Evaluation of the EX-O3 Dialyser Cartridge

Fifty-five dialyses were performed using the EX-O3 dialyser cartridge. The performance of the dialyser in respect of urea, creatinine, phosphate, and uric acid dialysance is comparable to that of the Travenol Ultra-Flo 100 (cuprophane). It is rather more compact, is easy to operate, has minimal blood loss, and a low priming volume. Ultrafiltration was quite adequate and the dialyses were uncomplicated by side effects. A failure rate of 7% occurred but none of the patients lost any appreciable quantity of blood.     

Clinical and Bacteriological Studies with Clindamycin

Fifty patients have been treated with clindamycin, a chemical analogue of lincomycin. Forty-four responded satisfactorily to treatment. Gastrointestinal side-effects were rare though five patients developed rashes. Most recently isolated staphylococci are clindamycin-sensitive.     

Comparison of Coil and Kiil Dialysers

To assess the comparative efficiency, safety, and cost of maintenance dialysis, the treatment of 13 patients with a Kiil dialyser (representing 1,477 hospital and 735 home dialyses) was compared with that of 11 patients using a coil dialyser (898 hospital and 396 home dialyses). Kiil and coil dialysers proved equally satisfactory from a medical standpoint and equally acceptable to the patients. The capital costs of home dialysis were considerably reduced without any threat to safety or efficiency. The running costs of coil dialysers approximate to those of Kiil dialysers.     

Mathematical Model of a Countercurrent Flow Multi-fibre Dialyser

Summary The closed form solution to a distributed parameter mathematical model of a countercurrent flow dialyser is presented. The model consisting of a bundle of hollow fibres in a shell accounts for axial convection and radial diffusion. The proposed model relates the fractional removal of a solute to mass transfer parameters such as Sherwood number, length Peclet number and system geometry. Excellent agreement with experimental beer dialysis data is demonstrated for the removal of alcohol using 8-lm thick 200-lm diameter cuprophane hollow-fibre membrane fibres. Potentially, this model could be very helpful in designing new processes involving dialysis. For example, removal efficiency better than 90% is achievable in systems operating with a Sherwood number of 2.0, length Peclet number of 5 · 105, unit tube-side/shell-side volumetric flow and length-to-diameter ratio of 5000. Results were obtained in this work from only the first eigenvalue and the case of no solute in the incoming dialysate stream.     

Bacteriological Studies of the Effects of Cow's Milk on Dental Plaque and Dental Caries in Rats

The effects of liquid milk and skim milk powder on the bacterial composition of rat dental plaque and dental caries were examined in two separate experiments. First, groups of rats fed a cariogenic diet plus one or other of three types of liquid milk had. after 28 d. similar plaque flora. Those rats receiving reconstituted spray-dried skim milk had a significantly higher incidence of dental caries than those receiving either pasteurized and homogenized milk or ultra-heat treated milk. The differences in caries scores may be related to differences in inorganic phosphate and calcium levels of the milks. Secondly, rats fed a diet containing 65% phosphate-free sucrose plus 32% spray-dried skim milk in powder form had a significantly lower dental caries score than did rats receiving a diet containing 65% sucrose plus 32% autoclaved roller-dried skim milk powder. At the end of this experiment, the plaque flora had changed significantly and the difference in caries incidence was related to the reduction in the percentage of potentially cariogenic bacteria.
These results indicate that the mechanism by which milk reduces dental caries incidence may be (a) by remineralizing incipient carious lesions or (b) by mediating changes in the bacterial composition of dental plaque.