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A direct reading flowmeter for extracorporeal circuits
326
Southern
Society for Clinical
low control and postoperative
plasma electrolyte and 17-21 hydroxycorticosteroid values. Ten adult dogs were divided into two groups, and frontal or temporal lobe ablation was performed upon each animal. The specificity and adequacy of ablations were later confirmed at autopsy by several cross sections (inadequate ablations were not accepted). Daily levels of plasma sodium, potassium, chlorine, carbon dioxide and non-protein nitrogen were determined; and the mean plasma levels remained constant for at least ten days postoperatively. There was a consistent rise in 17-21 hydroxycorticosteroid values, the rise being twice as great in the frontal lobe group as in the temporal lobe group. We have thus been unable to produce “neurogenie hypernatremic hyperchloremia” in dogs. A significant rise in plasma 17-21 hydroxycorticosteroids does occur after frontal and temporal lobectomy in dogs. HOW
RELIABLE
ARE
LIVER
FUNCTION
TESTS? A
and James D. Hardy. * Dept. of Surgery, Univ. of Mississippi Medical Center, Jackson, Miss. REAPPRAISAL
IN DOGS. James P. S’ell
The purpose of this study was to evaluate the effects of specific liver lesions in dogs. Thirty mongrel dogs were divided into seven groups, each of which had a specific surgical lesion produced under sterile conditions, e.g., ligation of common bile duct, ligation of hepatic artery, partial hepatectomy or portacaval shunt. The progress of the liver disease in each animal was followed by periodic determinations of serum alkaline bilirubin, phosphatase, serum thymol turbidity, serum phosphorus, cephalin flocculation, and bromsulfalein retention. Animals were sacrificed two to four weeks postoperatively, and autopsy findings were correlated with results of liver function tests. Results of this study were demonstrated by plotting the units of the particular test considered against the time intervals. These graphs revealed the liver function tests to be more helpful in following obstructive disease of the liver than in following vascular lesions of the liver. Of the tests considered, the serum alkaline phosphatase was the most helpful. A
DIRECT
CORPOREAL
READING
FLOWMETER
FOR
EXTRA-
CIRCUITS. Merrill P. Spencer,* A. Rob-
ert Cordell, Adam B. Denison, Jr. and Charles A. Barefoot. Dept. of Physiology and Surgery,
Research
Bowman Gray Salem, N. C.
School
of Medicine,
Winston-
A special wide-bore, high-sensitivity, magnetelectrode attachment to the square-wave electromagnetic flowmeter uses two “C” cores whose air gaps abut and create magnetic flux across a narrow plastic channel 2 mm. by 30 mm. in cross section. Gold electrodes are mounted at either end of this section within the magnetic field. The blood passes through a channel 10 cm. in length which changes from a circular cross section to that of the interelectrode channel and back to circular. This change in shape of the cross section is effected by two stainless steel connectors, circular i. d. 9 mm., which maintain a constant cross sectional area. The attachment is capable of carrying blood at 5,000 ml./minute with negligible pressure drop, yet has sufficient sensitivity for small flows. A panel meter is calibrated to read directly in ml./minute and is provided with separate scales for large or small flows. The attachment substituted for any segment of the circuit is cold sterilized, has a smooth channel, is cleaned easily, and has no moving parts. The square-wave electronic circuitry also drives the “surgical probes” used on unopened vessels. To date the unit has been used for cardiopulmonary bypass procedures in four patients requiring flows of 250 to 5,000 ml./minute and in four dogs with flows of 400 to 1,200 ml./minute. Applied to a phasic recorder it reveals the tremendous flow oscillations caused by present sigmamotor and rotary pump. GLYCOPROTEIN
STUDIES
ON
THE
RHEUMATOID
Willard R. Starnes, Alexander Ulloa and Howard L. Holley. * Metabolic Research Laboratories, V. A. Hospital, and Dept. of Medicine, Medical College of Alabama, Birmingham, Ala. FACTOR.
