Digitalis is now in common use following acute myocardial infarction, and the danger of producing arrhythmias appears to be no greater than in other groups of patients (Askey, 1951). The drug is frequently given intravenously for a rapid effect and to ensure that it will enter the circulation, but little is known of the immediate effects of such administration on the circulation. Malmcrona, Schr6der, and Werko (1966) have reported on 10 patients and we report here our results in a further 11 patients. SUBJECTS AND METHODSEleven patients were studied from 12 hours to 5 days following an acute myocardial infarction, confirmed in all cases by electrocardiographic and serum enzyme changes. There were 7 men and 4 women, whose ages ranged from 39 to 67, with a mean of 54-5 years. In all patients there was clinical evidence of poor left ventricular function. In 8 patients a third heart sound was present, in 2 there was an atrial sound, and in 4 the second heart sound was single or split paradoxically during respiration. Basal rales and crepitations were present in 3 subjects and the chest x-ray showed distended upper lobe veins in 2. As a group, therefore, these patients showed early signs of left ventricular failure, but had not progressed to congestive cardiac failure. None of the patients had had previous digitalis therapy, and all were in sinus rhythm.The study was carried out without disturbing the patients' normal routine. Pulmonary artery pressure was obtained via a fine flow-guided nylon catheter and aortic pressure via a similar teflon catheter, both introduced percutaneously. Cardiac output was measured by the dye-dilution technique, 5 mg. indocyanine green being injected into the pulmonary artery; arterial blood was sampled from the brachial artery and reinjected after each determination. Control readings were taken for at least 30 minutes before the intravenous injection of either 0-25 mg. acetyl beta strophanthidin (7 cases) or 0 5 mg. digoxin (4 cases). Further readings were taken 15, 30, Received October 17, 1967. * This work was supported in part by a grant from the British Heart Foundation. and 60 minutes after the injection. The parameters assessed were: mean pulmonary artery, mean aortic, and mean systolic ejection pressures, cardiac output, heart rate, and systolic ejection time. Stroke volumewas derived by dividing cardiac output by heart rate; cardiac work by multiplying cardiac output by mean aortic pressure; stroke work by dividing cardiac work by heart rate; total peripheral resistance by dividing mean aortic pressure by cardiac output, and tension-time index as the product of mean systolic ejection pressure, systolic ejection time, and heart rate. The patients were lying flat throughout the study, with 2 pillows, and zero level for the pressure measurements was the mid-chest. Student's 't' test was applied to the results to determine statistical significance. RESULTSThe group means, and ranges for all the parameters measured, are shown in the Table. There were no significant differences betw...

A significant degradation in the health of wild animals in Montana has been recorded over the past two decades. We surmise that the health issues are related to pesticide exposure. We present some of the evidence of the deterioration of the health in wildlife, which we used to inspire investigations on human health in the US population. While the animals' exposure is through food, water and air, we believe that human exposure is predominantly through food, as the majority of the population does not reside near agricultural fields and forests. We have obtained US government data on pesticide usage and on human disease patterns over time from the 1998-2010 hospital discharge data. Since glyphosate is by far the most widely used herbicide, we believe it to be a major source of contamination for humans. Correlations between glyphosate usage and specific health issues, along with the known toxicology profile of glyphosate obtained from the literature, reflect a plausible causal relationship. Because much of the wildlife data is from deer fawns, most of the human data presented here involve newborn infants, but we also present some data for children 0-15 years old and for the full population (except newborn). We found many diseases and conditions whose hospital discharge rates match remarkably well with the rate of glyphosate usage on corn, soy, and wheat crops. These include head and face anomalies (R=0.95), newborn eye disorders, newborn blood disorders (R=0.92), newborn skin disorders (R=0.96), lymph disorders in children 0-15 (R=0.86) and in the general population except newborn (R=0.89), congenital heart conditions in newborns (R= 0.98), enlarged right ventricle in all age groups except newborn (R=0.96), newborn lung problems (R=0.95), pulmonary bleeding and edema for all age groups except newborn (R=0.97), liver cancer for all age groups except newborn (R=0.93), newborn metabolic disorders (R=0.95) and newborn genitourinary disorders (R=0.96).

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