SummaryA total of 333 patients with stable intermittent claudication at recruitment were followed up for 6 years to determine risk factors associated with subsequent mortality. Cardiovascular diseases were the underlying cause of death in 78% of the 114 patients who died. The strongest independent predictor of death during the follow-up period was the plasma fibrinogen level, an increase of 1 g/l being associated with a nearly two-fold increase in the probability of death within the next 6 years. Age, low ankle/brachial pressure index and a past history of myocardial infarction also increased the probability of death during the study period. The plasma fibrinogen level is a valuable index of those patients with stable intermittent claudication at high risk of early mortality. The results also provide further evidence for the involvement of fibrinogen in the pathogenesis of arterial disease.

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SUMMARY1. The purpose of this study was to determine whether or not the secretion of pancreatic enzymes by the rabbit remained proportional (parallel) after acute stimulation.2. Hourly samples of pancreatic juice were collected from anaesthetized rabbits, each sample being analysed for volume, protein, amylase, trypsinogen and chymotrypsinogen.3. Four groups of animals were studied for 2 hr before and 2 hr after stimulation with either saline (controls), methacholine, sincalide (C-terminal active octa-peptide of CCK-PZ) or CCK-PZ. 4. Despite a rise in protein output of more than 100 % in the hour after stimulation in all experimental groups, there was no change in the specific activity (u./mg protein) of the three enzymes monitored, and the ratios of these enzymes to each other remained constant.5. These results in the in vivo rabbit confirm our previous observation of parallel secretion in the in vitro rabbit pancreas; they are at variance with other studies in the rabbit (predominantly in vitro but also in vivo) which showed non-parallel secretion after CCK-PZ stimulation.6. Our results tend to support the theory of mass transport and parallel secretion of pancreatic enzymes though no firm deductions on intracellular events can be made from juice analysis alone.

Cancer (squamous) Pressure sores Rare causes of leg ulcers Arteriovenous Kaposi's sarcoma malformation Haemolytic jaundice Syringomyelia Leukaemia Syphilis Factitious causes Basal cell cancer Drugs Melanoma Estimated number ofarterial leg ulcers treated each year District of 200000 United people Kingdom Venous 200 63000 Arterial (large vessel) 30 9000 Arterial (small vessel) 15 4500 Venous/arterial 30 9000

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