[Which are the most frequent enteropathogenic parasites found in clinical practice?]. / Welches sind die häufigsten enteropathogenen Parasiten in der Praxis?

Infectious diarrhea is seen with increasing frequency in general practice. The main reason is growing tourism in countries with conditions of public health different from ours, where the incidence of enteropathogenic parasites is higher. To obtain an overview of these parasites, the results of 23,276 stool samples from patients in general practice throughout Switzerland were analyzed. Protozoa were found in 32% of samples (4.6% pathogenic protozoa, 24% facultative pathogenic protozoa and 3.4% apathogenic protozoa). Helminths were demonstrated in 2.9% of stool samples. The helminth spectrum covered 15 types, with Trichuris trichiuria predominating (one third). 8% of the Swiss population travel every year to areas with a higher diarrhea incidence. A proportion of these subjects constitute a health risk on their return to Switzerland. They chiefly consist of people working in, or living with someone working in, the food industry. Specific parasitologic diagnosis of diarrhea contributes significantly to reducing this risk.

[Which are the most frequently occurring enteropathogenic bacteria in clinical practice?]. / Welches sind die häufigsten enteropathogenen Bakterien in der Praxis?

Diarrhea is an increasingly frequent clinical finding in Swiss medical practice. One reason is the volume of tourism in countries with different climatic and social circumstances. To obtain an overview of the enteropathogenic bacteria spectrum as a cause of diarrhea, we analyzed 11,163 stool specimens from a representative group of patients throughout Switzerland. Enteropathogenic bacteria were found in 15.2% of all specimens; 50% were Campylobacter jejuni/coli, 35% Salmonella spp., 8% Aeromonas hydrophila group, 4% Shigella spp. and 3% Yersinia enterocolitica. This distribution is taken for all age groups and for both sexes. In the infant age there was a maximum evidence of enteropathogenic bacteria of the female sex. In childhood this maximum concerned to the male sex. Patients older than fifty had no positive stool specimens. As expected the most frequent positive stool specimens were in summer.

[Myeloperoxidase deficiency--blemish or disease? Evaluation of 60,337 differential blood pictures]. / Der Myeloperoxydase-Defekt--Schönheitsfehler oder Krankheit? Eine Auswertung von 60 337 Differentialblutbildern.

Leukocyte differential counting by flow cytochemistry (H 6000, Technicon) has shown 32 subjects with partial or complete leukocyte myeloperoxidase deficiency in a population of 60,337 patients screened at a reference laboratory over a one year period. Some of the patients were hospitalized, but most were outpatients. Partial (27 patients) or complete (5 patients) myeloperoxidase deficiency was confirmed by examination of cytochemical stains (Graham-Knoll method). None had hematologic malignancy. Eleven of these 32 patients had recurrent infections; 3 of these patients were found to have a hereditary disturbance which also involved other members of the family. The findings suggest that the incidence of myeloperoxidase deficiency is much higher than was previously suspected.

[To what extent do indications for or questioning of the 24-hour ECG in ambulatory practice correlate with established ECG findings?]. / Wie weit stimmen die Indikationen bzw. Fragestellungen in der ambulanten Praxis für das 24-Stunden-Ekg. mit den festgestellten Ekg.-Befunden überein?

In 1312 patients the Holter 24-h ECG method served to detect 3190 abnormalities of the cardiac rhythm (mean 2.43 different types of arrhythmia per patient), and were classified into 14 arrhythmia groups. The main groups of indications for Holter ECG were classified as follows: palpitation; syncopes, dizziness; life-threatening arrhythmias. The positivity of the test correlated extremely well with the severity of the clinical symptoms: if syncope or dizziness were the indications for Holter ECG, abnormalities were found in 57%; if life-threatening arrhythmias were suspected, abnormalities were found in 54.7% of the patients.

[Profile of autoimmune antibodies in idiopathic hypothyroidism and hypothyroidism following radio-iodine treatment in Basedow's disease: comparison with a group of normal subjects from the female population of Switzerland]. / Autoimmunantikörperprofil bei idiopathischer Hypothyreose und bei Hypothyreose nach Radiojodbehandlung wegen Morbus Basedow: Vergleich mit einem Normkollektiv aus der weiblichen Bevölkerung der Schweiz.

Prevalence of thyroid microsomal antibodies (MCHA) and thyroglobulin antibodies (TGHA), as well as frequency of other autoantibodies (parietal cell antibodies [PZA], adrenal antibodies [NNA], islet cell antibodies [IZA], smooth muscle antibodies [SMA], mitochondrial antibodies [MitA] and antibodies to nuclear antigens [ANF]), are reported for three different female groups in Switzerland in 91 euthyroid controls (group A), in 58 patients with idiopathic hypothyroidism (group B) and in 55 patients with hypothyroidism after administration of radioactive iodine for Graves' disease (group C). Prevalence of MCHA in the three groups was 14.5%, 90%, and 72%, respectively, and TGHA were positive in 6.5%, 56%, and 28%, respectively. Simultaneous occurrence of both thyroid antibodies and their appearance in higher titers were significantly more frequent in group B than in the other two groups. Goitrous forms of idiopathic hypothyroidism show higher MCHA titers than the atrophic forms. There was no association between thyroid antibodies and the presence of endocrine ophthalmopathy in group C. PZA were frequently found in groups B and C (26% and 13.6%, respectively; 4.7% in controls). The higher frequency of other autoantibodies was even more pronounced for ANF (52.1% in group B, 29.7% in group C, and 12.5% in controls). NNA and SMA were also more frequent, but not to a statistically significant degree. Two patients (both in group B) had positive islet cell antibodies. MitA were equally distributed in the three groups. These results suggest a relatively high proportion of asymptomatic autoimmune thyroiditis in the female population of Switzerland, with possible progression to overt hypothyroidism. Determinations of PZA and NNA are mandatory in both Graves' disease and idiopathic hypothyroidism. Cases with positive PZA must be closely monitored in view of the association with autoimmune atrophic gastritis and pernicious anemia.(ABSTRACT TRUNCATED AT 250 WORDS)

Radiometric calibration of the Coastal Zone Color Scanner on Nimbus 7: a proposed adjustment.

Ground measurements of water reflectances for two very clear days, allied with computations of atmospheric effects, are compared with satellite data of the Coastal Zone Color Scanner. This exercise points out significant errors in the calibration of the scanner. A new set of calibration constants, which standardizes radiances relative to the extraterrestrial solar irradiance, is proposed.