Metacarpal Descent, Definition and Normal Range

2002 ◽  
Vol 27 (3) ◽  
pp. 289-292 ◽  
Author(s):  
S. C. TUCKER ◽  
O. G. TITLEY

Metacarpal descent, an indication of carpometacarpal (CMC) joint mobility, was measured in 90 normal subjects by assessing the alignment of the metacarpal heads with the hand in a relaxed posture and when making a tight fist. Metacarpal descent was greater in women. Hand dominance was associated with an increase in positional angles but not metacarpal descent.

1969 ◽  
Vol 21 (01) ◽  
pp. 134-143 ◽  
Author(s):  
W. D Walls ◽  
M. S Losowsky

SummaryA kinetic method for the quantitative estimation of plasma F.S.F. activity is described and discussed.This method was applied to normal subjects and to patients with chronic liver disease. The plasma F.S.F. activity was uninfluenced by either sex or age, and the normal range has been defined.A significant decrease in plasma F.S.F. activity was observed in patients with chronic liver disease. Subnormal levels of activity were found in 25% of such patients but were unrelated to episodes of abnormal haemorrhage. Plasma F.S.F. activity tended to be lower in patients with disease of greater clinical severity. In 2 patients showing clinical improvement there was an increase in plasma F. S. F. activity.It was confirmed that plasma fibrinogen levels increase with age.


1969 ◽  
Vol 60 (4) ◽  
pp. 705-711 ◽  
Author(s):  
A. D. Wright ◽  
G. F. Joplin

ABSTRACT A simple clinical method of determining the skin-fold thickness on the dorsum of the hand has been described using the Harpendon spring-loaded caliper. A normal range for age and sex has been established in 258 normal subjects. The mean skin-fold thickness was greater in men than in women, and in both decreased with age, falling from 2.85 to 1.75 mm in men, and from 2.65 to 1.60 mm in women (aged 15–20 to 70–80). In 48 acromegalic patients, 71 % of the skin-fold measurements were abnormally thick. In 12 patients with Cushing's syndrome, although all measurements were below the normal mean, 42 % only were abnormally thin.


Blood ◽  
1987 ◽  
Vol 69 (6) ◽  
pp. 1613-1616 ◽  
Author(s):  
M Peracchi ◽  
V Toschi ◽  
F Bamonti-Catena ◽  
L Lombardi ◽  
B Bareggi ◽  
...  

Abstract To verify the clinical usefulness of extracellular cyclic nucleotide determination as a tumor marker, plasma cyclic AMP (cAMP) and cyclic GMP (cGMP) levels were measured in 70 normal subjects and 173 acute leukemia patients studied in different stages of their disease. Mean plasma cAMP levels were similar in leukemic and normal subjects, although in 48 patients in the active stage of the disease, first diagnosis, or relapse, the cAMP values were below the normal range, and most of these patients failed to respond to chemotherapy. Plasma cGMP levels were markedly elevated in untreated patients, normalized in all patients who attained complete remission, and increased promptly to pretreatment values in patients who relapsed, suggesting that their determination may be useful to monitor the patients' response to treatment.


1972 ◽  
Vol 28 (03) ◽  
pp. 496-508
Author(s):  
A. P. C. van der Maas ◽  
F. A. G Teulings ◽  
W Schopman ◽  
G. J. H. den Ottolander

SummaryUsing 131Iodine-tagged fibrinogen the influence of acenocumarole on the biological half-life of fibrinogen was investigated in healthy patients, patients with venous thrombosis and patients with congestive heart failure.In 16 healthy patients the mean t½ was 3.8 days. In two of them after administration of acenocumarole the t½ was lengthened. This supports the opinion of a continuous deposition of fibrin on the vascular endothelium in the hemostatic balance.In 13 patients with venous thrombosis the mean t½ was 2.45 days, lengthening to the normal range after acenocumarole therapy. The time interval between the start of acenocumarole therapy and the moment of normalization of the t½ was approximately 4 days. The prothrombin time-index at this moment was 2.3 (thrombotest 5%), which argues in favour of a vigorous anticoagulant therapy.In our 10 patients with congestive heart failure probably venous thrombosis occurred in 40%. Prophylactic anticoagulant therapy as in surgical patients therefore has to be considered.


