ABSTRACT
The hypothesis that atopic eczema is associated with a non-specific decrease in the serum concentration of trace metals was examined by measurement of the levels of zinc, copper and iron in 134 children with atopic eczema and 112 controls. The results failed to confirm the hypothesis. There was no significant difference between patients and controls for the concentrations of serum zinc, iron, iron-binding capacity and albumin. Patients with eczema had a significantly higher copper concentration (median 21.0 mumol/l) than controls (median 17.0 mumol/l), and a significantly lower concentration of ferritin (median 11.9 ng/ml for patients and 16.5 ng/ml for controls). There was a highly significant correlation between the surface area of skin affected by eczema and the concentrations of albumin and orosomucoid.
Subject(s)
Dermatitis, Atopic/blood , Metals/blood , Child , Copper/blood , Dermatitis, Atopic/metabolism , Ferritins/blood , Humans , Iron/blood , Iron/metabolism , Orosomucoid/analysis , Serum Albumin/analysis , Zinc/bloodABSTRACT
The problem of septicaemia in a district general hospital was studied prospectively over a two year period, with respect to factors affecting prognosis. Age had little influence on the outcome, although several factors showed age-related trends which tended to be unfavourable to survival. The mortality among patients over 65 years of age was 39.5% and this was not significantly different from the mortality of 34.5% among those below that age. It is suggested that by taking into consideration simple clinical and laboratory findings like sex, source of infection, intercurrent illness, blood urea, pulse rate and temperature, it is possible to predict prognosis with reasonable accuracy without recourse to excessive expenditure of money or resources.
Subject(s)
Sepsis/diagnosis , Adolescent , Adult , Age Factors , Aged , Aged, 80 and over , Female , Humans , Male , Middle Aged , Prognosis , Prospective Studies , Sepsis/complications , Sepsis/mortality , Sex FactorsABSTRACT
Retrospective analysis of glycosylated haemoglobin concentrations in a diabetic outpatient clinic over three and a half years showed a small seasonal variation in the mean value with a peak in mid February and a nadir in mid August.
Subject(s)
Diabetes Mellitus, Type 1/blood , Glycated Hemoglobin/analysis , Seasons , Adolescent , Adult , Child , Child, Preschool , Female , Humans , Infant , Male , Retrospective StudiesABSTRACT
Free-text is a natural and effective means of communication of clinically valuable information in subjects such as morbid anatomy. Due to recent developments in hardware and software, it is becoming possible for a greater number of pathologists and others to consider the computer as a possible means of storing, retrieving and analysing findings which have been expressed in words. This paper describes some experiments which have been carried out in this area; these suggest that computer-held free-text can yield useful and hitherto unavailable information, but that coded input may be required for some applications.
Subject(s)
Computers , Pathology, Clinical/methods , Brain Neoplasms/diagnosis , Brain Neoplasms/pathology , Data Collection , Demography , Diagnosis, Computer-Assisted , Diagnosis, Differential , Humans , Statistics as TopicABSTRACT
Serum zinc was measured by atomic absorption spectrophotometry in sixty-five children with atopic eczema and seventy-nine control children. The mean serum zinc of the patients, (11.4 +/- 2.0 mumol/l) was significantly lower than that of the controls (13.7 +/- 2.3 mumol/l, P less than 0.0001). There was no significant correlation between the patients' serum zinc concentration and either the height/weight centile or a subjective assessment of severity and extent of the eczema. Of eleven patients with serum zinc below 10 mumol/l, six had recurrent infections of the skin, a significantly greater proportion than in patients whose serum zinc was 10 mumol/l or above. It is suspected that the decreased plasma zinc concentration in children with eczema is a non-specific consequence of the dermatological disorder, and therefore there is no indication for zinc supplementation.
Subject(s)
Dermatitis, Atopic/blood , Zinc/deficiency , Adolescent , Child , Child, Preschool , Dermatitis, Atopic/complications , Female , Humans , Ichthyosis/complications , Infant , Male , Skin Diseases, Infectious/complications , Spectrophotometry, Atomic , Zinc/bloodABSTRACT
One hundred and sixty two people working in various departments of cotton spinning and weaving mills measured and recorded their own peak expiratory flow rate (PEFR) at two hourly intervals during Monday, Wednesday, and Thursday of the same work week, from waking in the morning throughout the day until going to bed and a last time the following morning after waking. The circadian rhythm in PEFR was computed by the Halberg program. The mean amplitude of the rhythm in the group was found to be 3.3% and the acrophase fell approximately in the middle of the waking hours. Older workers and those claiming to suffer from symptoms of chronic bronchitis were found to have an amplitude significantly higher (4.1% and 3.9% respectively) than their younger or symptom free counterparts (2.6% and 2.9% respectively; p less than 0.03). The amplitude of cardroom workers (2.4%), workers with byssinosis (2.7%), and those with much exposure to airborne cotton dust (3.3%) and bacteria (2.9%) tended to be lower than that of less exposed groups such as office staff (3.9%), though the difference was significant only in the case of cardroom workers (p less than 0.04). This may be due to airborne contaminants in the working environment.
