[Pulmonary embolism and preventive anticoagulant treatment in hospitalized elderly patients. Statistical study of their respective risks]. / Embolies pulmonaires et traitement anticoagulant préventif chez les malades âgés hospitalisés. Etude statistique de leurs risques respectifs

Pulmonary embolism and preventive anticoagulant therapy of ederly patients in hospital. Statistical survey of their respective risks. The incidence of pulmonary embolism as a cause of death seems the higher as its strikes old people (above 60) affected by cardiovascular diseases and who are bed tied; the interest of preventive anticoagulant treatment (PAT) remains controversial. This matter has been studied over a period of 5 years from the files of a geriatric cardiology department; 455 anatomo-clinical documents have been set up. This survey confirms the frequency of mortality by pulmonary embolism (23,9 %) and its diminution under long-term preventive anticoagulant treatment 6,6 %). The anticoagulant therapy does not increase the risk of haemorrhagic accidents, from the point of view of frequency, but slightly increases it if one considers the number of days spent in hospital. As a conclusion, the preventive anticoagulant treatment seems positive insofar as contra-indications are strictly observed, in particular the digestive ones. The mechanism of some hemorrhagic accidents with or without PAT remains sometimes difficult to explain.

Nephron filtration rate in conscious rats recovering from anesthesia.

Single-nephron glomerular filtration rate (SNGFR) of superficial (S) and juxtamedullary (JM) nephrons was measured in conscious rats with a [14C]ferrocyanide infusion technique. Experiments were carried out in nondiuretic (ND), salt-loaded (SL), and hemorrhagic hypotensive (HH) rats. Mean SNGFR values of S and JM nephrons were 48.7 +/- 4.5 SE and 61.7 +/- 4.2 in ND, 73.6 +/- 8.7 and 87.5 +/- 10.8 in SL, and 29.9 +/- 5.9 and 36.4 +/- 7.1 in HH rats. These values are higher than the values reported in anesthetized rats. The S-to-JM SNGFR ratio was not significantly different in the three experimental conditions (ND, 0.788 +/- 0.032; SL, 0.843 +/- 0.018; and HH, 0.824 +/- 0.030), and did not differ from the values reported in anesthetized rats in similar experimental conditions. It is concluded that anesthesia exerts a depressive effect on GFR, but does not modify intrarenal SNGFR distribution. Neither saline loading nor hemorrhagic hypotension induces SNGFR intrarenal redistribution in conscious rats.

[Senile cardiac amyloidosis: study of possible relationship between amyloid and atheromatous processes in 923 cases (author's transl)]. / Amylose cardiaque sénile. Amyloïde et processus athéromateux. Une série de 923 vérifications.

Amyloid diseases include a widely dispersed group of conditions. A part from secondary, primary, and familial amyloid diseases, and those due to endocrine tumours of the APUD system, there is a tendency to isolate a group of senile amyloid diseases affecting mainly the heart. A study in a series of 923 elderly subjects demonstrated a negative correlation between amyloid disease and atheromatosis. As certain secondary amyloid diseases, particularly those secondary to myeloma, are, inversely, sometimes associated with rapidly developing atherosclerosis, this suggests the need for further studies to define the relationship between the two processes.