A prototype of the Online London Dysmorphology Database is now available for testing purposes. In this paper we describe the new online version of the London Dysmorphology Database (LDDB), which is accessible via the World-Wide Web. The system has been developed primarily to address the information lag associated with the stand-alone version of LDDB (currently 3-15 months) and therefore provides access to the latest data from the master database that resides on a web server. An additional benefit is that, because the Online LDDB is a web-based resource, it will be available to users of both Macintosh and Unix computers as well as PC users.

Animals↗

PubMedDate not supplied

Prolonged feeding of ethanol to the young growing guinea pig. II. A model to study the effects of severe ischemia on cardiac protein synthesis.

Although acute perfusion of guinea pig hearts with ethanol does not affect cardiac protein synthesis, the latter is inhibited after prolonged ingestion of ethanol when tested in an in vitro system with the working right ventricle. This study reports on the added stress of ischemia on such hearts. Hearts were removed from maturing guinea pigs after 13-16 weeks of ingesting 10% ethanol and were perfused in vitro under conditions of relative ischemia (one-sixth of normal coronary flow) with maintenance of right ventricular load and outflow resistance identical to normal pre-ischemic levels. With this degree of ischemia, there was a 4-6 fold increase in lactate production, an 80% drop in ATP, and a 90% decrease in creatine phosphate after 150 min of the ischemia. Incorporation of both labeled lysine and phenylalanine into cardiac protein was also diminished to 35% of control in the left ventricle and 55% of control in the right. This diminution of protein synthesis was the same in hearts from ethanol-drinking and matched control animals. Thus, prior prolonged ingestion of ethanol did not worsen the inhibition of protein synthesis by oxygen deprivation. There were, however, two significant differences in hemodynamic response to the ischemia by the right ventricles of hearts from ethanol-drinking guinea pigs compared to their matched controls.(ABSTRACT TRUNCATED AT 250 WORDS)

Adenosine Triphosphate↗

PubMedDate not supplied

A medical diagnostic index for rehabilitation.

This paper records the developments of a computerized database suitable for recording the history, signs and symptoms of handicapping conditions, monitoring recovery, and measuring the impact of different forms of treatment. The original model described was designed for stroke and the paper describes its integration into the routine use of a stroke and rehabilitation unit in a district general hospital.

Activities of Daily Living↗

PubMedDate not supplied

A case-based assistant for diagnosis and analysis of dysmorphic syndromes.

This report describes the development of a case-based reasoning (CBR) system designed to provide assistance to specialists within the dysmorphology field. An interactive CBR model is described which aids medical experts in arriving at potential diagnoses, and has an explicit learning goal in order to provide further analytical assessment of syndrome categories. The complexity of this real world domain has highlighted a number of important empirical issues with respect to CBR techniques, which are discussed along with the system design.

Abnormalities, Multiple↗