The immune states of 52 patients with myelodysplastic syndromes classified according to the FAB criteria were studied. Serum electrophoresis and immunoelectrophoresis, direct Coombs test, and tests for organ and non-organ specific antibodies were performed. Twenty six patients had immunoglobulin abnormalities: six (11.5%) had monoclonal gammopathy; 17 (32.6%) had polyclonal increases in serum i...

A case of congenital syphilis which presented with paroxysmal cold haemoglobinuria is described. The patient had aortic incompetence, and the significance of this finding is discussed. The Coombs test was studied, and positive results appear to be due to interaction between antiglobulin serum and complement adsorbed on to the test cells, this adsorption being promoted by the cold antibodies.

FrACT unfortunately has too often been used without calibration. Thus from version 3.2 onwards a strong warning message appears on every start unless you have changed both the observer distance entry and the length of the blue calibration ruler (see preceding paragraph). Both are defaulted to numbers that are unlikely to occur in practice (399 cm and 169 mm). As long as one of these remains at ...

PURPOSE To determine the intrarater-reliability, interrater-reliability and normal reference scores of the Semmes Weinstein Monofilament test (SWM) of the feet of healthy subjects. In addition, the stability of the SWM for prospective use was assessed by determining systematic changes in sensory thresholds. METHODS Interrater-reliability was assessed on five locations of the plantar side of b...

Toxoplasma gondii, the agent for toxoplasmosis, has worldwide distribution. Horses normally play a secondary role in its life cycle, but movement around urban areas, feeding on grass and the increasing use of carthorses for gathering recyclable material in some urban areas of Brazil may increase their exposure to T. gondii infection. The aim of the present study was to investigate the frequency...

This paper explores the statistical properties of household consumption-expenditure budget shares distributions (HBSDs) —defined as the share of household total expenditure spent for purchasing a specific category of commodities— for a large sample of Italian households in the period 1989-2004. We find that HBSDs are fairly stable over time for each specific category, but profoundly heterogeneo...

Several studies have compared prostate-specific antigen (PSA) kinetics in men with and without cancer, but there has been no adequate analysis of the longitudinal variation in PSA. The aim of this study was to assess the fluctuations in PSA in a cohort of elderly men in an attempt to define a physiological pattern of PSA kinetics. We searched a specific cohort of patients aged > 75 years and wi...

PURPOSE To determine criterion validity of the pediatric running-based anaerobic sprint test (RAST) as a nonsophisticated field test for evaluating anaerobic performance in healthy children and adolescents. METHODS Data from 65 healthy children (28 boys and 37 girls between 6 and 18 years of age, mean ± SD age: 10.0 ± 2.8 years) who completed both the pediatric RAST and the 30-s Wingate anaer...