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.     

Myotonia congenita (Thomsen's disease) excluded from the region of the myotonic dystrophy locus on chromosome 19

Summary Linkage analysis has been carried out in six German families with autosomal dominantly inherited myotonia congenita (Thomsen's disease) using five chromosome 19 markers known to be linked to the gene for myotonic dystrophy (DM). Two of the markers, APOC1 and APOC2, are tightly linked to DM. Close linkage between these markers and myotonia congenita (MC) has been excluded to a distance of 9cM (z=-2.158). These data support the clinical suggestion that MC and DM are non-allelic disorders.     

Hybridization and karyotype variability of three endemic Fritillaria L. (Liliaceae) in Argolis Peninsula (Greece)

Abstract

The Argolis Peninsula covers the north-eastern part of Peloponnisos and is surrounded by the Gulf of Argosaronic. The area hosts three species of the genus Fritillaria: F. graeca, F. rhodocanakis and F. spetsiotica. Fritillaria graeca is a Greek endemic taxon and its distribution includes Peloponnisos, C & E Sterea Ellas, C Evia and in proximity to Sterea Ellas, Salamis and Kea islands, while the stenoendemic F. rhodocanakis and F. spetsiotica are mainly found on Idra and Spetses islands respectively. The last two taxa are included in the Red Data Book of Rare and Threatened Plants of Greece, while F. rhodocanakis is also included in the IUCN Red List. Hybridization among them is a common phenomenon in the areas where they coexist, leading to an array of morphologically and karyologically intermediate forms. The current study presents the taxa’s karyomorphometric analysis for the first time and reveals hybrids’ cytological variety, including differences in marker chromosomes, polyploidy and the number of B-chromosomes.     

Early Siberians from Lake Baikal and Alaskan population affinities

Among the materials excavated by the 1975 joint USSR–USA team in Siberia are two burials from Shaman's Cape, Olkhon Island, Lake Baikal. One is a middle-aged male of the Serovo culture, 6,000 B.C. , and the other is a young male of the Glaskovo culture of 2,000 B.C. This later burial displays an unusual pathology affecting the nose and post-cranial regions of the pelvic girdle and lower limbs. Osteon analysis confirms the determination of age at death and illustrates the difference between normal and pathological bone. Numerous cultural materials were associated with these burials, including harpoon heads, knives, a compound fishhook and a pestle with the Serovo man, and nephrite ornaments with the Glaskovo man. The skulls, though far apart in time, are pronouncedly Mongoloid and alike in their low cranial vaults. A low, broad and inclined ascending ramus resembles Chukchi, Eskimos and Aleuts. These two specimens document the Mongoloid character of the early inhabitants of Lake Baikal.