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Ultrastructural alterations in pancreatic acini from six patients operated for acute necrotizing pancreatitis are described. One of the patients suffered from biliary tract disease, the rest had excessive alcohol intake as the presumed aetiology. Areas of the pancreatic parenchyma showing oedematous inflammation in light microscopy were studied in the electron microscope. Findings in acinar cells included changes in zymogen granules and an increased autophagocytosis in addition to unspecific organelle alterations. Zymogen granules showed increase in size and number, loss or variation of electron-density and peripheral dissolution. Increased autophagic activity was indicated by several autophagic vacuoles and residual bodies. Acinar lumina were dilated showing effacement of microvilli and invaginations in the luminal plasma membrane of the acinar cells. In acinar lumina and in the interstitium fibrillar material was observed, with an increasing frequency in those areas showing severe cellular disintegration. These findings suggest: 1) an increased activity of zymogen granules, 2) an increased autophagocytosis, and 3) penetration of acinar luminal contents into the interstitium.

Abstract: An electrical stimulation system for bilateral diaphragm pacing was constructed. The stimulator instrument comprises a transmitter and two implantable receivers and nerve electrodes. An optimised transcutaneous link system is described which utilises a radio frequency coupling to transmit both power and stimulus information to the receiver. The receiver unit was constructed in thick-film hybrid technology using bipolar and c.m.o.s. circuits and was packaged in a hermetically sealed metal case. The construction of the transmitter allows a high reliability, low power consumption and flexibility of the stimulus parameter control. A complete, bilateral phrenic nerve pacing system was implanted into a patient suffering from tetraplegia. It is concluded that electrical phrenic nerve stimulation to pace the diaphragm is capable of being used in clinical therapy.

The mesothermal Au deposit at Middagsberget in northern Sweden is associated with irregular stock-works of quartz veins occurring in shear zones across a dioritic intrusion. Alteration in the shear zones is characterized by sericitization, chloritization, the presence of sulphides and several generations of veins and small-scale fractures. Small fractures which are filled with variable amounts of quartz, carbonate, sericite, chlorite, albite and sulphides, are particularly abundant in zones having a high Au content. In general, these fractures are younger than the major quartz veins and were apparently important for strong Au-enrichment. Au is associated with arsenopyrite and it occurs as droplets or interfillings in the arsenopyrite or at the crystal surface; together with pyrrhotite as inclusions in arsenopyrite; as free grains in silicates but close to arsenopyrite; or in very small fractures in carbonates. The Au-mineralization is associated with elevated contents of As, S, Sb and W and depletion of Cu, Zn, Ge and Bi. The entire altered areas are enriched in Au compared with the < 1 to 15 ppb found in the host intrusion. During alteration an initial increase in Na or K was accompanied by a weak enrichment of Au and associated elements together with a depletion of elements such as Ca and Mg. In Au-rich samples this alkali enrichment was overprinted by the carbonate-and sulphide-bearing fractures, which often led to an increased Ca-content. An clear zonation of alteration types has not been found. The host rock has been altered by several generations of fluids: the shear zones were repeatedly ruptured and new small-scale fractures were opened. The different fluids did not, therefore, flow through identical paths although they penetrated the same major zones. This resulted in a complex pattern of variously superimposed alterations.

The lead isotopic compositions of galena in Early Proterozoic gold deposits have been determined for three districts in northern Sweden and central Finland. The deposits are hosted by a variety of ˜1870–1890 Ma Svecofennian host rocks including the volcanosedimentary succession within the Skellefte District island arc in Sweden as well as I-type tonalites at Jörn (Sweden) and Pohjanmaa (Finland). The deposits are epigenetic in relation to these Svecofennian rocks and are part of a goldbearing metallogenetic belt, which can be followed for 600 km parallel to the southwestern margin of the Archaean Domain. In spite of these epigenetic relationships, the lead isotopic data indicate that the deposits are not dramatically younger than the ˜1870–1890 Ma Svecofennian host rocks (probably not exceeding 10–20 million years). Two principal lead sources were activated when the gold deposits were formed. The most significant source is represented by the I-type tonalites, which constitute a relatively primitive (µ = 9.3) and widely distributed source in the entire metallogenic belt. In addition, the volcanic components in the westernmost part of the Skellefte District constitute an extremely primitive (µ <9.0) source, which only locally was an important contributor to the epigenetic deposits in this metallogenetic belt. The significantly different lead isotopic composition estimated for these sources indicates that the volcanic rocks in the western part of the Skellefte District were not comagmatic with the I-type tonalites recognized at Jörn and central Finland.

Summary Following oral administration of 800 mg bacampicillin, the concentrations of ampicillin were determined in normal (n=16) and pathological (n=12) lung tissue after 3, 6 and 9 hours in a total of 28 patients. The serum concentration was determined simultaneously. The mean peak serum concentration (±SD) after one hour was 9.7±7.2 µg/ml. The mean concentration (±SD) in normal lung tissues were, after 3, 6 and 9 hours, 3.73±1.10 µg/ml, 1.06±0.99 µg/ml, 0.15±0.30 µg/ml respectively, and in pathological lung tissues 0.95±0.31 µl/ml, 0.86±1.11 µg/ml and 0.40±0.24 µg/ml respectively. Thus bacampicillin produced concentrations well above the MIC of the most important pathogen,Haemophilus influenzae, in both pathological and normal lung tissue.