Failure of parasystolic impulses to appear on schedule. Exit block due to concealed conduction of sinus impulses.
A 45-year-old patient free of any heart disease was admitted to the hospital with an electrocardiographic pattern of ventricular parasystole. The parasystolic rhythm was relatively fast, such that several consecutive ectopic complexes manifested. A later tracing reflected only isolated parasystolic complexes with long and fixed coupling intervals. The interectopic intervals, however, were once more in multiple of the parasystolic cycle as directly measured during the phases of undisturbed parasystolic rhythm. In the latter tracing, several scheduled parasystolic impulses did not yield a response, despite calculation suggesting that these impulses occurred outside the refractory period. In other words, an exit block was present. Analysis of the tracing suggests that the exit block wasbeing driven into poverty and relying on food banks through losing £200 - £400 per month of their salary."

She said there was "no option" but to lodge a formal dispute and ballot members for industrial action.

'Real risk'

Teaching assistant Tony Lowery, said: "It is really devastating for my family because I'm the main wager. I don't mean things like going on holidays or a second car, I mean things like food on the table and clothes on our backs."

Liberal Democrat councillors voted unanimously against the plans.

Councillor Owen Temple said the affected staff would "find themselves the poorest teaching assistants in the North East" and the council was "very likely to face legal challenge".

The council's corporate director of resources, Don McLure, said there was a "real risk" that, under the