Cardiac output monitoring during the acute phase of myocardial infarction: accuracy and precision of the thermodilution method

A triple human catheter was used for the determination of cardiac output during the acute phase of moycardial infarction in 23 patients. The correlation coefficient between thermodilution and the Fick method was 0.91. Precision of the method assessed by multiple repeated determinations was 4.8 or 5.6%. Quadruplicate determinations allowed to detect variations of cardiac output in the range of 0.465 1/min. Variation between two successive determinations of more than 9.4% can probably be attributed to a technical error.

[Amiodarone and thyroid function]

Amiodarone is a drug which is frequently used in cardiology, and which can lead to the appearance of hyper- of hypo-thyroidism in certain cases. A study of the various parameters of thyroid function has shown that these are abnormal in every case treated by this drug, without the biochemical abnormalities necessarily being reflected clinically. The authors outline a method which will allow a distinction to be drawn between patients with a true thyroid malfunction and those whose biochemical results do not appear at first sight to be of any consequence. Regular assays of the T3RIA level are suggested as a means of early detection of thyroid malfunction in patients undergoing treatment with amiodarone.

A comparison of flexible and nonflexible plastic cannulae for performing first trimester abortion

The safety and effectiveness of flexible and nonflexible plastic cannulae used in vacuum aspiration abortion for patients at 6 to 12 weeks' gestation were evaluated in a study of 1100 physically healthy women in Ljublijana, Yugoslavia. To minimize study biases, each type of cannulae was randomly assigned to 550 patients. To minimize evaluator bias, a second physician who was kept unaware of which cannula was used for particular patient was responsible for evaluating patients after the procedures. Both groups of patients were similar with respect to age, parity, marital status, formal education and gestational age. Higher rates of retained tissue and cannula obstruction were obtained with the flexible cannula. The two types of cannulae were not significantly different with respect to other criteria of evaluation.

[Humoral immunity and blastic transformation of lymphocytes in trisomy 21]

Studies of immunologic parameters in 52 children with trisomy 21 revealed that -the changes in serum immunoglobulin patterns were minimal, although some delay in the age-dependent rise of IgG concentration was observed; -lymphocyte reactivity to phytohemagglutinin showed a shift with maximal 3H-thymidine incorporation at low PHA concentration; -presence of HBs antigen at an increased incidence, possible existence of anti-thyroid antibodies in serum of trisomy patients and also in that of their parents, abnormalities in phagocytosis, illustrate that trisomy 21 can be associated with multiple immunologic dysfunctions.

[Trisomy 4p. Three new observations (author's transl)]

Three new observations of trisomy 4p are reported. Two are due to a maternal translocation t(4;15). The third is due to a "mirror" duplication, it is the first case of trisomy 4p without balanced parental rearrangement. The very characteristic phenotype is compared to that of 13 other patients already reported in the literature.

[Partial trisomy 11q and familial translocation 11--22 (author's transl)]

By heat denaturation, a reciprocal translocation was found in the mother of two malformed sibs. In her 46,XX,t(11 ;22)(q23 ;q11) caryotype, the rearranged elements exhibit no change of length. The 2 sibs are trisomic for the distal part of the long arm of chromosome 11.

[Trisomy 8 in mosaicism]

Case report of a 6 year old girl without clear dysmorphism or mental deficiency. Chromosome studies, performed on blood lymphocytes, showed trisomy 8 in 80 % of the cells. This case is discussed with regards to a short literature analysis.

Atrioventricular dissociation between two atrioventricular nodal rhythms

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