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Satisfactory spore preparations for testing hospital sterilizers can be made from and comparatively simple methods for loading and drying the papers are considered to be valid. Each batch of spore papers should be calibrated by plotting dose-response curves for exposure to steam. A minimum standard in terms of the L.D.50 to moist heat is proposed and confidence limits suggested when such papers are used in pairs or small multiples. [ABSTRACT FROM PUBLISHER]

A detailed account is given of a method of preparing giant paper sections of lung for the day following necropsy or, better and more easily, for the subsequent day. This method represents minor modifications to the highly successful Gough-Wentworth technique by challenging the need for lengthy fixation and embedding procedures, but producing results which are thought to be comparable. [ABSTRACT FROM PUBLISHER]

A method for the determination of urinary normetadrenaline and metadrenaline is described whereby these 3-O-methoxy metabolites of noradrenaline and adrenaline are separated by paper chromatography before estimation by Pisano's method. Results in 80 normal subjects are given. [ABSTRACT FROM PUBLISHER]

A simple paper chromatographic method was found to be effective for the study of phenylketonuria and tyrosyluria. It proved to be much more reliable than conventional tests for the detection of abnormal amounts of ketoacids in urine and was suitable and convenient for following the effects of dietary variations on the excretion of these compounds. Information obtained about ketones other than those of primary importance to the conditions studied included confirmation of the excretion of -hydroxyphenylpyruvic acid in phenylketonuria. A modification of the method applicable to histidinaemia was devised. [ABSTRACT FROM PUBLISHER]

Filter paper blood samples were used to measure complement-fixation antibody in 34 children with sore throats. The method was satisfactory and should be particularly useful to minimize trauma in general practice and to conserve reagents in developing countries. [ABSTRACT FROM PUBLISHER]

Simple paper chromatography of urine obtained in the Figlu test has been found satisfactory for determining excess excretion of the imidazole metabolites of histidine. It has been confirmed that examination for these in addition to formiminoglutamic acid is necessary for a full assessment of this test. When excretion of the latter is not abnormal in folic-acid and/or vitamin B deficiency, that of urocanic acid, a glycine conjugate of urocanic acid and/or imidazole propionic acid, is usually raised. An abnormally high excretion of hydantoin-5-propionic acid after histidine has also been found in these deficiencies, and its estimation may be of additional use in the evaluation of the Figlu test. [ABSTRACT FROM PUBLISHER]

A measured area of blotting paper was used as a vehicle for transferring a constant aliquot of urine on to the surface of a culture medium. The number of bacterial colonies growing in the inoculum area of the medium corresponded to the number of organisms in the urine. One thousand, two hundred and seventy-five urines from women attending an ante-natal clinic were tested by this method, and the results compared with the results of quantitative bacterial counting and of triphenyl tetrazolium chloride (T.T.C.) tests. The method was found to be a simple, cheap, and reliable way of screening urine specimens for significant bacteriuria. [ABSTRACT FROM PUBLISHER]

392-398. The presence of lead in blood is the most incontrovertible evidence of absorption but hitherto the need for venepuncture has limited its determination in the supervision of industrial workers. Micro-methods using atomic absorption spectrophotometry (AAS) have, however, made possible the development of a sufficiently reliable test using a drop of blood obtainable by ear prick for use in the field for screening purposes. A micro-sampling method by AAS is compared with a routine polarographic procedure (POL) using venous blood (corr. coeff. = 0·990). The pipetting of microlitres of blood can be eliminated by spotting the blood onto filter paper, allowing it to dry in air, and then using a punched-out standard disc of dried blood for analysis instead. Correlation of this method (PD) with the micro-sampling technique (AAS) is good (r=0·981). The PD method using capillary blood also correlates acceptably with the micromethod using venous blood (r = 0·913). A pilot field study using capillary blood estimated by the PD technique showed that with this method blood can be collected by ear prick in factories for monitoring workers in the lead industry, thus eliminating the need for routine venepuncture. [ABSTRACT FROM PUBLISHER]

The Chair of Industrial Health in Newcastle upon Tyne was first filled in March, 1946. For about the first 12 years diseases of coalminers posed the main clinical and research problems. They stimulated surveys of pneumoconiosis in the Durham and Northumberland coalfields and led to studies of ϰ-ray viewing techniques and of the relationship of radiological appearance to symptoms in dust disease of the chest. A section of medical statistics, now headed by a professor, was one of the earliest elements of the department to be inaugurated, and this was followed by a section of pulmonary physiology. The emphasis on industrial pulmonary disease, on which 14 papers have been published, has gradually widened and become transferred from coal to beryllium, asbestos, and antimony. Coalminers with nystagmus were shown to be socially similar to miners without the disease but psychologically less stable. They also suffered from a breakdown of their binocular vision. A darkness-induced nystagmus was experimentally produced in kittens, with increasing difficulty as they became older. Decompression sickness has become an important interest. In the build-up of the department demands for occupational hygiene soon led to the formation of a section which started work on the decalcification of teeth by organic acids in a fruit salt factory. Lead poisoning in shipbreakers and smelters, and vanadium poisoning in fitters and gasmakers were studied jointly with clinicians. The thermal decomposition of protective coatings and welding rods has also attracted research, as also have the noise levels in a glassblowing school and in several power stations. All medical, engineering, and public health undergraduates are taught by the department, and also the honours chemists. All medical undergraduates and honours engineers are examined in industrial health. The departmental budget (including the field service) is about £54,000, and the department inhabits 12,660 sq. ft. of space. [ABSTRACT FROM PUBLISHER]

A sample of 147 men drawn from the workers in a pulp mill was compared with one of 124 men from a paper mill. The former included those exposed to chlorine and to sulphur dioxide. No significant differences were found in respiratory symptoms or in simple tests of ventilatory function in the two samples, but men working in chlorine had a somewhat poorer respiratory function and more shortness of breath than those working in sulphur dioxide. The working population of both mills together had a lower prevalence of respiratory disease than that of the male population of Berlin, N.H., previously studied, suggesting that working populations may not be representative of the general population. Further, a low prevalence of disease in a working population exposed to pollutants may not indicate their `safety' in general populations. [ABSTRACT FROM PUBLISHER]