Reactions of serum creatine kinase in early phase of spherical steel bullet injury

On the basis of experimental study on 17 dogs, this paper reports on the variation of serum creatine kinase (SCK) with time in the early phase of wounding by spherical steel bullets at three different velocities and its relation with the kinetic energy absorbed by the tissue and with the amount of the excised necrotic tissue surrounding the wound tracks. The results showed that the energy absorbed by the tissue and the amount of the excised necrotic tissue surrounding the wound tracks increased with increasing velocity. Within a period of 6 hours after wounding the SCK activity increased correspondingly.

Early pathomorphologic characteristics of the wound track caused by fragments

Soft-tissue wounds were inflicted on the upper parts of both hind legs of dogs by fragments which were shot with a smooth-bore testing rifle. Three impact velocities were used: "high" (1,500 m/s, six dogs), "middle" (1,000 m/s, eight dogs) and "low" (700 m/s, seven dogs). Debridement and gross examination were carried out 6 hours after wounding. The main conclusions were as follows: 1) Grossly, most of the wound tracks were blind. The primary wound track in the "high"-velocity group looked like a funnel in shape. The wound cavity close to the entrance had the largest diameter. 2) The severity of the tissue damage depended on the impact velocity. The higher the velocity, the larger were the wound cavities, the more tissues damaged, and the wider was the area of tissue damage around the cavity. 3) Based on the gross, light microscopy (LM), and electron microscopy (EM) observations it was found that one of the predominant characteristics of the tissue damage caused by fragments was the irregularity or unevenness. This was especially true in the case of the "high"-velocity group. The distribution of tissue damage seemed to be "jumping" or "mosaic." This probably resulted from the irregularity of the energy delivery from fragments with high velocity and low mass. 4) The differences in morphologic characteristics between wound tracks caused by bullets and those by fragments are discussed.

Wounding effects of small fragments of different shapes at different velocities on soft tissues of dogs

The wounding effects of small fragments of the same weight (0.44 gm) but different shapes and at different impact velocities (708-1,560 m/s) on the soft tissues of the hind legs of 156 dogs were studied. The experiments showed that velocity was the major factor in causing wounds. For fragments of the same shape, the energy transmission, volume of wound cavity, sectional areas at entrance and exit, and amount of tissue that had to be excised increased rapidly with increasing velocity. In particular, as the velocity reached about 1,500 m/s, a shallow and wide wound tract was liable to occur, peripheral tissue lesion was relatively apparent, even extended to the whole leg, and the rate of occurrence of bone fracture was high. The wounding effect of the shape of the fragment closely related to its sectional specific weight (W) and drag coefficient (CD). Given the weight of the projectile and the density and thickness of the tissue, the energy transmission (delta E) was directly proportional to the square of the velocity and to the drag coefficient, and inversely proportional to the sectional specific weight of the fragment. Therefore, under certain conditions, reducing the sectional specific weight often increased the drag coefficient, in favour of causing a wound. In this experiment, the extent of wounds caused by the triangular, the square, and the cylindrical, and the spherical fragments decreased in that order, in agreement with their values of sectional specific weight and drag coefficient.

Homozygous familial hypercholesterolemic patients in China

Five homozygous patients with familial hypercholesterolemia (FH) are described. Their serum cholesterol levels were between 603 and 907 mg/dl, with an average of 714 mg/dl. The mean value of serum cholesterol levels of the obligate heterozygous parents was 270 mg/dl. In the patient group, 87% of the serum cholesterol was distributed in low density lipoprotein (LDL) and the mean LDL cholesterol level was about 8.4 times that in a control group. Phospholipids in HDL in the patient group were significantly lower than in the controls. Lipid assays of xanthoma tissues revealed that the major lipid was cholesterol and its esters. LDL receptor activity in fibroblasts from the homozygotes was markedly decreased. Two patients yielded less than 2% of normal receptor activity and were classified as receptor-negative. The other 3 revealed receptor activities greater than 2% but less than 25% of normal receptor activity and were classified as receptor-defective.