Paternity change and the recurrence risk in familial hypertensive disorder in pregnancy.

Objective: To investigate if there is an increased risk for recurrence of hypertensive disorder in pregnancy with a new partner and whether this is affected by maternal age and the interbirth interval through use of familial material.

Methods: Data on 614 multiparous women, with confirmed de novo hypertensive disorder in a first pregnancy, were used to assess the effect of paternity and interbirth interval on recurrence of hypertensive disorders.

Results: There were 121 women (19.

Contemporary anesthesia ventilators incur a significant "oxygen cost".

Purpose: Anesthesia ventilators use oxygen or oxygen/air mixtures to drive the bellows during controlled ventilation. As a practitioner may find himself in a situation that the only available oxygen source is a compressed oxygen cylinder, it is important to know the oxygen consumption of anesthesia ventilators during controlled ventilation.

Methods: We tested the Datex-Ohmeda 7900 ventilator mounted on an Excel 210 anesthesia machine under a variety of conditions.

Patients with systemic lupus erythematosus are deficient in complement-dependent prevention of immune precipitation.

Objective: A functional deficiency of complement has been implicated but not conclusively demonstrated in the pathogenesis of systemic lupus erythematosus (SLE). To test this, we studied several aspects of complement in 44 patients with SLE, 46 patients with rheumatoid arthritis and 102 blood donors.

Methods: Prevention of immune precipitation (PIP) was measured by an enzyme immunoassay, levels of C1q, C4 and C3 by rocket immunoelectrophoresis, C4A, C4B and C3d by enzyme-linked immunosorbent assay (ELISA), complement haemolysis (CH50) by standard methods and C4 allotypes by high-voltage agarose electrophoresis and sodium dodecyl sulphate polyacrylamide gel electrophoresis (SDS-PAGE).

A population-based analysis of increased incidence and improved survival of testicular cancer patients in Iceland.

Objective: For unknown reasons the incidence of testicular cancer has risen dramatically in many industrialized countries. At the same time, the prognosis for these patients has improved even more significantly. This has mostly been explained by the introduction of an effective cisplatin-based multidrug chemotherapy regimen for patients with metastatic or recurrent disease, but better diagnostic tools and surveillance may also play a role.

The inheritance of hand osteoarthritis in Iceland.

Objective: To assess the contribution of genetics to hand osteoarthritis (HOA) and its subsets in the Icelandic population.

Methods: A list of 2,919 HOA patients, constituting 1% of the Icelandic population, was compiled through nationwide sources. This patient list was cross-referenced with a comprehensive Icelandic genealogy database, enabling the use of algorithms to assess familiality of HOA.

The prevalence of chronic fatigue syndrome in Iceland - a national comparison by gender drawing on four different criteria.

The study was carried out to estimate the prevalence of chronic fatigue syndrome (CFS) in Iceland. No previous prevalence studies known to us have been undertaken in Iceland or in Scandinavia. A 95-item custom-made questionnaire was sent to 4000 randomly selected people.

Sleep and sleep habits from childhood to young adulthood over a 10-year period.

The aim of this epidemiological study was to utilise a cross-sectional as well as a longitudinal approach to examine sleep habits and how they develop in young people in Iceland. The 668 subjects (1-20 years) who responded to a postal survey in 1985 were followed up 5 and 10 years later. The majority of the variance in bedtime and sleep duration was explained by age, but also to a considerable degree by other factors such as residence, season, and year of survey or interaction of these factors.

Airway closure in anesthetized infants and children: influence of inspiratory pressures and volumes.

Background: Cyclic opening and closing of lung units during tidal breathing may be an important cause of iatrogenic lung injury. We hypothesized that airway closure is uncommon in children with healthy lungs when inspiratory pressures are kept low, but paradoxically may occur when inspiratory pressures are increased.

Methods: Elastic equilibrium volume (EEV) and closing capacity (CC) were measured with a tracer gas (SF(6)) technique in 11 anesthetized, muscle-relaxed, endotracheally intubated and artificially ventilated healthy children, aged 0.

Is compartment pressure related to plasma colloid osmotic pressure, in patients during and after cardiac surgery?

Haemodilution is always considerable during cardiopulmonary bypass (CPB). If this extra fluid sits in the muscle compartments then a corresponding rise in the compartment pressure (CP) is to be expected. The aim of this study was to measure pressure changes in a body compartment with new equipment, the MTC (Microtransducer).

Low mannose binding lectin predicts poor prognosis in patients with early rheumatoid arthritis. A prospective study.

Objective: To determine whether low mannose binding lectin (MBL) is associated with poor prognosis in rheumatoid arthritis (RA) and whether patients with RA have increased frequency of MBL deficiency.

