Liquid membrane work-up of blood plasma samples applied to gas chromatographic determination of aliphatic amines.

A technique for sample work-up and enrichment using a supported liquid membrane in an automated flow system, connected to a gas chromatograph, was used for the determination of aliphatic amines in human blood plasma. The amines studied were N,N-dimethylethylamine, triethylamine, N-methylmorpholine, cyclohexylamine and N,N-dimethylcyclohexylamine. An efficient clean-up of the complex plasma matrix was achieved, resulting in identical blank chromatograms for plasma samples and aqueous solutions. Different parameters influencing the efficiency and selectivity of the extraction procedure were experimentally studied and theoretically explained. The detection limit depends on the extraction flow-rate and the available sample volume. With 1 ml of sample and a flow-rate giving an extraction time of 16 min, the detection limit was ca. 5 ppb (5 micrograms/l); with 4 ml of sample and a lower flow-rate, sub-ppb detection limits could be reached in ca. 3 h. Linear calibration curves up to 500 ppb were obtained. Blood plasma samples from volunteers exposed to N,N-dimethylethylamine in air were analysed, and the results compared favourably with independent measurements by another method.

Breast cancer among women from Gothenburg with regard to age, mortality and coexisting benign breast disease or leiomyoma uteri.

The entire female population of Gothenburg, aged 20 years or above as of November, 1969 (n = 162,449), was studied for virtually all inpatient hospital admissions in 1970-1979 with breast cancer (n = 2,411). After the vital status as of December, 1984 had been traced, cases of fetal (n = 1,502) and of nonfatal (n = 909) breast cancer were separated. A search for coexisting benign breast disease and leiomyoma uteri yielded significant recordings of disease association exclusively with nonfatal breast cancer.

Mortality and fatality of cutaneous malignant melanoma in Sweden, 1982-1986.

Among almost all cases of death from cutaneous malignant melanoma in Sweden during the 5-year observation period of 1982-86 (n = 1406), 58.5% were male. For both sexes, considered together, 80.5% were aged greater than 49 yr at the time of death; 62.9% aged greater than 59 yr, and 36.7% aged greater than 69 yr. Disease fatality, assessed as the sex and age-specific mortality between 1982 and 1986 in proportion to the age and sex-specific incidence in 1977 and 1982, increased significantly (P less than 0.001) with age in both sexes, in terms of distributional heterogeneity. Likewise, in both sexes, disease fatality was higher (P less than 0.025) in the area of Sweden north of the N 60 degrees latitude line rather than south of it. As it is a crucial measure of treatment efficacy in cutaneous malignant melanoma, case fatality deserves more attention in future epidemiologic research than it has received to-date. In this context, a revision of the criteria for histopathological "malignancy" at initial treatment against empirical data on the outcome quoad vitam is warranted.

Diseases associated with psoriasis in a general population of 159,200 middle-aged, urban, native Swedes.

A defined general population of 159,200 male and female native Swedes born in the period of 1911-1940, from an urban catchment area of the then only general hospital, was followed over a decade (1970-1979) with regard to inpatient hospitalization for all kinds of diagnoses. Psoriasis cases (n = 372) are significantly (p less than 0.001) associated with a spectrum of diseases: male as well as female psoriatics seem to show excess rates of viral infections, alcoholism, hypertension, pneumonia, liver cirrhosis, urticaria, and rheumatoid arthritis. Psoriasis in males only seem to be associated with iritis and ankylosing spondylitis, whereas psoriasis in females only is associated with lung cancer, diabetes, obesity, myocardial infarction and asthma.

Diseases associated with multiple sclerosis and epilepsy. A population cohort study of 159,200 middle-aged, urban, native Swedes observed over 10 years (1970-79).

A defined general population of 159,200 male and female native Swedes born in the period 1911-1940 from an urban catchment area of the then only general hospital, was followed over a decade (1970-79) with regard to in-patient hospitalization for all kinds of diagnoses. As a part of this population cohort study, multiple sclerosis cases (n = 351) and epilepsy cases (n = 648) were studied for association with other diseases. Unexpectedly, a cluster of diseases encompassing tuberculosis, bronchial asthma, diabetes mellitus and myocardial infarction, among the diseases associated with multiple sclerosis, also forms a gradient; this suggests a quantitative rather than a qualitative multifactorial model of disease for the understanding of the pathogenesis of MS. In epilepsy, heterogeneity was suggested as being mainly linked to the presence or absence of co-existing alcoholism. Brain tumours in cases of epilepsy were found almost exclusively in the latter subset and prevailing among younger people independent of sex (with an almost 100-fold excess rate of that disease combination as expected by chance only).

Physical illness in severe depressives and psychiatric alcoholics in Gothenburg, Sweden.

The entire middle-aged male urban population of a Swedish city, as defined by a census in November 1969, was assessed for any mental hospital hospitalization during a 3-year period (1978-1980), as well as for any general hospital hospitalization during a 10-year period (1970-1979) within the catchment area. Inpatients of the mental hospital population belonging to the cohort and put in the categories 'Psychiatric alcoholic spectrum' and 'Severe depression' were studied for diagnoses of physical illness during any general hospital hospitalization. The psychiatric alcoholic spectrum was associated positively with infections, injuries, alcohol intoxication, pancreatitis, liver cirrhosis, arthritis/rheumatic diseases and duodenal peptic ulcer; and negatively with malignant neoplasms, myocardial infarction, gallstone disease and urolithiasis. Severe depression was associated positively with infections, myocardial infarction, asthma and alcohol intoxication. A nosologic taxonomy, aimed at explaining the epidemiological associations recorded, is suggested.