Gastrointestinal dysfunction among intensive care unit patients

This study used the Acute Physiological and Chronic Health Evaluation (APACHE II) system to select two groups of ICU patients with comparable risk of hospital death to evaluate the importance of GI dysfunction, defined as failure to tolerate enteral nutrition (EN), as a prognostic factor. In our ICU, patients who have not undergone recent bowel surgery are treated by EN. Those patients who cannot tolerate EN are treated by total parenteral nutrition (TPN). One hundred and eleven patients who tolerated EN (functioning gut) and 97 TPN patients who failed to tolerate EN (GI dysfunction) were studied. The mean APACHE II scores of the two groups were 17.7 +/- 6.5 (SD) and 17.7 +/- 5.1, respectively. The observed mortality of patients with GI dysfunction (51%) was significantly higher (p less than .0005) than that of patients with a functioning gut (25%). This was associated with significantly poorer APACHE II mean BP, oxygenation, and creatinine scores among the GI dysfunction patients. Our results suggest that shock, ischemia, and hypoxemia, in addition to causing impairment of renal function, may bring about changes in the GI tract, evident clinically only as a failure to tolerate EN, which have an adverse effect on the prognosis of ICU patients so affected.     

Object attachment, thumbsucking, and the passage to sleep

Cross-cultural studies suggest that children who sleep in the same room as their parents and who are breast-fed are less likely to use an attachment object. The present study examined childrearing practices that emphasize physical proximity of parent and child and use of an attachment object and thumbsucking at bedtime with 126 healthy U.S. infants. Four child-rearing practices were focused on: presence or absence of a caregiver when the child actually fell asleep; mode of feeding; location of the child's bed or sleeping place; whether or not the child slept with the parents during the night. Children who had an adult present as they fell asleep were less likely to use an attachment object or suck their thumbs. In contrast to cross-cultural research, the results of the present study suggest that where a child sleeps during the night or how the child is fed is not as important an influence on the bedtime use of an attachment object or thumbsucking as whether an adult is present as the child actually falls asleep.     

Personality of patients with pseudoseizures

We studied personality features of 19 patients with pseudoseizures (PS) only. Scores on a personality inventory (MMPI) were compared with those of adults with generalized seizures and correlated to cognitive measures (Halstead-Reitan). Mean MMPI scores did not differ significantly, and no profile distinguished PS and epilepsy patients. MMPI abnormalities of PS patients were diverse and seldom characteristic of hysteria. Eight PS patients had cognitive impairment, two without MMPI evidence of personality disorder. These findings suggest that the etiology of pseudoseizures is multifactorial, involving different psychopathologies and sometimes cerebral dysfunction.     

Synapses of cone horizontal cell axons in goldfish retina

The axon terminals of cone horizontal cells in the goldfish retina form typical chemical synaptic contacts in the middle of the inner nuclear layer. Approximately 60% of the identified postsynaptic elements were perikarya, axons and dendrites of bipolar cells. The other identified postsynaptic elements were perikarya and processes of interplexiform cells. We propose that the horizontal cell axon terminal contribute to the antagonistic surround responses of the bipolar cells and that they modulate inputs to the outer plexiform layer conveyed by interplexiform cells. Output synapses from horizontal cell axons to unidentified neuronal processes as well as occasional input synapses to the axons from interplexiform cell processes and unidentified perikarya were also observed in the same region of the inner nuclear layer.     

The workload of a purpose built day surgical unit.

The workload and utilisation of a purpose built day surgical unit at Addenbrooke's Hospital, Cambridge has been reviewed. Senior medical personnel are involved in the unit and 5071 operations were performed in the first two years. Despite a reduction of inpatient beds the surgical waiting lists have also decreased, we believe as a direct result of the day surgery programme. The results presented support the recommendations made in the recent report on day surgery by the Royal College of Surgeons of England.     

In vitro studies of the antitumor effect of melphalan and analogous aniline mustard derivatives

Melphalan and analogous aniline mustard derivatives were tested on antitumor activity in vitro. All compounds showed similar antiproliferative effects against melanoma B16, sarcoma 180 and leukemia P388D1. Thus, the singular clinical efficiency of melphalan may not simply be explained by a selective uptake employing amino acid carrier systems of tumor cells.     

Zinc deficiency and hyperprolactinaemia are not reversible causes of sexual dysfunction in uraemia

We selected a group of male dialysis patients complaining of sexual dysfunction in whom penile vascular insufficiency and drug-induced impotence had been excluded. Monitoring of nocturnal penile tumescence was used to confirm organic disturbance. Patients with normal serum prolactin concentrations (n = 18) had significantly lower serum zinc values than normal controls (P less than 0.001) and were entered in a 6-month double-blind study comparing oral zinc acetate with placebo. Patients with elevated prolactin concentrations (n = 8) were entered in a 3-month double-blind crossover study comparing oral pergolide mesylate with placebo. In the zinc study, serum zinc concentrations increased (P less than 0.05) in the zinc-treated but not the placebo-treated group. One of nine patients receiving zinc reported improved sexual function, as did two of nine patients receiving placebo. There were no significant changes in sperm counts, nocturnal penile tumescence, testosterone, sex hormone binding globulin or gonadotrophin concentrations in either treatment group. In the pergolide study, serum prolactin values decreased (P less than 0.01) in the pergolide but not in the placebo treatment period. One patient reported improved sexual function during the pergolide treatment period and two during the placebo period. There were no significant changes in sperm counts, nocturnal penile tumescence, testosterone, sex hormone binding globulin or gonadotrophin concentrations after pergolide. These studies show no benefit of zinc or pergolide compared with placebo in the treatment of uraemic impotence.