1970 ◽  
Vol 39 (5) ◽  
pp. 549-557 ◽  
Author(s):  
N. B. Bennett ◽  
D. Ogston

1. Levels of serum inhibitor of plasminogen activation, anti-plasmin and plasminogen activator were measured in normal subjects and patients with active glomerulonephritis and chronic renal failure. 2. Patients with active glomerulonephritis all had grossly elevated levels of serum inhibitor of plasminogen activation and significant elevation of anti-plasmin. The majority of activator levels lay at the lower end of the normal range. 3. Patients with chronic renal failure had significantly elevated levels of serum inhibitor of plasminogen activation and anti-plasmin, but the changes were less marked than in those with active glomerulonephritis. Activator levels were consistently reduced. 4. The marked inhibition of fibrinolysis in active glomerulonephritis may be a factor in the persistence of glomerular fibrin and ultimately in perpetuation of renal damage. The changes in the fibrinolytic system in chronic renal failure may determine the development of the serosal exudates characteristic of that condition.


1977 ◽  
Vol 84 (4) ◽  
pp. 750-758 ◽  
Author(s):  
J. F. Finucane ◽  
R. S. Griffiths ◽  
E. G. Black ◽  
C. L. Hall

ABSTRACT Serum concentrations of total and free thyroxine and triiodothyronine together with urine losses of unconjugated thyroid hormones have been measured in normal subjects and in patients with renal disease. Serum total hormone values in the hypothyroid range were common in the renal group and correlated inversely with the degree of renal impairment but not with renal loss of hormone which in the case of thyroxine exceeded the average normal daily loss ten-fold. The euthyroid state of patients with renal disease was best reflected by serum free thyroxine concentration which in every case was within the normal range. Poor correlation was apparent between the respective urine concentrations of albumin and thyroxine, and the reasons for this are discussed.


1968 ◽  
Vol 14 (2) ◽  
pp. 172-178 ◽  
Author(s):  
R B Payne ◽  
M J Levell

Abstract The serum sodium concentrations of three groups of patients selected from laboratory records and of one group of outpatients selected for a prospective study were examined. The mean serum sodium concentration of inpatients with normal serum urea concentrations was 8.5 mEq./ L. lower than that of a group of healthy normal subjects. Part of this difference (2.6 mEq./L.) could be attributed to a nonspecific effect of illness. It was not possible to demonstrate any effect due to the hospital environment, but the results do not exclude the possibility of such an effect. It was concluded that all or most of the remaining difference was due to weighting of the inpatient data by low values of pathologic significance; the proportion of these low values was too great to allow a normal range to be extracted from the data by statistical methods. The concept of the normal range is discussed. It is suggested that two ranges are required for serum sodium, a normal range (137-147 mEq./L. in this laboratory) to make assertions about alterations in specific diseases, and a range derived from patients likely to have no manifest disturbances of salt and water metabolism (135-144 mEq./ L.) to detect such disturbances.


Blood ◽  
1993 ◽  
Vol 81 (12) ◽  
pp. 3404-3413 ◽  
Author(s):  
SP Stabler ◽  
J Lindenbaum ◽  
DG Savage ◽  
RH Allen

