SUMMARYA clinical study of 96 patients compared a new hydrocolloid dressing (Granuflex Extra Thin®) with a non-adherent dressing (perforated film absorbent dressing) in the management of lacerations, abrasions and minor operation incisions at the Accident and Emergency (A&E) Department of the University College Hospital, Galway.While time to heal was similar for both groups, the patients using Granuflex Extra Thin® experienced less pain (P < 0.001), required less analgesia (P = 0.0154) and were able to carry out their normal daily activities including bathing or showering without affecting the dressing or the wound.Patient satisfaction with the new dressing appeared to be very high especially in those patients who pursued an active lifestyle.

This study showed a good safety profile in our series of COPD and asthma patients undergoing MPI. Regadenoson was well tolerated by all patients, with dyspnoea, headache and feeling hot showing differences between groups.

The names of the first two authors of this article were rendered wrongly; their correct names are given here.The online version of the original article can be found at http://dx

Tc-99m-antigranulocyte monoclonal antibody fragment Fab'2 scintigraphy seems to be a useful method in the diagnosis of osteoarticular infection.

The murine monoclonal antibody YB5.B8 (CD117) identifies a transmembrane tyrosine kinase receptor encoded by the human c-kit proto-oncogene. In this study we investigated the expression of c-kit on different types of acute leukemia to determine the degree of specificity and sensitivity of this marker for the myeloid and lymphoid lineages. C-kit was positive in over half of the 115 cases of acute leukemia studied. Overall, two thirds of AML cases expressed c-kit, whereas only one of 23 ALL patients was c-kit positive. C-kit was also positive in 16 of 19 cases of myeloid blast crisis of myeloproliferative disorders and negative in four with a lymphoid phenotype. There was no correlation between c-kit expression and the degree of myeloid differentiation by FAB subtypes or other markers. We conclude that c-kit is a specific marker for the myeloid lineage, which is expressed early during hematopoietic differentiation and can aid the diagnosis of AML in difficult cases. More patients need to be tested to establish whether the expression of c-kit may define AML subgroups of prognostic significance.