The term “rheumatoid factor” has been applied to the protein component of serum which is responsible for a group of agglutination and precipitation reactions, some of which are very important as aids in the diagnosis of rheumatoid arthritis. Up to the present time analytical studies have indicated that the rheumatoid factor is a typical 19s gamma globulin with chemical, physical and immunological properties closely akin to known 19s antibodies. The present studies were undertaken to isolate by various procedures the so-called rheumatoid factor, Known positive serums which exhibited AMERlCAN
JOURNAL
OF
MEDICINE
Southern
Society for Clinical
low control and postoperative
plasma electrolyte and 17-21 hydroxycorticosteroid values. Ten adult dogs were divided into two groups, and frontal or temporal lobe ablation was performed upon each animal. The specificity and adequacy of ablations were later confirmed at autopsy by several cross sections (inadequate ablations were not accepted). Daily levels of plasma sodium, potassium, chlorine, carbon dioxide and non-protein nitrogen were determined; and the mean plasma levels remained constant for at least ten days postoperatively. There was a consistent rise in 17-21 hydroxycorticosteroid values, the rise being twice as great in the frontal lobe group as in the temporal lobe group. We have thus been unable to produce “neurogenie hypernatremic hyperchloremia” in dogs. A significant rise in plasma 17-21 hydroxycorticosteroids does occur after frontal and temporal lobectomy in dogs. HOW
RELIABLE
ARE
LIVER
FUNCTION
TESTS? A
and James D. Hardy. * Dept. of Surgery, Univ. of Mississippi Medical Center, Jackson, Miss. REAPPRAISAL
IN DOGS. James P. S’ell
The purpose of this study was to evaluate the effects of specific liver lesions in dogs. Thirty mongrel dogs were divided into seven groups, each of which had a specific surgical lesion produced under sterile conditions, e.g., ligation of common bile duct, ligation of hepatic artery, partial hepatectomy or portacaval shunt. The progress of the liver disease in each animal was followed by periodic determinations of serum alkaline bilirubin, phosphatase, serum thymol turbidity, serum phosphorus, cephalin flocculation, and bromsulfalein retention. Animals were sacrificed two to four weeks postoperatively, and autopsy findings were correlated with results of liver function tests. Results of this study were demonstrated by plotting the units of the particular test considered against the time intervals. These graphs revealed the liver function tests to be more helpful in following obstructive disease of the liver than in following vascular lesions of the liver. Of the tests considered, the serum alkaline phosphatase was the most helpful. A
DIRECT
CORPOREAL
READING
FLOWMETER
FOR
EXTRA-
CIRCUITS. Merrill P. Spencer,* A. Rob-
ert Cordell, Adam B. Denison, Jr. and Charles A. Barefoot. Dept. of Physiology and Surgery,
Research
Bowman Gray Salem, N. C.
School
of Medicine,
Winston-
A special wide-bore, high-sensitivity, magnetelectrode attachment to the square-wave electromagnetic flowmeter uses two “C” cores whose air gaps abut and create magnetic flux across a narrow plastic channel 2 mm. by 30 mm. in cross section. Gold electrodes are mounted at either end of this section within the magnetic field. The blood passes through a channel 10 cm. in length which changes from a circular cross section to that of the interelectrode channel and back to circular. This change in shape of the cross section is effected by two stainless steel connectors, circular i. d. 9 mm., which maintain a constant cross sectional area. The attachment is capable of carrying blood at 5,000 ml./minute with negligible pressure drop, yet has sufficient sensitivity for small flows. A panel meter is calibrated to read directly in ml./minute and is provided with separate scales for large or small flows. The attachment substituted for any segment of the circuit is cold sterilized, has a smooth channel, is cleaned easily, and has no moving parts. The square-wave electronic circuitry also drives the “surgical probes” used on unopened vessels. To date the unit has been used for cardiopulmonary bypass procedures in four patients requiring flows of 250 to 5,000 ml./minute and in four dogs with flows of 400 to 1,200 ml./minute. Applied to a phasic recorder it reveals the tremendous flow oscillations caused by present sigmamotor and rotary pump. GLYCOPROTEIN
STUDIES
ON
THE
RHEUMATOID
Willard R. Starnes, Alexander Ulloa and Howard L. Holley. * Metabolic Research Laboratories, V. A. Hospital, and Dept. of Medicine, Medical College of Alabama, Birmingham, Ala. FACTOR.
The term “rheumatoid factor” has been applied to the protein component of serum which is responsible for a group of agglutination and precipitation reactions, some of which are very important as aids in the diagnosis of rheumatoid arthritis. Up to the present time analytical studies have indicated that the rheumatoid factor is a typical 19s gamma globulin with chemical, physical and immunological properties closely akin to known 19s antibodies. The present studies were undertaken to isolate by various procedures the so-called rheumatoid factor, Known positive serums which exhibited AMERlCAN
JOURNAL
OF
MEDICINE