External quality assessment data analysis by microcomputer.

Microcomputers are now widely used in clinical laboratories because of their low price and the availability of a wide variety of software that can be adapted to the users' requirements. The continuously increasing numbers of patients, tests and the use of automation are additional factors which emphasize the need for computers. A microcomputer software that meets the exact requirements of the Quality Control Unit was developed to evaluate laboratories participating in the Kuwait National Bacteriological Quality Assessment Scheme.

A profile of ammonia-urea values in blood and cerebrospinal fluid in children with protein energy malnutrition.

The study comprised 25 children suffering from PEM. Ten of them were non-oedematous and the rest were oedematous. A group of 10 children of similar age served as the controls. A state of hyperammonaemia with slightly reduced blood urea was found in both forms of PEM but was more marked in kwashiorkor. There was also a highly significant increase in CSF ammonia in all cases of PEM studied. Some of the mental changes which have been observed in kwashiorkor may be, at least in part, due to ammonia intoxication.