[Which are the most frequent enteropathogenic parasites found in clinical practice?].

Infectious diarrhea is seen with increasing frequency in general practice. The main reason is growing tourism in countries with conditions of public health different from ours, where the incidence of enteropathogenic parasites is higher. To obtain an overview of these parasites, the results of 23,276 stool samples from patients in general practice throughout Switzerland were analyzed.

[Which are the most frequently occurring enteropathogenic bacteria in clinical practice?].

Diarrhea is an increasingly frequent clinical finding in Swiss medical practice. One reason is the volume of tourism in countries with different climatic and social circumstances. To obtain an overview of the enteropathogenic bacteria spectrum as a cause of diarrhea, we analyzed 11,163 stool specimens from a representative group of patients throughout Switzerland.

[Myeloperoxidase deficiency--blemish or disease? Evaluation of 60,337 differential blood pictures].

Leukocyte differential counting by flow cytochemistry (H 6000, Technicon) has shown 32 subjects with partial or complete leukocyte myeloperoxidase deficiency in a population of 60,337 patients screened at a reference laboratory over a one year period. Some of the patients were hospitalized, but most were outpatients. Partial (27 patients) or complete (5 patients) myeloperoxidase deficiency was confirmed by examination of cytochemical stains (Graham-Knoll method).

[To what extent do indications for or questioning of the 24-hour ECG in ambulatory practice correlate with established ECG findings?].

In 1312 patients the Holter 24-h ECG method served to detect 3190 abnormalities of the cardiac rhythm (mean 2.43 different types of arrhythmia per patient), and were classified into 14 arrhythmia groups. The main groups of indications for Holter ECG were classified as follows: palpitation; syncopes, dizziness; life-threatening arrhythmias.

[Profile of autoimmune antibodies in idiopathic hypothyroidism and hypothyroidism following radio-iodine treatment in Basedow's disease: comparison with a group of normal subjects from the female population of Switzerland].

Prevalence of thyroid microsomal antibodies (MCHA) and thyroglobulin antibodies (TGHA), as well as frequency of other autoantibodies (parietal cell antibodies [PZA], adrenal antibodies [NNA], islet cell antibodies [IZA], smooth muscle antibodies [SMA], mitochondrial antibodies [MitA] and antibodies to nuclear antigens [ANF]), are reported for three different female groups in Switzerland in 91 euthyroid controls (group A), in 58 patients with idiopathic hypothyroidism (group B) and in 55 patients with hypothyroidism after administration of radioactive iodine for Graves' disease (group C). Prevalence of MCHA in the three groups was 14.5%, 90%, and 72%, respectively, and TGHA were positive in 6.

Radiometric calibration of the Coastal Zone Color Scanner on Nimbus 7: a proposed adjustment.

Ground measurements of water reflectances for two very clear days, allied with computations of atmospheric effects, are compared with satellite data of the Coastal Zone Color Scanner. This exercise points out significant errors in the calibration of the scanner. A new set of calibration constants, which standardizes radiances relative to the extraterrestrial solar irradiance, is proposed.