Feasibility of inducing micturition through chronic stimulation of sacral roots

Past attempts at inducing micturition in paraplegics by electric stimulation of the spinal cord micturition center have been generally unsuccessful. Failure has most often resulted from inability to separate the response of the detrusor from that of the sphincter. Because the sacral nerves provide some organizational specificity over the spinal cord and are practically suited to chronic stimulation, experiments were carried out it) clogs to find out whether or not stimulation of these roots could induce micturition. Results of acute clog studies did suggest that micturition might effectively be performed by stimulation of the ventral root of the sacral nerve having the greatest detrusor representation. Specificity of bladder response was improved by dividing somatic fibers peripherally. Selected division of somatic fibers from the sacral root stimulated was compared with complete pudendal neurotomy. (The former procedure has the advantage of preserving perincal sensation.) The principles learned from the acute studies were then applied to “chronic” dogs ? 5 paraplegic and 1 normal. Effective voiding was achieved on a long-term basis. Over-all results were very encouraging. Further research is necessary before application of this technique to humans can be considered.     

Repeated Leukapheresis of Patients with Chronic Myelocytic Leukemia

The technic of plasmapheresis has been employed repeatedly to obtain large numbers of granulocytes from patients with chronic myelocytic leukemia. Up to 20 liters of blood from a single donor could be processed by centrifugation in one week without changes in the patient's clinical condition or his blood proteins as long as the plasma and red cells were both returned. The major limiting factor was the chronic removal of small amounts of red cells with each unit, resulting in decrease in hemoglobin level with intensive and prolonged periods of plasmapheresis. Removal of granulocytes at rates up to 3 × 10¹¹ per day produced little consistent decrease in peripheral white count unless it was continued for a week or more. Plasmapheresis is a safe and relatively simple technic for the collection of large numbers of leukocytes from donors with chronic myelocytic leukemia.     

Die toxische Wirkung von Tri-n-butylzinn-Verbindungen auf weiße Mäuse

Zusammenfassung Es wurde die toxische Wirkung reiner Tri-n-butylzinn-Acetat,-Benzoat, -Chlorid, -Laurat, -Oleat-Präparate an weißen Mäusen mit einem durchschnittlichen Körpergewicht von 25 g verfolgt. Diese Verbindungen wurden in Oleum helianthi gelöst und den nüchternen Mäusen mittels einer Magensonde in einer Menge von 500 mg/kg Lebendgewicht einmalig verabfolgt.In jeder Versuchsgruppe, 10 Mäuse zählend, wurde eine der obengenannten Verbindungen appliziert. In den drei Kontrollgruppen wurde Oleum helianthi, Oleum helianthi + Alkohol, Wasser, appliziert.Die Tiere wurden 8 Std beobachtet, dann getötet, seziert und die Organe histologisch verarbeitet. Die Präparate wurden mit Hämatoxylin-Eosin und die Gefrierschnitte mit Oil red gefärbt.Im klinischen Bild entwickelten sich schon 4 Std nach der Applikation bei den Tieren der Gruppe-Acetat,-Benzoat,-Chlorid und-Oleat typische Anzeichen einer akuten Intoxikation, während der Zustand der Tiere aus der Gruppe Laurat, nur gering verändert war. 8 Std nach der Applikation hatte sich der Zustand aller Experimentaltiere verschlechtert, sie waren im präfinalen Stadium.Im makroskopischen Befund überwogen bei allen Gruppen Zeichen der Schädigung des Verdauungstraktes, der Leber und der Milz.Im histologischen Bild wurden bei den Tieren aller Gruppen eine Steatose der Leberzellen, aber unterschiedlicher Schwere, Spuren von Lipiden in den Zellen der Nierentubuli (in der Gruppen Laurat und Oleat) und zahlreiche Hämorrhagien im Verdauungstrakt und in den Nieren gefunden.Bei allen Tieren der Kontrollgruppen wurden keine Veränderungen, weder im klinischen, noch im morphologischen Befund (Bild) nachgewiesen.     

Validation of a near-infrared transmission spectroscopic procedure. Part B: Application to alternate content uniformity and release assay methods for pharmaceutical solid dosage forms

NIR analytical methods can be validated to meet the requirement of demonstrating that it is suitable for the analysis of the materials for which it is being used. Applying previously described protocols for NIR methods to the analysis of two types of pharmaceutical products shows that for these products, NIR is suitable as an alternate analytical method for assay and for content uniformity.     

Second trimester Down syndrome serum screening--results from a pilot study

The results from a pilot prospective study--second trimester Down syndrome [DS] serum screening between 15 and 21 w.g. with two markers (alpha-fetoprotein and free bb-hCG)--were summarised. Sensitivity, false-positive rate [FPR], positive predictive value [PPV] of the screen positive and negative predictive value [NPV] of the screen negative result for the sbgroups II and below 35 years of age were analysed. The uptake for invasive prenatal testing in screen positive patients and the percentage of terminated pregnancies with prenatally diagnosed DS fetuses as well as the ratio "lost unaffected pregnancies/1 DS fetus diagnosed antenatally" were also calculated. High sensitivity of the DS serum screening was achieved--75% and 87.5% in the subgroups below and II the age of 35 respectively with 6.6 and 31.7% FPR. With higher DS age risk the PPV of the screen positive test was higher and the NPV of the screen negative result--lower. The percentage of invasive prenatal testing in screen positive patients was high (average 83.4%) without significant differences in the two age subgroups. Pregnancy was terminated in all cases with antenatally diagnosed DS fetuses. The ratio "lost unaffected pregnancies/1 DS fetus diagnosed antenatally" for serum screening was lower compared to the same ratio when screening by age. The results from our pilot study (serum screening sensitivity and FPR, uptake for invasive testing in screen-positive cases) are comparable to the ones reported in literature. This is an important prerequisite for introduction of mass DS screening for our population.