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Biomedical subjects

L Schlüter

Publications and source records attributed to L Schlüter.

3 recordsLinked to original sources

Effects of exposure duration of herbicides on natural stream periphyton communities and recovery.

To improve risk estimates for herbicides in streams, the sensitivity of natural periphyton communities to four herbicides (metribuzin, hexazinone, isoproturon, and pendimethalin) was examined in experiments including varying exposure duration and a recovery phase. Effect parameters included assimilation of 14C and concentration of diagnostic pigments as proxies for photosynthetic activity and algal group composition, respectively. The results indicated that isoproturon, metribuzin, and hexazinone affected the photosynthetic activity of periphyton at distinctly lower concentrations than the effect concentrations published for standard single-species growth-tests with phytoplankton species. Pendimethalin did not show effects on the photosynthetic activity of periphyton at the concentrations tested. The effect concentration (EC50) of isoproturon and metribuzin decreased by one to two orders of magnitude when the duration of exposure increased from 1 h to 24 h, while hexazinone had a stimulating effect on the photosynthetic activity of periphyton after 1 h exposure and inhibiting effect after 24 h exposure. The photosynthetic activity after exposure to metribuzin for 1, 2, 6, 18, 23, or 48 h recovered almost completely after 48 h in herbicide-free water. However, different periphyton groups responded differently to metribuzin exposure: Chlorophytes were severely affected by exposure and did not recover, whereas diatoms and especially cyanobacteria recovered well. Overall the study showed that the effects of herbicides on periphyton are strongly affected by the duration of exposure, and even short-term exposure may have distinct effects on the periphyton community.

Carbon Radioisotopes↗

[Out of hours coronary angiography: changing indications].

The authors have recently demonstrated that 13% of indications for cardiac catheterisation performed "after hours" (week ends, holidays or from 6 pm to 7 am) are Class III of the AHA/ACC recommendations (i.e. indications not based on recognised medical evidence). In order to limit procedures performed for these unrecognised indications, a consensus of experts has defined a number of local recommendations. The aim of this paper was to study the impact of these recommendations on the indications of "out of hours" cardiac catheterisation. Two patient populations were identified and compared with respect to these recommendations. The first group comprised 157 consecutive patients treated between 1993 and 1994 (average age 58 +/- 13 years; 35% females) and the second one of 148 consecutive patients treated from 1998 to 1999 (average age 57 +/- 13 years; 25% females). The local recommendations were respected in 61% of cases and not applied in 39% of cases. This was a satisfactory result in view of the fact that the local recommendations are more restrictive than international guidelines as they cover emergency indications. In the second group of patients, there were no AHA/ACC Class III indications (30% Class I, 6% Class IIa and 3% Class IIb). There was a significant increase in the number of primary angioplasties for acute myocardial infarction (27 vs 2%; p < 0.001) and an expected reduction in salvage angioplasties (17 vs 7%; p < 0.01). There was no significant change in the indications in patients with unstable angina, the European and American guidelines having been published at the end of data collection. Therefore, the introduction of recommendations for out of hours cardiac catheterisation has limited the number performed for unrecognised indications in favour of evidence based procedures.

Adult↗