What’s known on the subject? and What does the study add? The question to be addressed was whether bladder overactivity or obstruction in patients was associated with any changes to the contractile properties of the detrusor smooth muscle, and in addition were there age‐related and gender‐dependent differences in these? The study showed that neither age nor gender per se affected the contractile properties of the smooth muscle from the stable bladder. However, in the pathology groups there was an age‐dependent reduction of nerve‐dependent contractile function, and thus in the overactive bladder there is an age‐dependent functional deneravation. OBJECTIVE • To test the hypothesis that the in vitro contractile properties of human detrusor smooth muscle are dependent on the age, gender and lower urinary tract pathology of the patient. MATERIALS AND METHODS • Contractions were elicited in isolated human detrusor smooth muscle preparations by nerve‐mediated electrical field stimulation, agonist application (carbachol, α,β‐methylene ATP and high‐K solutions) or direct muscle electrical stimulation. • Biopsies (n= 227) were obtained from four groups of patients with: stable bladders (control), bladder outlet obstruction (BOO), idiopathic (IDO), or neurogenic (NDO) detrusor overactivity. RESULTS • The magnitude of nerve‐mediated contractions declined as a function of patients’ age in each of the BOO, IDO and NDO groups but not in the control group. • Contractions elicited by direct muscle activation (10 µm carbachol or electrical stimulation with 20 ms pulses in the presence of 1 µm tetrodotoxin) did not vary with patient age. • Carbachol contractions were significantly smaller in samples from NDO bladders. • Atropine resistance was more prevalent in the pathology groups compared with the control group and was greatest in the IDO group. There was no influence of age in the prevalence or magnitude of atropine‐resistant contractions in any group. • Muscle excitability to direct electrical stimulation was similar in all groups. CONCLUSIONS • In the human bladder there is no evidence for a decline of detrusor smooth muscle contractility or excitability as a function of age, nor any gender difference or presence of pathology. • In the pathology groups there was evidence for a decline of functional innervation with age.

SUMMARY The incidence of ascorbic acid (AA) deficiency and its effect on serum ferritin concentration relative to body iron stores was studied in 61 unchelated patients with /-thalassaemia major.Thirty-nine (64°,j) of patients had subnormal leucocyte ascorbate concentrations without clinical evidence of scurvy. The lowest leucocyte ascorbate concentrations tended to occur in the most transfused patients. No correlation was found between the units transfused and serum ferritin concentration in the AA-deficient patients but a close correlation (r = +0-82; p < 0 005) existed for the AA-replete group. Similarly a close correlation (r = +0-77; p < 0-005) was obtained between liver iron concentration and serum ferritin in AA-replete patients but only a weak correlation (r = +0-385; p < 0025) existed for the AA-deficient group.When AA-deficient patients were treated with ascorbic acid, serum iron and percentage saturation of iron binding capacity rose significantly; serum ferritin rose in 13 of 21 patients despite the simultaneous commencement of desferrioxamine therapy. In contrast all three measurements tended to fall in AA-replete patients with ascorbic acid and desferrioxamine therapy.Thus, AA deficiency is commonly present in /-thalassaemia patients with iron overload and may give rise to inappropriate serum ferritin concentrations in relation to body iron stores.

SUMMARY Serum ferritin was measured in 51 term normal pregnant mothers and the corresponding cord blood samples. All of the mothers had received prophylactic oral iron and folate during pregnancy. The mean (ISD) maternal serum ferritin at the end of pregnancywas 584±429 ,ug/l (range ,ug/l), compared to a mean of 183 *2±61 *2 ,ug/l (range 62-313 ,ug/l) in these newborns.No correlation was found between the serum ferritin of mothers and babies, nor between the serum ferritin and serum iron of mothers at the end of pregnancy or between these parameters in the newborn.The iron content of the newborn infant is an important source of iron for haemoglobin formation in the first few months of life since the iron content of milk is low. Until recently it has been difficult to assess the influence of maternal iron stores on the iron status of the newborn infant. The introduction of the serum ferritin assay (Addison et al., 1972) has provided a simple, sensitive guide of body iron stores. The purpose of the present study was to determine the relation of serum ferritin of mothers at the time of delivery, and the corresponding cord blood. Patients and methodsFifty-one pregnant women (age range 17-38 years; each had 1-6 pregnancies) attending the Obstetric Clinic at Hull Maternity Hospital contributed in this study. All of them had a term normal pregnancy and normal delivery. Their babies were all term and of normal weight. All of the mothers had received one tablet of Ferrograd-folic per day (ferrous sulphate BP 325 mg and 350 ,ug folic acid BP) since early pregnancy.When the mothers were admitted for delivery, blood samples were obtained from them for determination of Hb, serum iron, total iron binding capacity (TIBC), and serum ferritin. Similar tests were done on cord blood samples.The method used for serum iron and TIBC was that recommended by the International Committee for Standardization in Hematology (1971). Normal range for serum iron is 75-130 ,ug/100 ml (13-4-23-3 ,umol/l), and for TIBC 270-390 Vg/100 ml

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