The relationship between coronary risk factors and coronary artery disease in patients with valvular heart disease was studied prospectively in 387 consecutive patients undergoing routine coronary arteriography prior to valve replacement. Coronary artery disease was as common in patients with mitral valve disease (31.9%) as in those with aortic valve disease (26.8%). Although it occurs more frequently in patients with angina (45.7%) significant coronary artery disease is found in 19.2% (47 of 245) of those without angina (P less than 0.001), suggesting that the presence of angina alone is an unreliable indicator of significant coronary disease. The prevalence and severity of significant coronary artery disease increases progressively as the number of coronary risk factors also increase (P less than 0.001) but the prevalence is low (3%) in patients in whom both angina and coronary risk factors are absent. These findings suggest that preoperative coronary arteriography might be omitted in this latter group of patients.
As infectious diseases in ectothermic vertebrates increasingly threaten wild populations, understanding how host immune systems are affected by the environment is key to understanding the process of infection. In this study, we investigated how temperature change and simulated bacterial infection (via lipopolysaccharide [LPS] injection) interacted to regulate innate immunity, as measured by bactericidal ability (BA), phagocytosis rate, and heterophil:lymphocyte ratio (HLR) in common musk turtles (Sternotherus odoratus). We found that LPS stimulated an acute immune response, as measured by an increase in BA, phagocytosis rate, and HLR. When exposed to a 5 or 10°C temperature change for 48 hr, turtles rapidly acclimated to the new temperature by adjusting their immune output. This acclimation was compensatory as seen by elevated rates of immune output in colder animals and decreased rates of immune output in warmer animals. These results indicate that while temperature change may be a constraint on some animals,
S. odoratus have the ability to rapidly adjust immunity to match environmental thermal demand. This rapid ability to adjust immunity may be related to the broad geographic distribution of musk turtles. Future research should focus on how immune acclimation in ectotherms varies both intraspecifically and interspecifically across regional scales and geographic distributions.
A patient is described in whom lymphoma infiltrated the pericardium and myocardium resulting in right ventricular rupture. Pericardial blood and lymphoma deposit were demonstrated echocardiographically as echolucent and echodense areas respectively and confirmed at autopsy. The patient presented with the clinical and haemodynamic features of cardiac tamponade.
An observational study was conducted to evaluate hygiene habits of students with fields of study, gender, and understanding of hygiene at a university in Alabama. One hundred students were randomly observed in ten restrooms on campus to determine whether or not students washed their hands. The study was divided into an observational stage, a quiz to ascertain student's knowledge of hygiene and the spread of pathogens, and a survey of self-reported illness rates. Females had a tendency to wash their hands more often than males while visiting the bathroom (p = 0.02, X 2 = 11.6). Science majors were more likely to wash their hands than non-science majors (p ≤ 0.001, X 2 = 5.2). Females (p ≤ 0.0001, df = 98, F = 21.5) and science majors (p ≤ 0.0001, df = 98, F = 81.4) scored significantly higher on the survey than males and nonscience majors, and that those observed not washing their hands reported being sick more often than those observed washing their hands (X 2 = 155.0, df = 3, p < 0.001, Fisher's exact p< 0.001).
Clin Lab Sci 2010;23(2):89
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