Sensory deafferentation fails to modify muscarinic receptor binding in raccoon somatosensory cortex

The characteristics and distribution of muscarinic acetylcholine (mACh) receptor binding in primary somatosensory (SI) cortex and the caudate nucleus of raccoons were studied using [3H]-QNB, a muscarinic antagonist. The binding characteristics were similar to reported values in rat and cat. Autoradiographs produced from tissue sections labeled with [3H]-QNB showed the distribution of mACh receptors in the forebrain of the raccoon. [3H]-QNB binding was highest in cerebral cortex, neostriatum and hippocampus. Within SI cortex, binding was high in layers I-III and VI and relatively low in layers IV and V. Autoradiographs obtained from animals that had undergone peripheral deafferentation of part of the forepaw revealed no changes in [3H]-QNB binding in the affected cortical region during the time that physiological reorganization is known to occur.     

Queensland tick typhus in rural New South Wales

We report five cases of Rickettsia australis infection from southern coastal New South Wales, Australia. All patients presented with a cutaneous eruption of erythematous papules and pustules and systemic features of malaise, headache, lymphadenopathy and myalgia. Acute kidney injury (AKI) was present in two of five cases and one of five cases had acute delirium. Improvement was only seen after treatment with doxycycline 100 mg b.i.d. Positive serology for R. australis was present in four of five cases and a positive polymerase chain reaction (PCR) was seen in one of five cases. Histology showed varying features, from neutrophilic vasculitis to Sweet's syndrome and lymphocytic vasculitis. Recent significant advances in the diagnosis of R. australis infection include an eschar swab or biopsy PCR and isolation of specific Rickettsia on serology. These investigations should be considered in the presence of any of the following features: eschar at site of a tick bite or lymphadenopathy and fever with an eruption of erythematous papules and pustules.     

Keratoacanthoma formation after skin grafting: A brief report and pathophysiological hypothesis

Keratoacanthoma formation after skin grafting is rare. We report the third case in the literature of multiple keratoacanthomas developed at both split‐thickness skin graft donor and recipient sites. We provide possible explanations for this poorly understood phenomenon and highlight its implications on treatment options.     

Recognising and developing students as teachers: Introduction of a novel Undergraduate Certificate in Veterinary Medical Education

A key responsibility of healthcare professionals is the education of clients/patients, colleagues and students undertaking placements. Peer-assisted learning (PAL) has been incorporated in our veterinary medicine programme for a number of years. The aim of this project was to develop a mechanism to formally recognise the important role that students play in the School’s teaching and learning processes and foster students as partners in education through the development of a novel Undergraduate Certificate in Veterinary Medical Education (UCVME). Students and veterinarians were surveyed in order to inform the design of the programme. The programme is modular and aligned with the UK Professional Standards Framework (UKPSF). Students enrol in their third year, undertaking core and elective components, with completion over the final three years of the degree. The UCVME has been positively received, with 30 of 160 third year students enrolling in the programme’s first year. Activities receiving credit and designed in partnership between staff and students have included: PAL sessions, widening participation school educational workshops and client education events. This initiative has created numerous student-driven educational opportunities. It is hoped that this programme will facilitate the educational training of students and enhance employability and career satisfaction.     

Nonsecular Medical Anthropology

ABSTRACT

A nonsecular medical anthropology insists on the ways medicine and science have constituted ‘the secular’ itself through the ‘secular self’—how medical knowing has been used to craft the secular political subject. As James Boon noted, too often in social theory, “religion gets safely tucked away—restricted theoretically to ‘meaning’ rather than power” (1998:245). The authors of the six articles in this special issue ‘untuck’ religiosity from within the norms and numbers of medicine itself, and examine how ‘secular’ medicine has relied on religious traditions to produce political secularity. These articles demonstrate that ‘secular’ medicine relies on religious others whose exclusion bespeaks latent religious commitments of citizenship in the modern political realm of health.     

The integrated effect of adrenergic blockade on glucose, fatty acid, and glycerol kinetics: responses in the basal state and during hormonal control with somatostatin-hormonal infusion

We have used primed constant infusions of [1-13C]palmitic acid, [2-3H]glycerol, and [U-14C]glucose to evaluate the response of glucose and fat kinetics to alpha or beta adrenergic blockade in conscious dogs. The response of each blocking agent was evaluated both with and without control of the glucoregulatory hormones. When hormones were controlled, somatostatin and metyrapone were infused to block hormonal secretion, and insulin, glucagon, growth hormone, and cortisol were replaced at basal physiological rates. alpha blockade (beta stimulation) did not influence glucose production or oxidation, but it did decrease glucose clearance when hormones were controlled. Clearance did not decrease during blockade when hormones were not controlled, presumably because of the resulting increase in the plasma insulin concentration. Glucose production, plasma glucose concentration, and glucose oxidation all increased with beta blockade (alpha stimulation). alpha blockade (beta stimulation) resulted in an increase in lipolysis, whereas beta blockade (alpha stimulation) resulted in a decrease in lipolysis. In neither case, however, did FFA oxidation change. We conclude that (a) the predominant effect of unopposed stimulation is the stimulation of lipolysis, whereas unopposed alpha stimulation inhibits lipolysis. Direct effects of either alpha or beta stimulation on glucose kinetics are less dramatic, but both alpha and beta stimulation decrease glucose clearance.     

Fungal infections in liver transplant recipients

Sixty-two adults who underwent orthotopic liver transplantations between February 1981 and June 1983 were followed for a mean of 170 days after the operation. Twenty-six patients developed 30 episodes of significant fungal infection. Candida species and Torulopsis glabrata were responsible for 22 episodes and Aspergillus species for 6. Most fungal infections occurred in the first month after transplantation. In the first 8 weeks after transplantation, death occurred in 69% (18/26) of patients with fungal infection but in only 8% (3/36) of patients without fungal infection (P less than 0.0005). The cause of death, however, was usually multifactorial, and not solely due to the fungal infection. Fungal infections were associated with the following clinical factors: administration of preoperative steroids (P less than 0.05) and antibiotics (P less than 0.05), longer transplant operative time (P less than 0.02), longer posttransplant operative time (P less than 0.01), duration of antibiotic use after transplant surgery (P less than 0.001), and the number of steroid boluses administered to control rejection in the first 2 posttransplant months (P less than 0.01). Patients with primary biliary cirrhosis had fewer fungal infections than patients with other underlying liver diseases (P less than 0.05). A total of 41% (9/22) of Candida infections resolved, but all Aspergillus infections ended in death.