Outdoor ultraviolet exposure of children and adolescents.

The weekday and weekend outdoor ultraviolet exposure of young people from primary and secondary schools in three geographically distinct regions of England was determined over a 3-month period in summer. Ultraviolet exposure was measured using personal film badges worn by each young person, and time spent outdoors, in hourly intervals, assessed using exposure records. In each area a class of 9-10-year-old children from a primary school and a class of 14-15-year-old adolescents from a secondary school took part, giving a total of 180 subjects.

An audit of the organisation of neonatal screening for phenylketonuria and congenital hypothyroidism in the Northern Region.

Background: The objectives of the study were to identify whether all districts in the Northern Region had a system in place to ensure that all resident babies were being screened for phenylketonuria and congenital hypothyroidism and to identify potential delays which could influence whether a result was available on all residents before 28 days of age.

Methods: Lead professionals involved in the screening programmes were interviewed in 1993 in all 16 districts. Recommendations for improving the service were made to each district.

Randomized trial of bolus phenylephrine or ephedrine for maintenance of arterial pressure during spinal anaesthesia for Caesarean section.

Thirty-eight healthy women undergoing elective Caesarean section under spinal anaesthesia at term were allocated randomly to receive boluses of either phenylephrine 100 micrograms or ephedrine 5 mg for maintenance of maternal arterial pressure. The indication for administration of vasopressor was a reduction in systolic pressure to < or = 90% of baseline values. Maternal arterial pressure (BP) and heart rate (HR) were measured every minute by automated oscillometry.

Behavior outdoors and its effects on personal ultraviolet exposure rate measured using an ambulatory datalogging dosimeter.

We describe the construction of a small device incorporating a UVB (290-320 nm) sensor that can be worn on the lapel site or waistband and which is electrically coupled to a portable data logger carried in a trouser pocket or worn on a belt. The detector has an approximate cosine-weighted angular response and is linear over a wide dynamic range. It has a spectral sensitivity that follows closely the erythema action spectrum in the UVB region, is less than one order of magnitude greater than this action spectrum in the UVAII region (320-340 nm) and between one to two orders of magnitude greater in the UVAI region (340-400 nm).

Bullous pemphigoid and burns: the unveiling of the attachment plaque?

Two patients with bullous pemphigoid (BP) associated with burns are described. The case with BP lesions that were localized is the first to be described in the literature and generalized BP has been described on only one occasion previously. Both cases exhibited the clinical features of BP and settled with the use of oral prednisolone.

Ambulatory monitoring of ultraviolet erythema in photosensitive subjects.

Little is known about whether patients with photosensitive disorders exhibit a different ultraviolet erythema time course from subjects with a normal response to sunlight. We have described the application of an instrument for ambulatory monitoring of the development of ultraviolet erythema by a reflectance method in a group of patients with chronic actinic dermatitis (CAD) and in a group of normal subjects. Investigations of the time course have been reported previously but the techniques used relied upon manual measurement.

Observed and predicted minimal erythema doses: a comparative study.

This study compared how well minimal erythema doses predicted using the reference action spectrum for UV erythema proposed by the International Commission on Illumination (CIE) in 1987 agreed with those observed in phototesting a large number of subjects with normal responses to sunlight to six different wavelengths of UV radiation (UVR) between 300 and 400 nm. It was found that, within the limits of experimental error, the hypothesis that the CIE reference action spectrum is a valid predictor of the erythemal effectiveness of different wavelengths of UVR could not be dismissed. There is no strong reason, therefore, why the CIE action spectrum should not continue to be used as a reference to compare the erythemal effectiveness of different broadband sources.

An outbreak of group C streptococcal infection in a maternity unit.

An outbreak of Group C streptococcal infection (Streptococcus equisimilis serotype T204) occurred in a Maternity Unit in Durham over a 2-week period. The outbreak strain possessed an M-protein antigen identical to that found in a previously reported Maternity Unit outbreak. Seven patients in total were affected, and in two patients infected perineal wounds took several weeks to heal.

A method for broad spectrum classification of sunscreens.

Synopsis A method is described and evaluated for classifying sunscreen products into different broad spectrum categories. The method is based on spectrophotometric analysis of products applied to a suitable substrate and obviates the need for human or animal studies utilizing clinical endpoints which may be of dubious value in relation to protection from sun exposure. The absorbance spectrum obtained by spectrophotometric assay is reduced to a single index by determining that wavelength lambda(c) where the area under the spectrum from 290 nm (the approximate lower wavelength limit of terrestrial sunlight) to lambda(c) is 90% of the integral of the absorbance spectrum from 290 to 400 nm.

A comparative study of the frictional properties of emollient bath additives using porcine skin.

The coefficient of friction of 14 prescribable bath emollients was determined using porcine skin attached to a loaded plunger placed through a bearing in a friction-measuring carriage, held above a reciprocating table powered by a DC motor. The carriage was mounted in low-friction rollers, and restrained by a piezo-electric force transducer connected to an amplifier and recorder. Friction was measured at room temperature, and at 45 degrees C.

A device for phototesting patients before PUVA therapy.

A device is described and validated for rapid and easy phototesting of patients at the start of a course of PUVA therapy. The phototesting template consists of metal foil with four apertures of 10 mm diameter, mounted in pliable polyurethane. One aperture is open, and the other three each incorporate a grid of hexagonal holes of differing size which attenuate the radiation, resulting in relative intensities at the skin surface of 1, 2, 4 and 8.

Coagulation tests in predicting haemorrhage after prostatic resection.

It is known that disseminated intravascular coagulation (DIC) can contribute towards blood loss after transurethral resection of the prostate because of the absorption of various prostatic substances. The aim of the present study was to establish whether simple coagulation tests (prothrombin time/activated partial thromboplastin time) carried out immediately after surgery would be useful in predicting those patients who bleed excessively after prostatic resection due to DIC. Criteria to determine significant post-operative haemorrhage were defined.

Cutaneous secondary follicular centre cell lymphoma in association with lymphoedema praecox.

We report a patient who developed cutaneous metastases in a lymphoedematous leg, from a follicular centre cell lymphoma, in a setting of lymphoedema praecox and recurrent deep-vein thromboses. To our knowledge, this is the first report of such a case. We discuss the possible causes for this localization.

Rapid filtering of large medical images using one-dimensional convolution kernels.

Many image enhancement algorithms can be implemented by convoluting the image with a predefined kernel function. A class of such functions is identified which has the property that a two-dimensional convolution can be exactly implemented using two successive one-dimensional convolutions along the rows and columns of the image. This leads to a simple and rapid algorithm for image enhancement, which can be applied to implement both low pass and high pass filters.

The repair of inguinal hernias using carbon fibre patches--a five-year follow-up.

One hundred and eight inguinal hernias were treated following a standard surgical technique, using 3-mm thick loosely woven carbon-fibre patches. The average follow-up was five and a half years. There was one recurrence.