[Measurement of the severity of clinical conditions resulting from surgical procedures: magnitude estimate versus category estimate]. / Mensuração da gravidade de quadros clínicos resultantes de cirurgias: estimação de magnitudes versus estimação de categorias.

The gravity of clinical illnesses resultant of surgeries was scaled by the psychophysics methods of magnitude and categories estimations by 20 physicians and 20 nurses. Results showed: 1--the continuum of gravity of clinical illnesses resultant of surgeries has quantitative or prosthetic characteristics and non-qualitative or metathetic characteristics. 2--the variability of the estimations of magnitudes is a linear function of the magnitude of the estimations according to Ekman's law.

[Perception of health professionals of the risk of chemical exposure]. / A percepção dos profissionais da saúde frente à exposição a riscos químicos.

A great variety of substances are exposed to health workers every single day. Such substances have noxious actions on biological organs generating pictures of poisoning. Facing such a problem, this study aimed at identifying the Material Center workers perceptions at a general hospital in Ribeirao Preto, Sao Paulo having 12 nursing professionals/occupational, both sexes, aging between 23 to 55 years-old, as a sample. The used method was interviews through questionnaires. The data have showed that the workers have no knowledge regarding to the relation between exposure to chemical agents and its consequent health damage. According to these data it has been concluded that: (1) professionals adopt security behavior inadequately; (2) they find themselves demotivated; (3) there is lack of interaction and authority for preventive control measures fiscalization; (4) there are some failures in continued education process. Therefore, its the nurse's major responsibility as for scientific development, so that it can avoid evasive processes that generate profession no survival.

Clinical stage I and II endometrial carcinoma: multivariate analysis of prognostic factors.

In 221 patients with FIGO stage I and II endometrial carcinoma, the impact on survival of age at diagnosis, menopausal status, FIGO stage, myometrial invasion, tumor grade and histology was evaluated by univariate and multivariate analysis. At a median follow-up of 50 months (range 45-210), 42 patients had died, and therefore overall survival was 81% (179/221). Univariate analysis showed that age, menopausal status and histology did not influence survival, whereas FIGO stage, myometrial invasion and tumor grade were important prognostic factors. Multivariate analysis showed that tumor grade had a significant and independent impact on survival and confirmed that FIGO stage is the most important parameter influencing survival.

T cell lymphoma of the hypopharynx: report of a case studied with immunologic techniques.

A case of primitive T cell lymphoma of the oropharynx is reported. Clinical, morphological and immunological features of the case are summarized and described according to morphological and immunological criteria proposed by Waldron and Frizzera.

On the Xq13 breakpoint: clinical and cytogenetic observations in a patient with acute myelogenous leukemia.

Cytogenetic study in a case of acute myelogenous leukemia revealed the presence of two identical dicentric marker chromosomes derived from an X with Xq13 breakpoints. Clinical and cytochemical findings suggest that the patient was affected by idiopathic acquired sideroblastic anemia before the acute leukemia.

Feprazone: absence of hemolytic effects in glucose-6-phosphate dehydrogenase-deficient subjects.

Some drugs, including nonsteroidal antiinflammatory compounds, can be hemolytic in glucose-6-phosphate dehydrogenase-deficient patients. We have studied the potential hemolytic activity of feprazone, a nonsteroidal antiinflammatory compound in vitro and in vivo. Agents that may be hemolytic for glucose-6-phosphate dehydrogenase-deficient erythrocytes will stimulate the hexose monophosphate shunt in normal erythrocytes. Eleven normal subjects were treated with feprazone and their erythrocytes were incubated in their own sera (containing active feprazone metabolites) and [1-14C]-glucose. Because no statistically significant increase in 14CO2 evolution was observed, 15 pediatric male patients with glucose-6-phosphate dehydrogenase deficiency who required antiinflammatory treatment were treated with feprazone. No hemolytic crises and no statistically significant changes of hematologic tests were observed.

Primary thrombocythemia: clonal origin of platelets, erythrocytes, and granulocytes in a GdB/GdMediterranean subject.

