Acantharian fluxes and strontium to chlorinity ratios in the north pacific ocean.

Data on particulate strontium sulfate fluxes and strontium to chlorinity ratios were compared to provide insights into the strontium cycle of the North Pacific. Freedrifting sediment traps were used to derive large particle fluxes between depths of 100 and 3500 meters in the eastern and western North Pacific Ocean. Flux data revealed substantial quantities of acantharian skeletons and cysts (both made of strontium sulfate) settling through the upper kilometer of the water column. The greatest fluxes of celestite were detected at 400 meters. Minimal to nondetectable fluxes noted at and below 900 meters provide evidence that by this horizon, the majority of acantharian specimens had dissolved, thereby contributing to the pool of dissolved strontium. Growth and subsequent dissolution of acantharians in the upper kilometer are qualitatively consistent with the well-developed minimum and maximum strontium to chlorinity ratios that are consistently noted in these waters. These fluxes of particulate strontium and model calculations for fluxes of dissolved strontium indicate that acantharians play an important role in the ocean's strontium budget.

Dr Harvey Pirie and the Scottish National Antarctic Expedition (1902-4). Scottish science and medicine in the Falklands and Antarctica.

Shortly after receiving a science and medical degree at Edinburgh, Dr Harvey Pirie joined the Scottish National Antarctic Expedition (1902-4) under Bruce. The naturalist team explored East Falkland, Laurie Island in the South Orkneys, and made the first oceanographic investigation of the Weddell Sea. After sighting Antarctica and naming the coast seen Coats Land, they returned to the Clyde via Gough Island and Cape Town. After a period in Scottish private practice, Pirie became a bacteriologist; he joined the Colonial Medical Service in 1913 and served in Kenya. In 1918 he organised the bacteriological services at the South African Institute for Medical Research in Johannesburg, and became deputy-director, 1926-41.

The Transvaal Medical Journal, 1905-1913.

The Transvaal Medical Society, founded in Johannesburg in 1889, started publication of the Transvaal Medical Journal in August 1905. When the Society became the Witwatersrand Division of the Transvaal Branch of the British Medical Association in 1912, the TMJ was continued as the Medical Journal of South Africa from August 1913. During its 8 years' existence, the TMJ's contents reflected the many aspects of private medical practice, hospital cases, talks at medical societies and congresses, and topics of preventive health specifically in Johannesburg; however, items referring to South Africa and overseas were also dealt with. Medical expertise in Johannesburg was revealed as adequate and efficient for those times.

Congenital hypothyroidism. Clinicopathological aspects and biochemical screening.

Congenital hypothyroidism is the commonest endocrine disorder of childhood. Early thyroxine therapy will ameliorate or prevent the considerable physical and mental retardation that is the hallmark of infantile hypothyroidism, and evidence is presented that a neonatal screening programme for thyroid hormones will reveal evidence of primary thyroid hypofunction (1/4 500 births) in infants prior to clinical diagnosis.

Historical vignette: harvey pirie (1879-1965) and the Falklands.

Dr James Harvey Pirie was a bacteriologist, orchid grower and stamp collector of note in South Africa for nearly 50 years. Shortly after receiving a science and medical degree at Edinburgh, he joined the Scottish National Antarctic Expedition to the Falkland Islands and Antarctica from October 1902 to July 1904, returning via Grough Island and Cape Town.

Nonenzymatically glycosylated proteins.

Nonenzymatic glycosylation takes place in all proteins with a free-reacting lysine or valine in the presence of glucose. The formation of glycosylated plasma albumin, hemoglobin (Hb A1c), and skin collagen provides a diagnostic index of short- to long-term time-concentration of glucose in vivo. A wide range of assay methods are available, with affinity chromatographic, isoelectric focusing, and spectrophotometric methods providing the best accuracy and versatility. Glycosylated hemoglobin assays indicate glucose pressure over the previous 2 to 3 months and are of diagnostic value in general diabetic control, while glycosylated plasma albumin determinations are preferable in acute episodes in the life of a diabetic (e.g., pregnancy, infection, stress, trauma, surgery), since they provide an overview of changing blood glucose values of the previous 2 to 4 weeks. Glycosylated collagen estimations reflect tissue aging and are relevant in healing processes. Glycosylation alters the biologic activity of proteins, and these may relate to the manifold complications concomitant on the lifelong elevation of blood and tissue glucose in the diabetic (C6a). Assays for glycosylated hemoglobin have been routinely performed in clinical chemistry laboratories for a decade, and convenient determination for other nonenzymatically glycosylated proteins is proceeding apace.

Neonatal screening for congenital hypothyroidism. A decade's review, including South Africa.

Since its introduction in 1974, neonatal screening for congenital hypothyroidism has been very extensively conducted world-wide. It is the commonest disorder found in all neonatal screening programmes, occurring in 1:3,000-8,000 births. Laboratory testing for thyroid function within the first 5 days after birth identifies this disorder weeks to months before clinical symptoms become evident and the clinical diagnosis is made. A screening programme in Pretoria (February 1981- October 1986) has identified 11 hypothyroid neonates in some 45,577 infants tested. Internationally, there is now a 10-year experience (and a follow-up for a number of programmes) of neonatal hypothyroidism diagnosed by laboratory screening tests and treated within weeks of birth. There is conclusive evidence that the physical and mental development of these children is within, or approaches to a great degree, normal limits.