Perspectives on gender and professional issues among female physical therapists

The purposes of this study were to identify gender-related values, perceptions, and experiences of female physical therapists as these factors relate to female physical therapists' professional development and to offer an initial critique of the identified elements in comparison with a traditional model of professionalism. In-depth interviews were conducted with 10 physical therapists in two different states by the primary investigator. The interviews were analyzed utilizing qualitative data-analysis techniques, and a conceptual framework was developed from the literature and the interviews. Three major thematic categories were identified: (1) values, comprising the subcomponents of caring, relationship, empowerment, and context; (2) family role, comprising the subcomponents of enhancements, limitations, and coping strategies; and (3) sexism, comprising the subcomponents of leadership, money, and respect. These findings provide an initial basis for understanding more about factors that may both limit and enhance female physical therapists' professional development.     

Critique of claims of improved visual acuity after hypnotic suggestion.

Psychological approaches to improving vision present an enticing alternative to invasive procedures and corrective lenses; hypnotic suggestion is one such technique. During the past 60 years, multiple studies have documented improvements in the vision of myopic individuals after hypnotic interventions. Given the increasing interest in behavioral and alternative approaches, we have reviewed the pertinent studies to evaluate their validity. We delineate various shortcomings in these reports, including potential methodological caveats, problems with experimental controls, and controversial data interpretation. Overall, the data do not seem to support hypnosis as a viable option for significant long-term improvement of myopia. However, hypnosis can increase one's subjective feeling of enhanced visual acuity by affecting higher cognitive functions, such as attention, memorization, and perceptual learning, which could influence performance on visual tasks.     

Use of foley catheter to obtain transvaginal tamponade

Nonsteroidal anti-inflammatory drugs, useful in the treatment of a wide variety of major arthritic conditions, have hemorrhagic side effects. We describe a patient receiving long-term naproxen (Naprosyn) therapy in whom unilateral spontaneous adrenal hemorrhage developed. Radiologic and pathologic verifications are included, and a hypothesis of pathogenesis is proposed.     

Strain differences in the magnitude of swimming-induced analgesia in mice correlate with brain opiate receptor concentration

Swimming-induced analgesia was studied in 4 strains of mice differing in central opiate receptor density: C57BL/6By (C57), BALB/cBy (BALB/c), CXBK and CXBH. The degree of 'swim analgesia' significantly differed among strains in the order CXBH greater than BALB/c = C57 greater than CXBK. This order positively correlates with known differences in opiate receptor density in these strains. Naloxone reversed the analgesic effect of swimming in CXBH, C57 and BALB/c, but was ineffective in opiate receptor-deficient CXBK mice. These results suggest that genetic differences in central opiate receptor density influence the analgesic response to stressful stimuli.     

Hypnosis and neuroscience: a cross talk between clinical and cognitive research.

Despite its long use in clinical settings, the checkered reputation of hypnosis has dimmed its promise as a research instrument. Whereas cognitive neuroscience has scantily fostered hypnosis as a manipulation, neuroimaging techniques offer new opportunities to use hypnosis and posthypnotic suggestion as probes into brain mechanisms and, reciprocally, provide a means of studying hypnosis itself. We outline how the hypnotic state can serve as a way to tap neurocognitive questions and how cognitive assays can in turn shed new light on the neural bases of hypnosis. This cross talk should enhance research and clinical applications.     

Spurious impotence after hypospadias repair

A fifteen-year-old who had undergone multiple hypospadias repairs alleged erectile dysfunction as a result of his surgery. A new method of nocturnal penile tumescence and rigidity monitoring supplied objective evidence to refute this allegation. Attention is drawn to the need for and availability of written documentation when diagnosing the presence or absence of erectile ability.     

Glibenclamide causing thrombocytopenia and bleeding tendency: Case reports and a review of the literature

Summary We describe two patients with severe thrombocytopenia and bleeding tendency related to treatment with glibenclamide (short-acting sulfonylurea). To the best of our knowledge, thrombocytopenic purpura associated with this medication has been reported only twice previously. We suggest that platelet count should be carried out early after initiating glibenclamide treatment and every 3 months thereafter.Abbreviations WBC white blood cell - LE lupus erythematosus - fL femtoliter     

Endogenous galactoside-binding lectins: a new class of functional tumor cell surface molecules related to metastasis

The formation of secondary tumors by circulating cancer cells (blood-borne metastasis) correlates with an increased tendency of the cells to form emboli by aggregation with other tumor cells or with host cells. Although it is evident that cell-cell recognition and adhesion are mediated by cell surface components, the identity of these molecules is only now being unraveled. Over the last decade an increasing number of studies have demonstrated the presence of endogenous carbohydrate-binding proteins on the surface of various normal cells, and it has been proposed that such lectin-like molecules might be involved in intercellular adhesion.We have shown that various tumor cell lines contain endogenous galactose-specific lectins. Lectin activity was detected at the cell surface by the binding of asialofetuin. This glycoprotein also enhanced the aggregation of the tumor cells. After purification by affinity chromatography on immobilized asialofetuin the lectin activity was associated with two proteins of M_r 14.500 and 34,000. By using polyclonal and monoclonal antilectin antibodies in conjunction with various immunologic techniques we have demonstrated that the endogenous lectins are present on the surface of different tumor cells. Quantitation of cell surface lectins by flow cytometric analyses of antilectin antibody binding revealed that among related tumor cells those exhibiting a higher metastatic potential expressed more lectin on their surface. The binding of monoclonal antilectin antibodies to metastatic cells decreased asialofetuin-induced homotypic aggregation in vitro and suppressed the ability of the cells to form lung metastases after intravenous injection in the tail vein of syngeneic mice. These results strongly implicate the tumor cell surface lectins in cell adhesion and metastasis. We propose that such lectins can increase the ability of tumor cells that enter the blood stream to form aggregates with other tumor cells, or to adhere to host cells or the extracellular matrix and thereby increase their metastatic potential. Other contributing components to tumor cell-host cell interactions are cell surface carbohydrate-binding proteins that have been detected on lymphocytes, platelets, macrophages, hepatocytes, and endothelial cells. These lectin-like molecules might recognize and bind carbohydrates expressed on the surface of tumor cells and enhance emboli formation and organ colonization.     

Effect of hyperglycemia on pain perception and on efficacy of morphine analgesia in rats

The effect exerted by different hyperglycemic states on the pain threshold and on the analgesic potential of morphine was studied in male Sabra rats with the hot plate device. Hyperglycemia induced by an intraperitoneal injection of 0.014 mol/kg glucose or an acute or chronic diabetic state induced by streptozocin injection did not significantly alter the pain threshold. However, states of acute and chronic diabetes markedly blunted the analgesic effect of morphine (5 mg/kg). Sabra rats maintained on a cocktail of glucose-saccharin, thought to activate the release of endogenous opioids, demonstrated an increased pain threshold and rapidly developed resistance to the analgesic effect of morphine. Previous studies have shown that glucose in high concentration may interfere with the interaction of morphine on the opiate receptor. The influence of the diabetic state on beta-endorphin synthesis and concentration in the central nervous system is another factor that might change pain perception in diabetes. We propose that in diabetes, generally, the pain threshold is adequately maintained, despite the antagonistic effect of glucose, partly due to a compensatory increased secretion of endogenous opioid peptides. We hypothesize that in patients with chronic painful diabetic neuropathy, these normal analgesic response mechanisms may be overwhelmed either by an excess of nociceptive impulses from diseased peripheral nerves or conceivably by a failure of endogenous opioid secretory response to the hyperglycemia.