The evolution of women as physicians and surgeons.

Women have played an active role as physicians and surgeons from earliest history. In the United States, medical education for women began in 1847 and flourished as medical schools proliferated to meet the growing population demand. The Flexner Report in 1910 resulted in about half the medical schools in the U.S. closing; many of them had admitted women. The number of women medical students increased beginning in the 1970s, until now, 43% of medical school graduates are women. The number of women residents has increased concomitantly from 22% in 1980 to 36% in 1997. Women residents in surgical training programs lag behind. Thoracic surgery has the lowest percent of women residents, at 5%. Unless an attempt is made to actively recruit women, thoracic surgery training programs are in danger of drawing from an increasingly smaller portion of medical school graduates.

Quantitative HPLC analysis of human plaque proteins in coronary and thoracic aorta arteries.

Quantitative HPLC analysis of saline-soluble proteins obtained from human coronary and thoracic aorta plaque and from whole internal mammary artery were performed. Protein extracts were characterized by anion exchange and reverse-phase HPLC and the integrated chromatographs revealed significant differences in both peak retention times and areas for protein species from coronary artery compared to thoracic aorta artery plaque. Coronary artery plaque proteins possessed a high degree of cationic charge and polarity compared to those present in thoracic aorta plaque and normal mammary artery. This suggests that specific protein markers may be expressed in plaque of different anatomical origin, and that the processing of protein may be distinct to plaque sites. In contrast, characterization of molecular weight by gel electrophoresis resolved no major differences between plaque types. These findings indicate that proteins in human plaque lesions of different anatomical origin can be resolved by HPLC methodology and that they exhibit different charge and polarity. Such an HPLC approach may prove useful in the quantitative identification and ultimate isolation of specific protein markers present in plaque during atherogenesis, and in the study of mechanisms of protein involvement in plaque formation.

Pericardial mesothelioma masquerading as a benign pericardial effusion.

A 53 year old asymptomatic man presented with a primary pericardial mesothelioma masquerading as a benign pericardial effusion. Although M-mode echocardiography showed an echo-free space, two-dimensional echocardiography and thoracic computed tomography demonstrated that the suspected effusion was caused by a mass surrounding the heart. Newer noninvasive techniques can be valuable for the early detection of pericardial tumor.