The effects of stage of lactation and breed on total and ionized calcium in blood plasma were determined for eight Holstein and eight Jersey cows fed a diet containing .25% Ca during the dry period and fed a diet with .50% Ca after calving. Blood samples were obtained by jugular venipuncture at 2-wk intervals from 4 wk before calving through wk 10 of lactation. Total and ionized Ca contents of fresh plasma were determined potentiometrically with an ion-specific electrode. Total Ca in plasma also was determined by atomic absorption spectrophotometry. Average concentrations determined by atomic absorption were approximately .7 mg/dl higher than those for the ion-specific electrode. Plasma total and ionized Ca were lower in both breeds at calving than any other time during the sampling period. Jersey cows had lower total Ca (7.47 mg/dl) and ionized Ca (4.25 mg/dl) than Holsteins (8.10 and 4.66 mg/dl) on day of calving. Ionized Ca as a percentage of total calcium increased from 55 to 57% at parturition and then decreased slowly to 53% at peak lactation. Changes in percentage of ionized Ca may indicate the contribution of bone resorption relative to dietary Ca in meeting the Ca requirement for lactation.

To analyze the effect of the Commonwealth Health Agencies Monitoring Program on the length of stay of a sample of Massachusetts Medicaid patients, we compared their experience with that of non-Medicaid patients. We found a consistently decreasing trend in the length of stay of Medicaid patients during the 2 1/2-year period studied. The average length of stay of Medicaid patients decreased by 11.9 per cent relative to the norm, whereas the non-Medicaid length of stay decreased by only 6.6 per cent. We infer that the Program may be credited within the 5.3 per cent differential decrease. The consistency and reliability of the data suggest that similar results may be extrapolated to the hospitals not sampled. We conclude that Professional Standards Review Organizations, of which this program was a precursor, can be cost effective, given an expanded review mandate and the application of suibable evaluative processes.

Journal Article An Experimental Neuropathological Study of the Effects of High-Frequency Focused Ultrasound on the Brain of the Cat Get access K. E. Åström, M.D., K. E. Åström, M.D. Stockholm, Sweden ‡Research Fellow in Neuropathology, Harvard Medical School 1956-57. Present Address: Department of Pathology, Sabbatsbergs Sjukhus, Stockholm, Sweden. Search for other works by this author on: Oxford Academic PubMed Google Scholar E. Bell, Ph.D., E. Bell, Ph.D. Boston, Mass §Department of Biology, Massachusetts Institute of Technology, Cambridge, Mass. Search for other works by this author on: Oxford Academic PubMed Google Scholar H. T. Ballantine, Jr., M.D., H. T. Ballantine, Jr., M.D. Boston, Mass Search for other works by this author on: Oxford Academic PubMed Google Scholar E. Heidensleben, M.D. E. Heidensleben, M.D. Boston, Mass Search for other works by this author on: Oxford Academic PubMed Google Scholar Journal of Neuropathology & Experimental Neurology, Volume 20, Issue 4, October 1961, Pages 484–520, https://doi.org/10.1097/00005072-196120040-00002 Published: 01 October 1961

BRAIN abscesses have consistently taxed the judgment and technical skill of the medical profession. The diagnosis is often difficult, leading at times to an unfortunate delay in operative intervention. Before the advent of present-day antibacterial therapy, early operation performed for a nonencapsulated abscess led almost certainly to the death of the patient. Yet to wait hopefully for encapsulation and reduction in the virulence of the infecting organism meant running a grave risk that the patient would succumb either to rupture of the abscess into the cerebrospinal-fluid pathways or to the effects of increased intracranial pressure secondary to this septic, expanding, . . .