Experience with Coeliac Axis Compression Syndrome

Seven patients with “coeliac axis compression syndrome” are reported. Five were treated surgically, but only two did well. A survey of 200 healthy adults showed epigastric bruits in 6·5%; only one of these had dyspepsia, though dyspepsia was present in 12·5% overall.Caution is urged in attributing a causal relationship between coeliac axis compression and pain and in proceeding to arteriography when compression is suspected on clinical grounds.     

Children in Adult Intensive Therapy Units

From experience in the Northampton/Kettering area 9 to 10% of all patients in a general hospital requiring care in an intensive therapy unit were aged 12 years or under. Fifty-nine children were admitted to the intensive therapy unit of Northampton General Hospital between May 1967 and August 1969. Of these, 22 had been injured in road traffic accidents, five were surgical emergencies, five had meningitis, four status epilepticus, and four respiratory infections.All of the 30 families interviewed were in favour of their child being admitted to the unit, and none considered that the experience had had any lasting adverse psychological effect on the child. It is suggested that certain carefully selected child patients do benefit from the facilities of an intensive therapy unit, and for this reason such units must be designed, equipped, and staffed with this in mind.     

A New Medium for the Detection and Enumeration of Clostridium perfringens in Foods

S ummary . This paper describes the development and use of a selective diagnostic medium for the detection and enumeration of Clostridium perfringens in foods. The medium gives higher counts of Cl. perfringens and fewer false positives than existing media.     

Staining Neuroglia with Silver Diammino-Hydroxide after Sensitizing with Sodium Sulfite and Embedding in Paraffin

Pieces of brain are fixed in formalin ammonium bromide for about 4 days at room temperature, and given the following treatment: After washing, dehydrating and clearing, embed in paraffin, section and mount. Deparaffinize sections and pass through graded alcohols to water. Sensitize in 5% sodium sulfite for 2 hours, wash in distilled water and impregnate with silver diamminohydroxide solution 2-5 minutes at room temperature. Reduce in 2% formalin, wash in distilled water and tone in gold chloride. Fix in 5% hypo, counterstain with 1% picric acid, dehydrate and cover in balsam. Equally good results are obtained by impregnating with Hortega's strong silver carbonate. The microglia, oligodendroglia, fibrous and protoplasmic astrocytes in the cat, rabbit, newborn and adult human are successfully stained by this method.     

An Extreme Value Analysis of Pollutant Concentrations in Surface Soils Due to Atmospheric Deposition

Risk assessments often rely on deterministic models using long-term averages or “steady-state” values of input variables. Such models do not provide the information needed to estimate acute exposures. This study uses extreme value theory to examine the frequency and magnitude of daily pollutant concentrations in surface soils predicted at six U.S. locations. Concentrations are predicted using a deposition-leaching model and 50 years of historical precipitation data. A stochastic model also is used to generate 1000 years of precipitation data as modeling inputs for each location. The annual maximum concentrations at each site are fitted to a Gumbel type I distribution to estimate occurrence probability. For soluble pollutants, the predicted concentration varied substantially with precipitation, and the maximum daily concentrations exceeded annual averages by 4 to 8 times. Observed and synthetic precipitation data produced similar results at most study locations, though the synthetic data provided a slightly better fit to the Gumbel type I distribution. The precipitation model allows the generation of representative precipitation data that extend limited historical records. The extreme value analysis facilitates the evaluation of maximum pollutant concentrations, return periods, and other statistics that are important in evaluating acute exposures.