Touch can change visual slant perception

The visual system uses several signals to deduce the three-dimensional structure of the environment, including binocular disparity, texture gradients, shading and motion parallax. Although each of these sources of information is independently insufficient to yield reliable three-dimensional structure from everyday scenes, the visual system combines them by weighting the available information; altering the weights would therefore change the perceived structure. We report that haptic feedback (active touch) increases the weight of a consistent surface-slant signal relative to inconsistent signals. Thus, appearance of a subsequently viewed surface is changed: the surface appears slanted in the direction specified by the haptically reinforced signal.     

抽烟对异丙酚有效靶浓度的影响

目的:观察抽烟对异丙酚有效靶浓度的影响。方法:选择择期在全麻下行上腹部手术的男患者50例,其中抽烟患者24例为A组,非抽烟患者26例为B组,在BIS监测下观察两组患者在插管前、插管后、切皮前、切皮后、术中探查、术毕时的异丙酚效应靶浓度、心率和平均动脉压。结果:两组患者的一般情况比较差异无显著性(P>0.05)。除切皮前,抽烟患者的异丙酚有效靶浓度均较非抽烟患者高(P<0.01或P<0.05),而其它各时间点的血流动力学指标无差异(P>0.05)。结论:长期抽烟使患者手术时对异丙酚的反应性降低,效应室有效靶浓度明显高于非抽烟患者,而对手术期间血流动力学无明显影响。     

Late treatment with a protective antigen-directed monoclonal antibody improves hemodynamic function and survival in a lethal toxin-infused rat model of anthrax sepsis

BACKGROUND: In animal models, treatment with 5H3, a fully human protective antigen-directed monoclonal antibody (PA-MAb), improved survival when administered close to the time of Bacillus anthracis lethal toxin (LeTx) bolus or live bacterial challenge. However, treatment with PA-MAb would be most valuable clinically if it were beneficial even when administered after the onset of shock and lethality due to LeTx. METHODS: We investigated the effects of PA-MAb versus placebo administered in rats (n=324) at the time of or 3, 6, 9, or 12 h after the initiation of a 24-h LeTx infusion. RESULTS: In rats receiving placebo, mean arterial blood pressure (MBP) and heart rate (HR) were decreased in nonsurvivors, compared with those in survivors, at 6 h and then worsened further, with lethality first evident at 8 h (median, 16 h; range, 8-152 h). At each treatment time, survival rates were greater for PA-MAb than for placebo, although improvement was decreased at later treatment times (P=.001, for the effect of time). Compared with placebo, PA-MAb significantly increased MBP during the 12 h after the initiation of treatment, but the increase was greatest for treatment at 3 h; similarly, PA-MAb significantly increased HR at all treatment times. CONCLUSION: In this rat model, improvements in outcome due to PA-MAb were significant when it was administered up to 6 h (and approached significance when administered up to 12 h) after initial exposure to LeTx. Clinically, PA-MAb may be beneficial even when administered after the onset of shock and lethality due to LeTx.     

Accustomed to enduring: experiences of African-American women seeking care for cardiac symptoms

OBJECTIVE: Understand the meaning of delayed treatment seeking in African-American women with unstable angina and myocardial infarction. METHODS: Phenomenologic analysis of in-depth interview data and field notes on 12 African-American women hospitalized with unstable angina or myocardial infarction. RESULTS: Women's interpretation of and response to symptoms were informed by experiences of marginalization and their self-understanding as people who were strong and who had endured life's hardships. When hospitalized, some women experienced trivialization of their complaints by clinicians and a focus on technological procedures over respectfully attending to their concerns, which provided further disincentives to seeking care. Three major themes emerged: misrecognition and discounting of symptoms, enduring, and influence of faith. CONCLUSIONS: Experiences of marginalization shape responses to symptoms, care-seeking behavior, and interpretation of subsequent care experiences for African-American women with cardiac disease, who may experience different symptoms as well as interpret them differently than members of other groups.     

Nitrous oxide

Joseph Priestley, a chemist and Presbyterian minister, discoverednitrous oxide in 1772.¹ Its analgesic action was subsequentlydescribed in 1800 by Humphrey Davy. Towards the end of the nineteenthcentury, its anaesthetic properties were recorded under hyperbaricconditions by Paul Bert. Applications for the use of nitrousoxide have developed greatly since that time. It has widespreaduse in anaesthesia but has many other uses; examples includeits use as an aerosol propellant in whipped cream dispensersand for enhancement of engine performance in drag-racing.     

Progress toward characterization of the group A Streptococcus metagenome: complete genome sequence of a macrolide-resistant serotype M6 strain

We describe the genome sequence of a macrolide-resistant strain (MGAS10394) of serotype M6 group A Streptococcus (GAS). The genome is 1,900,156 bp in length, and 8 prophage-like elements or remnants compose 12.4% of the chromosome. A 8.3-kb prophage remnant encodes the SpeA4 variant of streptococcal pyrogenic exotoxin A. The genome of strain MGAS10394 contains a chimeric genetic element composed of prophage genes and a transposon encoding the mefA gene conferring macrolide resistance. This chimeric element also has a gene encoding a novel surface-exposed protein (designated "R6 protein"), with an LPKTG cell-anchor motif located at the carboxyterminus. Surface expression of this protein was confirmed by flow cytometry. Humans with GAS pharyngitis caused by serotype M6 strains had antibody against the R6 protein present in convalescent, but not acute, serum samples. Our studies add to the theme that GAS prophage-encoded extracellular proteins contribute to host-pathogen interactions in a strain-specific fashion.