Cholesterol monomer activity correlates with nucleation time in model bile

Nucleation time (Cholesterol monohydrate crystallization) in bile has been introduced to distinguish patients with cholesterol gallstone from normal human beings. To test the hypothesis that cholesterol monomer activity correlates with nucleation time, we have examined the relationship between nucleation time, apparent cholesterol monomer activity and cholesterol monomer concentration in the aqueous phase using model biles containing bile salt, phospholipid and cholesterol. Apparent cholesterol monomer activity was inversely well correlated with nucleation time in the dilution study (r = -0.98) and in the cholesterol saturation study (r = -0.88) but positively with cholesterol monomer concentration in the aqueous phase in the dilution study (r = 0.72) and in the cholesterol saturation study (r = 0.93). The results indicate that cholesterol monomer activity reflects the nucleation time in model bile system.     

Autopsy findings in interstitial deletion 6q

Autopsy findings from a child with interstitial deletion 6q [46,XX,del(6)(q13q21)] are reported. There was cervical scoliosis, an endocardial cushion defect, right ventricular hypertrophy, subependymal cysts, multicystic kidneys (Potter type IIB), and lung hypoplasia.     

A VATS lobectomy for lung cancer in a patient with an anomalous pulmonary vein: Report of a case

A video-assisted right upper lobectomy was successfully performed on a 58-year-old man with an anomalnous segmental pulmonary vein. The tumor was a peripherally located adenocarcinoma. The anomalous vein behind the right main bronchus was identified and safely divided. This case emphasized that to perform this procedure successfully, (1) a careful preoperative evaluation of the anatomy, including the presence of any possible vascular and/or bronchial anomalies, is necessary, and (2) if any anatomical structures cannot be determined intraoperatively, a conversion into an open procedure must immediately be undertaken.     

Techniques of nasotracheal intubation with the fiberoptic bronchoscope

When nasotracheal intubation with a fiberoptic bronchoscope is performed, the tube may be blocked in the nasal cavity or larynx, resulting in several complications including epistaxis and hoarseness. We review the causes and complications of tube blockage and discuss optimal techniques for minimizing it.     

What are “clinical practice guidelines”?

Journal of Neurology - An evidence-based approach to the development of clinical practice guidelines has attracted significant attention from physicians' groups as well as from the public....     

Increased MR signal intensity due to cervical myelopathy. Analysis of 29 surgical cases

The cases of 29 patients with cervical myelopathy, who had been treated by anterior spine fusion, were reviewed. The relationship between pre- and postoperative magnetic resonance (MR) images was investigated with special reference to increased signal intensity in the spinal cord on the T2-weighted images and the relevance of this finding to clinical conditions. Preoperatively, there were areas of increased signal intensity in 12 patients whereas there were no areas of increased signal intensity in the other 17. The lesions were not clearly demonstrated on T1-weighted images. The pre- and postoperative clinical condition of the patients whose preoperative MR images showed areas of increased signal intensity in the spinal cord on T2-weighted images was worse than that of the patients who did not have areas of increased signal intensity. Of the 12 patients with regions of increased signal intensity preoperatively, five showed decreased signal intensity postoperatively compared to the preoperative levels and seven had no change. The postoperative recovery of the five patients who showed decreased signal intensity postoperatively was better than that of the seven patients who exhibited no change. The areas of increased MR signal in the spinal cord might be due to edema, cord gliosis, demyelination, or microcavities.     

Visual attention to surfaces in three-dimensional space.

Although attention plays a significant role in vision, its spatial deployment and spread in the third dimension is not well understood. In visual search experiments we show that we cannot easily focus attention across isodepth loci unless they are part of a well-formed surface with locally coplanar elements. Yet we can easily spread our attention selectively across well-formed surfaces that span an extreme range of stereoscopic depths. In cueing experiments, we show that this spread of attention is, in part, obligatory. Attentional selectivity is reduced when targets and distractors are coplanar with or rest on a common receding stereoscopic plane. We conclude that attention cannot be efficiently allocated to arbitrary depths and extents in space but is linked to and spreads automatically across perceived surfaces.     

The aperture problem--II. Spatial integration of velocity information along contours

There exists a class of two-dimensional figures (including cumulative gaussian waveforms) whose contours have a limited range of orientations. These figures can appear as highly nonrigid if they undergo pure translation in the image plane. In the case of the cumulative gaussian waveform, it is the region around the inflection point that appears as nonrigid. Motivated by Hildreth's (1984) proposal, we made 5 predictions which were confirmed by the data: (0), rigidity of a figure can be dramatically increased if one attaches line terminators to the figure; (1), moving terminators "on" the figure increase rigidity far more than such terminators "off" the figure; (2) decreasing the velocity of the terminator decreases rigidity; (3) decreasing the distance between the terminator and the inflection point increases rigidity; (4) the effect of a moving terminator can be blocked by interposing a stationary terminator between it and a nonrigidly moving portion of the curve.