Studying the tracer "wound healing after groin hernia repair" allows an approximate follow-up for quality control with little expense. Because of the narrow point of view and the neglect of other complications in the same investigation we estimate the power of the result as limited.

The increasing number of operations on intraarticular calcaneal fractures created the need for a fast, reproducible method to examine the weight-bearing posterior talo-calcaneal joint. High resolution CT scanning in an almost coronal plane without reformating was done in 25 calcaneal fractures. Joint alignment and fragment dislocation were demonstrated more precisely than would have been possible with conventional studies. Three typical fractures were found: The lambda type, the y type and the comminution type. Follow-up studies showed osteo-arthritis, intraarticular degenerative changes of the articular surface and impingement of personeal tendons as possible causes of pain.

In the present paper the production of highly specific and sensitive antisera to cortisol is described. The antisera were generated in rabbits using both cortisol-3-monooxime and cortisol-3,20-dioxime derivatives. Bovine thyroglobulin was used as a carrier protein. Antibody characteristics were determined by radioimmunoassay procedure. Antibody titers observed after immunization with the monooxime conjugate were significantly higher (p less than 0.001) than those obtained with the dioxime conjugate. In addition, cross reactivity for various naturally occurring steroids was markedly lower and sensitivity was increased as compared to dioxime antisera (15 vs. 40-60 pg/tube). Accuracy and precision were calculated for the monooxime antiserum used in a RIA system for clinical application. A close correlation (r = 0,9802) was found between plasma cortisol values measured by radioimmunoassay and the competitive protein binding method. The concentrations obtained by the protein binding method were slightly but significantly higher than those measured by radioimmunoassay indicating higher specificity of the antibody used (p less than 0.005).