Search

Background: Verification of automated platelet counts by blood smear examination is necessary but time consuming. This study was undertaken to optimize the criteria for performing platelet scans. Methods: Platelet scans were performed on 796 blood smears made from specimens that were either flagged for (a) platelet abnormal distribution or PAD (group I), (b) platelet clumps or CLP (group II), (c) PAD + CLP (group III), or (d) had a platelet count below 100,000/µL (group IV). Based on the findings of the platelet scans, a percent positive yield was determined for each group of specimens. Results: Percent positive yields of 8.9, 30.0, 35.3, and 1.9 were obtained from platelet scan findings for groups I, II, III, and IV, respectively. Conclusions: Optimal criteria for performing platelet scans excluded the PAD flag and the follow-up platelet counts below 100,000/µL but included specimens flagged for CLP and the initial platelet counts below 100,000/µL. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

With increasing longevity of lupus patients, peripheral vascular disease (PVD) has become an important cause of morbidity. With no systematic study of PVD in systemic lupus erythematosus (SLE), this study was undertaken to define the frequency and spectrum of PVD in SLE and factors affecting such an occurrence. All medium-sized peripheral arteries of bilateral upper and lower extremities were studied in 50 SLE patients using Doppler ultrasonography. PVD was defined clinically as one or more of intermittent claudication, absent/unequal pulses, gangrene or ischemic ulcers and sub-clinically as asymptomatic patients with Doppler abnormalities, with ≥50% reduction in diameter considered hemodynamically significant. Mean (SD) age of the patients was 31.6 (10.1) years. Forty-one percent were hypertensive. Dyslipidemia was found in 62%. Fifteen (30%) had Raynaud's phenomenon. Fourteen (28%) patients had PVD, of whom three had positive markers for antiphospholipid antibody (aPL) and six were asymptomatic. Ischemic ulcers were seen in eight (16%), gangrene in three (6%), femoral artery plaques in two (4%), stenosis in four (8%) and intermittent claudication in none. Dyslipidemia was found to independently affect occurrence of PVD (OR = 5.37, [95% CI 1.05–27.5], P = 0.05). The causes of PVD overlap significantly and further studies are needed to ascertain the relative contribution of each. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

When a corrupt governmental regime borrows money in the name of the state, and then steals or squanders the proceeds, must the future citizens of that country repay the loan? The law says yes, but the moral instinct of most people says no. The odious debt controversy is, at base, a struggle to find a workable legal doctrine that will avoid a morally repugnant result (visiting the sins of corrupt governors on innocent citizens), without undermining the legal basis of all sovereign borrowing. No counterparty, at least no commercial counterparty, would lend money to a sovereign believing that the loan was personal to the administration that contracted it, and could legally be disavowed following the next election, the next revolution or the next coup d'etat. One possible solution is to craft a doctrine of public international law that would relieve successor regimes from the legal obligation to repay the debts incurred by their odious predecessors. This would be a formidable task and there are others who have already set out on it. We propose a less dramatic step-asking whether a successor regime, if sued on an "odious" loan, might have available defenses founded in existing doctrines of domestic law. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Blood specimens are frequently delivered to the clinical laboratory after a significant post-collection interval. On weekends, this interval may exceed 72 hours. When such a specimen arrives, the laboratory must decide whether to accept or reject the specimen. If accepted, the laboratory must then decide whether to perform all of the tests ordered or only those deemed appropriate given the age of the specimen, and what comments should be appended to the reported results regarding the reliability or limitations of the analysis. Storage of K2-EDTA-anticogulated blood at room temperature for up to 4 days caused changes in some but not all hematologic parameters measured on Sysmex XE-2100 analyzer. Specifically, the WBC, RBC, HGB, and PLT were found to be stable for up to 3 days. Retic % and #, but not the IRF, were stable for the duration of the study. Diff results may be unreliable or voted out by the analyzer on specimens that are 2 day old or older. The NRBC counts changed little on the average but revealed consistently wide 95% confidence intervals throughout. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

In neonates presenting with massive pericardial effusion and pericardial mass, liver herniation into the pericardium is a rare diagnosis. Echocardiogram and CT scan are useful investigations in the diagnosis of pericardial masses. Continuation of the mass with the liver with the same texture as the liver helps to make the diagnosis of intrapericardial herniation of liver. Correct diagnosis of this condition is important because the surgical approach needed for management of this condition is different from that used for other pericardial masses. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Focuses on the advantages of using exit amendments in sovereign bond exchanges in the United States to address the so called creditor problem. Overview of the problem; Validity of exit consents; Position of the bond issuer; Position of the exiting bondholders; Justification for using exit amendments in sovereign bond exchanges.

Proposes the metaphor of connected contracts for understanding collaborative economic activity. Hypotheticals used to develop observations about the meaning of ownership, types of risk and relationship between risk and control; Description of a standard model of a corporation or firm; Formula for valuing an option.

Although the number of black students graduating from law schools has increased significantly in recent decades, blacks still make up a very small minority of the lawyers working in large corporate law firms. Available data indicate that these firms hire few blacks, and that those they do hire are more likely than their white peers to leave the firms before becoming partners. Conventional explanations blame the underrepresentation of blacks in corporate firms on either the racism of firms and their clients, or a shortage of qualified, interested black candidates. While acknowledging that in some instances these factors may help to explain the problem, this Article looks behind them to examine institutional factors that tend to perpetuate the existing underrepresentation. Specifically, the Article shows how the ways in which large corporate firms recruit and train lawyers tend both to shield discriminatory choices between black and white candidates from any competitive disadvantage, and to discourage black law students and lawyers from investing in skills that will enable them to succeed within corporate firms. Thus, the Article argues, firms' hiring and training decisions both shape and are shaped by the strategic choices of black candidates, with the net effect of keeping all but a few blacks from being hired and succeeding in the firm setting. Finally, this Article explores the implications of these incentives for five commonly proposed tools for diversifying corporate law firms: anti-discrimination laws, race-neutral institutional reforms, diversity education within firm, demand-creation initiatives, and supply-side initiatives to encourage hiring and promotion of black lawyers. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The article presents information on circumstances, which enable the discrimination law to be effective during the 1960s and 1970s. The core of the argument is an analysis of how discrimination affects the job application process. This article focuses on high-skill or knowledge intensive jobs in which the discretionary, skill-based component of work creates substantial difficulty in monitoring individual workers' performance. The analysis emphasizes the role played by discretionary evaluation and monitoring difficulties in sustaining discriminatory equilibria and shows how discrimination perpetuates itself, in part, by influencing the career strategies that workers adopt in response to discrimination. In particular, the interactions between strategies that workers adopt and corresponding modes of evaluation are explained. This analysis must focus more carefully, in a microanalytic way, on the particular organizational structures of firms. Tournament and efficiency including wage compensation patterns, promotional pathways, interfirm patterns such as up-or-out promotion and special statuses such as partnership or tenure are factors deserving of particular attention.