Material studies for the recycling of abandoned, lost or otherwise discarded fishing gear (ALDFG).

This study investigates the feasibility of material recycling for retrieved gillnets from the Baltic Sea collected during a campaign of the World Wildlife Fund (WWF) Germany. Fragments from the material were analysed by Fourier transform infrared (FTIR) spectroscopy revealing polyamide 6 (PA6), polypropylene (PP) and polyethylene terephthalate (PET) in net material, swim lines and sink lines, respectively. A visual examination by microscope found large quantities of minerals attached to the surface of the material as well as in knots and loops of the polymer structure.

Thrombolytic therapy in children--clinical experiences with recombinant tissue-plasminogen activator.

For the improvement of thrombolytic therapy with recombinant tissue-plasminogen activator (rt-PA) in children, more clinical data are needed. We retrospectively analyzed the clinical course of 20 patients (age ranging from 1 day to 16 years) with venous thrombosis (n = 16), arterial thrombosis (n = 2), and purpura fulminans by meningococcosis (n = 2). The venous thromboses were localized in the iliac-femoral veins (n = 9), brachiocephalic-jugular-subclavian veins (n = 6), and the superior caval vein (n = 1).

Temporary response of localized intracranial mast cell sarcoma to combination chemotherapy.

Cerebral involvement of systemic mastocytosis and intracranial sarcoma of myelogenic origin are well known entities. An 8-year-old girl with an isolated cerebral mast cell tumor is presented. Specific histopathologic stains were used to confirm the diagnosis detecting immunophenotype and proliferative activity.

High cure rates and reduced long-term toxicity in pediatric Hodgkin's disease: the German-Austrian multicenter trial DAL-HD-90. The German-Austrian Pediatric Hodgkin's Disease Study Group.

Purpose: To further reduce therapy-related late effects in patients with pediatric Hodgkin's disease (HD) while maintaining the high cure rates achieved with vincristine, prednisone, procarbazine, and doxorubicin (OPPA) or OPPA/cyclophosphamide, vincristine, prednisone, and procarbazine (COPP) chemotherapy and involved-field radiotherapy. The risk of testicular dysfunction was addressed by substituting etoposide for procarbazine (OEPA) in the induction therapy for boys. Radiation doses and fields were further reduced.

Platelet function tests in childhood. Measuring aggregation and release reaction in whole blood.

Blood samples from 42 newborns, 78 infants and schoolchildren, and 81 healthy adults were tested for the parameters of primary hemostasis. Only whole blood techniques were used. Agonist-induced aggregation and release-reaction studies were performed in a whole blood lumi-aggregometer simultaneously.

Molecular markers of the endothelium, the coagulation and the fibrinolytic systems in healthy newborns.

Endothelium derived substances may play a role in the physiological adaptation processes at the time of birth. The aim of this study was to investigate plasma concentrations of activation markers of the endothelium (endothelin-1, thrombomodulin, von Willebrand factor), of the coagulation and the fibrinolytic systems (thrombin-antithrombin III complex, D-dimer, plasmin-alpha2-antiplasmin complex) during the first days of life. Venous blood from peripheral veins was collected from 79 healthy newborns and for comparison from 38 healthy infants and schoolchildren, as well as from 17 healthy adults.

Release of adenosine triphosphate by adenosine diphosphate in whole blood and in erythrocyte suspensions.

In whole blood samples from thrombocytopenic patients, large amounts of ATP were released by ADP, exceeding the level obtained with samples from normal persons by far. Because we suspected that the high potential of ATP in erythrocytes would be the main source for this phenomenon, the release of ATP by ADP was measured in whole blood samples from normal, thrombocytopenic, and leukocytopenic persons and in suspensions of washed erythrocytes. The release was recorded by a Whole Blood Lumi-Aggregometer type 500 VS (Chrono-Log Corporation, Havertown, PA) using the luciferin-luciferase system.

Non-Hodgkin lymphoma (NHL) as a second neoplasm occurring after neuroblastoma treatment.

As far as we know, this is the first report of a non-Hodgkin lymphoma developing after successful treatment of neuroblastoma. A boy was found to have a mediastinal T-cell lymphoma at the age of 5. He had been treated for a neuroblastoma of the left adrenal region 4 years before, when by intensive chemotherapy and radiation a complete remission of the primary tumor was achieved.

Critical evaluation of the quantification of ATP release reaction in whole blood.

The influence of erythrocyte and thrombocyte content on the release of adenosine triphosphate (ATP) in whole blood was tested. Citrated blood from 39 healthy persons was diluted gradually. The release reaction was induced by arachidonic acid (1.

[Acute leukemia after aplastic anemia in childhood].

Only few reports about ALL after aplastic anaemias in childhood exist. It remains still unclear which immunophenotypes of the leukaemias must be expected thereafter. Here it is reported about two children with quite different immunophenotypes of the leukaemic cells.

[Detection of Exophiala dermatitidis (Kano) De Hoog 1977 in septicemia of a child with acute lymphatic leukemia and in patients with cystic fibrosis].

