Behaviour of the neutrophil to lymphocyte ratio in young subjects with acute myocardial infarction.

In the last years the neutrophil to lymphocyte ratio (NLR) has been examined in cardiovascular disorders and in particular in coronary artery disease and acute myocardial infarction (AMI). Now we examined this parameter in subjects with juvenile myocardial infarction at the initial stage and after 3 and 12 months. We enrolled 123 young subjects (112 men and 11 women, mean age 39.4 ± 5.8 yrs) with AMI. The time interval between the AMI onset and the investigation was 13 ± 7 days. The mean value of NLR observed in young AMI subjects was significantly increased compared to normal controls (N = 1.817 ± 0.711; young AMI subjects = 2.376 ± 0.873, p <  0.0001). NLR does not discriminate STEMI (2.427 ± 0.878) and non STEMI (2.392 ± 0.868) or diabetics (2.604 ± 1.000) and non diabetics (2.324 ± 0.853), but it differentiates smokers (2.276 ± 0.853) and non smokers (2.837 ± 1.072). NLR at the initial stage is not correlated with the number of cardiovascular risk factors or with the extent of the coronary disease. In this study we found a significant decrease of neutrophil count at 3 and 12 months later AMI without any significant variation of lymphocyte and consequently we observed a decrease in NLR at these two intervals of time in comparison with the initial stage. Despite some limitations present in this study, it is interesting to underline that also in juvenile myocardial infarction this low-cost haematological marker may be considered together with other inflammatory indicators.

The effect of source chemical composition on the self-attenuation corrections for low-energy gamma-rays in soil samples.

To study the influence of the source's chemical composition on the self-attenuation corrections during the activity quantification of low-energy gamma-ray emitters (< 60keV) in soil samples, we conducted a Monte Carlo-based hypothetical proficiency test in which different analytical laboratories analyze a soil sample, assuming the same density but a different chemical composition. The bias in the activity values was between 4% and 70%, with more than 50% of these results being unacceptable. Our work shows that collecting the detailed chemical composition of the samples is an essential issue to be considered by analytical laboratories that use the Monte Carlo method for the calculation of self-attenuation corrections.

Determination of radionuclides in environmental test items at CPHR: traceability and uncertainty calculation.

Information about how the laboratory of Centro de Protección e Higiene de las Radiaciones (CPHR), Cuba establishes its traceability to the International System of Units for the measurement of radionuclides in environmental test items is presented. A comparison among different methodologies of uncertainty calculation, including an analysis of the feasibility of using the Kragten-spreadsheet approach, is shown. In the specific case of the gamma spectrometric assay, the influence of each parameter, and the identification of the major contributor, in the relative difference between the methods of uncertainty calculation (Kragten and partial derivative) is described. The reliability of the uncertainty calculation results reported by the commercial software Gamma 2000 from Silena is analyzed.

Derrame pleural en la artritis reumatoide: una rara forma de presentación / Pleural effusion in rheumatoid arthritis: a rare presentation

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[Adverse drug reactions in childhood. A drug surveillance study in Sicily]. / Reazioni avverse da farmaci in età pediatrica. Studio di farmacovigilanza in Sicilia.

The aim of the present study was to investigate the spontaneous reports of suspected adverse drug reactions, observed in paediatric patients in Sicily during the period between the 1st January 1995 and the 31st August 1997. The ADRs were classified according to the "WHO Programme for International Monitoring of Adverse Reactions to Drugs". On 1020 reports, the paediatric suspected ADRs were 130 (12.7%); 23% of these was serious, and 29.2% involved children aged 3 years or less. The antimicrobial and the musculoskeletal drugs were responsible of 74.6% of the whole suspected paediatric ADRs. Cutaneous and gastrointestinal apparatus were involved in 70% of reports and were the most frequently targets of ADRs. On 57 different molecules ceftriaxone and co-amoxiclav were the most common drugs causing ADRs with a percentage of 13%. In 45.4% of ADRs the suspension of the treatment occurred, in 34.6% therapy was needed besides the suspension of the drug, whilst in 11.5% patients needed an hospital visit. In 59.2% spontaneous reports were sent by hospitals, in 32.3% by primary health care and the remaining percentage by other sources. Our investigation should stimulate physicians to better evaluate the potential side effects of drugs and the cost/effectiveness profile of paediatric therapies.

[Mitral commisurotomy in extracorporeal circulation: long term follow-up with clinical and hemodynamic control]. / Comisurotomía mitral bajo circulación extracorpórea. Seguimiento alejado con control clínico y hemodinámico.

We reviewed the clinical and hemodynamic findings in 52 patients undergoing open mitral commisurotomy. 85% were female and the mean age was 31 + 9 years. Before operation 21% were in functional class II, 73% in class III and 56% in class IV. Pure mitral stenosis was found in 61% and congestive heart failure in 42%. The mitral valve area was less than 1 cm2 in 61%, the wedge pressure over 25 mmHg in 59% and the pulmonary artery systolic pressure over 50 mmHg in 59%. There was no operative morbidity in 79% of cases. Operative mortality was 2% (1 patient). All survivors were followed for a mean of 40 + 26 months. At the final visit 79% were improved in their functional class and only 13% remained in heart failure. The mitral valve area increased from 0.98 + 0.26 to 1.5 + 0.48 cm2. Pulmonary wedge pressure was under 25 mmHg in 79% and pulmonary artery systolic pressure under 50 mmHg in 73%. We conclude that open mitral commisurotomy offers a low morbidity and mortality and good longterm results for the treatment of mitral stenosis.

Effects of anisomycin on brain protein synthesis and passive avoidance learning in newborn chicks.

The effects of anisomycin (ANM) on newborn chicks have been studied with respect to brain protein synthesis, growth, EEG, toxicity, and several passive avoidance learning tasks. It was found that intracerebral ANM (80 nmol) gave a maximum inhibition of brain protein synthesis of 30%, while a combination of subcutaneous (10 mumol; 53 mg/kg) plus intracerebral (80 nmol; 21 mug) ANM inhibited by 91% in the first 2 hr and by 75% in the subsequent 2 hr period. Cycloheximide (CXM) also in combined injections at the same doses as ANM, inhibited by 97% in the 4 hr that followed injection. However, all the CXM-injected chicks were dead by 18 hr, while the lethality of ANM did not differ from that of saline. ANM also did not affect EEG measured at 1, 3, 5, or 24 hr following the subcutaneous plus intracerebral injections, nor did ANM affect body or brain growth curves or brain protein accretion. In the learning experiments, animals were initially trained to peck at water-coated metal spheres (type A learning) or at water imbibed birdseed (types B and C learning) in less than 1 sec, and were exposed to the same lures treated with the aversant methylanthranilate (MeA) one day later on one occasion (types A and B learning) or exposed twice (type C learning) and tested for learning retention one day later. Learning criterion was set as failure to peck at the lure during the first 20 sec of presentation. If ANM was injected 1 hr prior to MeA exposure, large and highly significant memory deficits were found during the retention test, as compared with saline injected controls. No effect of ANM was seen, however, if it was injected one day after learning, indicating that it did not interfere with retrieval mechanisms. ANM also decreased the external manifestations of fear or displeasure that chicks express during retention testing. Such manifestations have a high correlation with pecking suppression (r = 0.88, P less than 0.001).