To present a 19-year experience of the prognosis of patients with acute myocardial infarction (AMI) and prior coronary artery bypass surgery (CABS), 748 patients with AMI after prior CABS (postbypass group) and a control group of 1080 patients with AMI, but without prior CABS, were analyzed. All indexes of infarct size were lower in the postbypass group. There was more ventricular fibrillation in the postbypass group. In-hospital mortality was similar (p = 0.3675). In the follow-up period, postbypass patients had more heart failure, recurrent CABS, reinfarction, and unstable angina than did control patients. Cumulative survival was better in the control group than in the postbypass group (p = 0.0403). Multiple logistic regression model showed that previous angina (p = 0.0005), diabetes (p = 0.0058), and age (p = 0.0102) were independent predictor factors for survival. Use of digitalis and diuretics, together with previous angina, also influenced survival (p = 0.0092), as well as male gender, older patients, and diabetes together (p = 0.0420). Patients with AMI after prior CABS had smaller infarct, but more reinfarction, reoperation, heart failure, and angina. Previous angina, diabetes, and age, independently, as well as use of digitalis and diuretics together with angina, and male gender, older patients, and diabetes together, influenced a worse survival rate in these patients.

The acquired autoimmune myasthenia gravis (AAMG) is an autoimmune disease of neuromuscular junction which is characterized by bimodal appearance of the disease. In the first peak of the disease between 20 and 30 years of age, there is female predominance, whereas in the second peak both sexes are equally attacked by the disease. The aim of this study is to present the demographic, clinical and histological features of the late onset of myasthenia gravis in order to identify possible specific features of this type of disease and contribute to improved understanding of its pathogenesis and thus to the improvement of diagnostics and treatment of these patients. A retrospective analysis of 272 patients treated at the Institute of Neurology KCS in Belgrade was carried out in the period 1984-2003. The sample included 167 male (61.4%) and 105 female (38.6%) patients, which shows that the male patients were predominant in the 1.6:1 ratio. The IIB form appeared to be the most frequent clinical presentation of the late onset of myasthenia gravis. The initial symptoms in 190 patients (69.9%) were ptosis or double vision. In the following two year period the disease was generalized in 68.9% patients. The provoking factor was observed in every fourth patient (23.5%), most frequently stress or respiratory infection. In 159 patients (58.5%) the course of the disease was favorable (remission or improvement) while in the rest of the patients the condition at the end of the observed period was either unchanged or worsened. Thymectomy was very rarely performed in older patients group, in only 15.8%. The histological analysis in half of patients (51.1%) showed persistent or atrophic thymic tissue, while in the rest (48.9%) there was thymic hyperplasia. Patients with thymoma were not included in the study. As regards the parameters analyzed, conclusion may be drawn that the late onset of myasthenia gravis is characterized by the predominance of male patients, by the rare presence of the provocative factor, by frequent ocular symptoms in the initial stage of the disease, by the high percent of generalization and high frequency of grave clinical picture and less favourable course of the disease. As regards the thymic pathology, the thymic hiperplasia is significantly rarer which suggests a lesser importance of thymus as a possible trigger of the late onset of myasthenia gravis. These specific features of the late onset of myasthenia gravis suggest that this form of disease may be regarded as a separate clinical entity within AAMG.

In this paper we describe the cloning of a putative ionotropic glutamate receptor subunit, SqGluR, and its distribution in the nervous system of the squid. A full‐length cDNA was assembled from a cDNA library of the stellate ganglion/giant fibre lobe complex of Loligo opalescens. The deduced amino acid sequence of the mature SqGluR displayed 44–46% amino acid identity with mammalian GluR1–GluR4 and 53% with Lym‐eGluR1 from Lymnaea stagnalis. In situ hybridizations in adult squid confirmed that the SqGluR mRNA is abundant in giant fibre lobe neurons, in large, presumptive motor neurons of the stellate ganglion proper and in the supraoesophageal and optic lobes of the central nervous system. In newborn squid, SqGluR mRNA expression was detected throughout the nervous system but not elsewhere. A synthetic peptide corresponding to the last 15 amino acids of the SqGluR C‐terminus was used to generate polyclonal antibodies, which were used for immunoblot analysis to demonstrate widespread expression in the squid central and peripheral nervous systems. Injection of the synthetic peptide into the postsynaptic side of the giant synapse inhibited synaptic transmission.

Seeing women experts in action helps build up women's credibility as leaders and experts in a wider range of fields than traditional ‘women's work’, but it is all too infrequent to find women with authority appearing in the media. Hoping to put this right is a new campaign to gather and promote women as experts, through the media of radio and television.

What's different about women who run their own businesses? And what made them want to strike out on their own? Ana Novakovic talked to some women entrepreneurs to find out what inspired them and keeps them going.

The Government argues that controversial proposals to give men as well as women time off for child care would mean recruiting and training staff to cover for short‐term absences, and have serious consequences in higher management functions. It is also claimed that the costs to industry, financially and administratively, would be prohibitive. On the other hand, parental leave would also create jobs, increase access to training, radically improve women's job prospects and fall into line with the trend towards flexible working.