In 1992 black yeasts of the species Exophiala dermatitidis were isolated for the first time from patients at the University Clinics in Dresden. Since that time this relatively rarely detected fungus has been frequently cultivated from clinical specimens. Our observations were: Patient with acute lymphatic leukaemia: In a 3 1/2 years old boy E.

[After-care of children with diseases of the kidneys and efferent urinary tract].

In the district of Bautzen two different systems of care in nephrologic patients had been established since 1974. After the clinical diagnostics and treatment in the district hospital they had been transmitted to pediatric practices for after-treatment care. Beside it diagnostics and treatment in such patients was performed primarily in an outpatient department and the after-treatment care was done by the same pediatrician.

[Encephalopathy in leukemia treatment in children].

Side effects on the central nervous system by antileukemic treatment have been well known for a long time. We report on 2 patients suffering from a severe encephalopathy during antileukemic therapy. Furthermore the results of cerebral computer tomography in 50 children with acute leukemia have been analysed.

Low risk for hepatitis C in hemophiliacs given a high-purity, pasteurized factor VIII concentrate. International Study Group.

Study Objective: To assess whether the hepatitis B virus (HBV), the hepatitis C virus (HCV), and the human immunodeficiency virus (HIV) are transmitted to hemophiliacs by a high-purity factor VIII concentrate in which the method of virus inactivation is pasteurization.

Design: Hepatitis B virus markers, the antibody to HCV (anti-HCV), the antibody to HIV (anti-HIV), and aminotransferases were measured on serum samples collected before the first concentrate infusion and at regular time intervals thereafter.

Setting: Seventeen hemophilia centers in Italy, the Federal Republic of Germany, Belgium, Austria, and the Democratic Republic of Germany.

[Joint status after prophylactic substitution. An investigation in hemophilic children and adolescents in the DDR].

The joint condition in 98 children and adolescents with severe or moderate types of haemophilia participating in a summer camp between 1987 and 1989 had been analyzed. This was done by the centers' report and on the other hand with testing the patients by aid of the score system recommended by the World Federation of Hemophilia. According to the centers' reports more than 50% of all patients seem to be free of joint contractures.

[Thrombocytopenia after autologous bone marrow transplantation in in acute lymphatic leukemia].

There is reported about the treatment of refractory thrombocytopenia in a 9 years old boy following the autologous bone marrow transplantation for acute lymphoblastic leukaemia. The megakaryocytes were found diminished in the bone marrow smears. Controls of the thrombocyte count and the kinetics with radioactively labeled platelets of a donor spoke in favour of immunothrombocytopenia.

[Generalized herpesvirus infection with severe consumption coagulopathy in a newborn infant].

In a mature newborn the symptoms of a disseminated HSV infection were evident at the 6th day of life. Later on bleeding occurred as a result of severe consumption coagulopathy. During treatment with Acyclovir the bleeding situation was controlled by fibrinogen replacement.

Frequency of different types of von Willebrand's disease in the GDR.

The frequency of different types of von Willebrand's disease (vWD) was studied in the southern part of the GDR and during investigations of relatives of already diagnosed patients. Among 111 patients diagnosed, vWD was found to be type I in 85 cases, type II in 13 cases and severe recessive type in 13 cases. The patients with type I belonged to 46 different families.

Diagnosis and differentiation of von Willebrand's disease type II.

Out of 113 patients with vWD 15 were of type II. The basic test programme included F VIII:C, vWF-Ag, RCF and BT (Ivy). All type II patients had relatively high vWF-Ag and low RCF values.

Diagnostics of septicaemia in childhood by coagulation parameters.

The diagnostic importance of coagulation parameters was tested in 438 children with septicaemia by discriminant analysis. The values of 756 patients with other diseases had been analysed for comparison. After the selection of the parameters by multivariate analyses discriminant functions were calculated for different subgroups.

Plasma fibronectin concentrations in healthy and septic infants.

The concentration of plasma fibronectin was determined by Laurell's electroimmunoassay in 75 preterm or term newborns within the first 2 days of life, in 97 healthy infants aged from 3 days to 12 months, in 40 septic infants and in 38 healthy adult subjects. The mean fibronectin concentration in citrated plasma of normal adults was 318 +/- 84 ml/l. Healthy eutrophic term newborns 1-2 days old had approximately one-third of the fibronectin concentration of adults.

[Iliopsoas hemorrhage in hemophilic children].

Sixty-nine children with hemophilia were treated in our center between 1968 and 1983. About 1 per cent of hemorrhagic complications were bleedings localized in the iliopsoas muscle of 12 patients ranging in age from 9 to 15 years. The typical sign of the bleeding is a tight, palpable tumour above the inguinal fold.

[Effect on hemostasis and thrombogenesis by septic processes especially in childhood].

In 284 children with sepsis coagulation analyses were carried out. In sepsis in the postnatal period number of thrombocytes, plasminogen, antithrombin III, alpha 2-macroglobulin and factor V were initially decreased on an average, but fibrinogen, alpha 2-antiplasmin, the factors II and X as well as the trypsin inhibitor capacity were increased. The initially on an average reduced parameters often still considerably decreased, in order to increase after this to the norm of age within one to two weeks.