Common peroneal nerve palsy

Two cases of common peroneal nerve palsy after coronary artery bypass grafting surgery are described and the possible causative mechanisms are discussed.     

The use of ondansetron to treat pruritus associated with intrathecal morphine in two paediatric patients

Intrathecal morphine is an effective technique for providing postoperative analgesia after major surgical procedures in children. Pruritus is a common side effect associated with intrathecal morphine. We report two patients who experienced significant pruritus associated with intrathecal morphine administration and were successfully treated with ondansetron. Ondansetron appears to be a beneficial and safe method of relieving pruritus associated with intrathecal morphine.     

CHILDHOOD HOUSING EXPERIENCES AND SCHOOL ATTAINMENT

The housing conditions of children in the National Child Development Study are related both to 16-year school attainment and also to progress through secondary school from 11 to 16. Children in homes which are crowded or lacking amenities, or in council homes at sixteen have relatively low scores on tests of reading and mathematics at the same age. The relationship between 16-year attainment and housing conditions is shown to be similar whether the child experienced the unsatisfactory housing at the age of 7, 11 or 16. Crowding and amenities are shown to be slightly associated with progress through the secondary school, although tenure is more strongly associated. The overall conclusions from this study are that children who have ever lived in unsatisfactory housing perform relatively poorly at school when they are 16, but no evidence emerged that there is any particular age at which housing circumstances are crucial for eventual school attainment. Consideration is also given to the importance of the wider environment in which the child lives.     

A New Pacemaker for Monitoring Asystole and Prevention of Adams-Stokes Syndrome and Sudden Cardiac Death

Patients with suspected Adams-Stokes syndrome are examined by Holter monitoring. During the monitoring, there is the danger of syncopes occurring and there are even reports of sudden cardiac death. We therefore developed a pacemaker for cardiac arrest monitoring and the prevention of Adams-Stokes syndrome and sudden cardiac death, which has the following functions: (1) the longest escape interval of the pacemaker not exceeding the value at which syncope is induced is determined by the decline of the mean heart rate including the asystole to a certain threshold rate; (2) once the pacemaker escapes from the interval it continues pacing for a while at a physiological rate to allow recover from ischemias in organs or tissues; and (3) to prevent overdrive suppression to the heart, the pacing rate gradually declines and stops pacing until the next asystole. This pacemaker is useful not only in the diagnosis of Adams-Stokes syndrome but also in pharmacological and pathophysiological studies and in determining when pacing should cease.     

Inhibition of Glyceraldehyde 3-Phosphate Dehydrogenase by Adenine Nucleotides in Pachytene Primary Spermatocytes from Rat Testes

The effect of adenine nucleotides on the catalytic activity of spermatocyte glyceraldehyde 3-phosphate dehydrogenase (GA3PDH) was studied for its significance to metabolic regulation. In the presence of glucose (10 mM), the ATP level declined whereas the ADP and AMP levels remained unchanged. During incubation with glucose, fructose 1,6-bisphosphate (fruc 1,6-P2) and dihydroxyacetone phosphate (DHAP) were accumulated markedly. GA3PDH was inhibited by ATP (Ki = 2.27 mM), ADP (Ki = 1.21 mM) and AMP (Ki = 0.73 mM) competitively with NAD (Km = 0.24 mM). The results suggest that glycolysis in spermatocytes is regulated by GA3PDH.     

Periodicity and prediction of mania onsets in biopolar I affective disorders

Abstract In studying the periodicity of mania onsets, cycle-oriented diagrams were made of the clinical course from 257 manic episodes analyzed retrospectively in 34 bipolar I manic-depressive patients for a period of about 5 years. Using these diagrams, the frequent period of mania onsets located in one-quarter of the follow-up period was pre-estimated, and the accordance ratio during a 25 month follow-up period was analyzed. The accordance ratio in all subjects was 39% (11/28) for the first episode and 35% (7/20) for the second episode. These ratios were not significantly different from the expected level (25%). The number of subjects was limited to 11 patients (10 rapid and 1 non-rapid cyclers) whose number of episodes used for the determination of the index cycle was eight or more. The accordance ratio was 64% (7/11) and 60% (6/10) for the first and second episodes, respectively. Their levels were significantly higher than those expected. Periodicity of mania onsets existed at least in rapid cyclers with abundant past data.     

SPINAL CORD VASCULARITY. A HISTOPATHOLOGICAL AND ANGIOGRAPHIC STUDY OF THE EFFECTS OF THORACIC-LUMBAR AORTIC MOBILIZATION IN THE RAT

A clinical, histopathological and microangiographical study has been performed in eighty-three rats subjected to regional mobilization of the thoracic-lumbar aorta. Paralysis or paresis of the hindlimbs was observed in about one-fourth of the animals, predominantly in those subjected to an extensive mobilization of the aorta. A staged mobilization of the thoracic-lumbar aorta separated by an interval of 1 week not only minimized the incidence of neurological complications but the severity as well. The topographical distribution of the histopathological changes varied considerably both in the longitudinal and the transverse plane of the spinal cord in different experimental groups as well as individually in the same group of animals. Typical lesions were dorsal spinal cord infarction and arterial watershed lesions at the base of the dorsal horn, in addition to circumscribed necroses of the white matter corresponding fairly well to venous watershed zones. Microangiographically, the preservation of the caudal cord in cases with massive infarction of the thoracic cord, is believed to be due to a number of intramedullary arterial anastomoses. Usually a sufficient collateral blood supply to the spinal cord is readily available even in the case of comparatively extensive aortic mobilization. Enlargement and tortuosity of the spinal cord arteries and the intersegmental anastomoses immediately outside the spinal canal suggest that these vessels are the most important sources in the re-establishment of the collateral circulation.     

SMOKING IN PREGNANCY AND SUBSEQUENT DEVELOPMENT OF THE CHILD

Summary Data from the National Child Development Study have been used to examine the relationship between mother's smoking during pregnancy and neonatal mortality, birthweight and the subsequent development of the child to the age of 11. In this paper analyses are reported which extend this work to examine development by the age of 16. After allowing for a wide range of related background factors, it is found that mothers smoking during pregnancy continues to be related to the child's reading and mathematics attainment. For boys, but not girls, there is an association with height. An inconsistent relationship is found with the child's history of asthma and wheezy bronchitis. Some doubts about the direct causality of such relationships are discussed.     

The effect of deprenyl (selegiline) on intra-and extraneuronal dopamine oxidation

ABSTRACT — It was found that in that rat striatum DA was oxidized extrasynaptosomally to 11 % by MAO-A and to 3 % by MAO-B. The corresponding intrasynaptosomal oxidations were 84 % and 2 %, respectively. Those figures were virtually unchanged even if the rat brain MAO-B was selectively inhibited to 87 % by deprenyl. In the human brain extrasynaptosomal oxidation was 16 % and 66 %, respectively, by MAO-A and -B. Intrasynaptosomally the corresponding figures were 12 % and 6 %, respectively. Selective inhibition of human caudate MAO-B was calculated to give a total reduction of DA oxidation of 63 %. The differences between man and rat are due to the proportionately greater oxidation of DA by MAO-B in man, which is a consequence of a higher ratio of concentration of MAO-A/-B in the rat.