Patients with chronic renal failure receive iron orally and parenterally which can lead to iron overload. However, iron deficiency is common among Indians and it is not known whether the Indian ...dialysis and transplant patient runs a similar risk of iron overload. The iron status is best quantified by measuring serum ferritin levels when there is no intercurrent inflammatory process. We used this method to assess the iron stores in a random sample of the Indian population on our dialysis and transplantation programme.
Serum ferritin assay was done using ELISA on samples obtained from 24 patients at entry to dialysis, before renal transplant surgery and 3 to 6 months following the surgery. All patients received 120 mg of elemental iron orally and third party transfusions according to a fixed protocol.
None of the patients had iron deficiency despite low haemoglobin values. Fifteen patients at entry, 12 out of 16 pre-transplant and 10 out of 17 post-transplant patients had evidence of iron overload. Three patients developed iron overload during the period of observation and 6 of the 10 who entered the programme with evidence of iron overload continued to have iron overload.
Indian patients with chronic renal failure have evidence of iron overload similar to those in developed countries. Oral iron supplements in Indian patients are therefore unnecessary.
This paper investigates some of the effects of varying the number of central processing units (CPU's) available to a multiprogramming system both when parallel processing of a single task ...(multitasking) is allowed and is not allowed. The variables investigated are those that would be expected to control the CPU queue length distribution and include the degree of multiprogramming, CPU service discipline, CPU service distribution, the degree of cooperation between processors engaged in multitasking, and the ratio of CPU to I/O service capacity. The computer systems are modeled by queueing networks. Analytic results are displayed in many cases with supplementation by numeric and simulation solutions when convenient or necessary. It is demonstrated that under properly defined conditions doubling the number of CPU's in a system can more than double throughput. The effectiveness of multitasking in improving throughput is found to be fairly small if the degree of multiprogramming ranges from modest to high.
A study of the immune system in 11 patients with chyluria showed lymphocytopenia, decrease in T cells, a low serum IgA concentration and suppression of delayed hypersensitivity responses to ...intradermally injected antigens. The similarity of chyluria to intestinal lymphangiectasia and thoracic duct fistula suggests that the immune deficiency may be due to loss of lymph in the urine.
