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Electronic transmission is a more efficient way of sending medical information from hospitals to nursing homes. A study which compares electronic transmission with the conventional telephone procedure shows that it takes less time to complete discharge evaluation when using a facsimile machine. Electronic transmission also ensures a more efficient and timely discharge services, especially for high-needs patients.

One year after voluntary guidelines on rubella screening of hospital employees were issued by the Arizona Department of Health, a survey of 68 members of the Arizona Hospital Association was conducted, with an 81% response. Some form of employee rubella screening was present in only 49% of responding hospitals. Of the screening hospitals, 70% of programs had a mandatory aspect for selected employees. Administrative logistics, cost, problems encountered, and the quality and coverage of the program varied substantially among the different hospitals. Fewer than half of the screening hospitals had programs for physicians, students, or volunteers. Verbal histories of immunization or serological tests, although notoriously unreliable, were accepted by 14% of the screening hospitals. Half of the nonscreening hospitals plan to implement programs in the future. Reasons given for not establishing rubella screening programs include cost, no pediatric or obstetric service, liability issues, high turnover, and no previous case of rubella in an employee. Three hospitals (all screening) reported they had had a case of rubella in an employee. The data suggest slow partial compliance with recommendations for rubella screening in hospitals.(JAMA 1983;249:2675-2678)

Young chickens fed hexachlorobenzene (HCB) or pentachlorophenol (PCP) for 14 d at 10 ppm in the diet contained body burdens of 573 or 362 μg, respectively. These diets were withdrawn (d 0) and replaced for 21 d with diets containing 5% mineral oil (MO), or 5% (CO), a bile-acid-binding resin, or the chickens were restricted in feed intake to 50% of controls (50-RF), fed MO plus 50-RF, or CO plus 50-RF. Without any treatment during withdrawal, body burdens were reduced to 63% and 70% of the d 0 values for HCB and PCP, respectively. MO, CO, or 50-RF reduced body burdens of HCB to 37% of d 0 burdens, but the combination treatments with 50-RF reduced body burdens to 19% of d 0 values. PCP was at 35% of the d 0 burdens from 50-RF, while all other treatments had reduced body burdens to nondetectable amounts of less than 0.7 μglbird by d 21 of withdrawal. Body fat was not reduced by mineral oil, but was reduced to some extent by CO, and was markedly reduced by 50-RF. 50-RF always reduced body burdens of PCP or HCB alone or in combination with MO or CO. These data are discussed in relationship to the nonbiliary excretion of xenobiotics.

A comparison was made of the induction responses of two PCBs (Aroclors 1016 and 1242) on the hepatic microsomal mixed function oxidase (MFO) system in two genetically similar species, mink and European ferrets, previously shown to differ significantly in sensitivity to these same Aroclors. Feeding Aroclors for 28 days at a subtoxic level (20 ppm) resulted in weak induction of the MFO system. Aroclor 1242 was a more potent inducer than Aroclor 1016. Using a dosing regime which resulted in toxic effects in mink but not in ferrets, greater induction was noted in ferrets compared to mink. Furthermore, only 3-methyl-cholanthrene (MC)-type induction was observed. Phenobarbital (PB) inducible enzymes were either not affected or were inhibited by Aroclor treatment. The results suggest an inverse relationship between extent of MC-type induction and toxicity in these species.