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Hyperhomocysteinemia, an established cardiovascular risk factor, has been recently associated with deep venous thrombosis.A matched case-control study was designed to assess homocysteinemia as well as the acquired risk factors in deep venous thrombosis (DVT). We enrolled 227 subjects, 127 with DVT confirmed by Doppler ultrasonography and 100 controls. Homocysteinemia was measured using reverse-phase high pressure liquid chromatography.We found a significant association between hyperhomocysteinemia and DVT; the associated risk was weak (p = 0.025, OR: 1.7). Other risk factors significantly associated with DVT were: obesity (p = 0.04, OR for DVT: 2.9), varicose veins (p = 0.023, OR: 3.13), prolonged immobility (p = 0.015, OR: 3.1), history of DVT (p = 0.01, OR: 5.59). All these factors were found to be independent risk factors using multivariate logistic regression.hyperhomocysteinemia is an independent risk factor for DVT; the risk is not associated with the severity of hyperhomocysteinemia.

Mycobacterium xenopi is infrequently recognized as a cause of pulmonary disease. During a 12-year survey (1978-89),. 108 strains of this Mycobacterium were isolated from 90 persons and 6 hot water samples. From 87 patients 89 occasional strains of M. xenopi were isolated, and 3 patients were diagnosed as having pulmonary mycobacteriosis caused by it. The treatment and the response in these three cases were variable, depending on clinical conditions and sensitivity to drugs. Most of the strains isolated came from patients hospitalized at the Barzilai Hospital, Ashkelon, therefore a local environmental contamination was suspected. The suspicion was confirmed by the isolation of this thermophile organism from the hot water samples of the above hospital.

The analysis of a group of 67 patients hospitalized for various bronchopneumopathies, in whom evidencing of the tuberculosis bacilli led to the diagnosis of pulmonary tuberculosis allows to emphasize the increased efficiency of bacteriological detection by repeated bacilloscopy and successive cultures. They also stress the necessity of increased attention for pneumopathies that develop over the age of 50 years. The frequency of errors, predominantly stemming from the base network (territorial polyclinics), most of the confusion being made with suppurative broncho-pneumopathies, makes necessary the dispensarization of this category of patients in antituberculous units. The 56 new cases and the 11 cases in whom re-positivation was detected illustrate the possibilities of the bacteriological diagnosis and the contribution of a section of pneumology in the detection of pulmonary tuberculosis.