Methods: Patients with recent onset symmetric polyarthritis (< 1 year, median 3 mo) were recruited if they had not been treated longer than 2 weeks with disease modifying drugs. They were reevaluated after 6 months and their disease activity and progression were correlated with their MBL concentration, rheumatoid factor (RF) isotypes, and C-reactive protein (CRP).

Gastric cancer in Iceland. What is the current status? Survival of 193 patients operated on for cure, 1980-1995.

Objective: The incidence of gastric cancer has been decreasing in the last decades. Nevertheless, gastric cancer is still a substantial health problem in Iceland. The aim of this study was to analyze the survival of patients with gastric cancer operated on for cure.

CPH 82 (Reumacon) in refractory inflammatory arthritis.

In this retrospective analysis of the DMARD CPH 82 in 44 Icelandic patients with severe refractory arthritis, clinical tolerance was good and serious side effects absent, although the majority were using the drug in combination with other DMARDS. Side effects leading to discontinuation were seen in 16% and the three year drug-survival was 51%.

Articular hypermobility in Icelandic 12-year-olds.

Objective: To examine the prevalence of articular hypermobility and its relationship to musculoskeletal pain in Icelandic 12-yr-olds, and to obtain baseline data for a prospective study on the subject.

Methods: A total of 267 12-yr-olds were examined for articular hypermobility by the Beighton criteria. The children also answered a questionnaire concerning musculoskeletal pain and injuries, sports and musical activity.

Rheumatoid arthritis in an Icelandic textbook from 1782.

In 1782, Jón Pétursson, a district physician in Northern Iceland, published a textbook on arthritis and its remedies intended for common use. Working within a very simple diagnostic system, essentially comprising osteoarthritis (arthritis fixa) and inflammatory arthritis (arthritis vaga), he describes arthritis vaga as a common, chronic, symmetric, destructive, inflammatory polyarthritis, sometimes with systemic manifestations. It affected people of all ages with a peak incidence around forty, and had a female preponderance.

Hypermobility features in patients with hand osteoarthritis.

In this study of 100 patients with established hand osteoarthritis (OA) and 100 matched controls, clinical thumb base OA was more common in subjects with features of articular hypermobility. Hypermobile patients also had more severe thumb base involvement and more disability, but less interphalangeal joint OA. This trend was evident even in patients with moderate laxity (Beighton score > or = 2), and there was a significant correlation between disability and the number of hypermobility criteria.

Decreased bactericidal activity during the period of the postantibiotic effect.

Standard and clinical strains of Staphylococcus aureus, Escherichia coli and Klebsiella pneumoniae were subjected to continuous exposure to beta-lactams and aminoglycosides during the postantibiotic effect phase induced by rifampicin or erythromycin (for S. aureus). A significant inhibition of bactericidal activity by these agents during the PAE period was observed.

Plasminogen depletion during streptokinase treatment or two-chain urokinase incubation correlates with decreased clot lysability ex vivo and in vitro.

The relationship between lytic state variables and ex vivo clot lysability was investigated in blood drawn from patients during streptokinase administration for acute myocardial infarction. A lytic state was already evident after 5 min of treatment and after 20 min the plasminogen concentration had decreased to 24%, antiplasmin to 7% and fibrinogen 0.2 g/l.

Systemic lupus erythematosus in Iceland 1975 through 1984. A nationwide epidemiological study in an unselected population.

In a nationwide study the 1982 revised ARA criteria were applied for the classification of systemic lupus erythematosus (SLE). This unselected group of patients included all cases diagnosed and managed in hospitals, as well as outside hospitals in Iceland over the 10-year period from 1975 to 1984. Seventy-six new cases were found, with an incidence of 5.

Beta-adrenoceptor agonists and hypoxia in sheep fetuses.

Sheep fetuses, near term, were studied to test the influence of a tocolytic beta agonist, terbutaline, on fetal responses to hypoxia. After fetal exteriorization the drug was administered intravenously to the mother in three different doses: The max group comprised 11 ewes receiving 67-134 micrograms min-1. Seven ewes were given 30 micrograms min-1 and eight ewes were infused with 10 micrograms min-1.

X-linked cleft palate and ankyloglossia in an Icelandic family.

Information was available on 293 family members and spouses of seven generations in an Icelandic family with high frequency of cleft of secondary palate and ankyloglossia. The authors have personally investigated 182 individuals in generations IV-VII and have drawn blood from over 100 members for genetic marker studies. The senior author, Dr.

Additive effects of moderate dietary salt reduction and captopril in hypertension.

In a randomized, cross-over study 27 patients had diastolic blood pressure of greater than or equal to 96 mmHg during four visits without treatment. Following captopril 25 mg b.i.