Environmental monitoring of fluoride emissions using precipitation, dust, plant and soil samples.

A pollution gradient was observed in precipitation, plants and soils sampled at different locations around a fluoride producing chemical plant in Germany. In all samples the influence of emissions was discernible up to a distance of 500 m from the plant. However, fluoride concentrations in plant bioindicators (leaves of birch and black berry) and in bulk precipitation showed a more pronounced relationship with the distance from the source than fluoride concentrations in soil. Vegetables sampled in the vicinity of the plant also had elevated concentrations of fluoride, but only the consumption of larger quantities of this material would lead to exceedances of recommended daily F-intake. The present study did not indicate the existence of low phytotoxicity thresholds for fluoride in the plant species used in the study. Even at very high fluoride concentrations in leaf tissue (963 ppm) plants did not show injury due to HF. Dust sampling downwind of the chemical plant confirmed that particulate fluoride was of minor importance in the study area.

Transition in quality: from quality assurance to strategic quality management.

The 1990s and beyond present formidable challenges to health-care providers, including clinical laboratories and pathology departments. However, numerous opportunities lie within these challenges. Discovering these opportunities and exploiting them will be critical success factors for future survival. Quality assurance, continuous quality improvement, and strategic and financial planning are all activities used to a varying extent by clinical laboratories. The cumulative potential benefits to an organization in which these activities are integrated can far exceed their sum as individual components. Coordinating these interdependent processes is the basis for managing strategically. The experience of one organization's efforts to plan and develop such a strategy is presented and discussed.

[Echographic diagnosis of the pancreas. Catamnesis of 481 cases (author's transl)]. / Sonographische Pankreasdiagnostik. Katamnese von 481 Fällen.

In order to assess the efficiency of ultrasonic diagnosis of the pancreas, echographic findings in 481 patients were compared with the final diagnosis in the case sheets. Agreement between the echographic results and the final diagnosis was found in 94.6% with normal findings, in 77% of patients with pancreatic carcinoma and in 85% of patients with chronic pancreatitis. Altogether we have found agreement between the echographic results and the final diagnosis in 86.6% of all cases referred for diagnosis of the pancreas. The results correspond to the fiqures given by Rettenmaier. With adequate experience ultrasonic diagnosis should therefore be used as early as possible with a broad indication for all diseases of the pancreas.