Cerebral blood flow relationships associated with a difficult tone recognition task in trained normal volunteers

Tone recognition is partially subserved by neural activity in the right frontal and primary auditory cortices. First we determined the brain areas associated with tone perception and recognition. This study then examined how regional cerebral blood flow (rCBF) in these and other brain regions correlates with the behavioral characteristics of a difficult tone recognition task. rCBF changes were assessed using H2(15)O positron emission tomography. Subtraction procedures were used to localize significant change regions and correlational analyses were applied to determine how response times (RT) predicted rCBF patterns. Twelve trained normal volunteers were studied in three conditions: REST, sensory motor control (SMC) and decision (DEC). The SMC-REST contrast revealed bilateral activation of primary auditory cortices, cerebellum and bilateral inferior frontal gyri. DEC-SMC produced significant clusters in the right middle and inferior frontal gyri, insula and claustrum; the anterior cingulate gyrus and supplementary motor area; the left insula/claustrum; and the left cerebellum. Correlational analyses, RT versus rCBF from DEC scans, showed a positive correlation in right inferior and middle frontal cortex; rCBF in bilateral auditory cortices and cerebellum exhibited significant negative correlations with RT These changes suggest that neural activity in the right frontal, superior temporal and cerebellar regions shifts back and forth in magnitude depending on whether tone recognition RT is relatively fast or slow, during a difficult, accurate assessment.      

Care in stillbirth; mothers' opinion

Semi-structured interviews were conducted with 49 women who had experienced stillbirth in 1987-1989. Only 55% were satisfied with the manner in which the first suspicion had been communicated to them, while 85% were satisfied with the communication at the time of the diagnosis. Opinions about care in the labour ward, while largely positive, indicate that lack of tact from an individual may cloud the entire perception of care. Although only 40% had expressed a desire to see the baby, the others were happy to have been persuaded to do so and all were positive about the contact with the dead baby. Of 42 women (86%) who gave consent for autopsy, only one regretted this decision. Support received post partum was considered to be inadequate or insufficient by 10%. Despite the short hospital stay (average 1 day), most women afterwards felt that they would have preferred to return home earlier; only 9% felt that they would have preferred to stay longer.     

‘Hydatoxi lualba’, an artefact

Blood samples from controls, pre-eclamptic patients and cord blood from their infants were examined for the so-called Hydatoxi lualba parasite.Using a further modified TBO staining technique on blood-smears made on slides cleaned manually, the ‘eggs, larva and worms’ could be demonstrated to be successive stages of artefacts originating from threads deposited by the cotton swabs used in manual cleaning. These successive stages of ‘worms’ could only rarely be found in smears made on industrially cleaned slides.     

Induction of labour after fetal death: a randomized controlled trial of two prostaglandin regimens

A total of 85 women with antepartum fetal death between 14 and 42 weeks gestation was randomly assigned to one of two regimens of intravenous infusion of the prostaglandin analogue 16-phenoxy-17, 18, 19, 20-tetranor-PGE2-methylsulphonamide (sulprostone) for inducing labour. Women received either 1 microgram/min until delivery or the commonly recommended treatment of 1500 micrograms in 8 h followed by another, identical course of treatment if delivery did not occur within 24 h. The 1 microgram/min dose schedule used half the amount of prostaglandin and resulted in statistically significantly fewer gastrointestinal side-effects compared with the conventional treatment. All women were delivered vaginally and there were no differences in induction-to-delivery intervals between the two treatments. Sulprostone infused at a rate of 1 microgram/min resulted in a 50% chance of being delivered within 12 h and a 90% chance of being delivered within 24 h, with an overall frequency of side-effects of 20%.     

5—羟色胺M受体和胆碱能受体阻断剂在红霉素所致小肠动力紊乱和呕吐中的作用

本实验对８条犬进行小肠肌电测定，并在记录期间分别静注胆碱能神经阻断剂，阿托品和六甲季胺，以及５－羟色胺（５－ＨＴ）Ｍ受体阻断剂，灭吐灵，以观察其对红霉素所致肠道副作用的影响。结果发现阿托品和六甲季胺不仅能明显地抑制空腹时正常传播性肌电综合波（ＭＭＣ）的发生和传播，降低红霉素促进小肠动力的作用，还能减轻红霉素所致饱腹动物的快波数增加，但对呕吐无明显影响。灭吐灵的实验结果显示红霉素的致吐作用是由５－ＨＴＭ受体介导的，与其促进小肠动力的作用无明显因果关系。