Classification of the maxillary sinus according to area of the medial antral wall: a comparison of two ethnic groups.

OBJECTIVES: This study is an anatomical study designed to benefit surgeons working in the region of the maxillary sinus. This paper investigates ethnic and gender variations in the shape of the maxillary sinus in dried crania from the Raymond Dart collection of human skeletons. The paper claims that an estimate of the area of the medial antral wall of the maxillary sinus is one of the best ethnic/gender group predictors. METHODOLOGY: Helical, multislice computed tomography was performed using 1mm coronal slices length, depth, width and volume measurements for each sinus were taken. Classification by shape and estimated area of medial wall was attempted. RESULTS: Shape classification was found to be unsuccessful whilst medial wall classification into ethnic/gender groupings gave encouraging results. CONCLUSION: The area of the medial wall is related to ethnic/gender groups.

A model of age-dependent population dynamics providing simple criteria for growth or extinction.

The Gurtin-MacCamy model for age-dependent population dynamics is reduced to a single ordinary differential equation. (This is done by assuming a specific form of the mortality function, and by assuming fertility to be age-dependent only.) The model is then applied to a population of greater horseshoe bats.

International outbreak of staphylococcal food poisoning caused by contaminated lasagne.

An outbreak of staphylococcal food poisoning in Europe caused by contaminated lasagne was detected and monitored by both national and international surveillance systems. The common source was a pasta-producing factory in Italy and high levels of Staphylococcus aureus were detected in packets of dried lasagne distributed in Luxembourg, the UK, France and Italy. Forty-seven cases were reported in the UK. Outbreaks of staphylococcal food poisoning attributed to mishandling during the food processing stage are uncommon and pasta as the food vehicle is rare. Prompt recognition of the outbreak and rapid identification of the food vehicle enabled most of the consignment to be withdrawn from the market.

Outbreak of Salmonella napoli infection caused by contaminated chocolate bars.

An outbreak of Salmonella napoli infection in England and Wales in 1982 was detected by the surveillance of routine reports of salmonella infections from hospital and public-health laboratories. Epidemiological investigation quickly identified two types of small chocolate-covered bars, imported from Italy, as the vehicles of infection, and subsequently both were found to be contaminated with the organism. The prompt recognition of this outbreak and rapid identification of the vehicle of infection enabled four-fifths of the consignment of contaminated chocolate to be withdrawn from the market. The 245 reported cases resulted from the sale of 600 000 bars; as these were presumably only a small fraction of the total number of cases, it is likely that many thousands of infections were prevented.