Intra-arterial Air Thrombogenesis after Cerebral Air Embolism Complicating Lower Extremity Sclerotherapy

Background  

Cerebral arterial gas embolism is a potentially life-threatening event. Intraarterial air can occlude blood flow directly or cause thrombosis. Sclerotherapy is an extremely rare cause of cerebral arterial gas embolism.     

Drawing the Boundaries: Exploring gender issues in young children's classifications of work using visual representations

This study examines young children's perceptions of work through a specific example. Reception class children at an inner city school were shown pictures of the same figure washing in four different contexts, ranging from housework to paid employment, in order to examine early classifications and conceptual systems relating to the concept of work and to ascertain whether these were gender related. Individual children varied in the complexity of their ideas, but the majority had not yet began to form hierarchical classifications of work which favour paid employment. There was evidence however that some children were beginning to devalue traditional women's work, suggesting that gender stereotypes are still prevalent amongst this age group, despite efforts by the educational system to counter this.     

An overview of the psychopathology of perception: first rank symptoms as a localizing sign in schizophrenia.

Schneider considered that first rank symptoms always signify schizophrenia. They appear to have in common permeability of the barrier between the individual and his environment, or a loss of ego boundaries. They may be a manifestation of a specific disturbance which may be caused pathologically by a limbic lesion in the dominant hemisphere.     

Plasma amine oxidase activities in Norrie disease patients with an X-chromosomal deletion affecting monoamine oxidase

Summary Two individuals with an X-chromosomal deletion were recently found to lack the genes encoding monoamine oxidase type A (MAO-A) and MAO-B. This abnormality was associated with almost total (90%) reductions in the oxidatively deaminated urinary metabolites of the MAO-A substrate, norepinephrine, and with marked (100-fold) increases in an MAO-B substrate, phenylethylamine, confirming systemic functional consequences of the genetic enzyme deficiency. However, urinary concentrations of the deaminated metabolites of dopamine and serotonin (5-HT) were essentially normal. To investigate other deaminating systems besides MAO-A and MAO-B that might produce these metabolites of dopamine and 5-HT, we examined plasma amine oxidase (AO) activity in these two patients and two additional patients with the same X-chromosomal deletion. Normal plasma AO activity was found in all four Norrie disease-deletion patients, in four patients with classic Norrie disease without a chromosomal deletion, and in family members of patients from both groups. Marked plasma amine metabolite abnormalities and essentially absent platelet MAO-B activity were found in all four Norrie disease-deletion patients, but in none of the other subjects in the two comparison groups. These results indicate that plasma AO is encoded by gene(s) independent of those for MAO-A and MAO-B, and raise the possibility that plasma AO, and perhaps the closely related tissue AO, benzylamine oxidase, as well as other atypical AOs or MAOs encoded independently from MAO-A and MAO-B may contribute to the oxidative deamination of dopamine and 5-HT in humans.     

An overview of pulmonary embolism.

Unfortunately, acute pulmonary embolism is still a far too common occurrence. Fortunately, with prompt recognition, diagnosis, and treatment, mortality can be reduced. This article provides an overview of risk factors, diagnostic studies, and treatment of patients with acute pulmonary embolism in the critical care setting.     

Dendritic development and preferential growth into synaptogenic fields: a quantitative study of Golgi-impregnated spinal motor neurons

Branching patterns of dendrites may be modulated by the way in which dendritic growth cone filopodia come into initial synaptic relationships with afferent axons. This synaptotropic hypothesis of dendritic branching predicts that dendritic growth will be directed preferentially into regions containing numerous prospective presynaptic elements. The developing mouse spinal cord provides a natural experiment to test this prediction, because synapses are found exclusively within the marginal zones bordering the motor columns during the early (E11-14) period of synaptogenesis. During this time, therefore, most motor dendritic growth would be expected to be directed laterally or ventrally into the marginal zones, whereas internally directed growth should become more prevalent later, when synaptogenesis begins to take place within the intermediate zone, i.e., the motor columns proper. A computer-assisted three dimensional reconstruction system has been used to test these expectations in Golgi preparations of developing mouse (C57BL/6J) spinal cords ranging in age from E13 through P1. Mean dendritic lengths and branch densities are significantly greater for marginal zone dendrites than for intermediate zone dendrites at early ages (E13-14), but there are no significant differences in these measures at later stages of development (P0,1). These findings are interpreted as meaning that motor dendritic growth is initially biased into the marginal zone by synaptogenic afferents and that this preferential distribution is progressively lost as synapses develop within the intermediate zone to attract or to stabilize internally directed dendritic growth. Thus the findings of this study are consistent with predictions of the synaptotropic hypothesis of dendritic branching.     

Laparoscopic evaluation of tangential abdominal gunshot wounds.

The use of laparoscopy in abdominal trauma has been proposed for several decades; however, it has not been widely used. With the advent of laparoscopic cholecystectomy, general surgeons are realizing the potential of this technique. This should result in an expanded role for laparoscopy, including the evaluation of abdominal trauma. We present a series in which laparoscopy was used in the evaluation of tangential gunshot wounds to the abdomen. Laparoscopy enabled us to demonstrate whether the missile had violated the peritoneal cavity and to avoid laparotomy in cases without peritoneal penetration.