Non-specific Indicators Research Articles

Ventriculographic patterns and hemodynamics in primary myocardial disease.

Thirty-four patients with primary myocardial disease were studied and classified into three distinct types based on their left ventriculogram. Each had unique ventriculographic characteristics and findings. Type I are patients with a normal contraction pattern and an elevated left ventricular end-diastolic pressure. Type II A are patients with a hypertrophic pattern without obstruction to outflow while type II B patients have outflow obstruction. Type III A are patients with generalized hypokinesis. Type III B have a similar contraction pattern but in addition show asynergy. Analysis of the right ventriculogram in seven patients showed changes paralleling those seen in the left ventricle, including asynergic patterns of contraction. The electrocardiogram and chest roentgenogram were found to be sensitive but nonspecific indicators of disease. The short-term prognosis was excellent with type I and poor with type III while type II patients had an intermediate prognosis.

Immunoglobulin Determinations in the Diagnosis of Fetal Infection

Current indications are that the human fetus is not immunologically incompetent. An elevated IgM level may be a nonspecific indicator of a newborn at high risk for intrauterine infections--which may not be clinically apparent.

Rapid Eye Movements and Remembering

SOME theorists have ignored the content of dreams and concentrated specifically on chemical or physiological aspects1. Oswald2 has postulated that rapid eye movement (REM)3 sleep is a non-specific indication of many forms of synthesis within cerebral neurones, and that periods of massive learning would cause high percentages of REM sleep. Others have explained both dream content and REM state as playing a part in information processing. Some have used computer analogies, suggesting that reorganization takes place during the REM state, involving revision arid updating of cognitive processes and memories4. It is known that remembering involves distortion and conventionalization5, so REM-induced reorganization should also show “effort after meaning”.

The Immunologic Status of the Newborn

It has been established that the fetus, at least after a certain gestational age, makes a definite and distinctive contribution to the immunoglobulin pool found at birth, and it is therefore possible to use a single neonatal determination of IgM as a nonspecific indicator of infection in utero. Follow-up study of infants with abnormal elevations permits a large number of those with congenital infections to be identified and treated.

THE PRESENCE OF C-REACTIVE PROTEIN IN FRACTIONATED NORMAL HUMAN SERA.

A substance which reacts and precipitates with pneumococcal C polysaccharide has been detected in the sera of individuals with a variety of clinical conditions (Hedlund, 1961). The presence of this nonantibody serum factor, C-reactive protein (CRP), has been accepted as one of several nonspecific indicators of disease. Little is known concerning the origin of this substance which in acute infections appears during the febrile phase and subsequently disappears upon clinical recovery. The data obtained by Fishel et al (1960) suggested that fractionated normal', human serum contained material which reacted with pneumococcal polysaccharide and C-reactive protein antiserum (CRPA). The present investigations were designed to extend these observations with electrophoretic and chemical fractionation procedures. These methods were effective in separating various serum components which would precipitate with C polysaccharide and CRPA. In addition, evidence suggests that the polysaccharide and CRPA react and precipitate with substances which differ in chemical solubility and electrophoretic mobility. METHODS

Jacksonian seizures in infancy and childhood

Jacksonian seizures in infancy and childhood

The C-reactive protein in diseases of the skin.

Introduction The C-reactive protein is a globulin, probably formed in the liver, which appears in the sera in response to neoplasia, necrosis, and inflammation. It is not found in normal serum. Although a nonspecific indicator of infection, it is quite sensitive. It has enjoyed current usage as a more delicate index of inflammation than the sedimentation rate in acute myocardial infarction and rheumatic fever. It has been suggested that the response to C-reactive protein may represent a threshold effect to a certain level of stimulus.1Since inflammatory stimuli vary qualitatively and quantitatively, it would be of interest to note the provocative power of individual dermatoses with special reference to the depth of the process (epidermal, dermal, deeper tissue involvement), systemic ramifications, or complications, in eliciting a positive C-reactive protein. Accordingly, 56 hospitalized male patients, 44 white and 12 Negro, were studied. Methods and Criteria The