[Ochratoxin A in sultanas]. / Ochratoxin A in getrockneten Weinbeeren.

In the Lebensmittelinstitut Braunschweig 89 samples of sultanas were analysed for Ochratoxin A in 2003. The samples were slurried with water to get a homogeneous test-material. After the extraction with acetonitrile the sample-filtrates were cleaned-up by immuno affinity columns. The measurement was performed by HPLC with fluorescence-detection. As the result we asserted a high contamination of sultanas with OTA. The median concentration amounted 2,7 µg/kg at a contamination rate of 95%. 8% of all samples above the limit value of 10 µg/kg with a maximum value of 28,5 µg/kg.

Effects of a novel inotropic agent (OPC-18790) on systolic and diastolic function in patients with severe heart failure.

A double-blind placebo-controlled study to determine the acute hemodynamic and cardiac mechanical effects of the quinolinone derivative OPC-18790 was performed in 12 patients with New York Heart Association class III or IV congestive heart failure. Simultaneous echocardiographic, Doppler, and invasive hemodynamic studies were performed before and after a 6-hour intravenous infusion of drug at 2.5, 5.0, or 10.0 micrograms/kg/min or of placebo. OPC-18790 (mean dose 5.9 +/- 3.5 mg) caused significant increases in left ventricular (LV) ejection fraction (15% +/- 4% vs 23% +/- 5%; p < 0.05) and cardiac index (1.7 +/- 0.4 vs 2.5 +/- 0.6 L/min/m2; p < 0.05) and a rightward and upward shift in the stress-shortening relation. LV end-diastolic volume and heart rate were unchanged. LV filling and posterior LV wall thinning rates from digitized M-mode echocardiographic studies (0.49 +/- 0.16 vs 0.75 +/- 0.21 cm/sec and 2.0 +/- 0.9 vs 3.0 +/- 1.4 cm/sec, respectively; both p < 0.05), transmitral deceleration time (67 +/- 24 vs 81 +/- 19 msec, p < 0.05), and atrial filling fraction (31.0% +/- 11.2% vs 38.9% +/- 13.9%, p < 0.05) increased with OPC-18790 infusion. Despite a significant decrease in pulmonary capillary wedge pressure (28 +/- 9 vs 18 +/- 10 mm Hg) there was no change in the velocity-time integral of early diastolic filling (53 +/- 12 vs 59 +/- 22 cm), suggesting improved LV relaxation. Hemodynamics and parameters of LV function were unchanged in the 3 patients receiving placebo.(ABSTRACT TRUNCATED AT 250 WORDS)

Late systolic click from isolated tricuspid valve prolapse simulating paradoxical splitting of the second heart sound.

A 72 year old woman was thought to have a paradoxically split second heart sound. Echocardiography with simultaneous phonocardiography revealed a late systolic click resulting from isolated tricuspid valve prolapse. Respiratory variation of the click in relation to the second heart sound resulted in an auscultatory phenomenon simulating paradoxical splitting of the second heart sound.

Echocardiographic study of the paradoxical arterial pulse in chronic obstructive lung disease.

In nine subjects with chronic obstructive pulmonary disease (COPD) and pulsus paradoxus, M-mode echocardiograms showed inspiratory augmentation of right ventricular dimensions and inspiratory decrease of left ventricular diastolic dimensions. In five subjects in whom the echocardiographic transistor was in the subxiphoid position, mean right ventricular dimensions increased during inspiration from 1.4 +/- 0.20 to 2.96 +/- 0.38 cm (p < 0.01). With inspiration, mean left ventricular diastolic dimensions decreased from 4.8 +/- 0.61 to 3.7 +/- 0.63 cm (p < 0.01) in these five subjects. Two-dimensional echocardiograms, performed in three subjects, confirmed inspiratory augmentation of right ventricular cross-sectional area. Similar changes were produced in two normal volunteers by artificial obstruction to breathing. Left ventricular ejection time measurements demonstrated an inspiratory decline in left ventricular stroke volume. Inspiratory filling of the right ventricle is not hampered, but rather is exaggerated in patients with COPD and pulsus paradoxus, and left ventricular stroke volume is reduced during inspiration. Exaggerated variations in intrathoracic pressure alone did not explain pulsus paradoxus. Increased right ventricular filling and stroke volume during inspiration probably play a part.