Bloqueio do plano do eretor da espinha com técnica de múltiplos cateteres para esofagectomia aberta: relato de caso

Background and objective

Erector spinae plane block is a valid technique to provide simultaneously analgesia for combined thoracic and abdominal surgery.

Effects of bile acids on ventricular muscle contraction and electrophysiological properties: studies in rat papillary muscle and isolated ventricular myocytes

Summary The effects of sodium salts of various bile acids on the contractile force and the electrophysiological properties of rat ventricular muscle were studied in vitro. Primary, conjugated, and secondary bile acids were studied in a concentration range of 10^–9–10^–6 mol/l, which corresponds to concentrations found in the plasm of patients with cholestatic jaundice. In general, the bile acid induced a negative inotropic effect which was manifested as a reduction in active tension, maximum rate of tension activation, and maximum rate of tension relaxation. Twitch duration and time to peak tension were unaffected by the bile acids. The negative inotropism was associated with a reduction in ventricular action potential duration. Resting potential, action potential amplitude, and maximum upstroke velocity of phase 0 depolarization were unaffected. Voltage clamp experiments in rat ventricular myocytes demonstrated that sodium taurocholate decreased the slow inward current and slightly increased the outward potassium current. Hence, these effects on the membrane currents are probably responsible for the negative inotropic effect. Send offprint requests to O. Binah at the above address     

Basilar arterio-venous pseudoparallelism due to persistence of embryonal venous pattern

Summary A vascular malformation, consisting of a venous vessel bridgeing the right inferior petrosal sinus and the anterior spinal veins, was found in the posterior fossa. The vessel presented a ring-like course around the right trigeminal root, and it was parallel and dorsal to the basilar artery. The malformation was associated with cutaneous and hepatic angiomas and peri-osteal lipomas. It had been clinically silent for 52 years, when it thrombosed causing death. The authors think that, within a general mesenchymopatic state, this is a result of the persistence of an embryonal cerebral venous pattern.     

Tracheal intubation under fluoroscopic control X ray-guided orotracheal intubation in three cases of impossible direct laryngoscopy

Three patients are described in whom it was impossible to visualise the larynx at direct laryngoscopy. Tracheal intubation was successfully and rapidly achieved with the aid of continuous fluoroscopy.     

Detection of anti-histone activity in sera of patients with monoclonal gammopathies

Sera from 249 patients with monoclonal gammopathies (85 multiple myeloma, 92 benign monoclonal gammopathies, 53 cryoglobulinemia, 19 Waldenstr?m's macroglobulinemia) were examined for the presence of anti-histone activity. Thirty-four sera were found positive. In 12 of these cases the serum monoclonal immunoglobulins were purified and in all, the anti-histone activity appeared to reside in the monoclonal component. None of the patients had symptomatology of lupus despite high titers of anti-histone activity. This study demonstrates an anti-histone activity of monoclonal components of patients with monoclonal gammopathies.     

Hoxa2 knockdown in Xenopus results in hyoid to mandibular homeosis.

The skeletal structures of the face and throat are derived from cranial neural crest cells (NCCs) that migrate from the embryonic neural tube into a series of branchial arches (BAs). The first arch (BA1) gives rise to the upper and lower jaw cartilages, whereas hyoid structures are generated from the second arch (BA2). The Hox paralogue group 2 (PG2) genes, Hoxa2 and Hoxb2, show distinct roles for hyoid patterning in tetrapods and fishes. In the mouse, Hoxa2 acts as a selector of hyoid identity, while its paralogue Hoxb2 is not required. On the contrary, in zebrafish Hoxa2 and Hoxb2 are functionally redundant for hyoid arch patterning. Here, we show that in Xenopus embryos morpholino-induced functional knockdown of Hoxa2 is sufficient to induce homeotic changes of the second arch cartilage. Moreover, Hoxb2 is downregulated in the BA2 of Xenopus embryos, even though initially expressed in second arch NCCs, similar to mouse and unlike in zebrafish. Finally, Xbap, a gene involved in jaw joint formation, is selectively upregulated in the BA2 of Hoxa2 knocked-down frog embryos, supporting a hyoid to mandibular change of NCC identity. Thus, in Xenopus Hoxa2 does not act redundantly with Hoxb2 for BA2 patterning, similar to mouse and unlike in fish. These data bring novel insights into the regulation of Hox PG2 genes and hyoid patterning in vertebrate evolution and suggest that Hoxa2 function is required at late stages of BA2 development.     

A rapid determination method for scopolia extract in gastrointestinal drugs by capillary electrophoresis

A rapid and simple determination of tropane-alkaloids (hyoscyamine, scopolamine) in gastrointestinal drugs was investigated by capillary electrophoresis. Micellar electrokinetic capillary chromatography (MEKC) using a fused silica capillary (560 mm x 0.075 mm i.d.) in 0.1 M SDS 20 mM borate buffer (pH 10)/acetonitrile (97:3) gave complete separation of the two alkaloids within 40 min. A sample solution was introduced by pressure method (50 mbar, 3.7 s), separation conditions applied voltage 15 kV and on-column detection was performed at 210 nm. Calibration curves for hyoscyamine and scopolamine showed a good linearity in the range of 4-12 micrograms/ml (r = 0.9970) and 390-1150 ng/ml (r = 0.9976). The present method is applicable to the simple and rapid determination of hyoscyamine and scopolamine in commercial gastrointestinal drugs.