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Temporal trends of five tetra- to hexabromodiphenyl ethers [BDE47, BDE99, BDE100, BDE153 and BDE154) and two methoxy-tetraBDEs [6-methoxy-2,2',4,4'- tetraBDE (6-MeO-BDE47) and 2'-methoxy-2,3',4,5'- tetraBDE (2'-MeO-BDE68)] in pike from Lake Bolmen for the years 1967-2000, are presented. All BDE congeners show increasing trends up to the mid-1980s (Sigma5PBDE from 60 to 1600 pg/g wet weight in 1989, i.e. a more than 25-fold increase), and then decrease or level off. The decreasing trends of PBDEs after the 1980s were considerably slower in the present study than was found in a study of an environmental matrix from the Baltic Proper covering the same time period. This difference suggests local sources near Lake Bolmen. The MeO-BDEs show initially decreasing concentrations, which for 6-MeO-BDE47 continues until the early 1990s. The concentrations of 6-MeO-BDE47 in herring from five locations along the Swedish coast increased from south to north in the Baltic Sea. No correlation between the concentrations of the BDE congeners and the MeO-BDEs was observed, indicating sources other than PBDEs for these compounds. The presence of MeO-BDEs in fish from lakes with different characteristics suggests a natural production not favoured by eutrophication, or dependent on sampling season and geographical location.

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Fifty-seven consecutive patients with Waldenström's Macroglobuliemia were studied retrospectively for autoimmune manifestations. 28 patients or 51% (16 women and 13 men) had clinical and/or serological autoimmune manifestations, two or more of these being concomitant in 20 (12 women and 8 men). The predominant findings were Coombs' positive autoimmune hemolytic anemia (16%), seropositive rheumatoid arthritis (16%), inflammatory gastric ulcer with parietal cell autoantibodies (12%), and IgM-cardiolipin syndrome (11%). 40% of the autoimmune manifestations were present at the time of diagnosis of the Waldenström's Macroglobulinaemia and 60% were observed over a mean period of 4.7 years. All patients had an IgM M-component. There was no correlation between autoimmunity and the size of the M-component or the degree of hypo-IgG and hypo-IgA gammaglobulinemia. The only correlation between autoimmunity and infection was found in patients with gastric ulcer and parietal cell autoantibodies, in whom the infection was caused by Helicobacter pylori.

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Echocardiographic diagnosis of acute pulmonary embolism as illustrated by three case reports is discussed in the article. Acute pulmonary embolism was diagnosed by demonstration of right heart strain in one case, of long vermiform thrombi floating in the right atrium in another, and in the third case by demonstration of a long thrombus lodged in the foramen ovale, astride the atrial septum, and with its ends floating in either atrium. Thus, as echocardiography enables pulmonary embolism to be diagnosed by demonstration either of right heart strain or of intracardial thrombi, it is a useful diagnostic tool in cases of haemodynamic compromise, though it does not detect minor pulmonary embolism.

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Venous volume (venous capacity) of the calf is low in patients with acute myocardial infarction, who also have a high risk of deep vein thrombosis (DVT). The effect of graduated compression stockings on the venous volume and on the incidence of DVT was therefore studied in 80 patients aged 70 years and above with acute myocardial infarction. Graduated compression stockings were randomly fitted to one leg, the other serving as a control, after which the venous volume was measured by strain gauge plethysmography. The incidence of DVT was measured by the 125I fibrinogen uptake test. Venous volume was significantly higher in legs treated with graduated compression stockings compared to control legs. DVT developed in eight control legs but not in any leg treated with graduated compression stockings (P = 0.003). DVT was also significantly more frequent in women compared to men and the majority of DVT developed in legs with very low venous volume values.

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Venous volume and venous outflow of the calf were studied in 49 patients with acute myocardial infarction. Graded compression stockings were randomly applied to one leg, the other serving as a control, and the above parameters were studied with strain gauge plethysmography during six days. Venous volume increased in the control legs during the first three days and it was significantly higher in the legs with stockings compared to the control legs throughout the study period. Venous outflow did not change during the study period or with the application of compression stockings. A restricted venous function in the calf may contribute to the initiation of deep vein thrombosis. Graded compression stockings improve the venous function in the leg and may thus reduce the incidence of deep vein thrombosis in patients with acute myocardial infarction. This remains, however, to be proved in a controlled clinical trial.

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Immature rainbow trout (Salmo gairdneri R.) were continuously exposed in a flow-through system to a total of six different bleached kraft mill effluents (BKME) at two exposure concentrations (400 and 2000 times dilution) for 7 weeks, during three consecutive years (1982-1984). The fish were exposed in outdoor tanks connected to the outgoing water from a parallel mesocosms study simulating the Baltic littoral (Fucus vesiculosus) zone. After exposure, hematological, osmoregulational) and mixed function oxidase (MFO) parameters were studied. The results showed that conventional choline bleaching (C95 + D5)EHDED, with and without treatment in aerated lagoons, had the strongest effects on the fish exposed. Oxygen prebleaching followed by high (50%) substitution of the active chlorine as chlorine dioxide, as well as oxygen prebleaching and normal (85%) chlorine levels in the CD step and treatment in aerated lagoons, had the fewest effects on the fish. The results imply a complex pattern of effects where the relative prevalence of MFO-stimulating and -inhibiting substances may give different biological results in fish exposed to these kinds of effluents.

