Objective. To reassess synovial intimal cell populations by light microscopy.Methods. Non-inflamed, rheumatoid and osteoarthritic synovia were analyzed as tissue sections and cytospin preparations by a series of combined immunohistochemical and cytochemical staining techniques.Results. Two populations of intimal cells were identified. The first carried macrophage markers. The second showed high uridine diphosphoglucose dehydrogenase (UDPGD) activity, minimal cytoplasmic CD68, absent non-specific esterase (NSE) activity, and absent leukocyte and endothelial antigens. The majority of these cells showed a high content of prolyl hydroxylase.Conclusion. Combined cytochemical staining for NSE and UDPGD activity allows effective separation of intimal cell populations. We suggest that the cells of high UDPGD activity are the fibroblast-like or type B synovial intimal cells defined by electron microscopy. High UDPGD activity probably reflects a preferential ability to synthesize glycosaminoglycans, including hyaluronan.The identity of synovial lining cells has long been a matter of debate ( I ) . Following electron micro-

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When disasters occur, nurses of all specialties require the appropriate knowledge and skills to respond effectively and efficiently. To assess the extent to which nurses in the US are prepared for emergencies, researchers have developed the Emergency Preparedness Information Questionnaire (EPIQ), in which participants are invited to assess their familiarity with aspects of emergency preparedness. This article discusses a pilot study of the use of the EPIQ among minor injury unit nurses and healthcare assistants in the UK. The results suggest that the principle of the EPIQ is sound but that it should be adapted to cater for different disaster situations and the needs of individual nurses. Terms that describe disasters and large-scale emergency situations are often used interchangeably so, to avoid confusion, this article uses 'disaster' to refer to all such events.

The concentration of hyaluronan was measured by a novel application of an ELISA technique, using biotinylated hyaluronan binding-region (HABr) derived from cartilage proteoglycan core-protein, to digested frozen sections of synovium. The relative extractability of hyaluronan, from sections of synovium by short-term washes in buffer, was assessed by the same method. The distribution of hyaluronan in adjacent sections was assessed histochemically using the biotinylated HABr and alkaline phosphatase-conjugated streptavidin. Hyaluronan concentrations were lower in rheumatoid synovium (0.71 +/- 0.10 mg/cm3; mean +/- S.E.M.) than in non-inflamed synovium (1.07 +/- 0.16 mg/cm3). However, the ratio of extractable or 'free' hyaluronan to non-extractable or 'bound' hyaluronan, was greatly increased in rheumatoid synovium, being 4.53 +/- 0.40 (mean +/- S.E.M.) compared with 1.87 +/- 0.42 in non-inflamed synovium. Histochemical staining showed hyaluronan to be concentrated in the lining layer of non-inflamed samples, whereas in rheumatoid synovium the stain was more uniformly distributed throughout the tissue. Although the total concentration of hyaluronan was not increased in rheumatoid synovium, the increased proportion of 'free', and therefore presumably mobile, hyaluronan molecules together with increased synovial bulk may contribute to the known increases in serum levels of hyaluronan in patients with RA.

Previous research shows that word segmentation is a language-specific skill. Here, we tested segmentation of bi-syllabic words in two languages (French; English) within the same infants in a single test session. In Experiment 1, monolingual 8-month-olds (French; English) segmented bi-syllabic words in their native language, but not in an unfamiliar and rhythmically different language. In Experiment 2, bilingual infants acquiring French and English demonstrated successful segmentation for French when it was tested first, but not for English and not for either language when tested second. There were no effects of language exposure on this pattern of findings. In Experiment 3, bilingual infants segmented the same English materials used in Experiment 2 when they were tested using the standard segmentation procedure, which provided more exposure to the test stimuli. These findings show that segmenting words in both their native languages in the dual-language task poses a distinct challenge for bilingual 8-month-olds acquiring French and English. Further research exploring early word segmentation will advance our understanding of bilingual acquisition and expand our fundamental knowledge of language and cognitive development.