Appendix intussusception in a young patient with Crohn's disease.

Appendix intussusception is rare, can be responsible of chronic unexplained abdominal pain and is mostly associated with inflammatory changes or endometriosis. A 23-year-old woman with Crohn's disease was diagnosed invaginated appendix by CT-scan and colonoscopy after several acute atypical abdominal pain episodes. These episodes were suspected to be independent of the Crohn's disease and to be attributed to the intussusception itself. A resection combining ligation of the base by colonoscopy and cecectomy by laparoscopy was performed successfully. However, no argument for Crohn's disease was found on the pathologic examination.

Risk analysis and international trade principles applied to the importation into Canada of caprine embryos from South Africa.

Between November 1994 and February 1995 over nine thousand Boer goat embryos were imported into Canada from the Republic of South Africa. This substantial international movement of animal genetics via embryos was achieved through the application of the risk analysis principles prescribed in Section 1.4. of the International Animal Health Code of the Office International des Epizooties (OIE). Integral to the development of the health certification procedures was the application of the fundamental principles of non-discrimination, harmonisation, equivalence and transparency defined in the World Trade Organisation Agreement on Sanitary and Phytosanitary measures. Risk mitigation interventions were founded upon full consideration of the potential for disease transmission by animal embryos as espoused by the International Embryo Transfer Society and the relevant standards contained in Appendix 4.2.3.3. of the OIE International Animal Health Code. All the embryos imported into Canada were implanted into synchronised recipients on arrival. Twenty months later there has been no evidence of disease in either the recipient animals or the resulting animals born in Canada.

The Index of Drug Involvement: a partial validation.

Social workers often need a wider range of assessment scales that can be used in education, research, and practice. The Index of Drug Involvement (IDI) is a short-form assessment scale that may be of use to social work educators, researchers, and practitioners who work with clients with drug abuse or chemical dependency problems. This article describes the IDI; provides information about its administration, scoring, and interpretation; and describes the initial research conducted to validate the instrument. This article provides information about the reliability of the IDI; reports the standard error of measurement; and presents findings concerning the content, construct, and criterion validity of the instrument. Also presented is initial information about the development and use of a clinical cutting score that will help practitioners evaluate the clinical significance of a drug abuse problem and that can be a guide for establishing initial and final treatment goals.

African horse sickness surveillance systems and regionalisation/zoning: the case of South Africa.

Central and Southern Africa are generally regarded as being endemic areas for African horse sickness (AHS). With the advent of the concepts of risk analysis and regionalisation/zoning, however, the possibility has now arisen of establishing 'zones' within South Africa for AHS surveillance purposes. In 1993, a protocol was submitted to the European Community (now European Union: EU), proposing the establishment of an AHS-free zone in the Cape peninsula. The proposal is based on historical evidence that AHS virus overwinters (in zebra) only in the Kruger National Park, from where it spreads westwards and southwards every year. The infection only extends to the Western Cape Province once every fifteen years. A ban on vaccination in the proposed AHS-free zone has been suggested, together with strict control of the movement of horses into and through this zone. The entire equine population of this zone (some 8,000 animals) would serve as sentinels. All equine mortalities would be notifiable, with mandatory post-mortem examinations. The establishment of an insect-free quarantine station in this zone would enable the movement of certified AHS virus-free horses from South Africa to the EU and the rest of the world.

Valsiekte (falling disease): a nervous disorder in lambs suspected of being caused by the plant Chrysocoma tenuifolia.

A description is given of the clinical signs and pathological changes in 23 field cases of valsiekte from the Bethulie region of the Orange Free State, Republic of South Africa. The disease, which occurred almost exclusively in 2-4 month-old Dorper or Dorper cross-bred lambs, was characterized by protracted ataxia, paresis and high mortality. Microscopical changes were consistently found in the neurons and white matter along the entire length of the spinal cord, and rarely in the medulla oblongata. These changes included vacuolation and degeneration of neurons, mainly of the lateral and ventral horns in the spinal cord, and a status spongiosus which was most noticeable in the lateral and ventral tracts of the spinal cord. All affected lambs had access to the plant, Chrysocoma tenuifolia (bitterbos), but trials to reproduce the condition by dosing the plant, were not successful.

[Fractionation of human erythrocytes according to their sedimentation behaviour caused by gravity. II. Application for the differential diagnosis of erythroblastosis caused by incompatibility in the abo blood group system (author's transl)]. / Fraktionierung menschlicher Erythrozyten nach ihrem Sedimentationsverhalten im Schwerefeld. II. Zur Differentialdiagnostik des Morbus haemolyticus neonatorum wegen A/B0-Inkompatibilitat.

In contrast to Rh-erythroblastosis the diagnosis of A/B0-erythroblastosis by means of serological methods is often impossible. Further biochemical investigations, the demonstration of elevated erythrocyte sedimentation rates in polyvinylpyrrolidone and of typical microsphaerocytes in blood smears can support the diagnosis. Using a modified method by Danon et al. the authors demonstrate an additional population of heavy erythrocytes in the blood of patients suffering from A/B0-erythroblastosis, the relative amount of which correlates with the severity of the disease. The fast method seems to permit prognostic predictions in cord blood.

[Fractionation of human erythrocytes according to their sedimentation behaviour caused by gravity. I. Methodical Investigations (author's transl)]. / Fraktionierung menschlicher Erythrozyten nach ihrem Sedimentationsverhalten im Schwerefeld. I. Methodische Untersuchungen.

The usefulnes of a method to differentiate erythrocytes according to their specific gravity introduced by Danon et al. is demonstrated by using blood samples of healthy children and of others with different haematological diseases. Several conditions affecting the results are investigated. For clinical purposes the simple method is only applicable, if the results are presented as intervals of density.