over 65 were studied as we used 204 adult controls aged 18-65.

Expression and modulation of common acute lymphoblastic leukaemia antigen by B prolymphocytic leukaemia cells.

Leukaemic blood lymphocytes from patients with B prolymphocytic leukaemia express the common acute lymphoblastic leukaemia antigen (CALLA). The in vitro incubation of prolymphocytes with leucocyte conditioned medium produced the acquisition of plasma cell morphology, of intracytoplasmic immunoglobulins and the simultaneous reduction of CALLA expression. The presence of CALLA appears to be unrelated to different clinical courses.