Beneficial effect of fish oil on blood viscosity in peripheral vascular disease.

Reports suggest that the low incidence of ischaemic heart disease in Greenlandic Eskimos is related to the effect of a diet rich in eicosapentaenoic acid on platelet reactivity and plasma lipid concentrations. A double blind randomised investigation was therefore conducted of the effects on blood viscosity of dietary supplementation with an oil rich in this fatty acid (1.8 g/day, given as fish oil) and an eicosapentaenoic acid poor oil (as corn/olive oil) in patients with peripheral arterial disease.

Protein C, an anticoagulant protein, is increased in healthy volunteers and surgical patients after treatment with stanozolol.

On both oral and intramuscular administration, the anabolic steroid stanozolol was found to increase protein C antigen concentrations in circulating blood. In fourteen healthy young volunteers (who received stanozolol orally, dose 10 mg/day) the average increase was 1.5-1.

Computed tomography: qualitative and quantitative recognition of liver disease in haemophilia.

Thirty haemophiliac patients have been investigated by computed tomography (CT). Quantitative studies using dual energy scans with and without contrast enhancement, together with autocorrelation function analysis of the characteristics of the liver and spleen, revealed significant changes in the liver. The CT findings corresponded to the presence of liver disease, including chronic active hepatitis and cirrhosis, in 13 patients confirmed by percutaneous liver biopsy.

Acquired von Willebrand's disease: demonstration of a circulating inhibitor to the factor VIII complex in four cases.

We have studied four patients suffering from acquired von Willebrand's disease. All patients had a severe bleeding diathesis with recurrent life-threatening haemorrhages. Three of the patients had a monoclonal gammopathy and one of these developed multiple myeloma.

Manipulation and presentation of multidimensional image data using the peano scan.

A fractal curve first discussed by Giuseppe Peano has useful statistical properties in image processing. The curve can act as a transform between a line and n-dimensional space retaining some of the spatially associative properties of the space. Applications of the curve include multispectral image display, compression in the color and spa-tial domain, classification, and color display.

The use of dichloromethylene diphosphonate for the management of hypercalcaemia in multiple myeloma.

We have assessed the effects of the diphosphonate, dichloromethylene diphosphonate (Cl2MDP), in 19 patients with hypercalcaemia and increased bone resorption due to myeloma. Cl2MDP (800-3200 mg daily by mouth or 300 mg daily by intravenous infusion) decreased plasma calcium and biochemical indices of increased bone resorption in 16 of 19 patients. This effect persisted for the duration of treatment (up to 14 weeks).

Background pattern removal by power spectral filtering.

A new method for removing periodic background patterns from pictures is presented. The basic spatial frequency composition of the pattern is determined from an estimate of the power spectrum of the picture. A convolutional restoration kernel is then created from a modified version of the power spectrum.

Haemorrhage and factor IX deficiency in pituitary insufficiency.

Acquired isolated factor IX deficiency is rare. A case presenting with haemorrhage after dental extraction is described. The factor IX deficiency was associated with pituitary insufficiency and was completely corrected following the administration of thyroxine.

Relationship between platelet aggregation, thromboxane synthesis and albumin concentration in nephrotic syndrome.

Increased platelet aggregability on stimulation with sodium arachidonate (NaAA), collagen and ADP was found in a group of 14 patients with nephrotic syndrome when compared with age and sex matched controls. Five of the group also exhibited spontaneous platelet aggregation (SPA), associated with synthesis of thromboxane B2 (TxB2), and which appeared to correlate with a markedly increased serum triglyceride concentration. Thromboxane B2 generation in response to NaAA was increased and reflected both the low serum albumin concentration and the platelet aggregation response to this agent.

A study of the stimulation of human venous prostacyclin synthesis by dipyridamole.

The synthesis of prostacyclin by human venous tissue in vitro and the effects of aspirin and dipyridamole thereon were investigated. Dipyridamole significantly stimulated prostacyclin production in a concentration range of 25 to 100 microM. Dipyridamole significantly attenuated the inhibitory effect of 0.

Low-dose aspirin inhibits platelet and venous cyclo-oxygenase in man.

In a group of normal subjects we have compared rates of recovery of venous prostacyclin (PGI2) and platelet thromboxane B2 (TXB2) production after a single 300 mg dose of aspirin. Marked inhibition of both venous PGI2 synthesis and platelet TXB2 synthesis persisted for the 72 hours duration of the study. We also examined the effect of four daily doses of 40 mg aspirin on platelet and vessel wall prostaglandin biosynthesis.

Disorders of haemostasis in diabetes mellitus.

The frequent occurrence of vascular complications in diabetes mellitus has prompted extensive research into possible mechanisms which may relate to these complications. Recently, most emphasis has been directed towards the platelet and there is now good evidence of disordered platelet function, platelet biochemistry and platelet vessel wall interaction in many diabetic patients. In addition to these disturbances of platelet behaviour, other haemostatic abnormalities are not uncommon in the diabetic patient.

Plasma 6-keto-prostaglandin F1alpha: fact or fiction.

A radioimmunoassay for 6-keto-prostaglandin F1alpha was developed and validated. The apparent concentration of 6-keto-prostaglandin F1alpha in human venous plasma was found to be less than 50 pg/m1. A rise in plasma 6-keto-prostaglandin F1alpha was detected on infusion of prostacyclin or of DDAVP in human subjects.

Gangrene of the toes with palpable peripheral pulses.

Thirty-five patients with gangrene or pregangrene of the feed associated with palpable peripheral pulses have been treated with the platelet suppressive drugs aspirin and dipyridamole. Sulphinpyrazone was substituted for two patients who could not tolerate aspirin. Complete reversal of the signs and symptoms occurred in more than 50% of the treated patients.