A patient with primary thrombocythemia, who was heterozygous for glucose-6-phosphate dehydrogenase deficiency (GdB/GdMed), was investigated to test for the clonal origin of this myeloproliferative disorder. In order to assess somatic cell mosaicism in various tissues, we have made use of the different rate of utilization of 2-deoxyglucose-6-phosphate, an analog of glucose-6-phosphate, by normal glucose-6-phosphate dehydrogenase and by the Mediterranean variant: the results demonstrate that essential thrombocythemia is a clonal disease involving the erythrocytic, granulocytic, and megakaryocytic series, without affecting monocytes, T lymphocytes, and non-T lymphocytes.

G6PD Napoli and Ferrara II: two new glucose-6-phosphate dehydrogenase variants having similar characteristics but different intracellular lability and specific activity.

Two new glucose-6-phosphate dehydrogenase (G6PD, D-glucose 6-phosphate: NADP oxido reductase, E.C. 1.1.1.49) variants, designated G6PD Napoli and G6PD Ferrara II, are described in propositi from two unrelated families. Characterization side by side of the two variants according to W.H.O. recommendations reveals minor differences which are mostly related to utilization of artificial substrates (increased in both cases as compared with normal G6PD type B). Other properties, which are not significantly distinctive between the two variants, are an enzyme activity amounting to nearly 20% of normal, a decreased electrophoretic mobility, decreased Km values for glucose-6-phosphate and NADP, normal thermostability and biphasic pH curves. However, marked differences emerged between the two variants and between either variant and G6PD B as well, when a number of microtechniques were used. These were: (1) the half-lives of G6PD Napoli and G6PD Ferrara II are 16 and 29 d, respectively, while that of G6PD B is 63 d; (2) the specific activities, measured by a method involving direct estimation of G6PD protein on sodium dodecyl sulphate polyacrylamide gel electrophoretic tracings, are 166 I.U./mg (G6PD Napoli) and 59 I.U./mg (G6PD Ferrara II), as compared with normal value of 180 I.U./mg (G6PD B). On the whole, these findings allow the conclusion that the deficiency of catalytic activity is related to an accelerated though distinctive decay of both mutant enzyme proteins within the affected erythrocytes and that a significant impairment of catalytic efficiency is also involved, as a result of the underlying structural mutation in the case of G6PD Ferrara II.

2-deoxy-glucose-6-phosphate utilization in the study of glucose-6-phosphate dehydrogenase mosaicism.

The electrophoretic difference between normal glucose-6-phosphate dehydrogenase (G6PD) and two common variants (G6PD A and G6PD A-) has made the G6PD enzyme system very useful for genetic studies and for investigation on the clonal origin of tumors. This approach has not been possible for another common variant, G6PD mediterranean, which has a normal electrophoretic pattern. The different utilization of 2-deoxy-glucose-6-phosphate (2dG6P), an analog of the normal substrate, by the normal enzyme and the Mediterranean variant, allows a convenient determination of the degree of mosaicism in mononuclear cells from heterozygotes.

Urinary granulopoietic activity in chronic myelogenous leukemia: follow-up and correlation with various phases of the disease.

Daily urinary colony-stimulating factor (CSF) output was tested in 16 patients with chronic myeloid leukemia, 12 of which were in stable phase and 4 in blast crisis of the disease. The CSF of stable-phase patients varied within normal range, while all patients in blast crisis had values lower than normal. Also the number of CFUC ranged within normal values in stable-phase patients, while no colony growth was detectable in blast-crisis patients. Sequential studies (28 or 11 months) of 2 patients revealed an inverse relation between daily urinary CSF and presence of peripheral immature or blast cells in the patient in stable or blast phase, respectively.

Serum lactic dehydrogenase as a prognostic tool for non-Hodgkin lymphomas.

Serum LDH levels have been found to be significantly increased in non-Hodgkin lymphoma (NHL) patients, both histiocytic and lymphocytic. The duration of survival of NHL negatively correlates with the level of serum lactic dehydrogenase (LDH), and statistical analysis reveals that patients with lower levels of LDH have a longer survival rate than the patients with higher LDH activity, irrespective of their histologic classification. The analysis of the results by the Test for Trend in Prognosis allows us to establish that the correlation of the rate of survival and LDH levels is independent from other clinical parameters.