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Venous volume and venous outflow of the calf were studied with strain gauge plethysmography during atrial fibrillation or atrial flutter and after conversion to sinus rhythm in 28 patients. These parameters increased significantly after conversion to sinus rhythm and the increase was more pronounced in patients with organic heart disease compared to patients without. It is concluded that atrial arrhythmia is associated with an altered venous function, which may compensate for the fall in cardiac output induced by the arrhythmia and also may be a risk factor for deep vein thrombosis in patients with organic heart disease.

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In order to detect deep vein thrombosis (DVT), 101 patients with acute medical or infectious disorders were examined with the 125I-fibrinogen uptake test. All patients were bedridden on admission and were scanned daily from the second to the eighth day. Thirteen patients developed a positive fibrinogen uptake test. Thus, if a positive test is interpreted as DVT, the incidence of DVT was 13% in our bedridden patients. Of the patients admitted because of heart disease or pneumonia 20% had DVT, but only 4% of those admitted with other diagnoses. Other clinical "risk factors" studied, could not identify patients who developed DVT.

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The anatomy of the thrombus in acute deep vein thrombosis (DVT) in women using oral contraceptives was studied in 277 reports on DVT received by the Swedish Adverse Drug Reaction Advisory Committee (SADRAC). The study revealed a similarity between the anatomy of DVT in women on oral contraceptives and that of DVT in pregnant women, suggesting a pharmacologic influence of the hormones in the pill on the pathogenesis of DVT in women on oral contraceptives. The anatomy of DVT in women on low-estrogen pills was identical with that of DVT in women on high-estrogen pills, suggesting an identical pharmacologic influence of the two types of pill on the pathogenesis of DVT in women on oral contraceptives.

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Epidemiological studies have pointed to a correlation between the oestrogen content of oral contraceptives and the risk of deep vein thrombosis (DVT). The correlation has been strongest in studies which partially consisted of adverse drug reaction reports to the Swedish Adverse Drug Reaction Advisory Committee (SADRAC). The present study analyzes the epidemiological basis of the adverse drug reaction reports on DVT in women on oral contraceptives to SADRAC. It verifies the reported correlation between the oestrogen content of the pills and the risk of DVT but it also demonstrates that this correlation probably was secondary to differences in the diagnostic standard of DVT, to differences in reporting policies to SADRAC and to an age difference between women on low-oestrogen-pills and those on high-oestrogen pills and is thus due to bias. It is concluded that adverse drug reaction reporting on oral contraceptives has been very unreliable, for which reason it cannot support any epidemiological conclusion concerning the relative thrombogenicity of high-oestrogen pills compared with that of low-oestrogen pills.

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The incidence of deep vein thrombosis (DVT), diagnosed by ascending phlebography, has been calculated retrospectively in a group of 14 869 obstetrical patients. The incidence was calculated to 0.13 per thousand antepartum and 0.61 per thousand postpartum. The study revealed that clinical signs and symptoms of thrombosis are very unreliable in pregnant women but more reliable in puerperal women. It is concluded that objective diagnosis of thrombosis is important in pregnant women, and ascending phlebography is a rewarding objective method to use in pregnant women.

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876 consecutive patients with clinically suspected acute deep vein thrombosis (DVR) in the leg were studied with an ascending phlebography, and the patient's age and sex were correlated to the phlebographic diagnosis. In unoperated patients a thrombus was demonstrated significantly more often in males and in older patients than in females and in younger patients. In operated patients no correlation could be noted between the phlebographic diagnosis and patients's age and sex, but a thrombus was demonstrated significantly more often in operated than in unoperated patients. The results suggest that signs and symptoms of thrombosis are less reliable in females and younger patients than in males and older patients, when a DVT is suspected clinically in unoperated patients.

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To determine the significance of patients' age and sex on the size of the thrombus in acute deep vein thrombosis, 420 consecutive phlebograms with acute deep vein thrombosis were studied. A significant correlation between the size of the thrombus and increasing age of the patient as well as the sex of male was noted. It is concluded that older patients and men often are at a high risk of pulmonary embolism at the time of diagnosis.

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The incidence of deep vein thrombosis (DVT), diagnosed by ascending phlebography, was calculated in two Swedish districts. The average incidence per thousand population and year was 0.85 in males and 0.68 in females. Before the age of 50 the incidence was very low and almost the same in both sexes. After age 50 the incidence in men markedly increased with age. A similar increase was found in women, but not before age 60. DVT occurring after age 50 was significantly more common in men than in women. The study strongly suggests male sex as a risk factor for DVT.

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