Homocysteine can be methylated to form methionine by the cobalamin- (Cbl) and folate-dependent enzyme, methionine synthase; serum levels of total homocysteine are elevated in greater than 95% of patients with either Cbl or folate deficiency. Homocysteine can also condense with serine to form cystathionine in a pyridoxal phosphate-dependent reaction catalyzed by cystathionine beta-synthase. Cystathionine is subsequently cleaved to cysteine and alpha-ketobutyrate by the pyridoxal phosphate-dependent enzyme gamma-cystathionase. To assess levels of cystathionine in Cbl and folate deficiency, we developed a new capillary gas chromatographic-mass spectrometric assay and measured cystathionine in the serum of normal subjects and patients with clinically confirmed deficiencies of these vitamins. The normal range for serum cystathionine was 65 to 301 nmol/L (median = 126 nmol/L) for 50 normal blood donors. In 30 patients with clinically confirmed Cbl deficiency, values for cystathionine ranged from 208 nmol/L to 2,920 nmol/L (median = 816 nmol/L) and 26 (87%) had levels above the normal range. In 20 patients with clinically confirmed folate deficiency, cystathionine concentrations ranged from 138 nmol/L to 4,150 nmol/L (median = 1,560 nmol/L) and 19 (95%) had values above the normal range. Five homozygotes for cystathionine beta-synthase deficiency had high values for serum-total homocysteine and low or low-normal values for serum cystathionine that ranged from 30 nmol/L to 114 nmol/L even though they were on treatment with pyridoxine and had partially responded. One patient with a defect in the synthesis of 5-CH3- tetrahydrofolate and five patients with defects in the synthesis of CH3- Cbl had high values for serum-total homocysteine and high values for cystathionine that ranged from 311 nmol/L to 1,500 nmol/L even though they were on treatment with folic acid and Cbl, respectively, and had partially responded. We conclude that levels of cystathionine are evaluated in the serum of most patients with Cbl and folate deficiency and that they are useful in the differential diagnosis of an elevated serum-total homocysteine level.


1987 ◽  
Author(s):  
T Matsuo ◽  
T Yamada ◽  
K Nakao

Twelve normal subjects were injected with 5000 U of commercial mucous heparin with or without preloading of 1.0 g aspirin, and 0.2 mg/kg MD 805, an arginine derivative, which is a new synthetic compound with an extremely strong affinity for thrombin, at an interval of 4 weeks after each injection. Heparin injection with or without aspirin significantly increased platelet factor 4 release. In contrast, the preloading of aspirin significantly inhibited the decrease of platelet count and the elevation of /8 thromboglobulin induced by heparin. However, MD 805 had no effect on platelet release proteins, and adequate anticoagulation by APTT was still present 60 min after the injection. MD 805 shows no stimulative effects on platelets such as with heparin.In the case of the patient's study, three patients complicated with heparin induced thrombocytopenia plus thrombus formation in the extracorporeal circulation during hemodialysis, and were treated with MD 805 instead of heparin. The platelet counts in those patients quickly returned to within the normal range, and adequate anticoagulation was obtained in the following hemodialysis sessions and no further bleeding or clot formation was noted.In conclusion, MD 805 may represent a useful alternative anticoagulant in patients with heparin induced thrombocytopenia.


1977 ◽  
Author(s):  
Z.M. Ruggeri ◽  
R. Bader ◽  
T. Barbui ◽  
P.M. Mannucci

In 10 normal subjects washed human platelets (Pl)contained FVIII related antigen(VIIIR:AG) as measured by immunoradiometric assay (iRMA)and electroimmunodif fusion (EID);and ristocetin co-factor (VIIIR:RCo)as assayed by a washed platelet method. The observed values were: AG(IRMA) 0.11-0.24u/mg Pl protein; VIIIR:AG (EID)0.11-0.30u/mg; VIIIR:RCo 0.06-0.21u/mg, In 10pts with seve re homozygous VWD, VIIIR:AG was unmeasurable in 7 and extremely low (1x10-3-0.6x10-3u/mg) in 3 u-sing the very sensitive IRMA; VIII RCo was always unmeasurable. In 12 pts with “classical” dominant VWD characterized by very low plasma levels of VIIIR:AG(0.03-0.09u/ml)and VIIIR:RCo(<0.03u/ml), FVIII related properties were normal in Pl and the mobility of PI VIIIR:AG on bidimensional immunolectrophoresis was not different from that of normal controls. In 7 pts showing a faster mo bility of plasma VIIIR:AG, the same abnormality was found in Pl.Pl VIIIR:AG level was within the normal range when assayed by EID whereas IRMA gave lower values both in plasma and in PI.PI VIII R:RCo was lower than in normal subjects and pts with “classical”VWD without electrophoretic variant. These findings show that severe VWD is the expression of a marked reduction of VIII synthesis fully expressed both in PI and in plasma. In “classical” VWD the plasma defects are not reflected in PI, which show normal levels of FVIII-related properties accompanied by normal electro, phoretic mobility of VTIIR:AG; this suggests a defective transfer from PI to plasma. Patients with abnormal mobility are the expression of a qualitative alteration of the FVIII molecole functionally defective both in Pl and in plasma.


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