CUTANEOUS VASOCONSTRICTION WITH ALERTING STIMULI IN RABBITS REFLECTS A PATTERNED REDISTRIBUTION OF CARDIAC OUTPUT

1. In conscious rabbits, when alerting stimuli elicit vasoconstriction in the ear vascular bed, there is little or no associated change in cardiac output (CO), as measured by chronically implanted Doppler ultrasonic probes. 2. Local anaesthetic injected around the base of the ear substantially diminished the degree of the vasoconstriction elicited during responses. 3. Our results emphasize that selective cutaneous vasoconstriction, an integral part of the response to alerting stimuli in conscious animals, is part of a patterned redistribution of the CO, organized by the brain.     

Selective screening for abdominal aortic aneurysms with physical examination and ultrasound

Abdominal aortic aneurysm (AAA) is an important cause of preventable death in older persons. Persistently high rupture mortality rates indicate that these deaths can be prevented only by early detection and treatment of AAA. In an effort to develop an effective and efficient program of AAA detection, we selectively screened a high-risk population. Men aged 60 to 75 years with hypertension and/or coronary artery disease were randomly selected from a general medicine clinic and screened with physical examination and ultrasound. Eighteen previously unsuspected aneurysms, 3.6 to 5.9 cm in size (mean, 4.4 cm), were detected in 201 patients, for a prevalence of 9% (95% confidence interval: 4.7% to 13.3%). The specificity and positive predictive value of ultrasound were each 100%. Abdominal palpation detected only half of these aneurysms, but missed none in patients with an abdominal girth less than 100 cm (n = 6). This degree of sensitivity did not occur with "routine" examinations and requires that the examination be directed specifically toward AAA detection. We conclude that undiagnosed AAAs are common in this large subgroup of the clinic population, that ultrasound is an excellent screening test for AAAs, and that physical examination may be adequate for screening thin patients. We recommend that every two or three years persons over the age of 50 years undergo careful abdominal palpation aimed at detecting AAAs, as part of the periodic health examination. We further recommend that obese older men at high risk for AAA have at least one-time screening with abdominal ultrasound, regardless of findings on physical examination.     

Komplikationen bei immuninkompetenten Patienten

Patients with complex immunosuppression frequently develop complications suggesting clinically, biochemically, and radiologically acute infections. However, these infections are not always identified as the cause of the complications. The differential diagnoses of symptoms such as fever, dyspnea, circulatory collapse, somnolence, and pain are numerous, whereby invasive fungal infections should certainly be considered. However, even patients with signs and symptoms typical for fungal infections, need not suffer from a mycosis. An expert forum discussed the clinical strategies for the diagnostic and therapeutic management of unclear complications of complex immunocompromised patients.     

Kreisen galvanische Ströme in lebenden Pflanzenzellen?

Ohne Zusammenfassung     

成熟心肌细胞的分离与培养方法

0　引言　我们介绍一种在无血清培养基中分离和培养成熟心肌细胞的方法[1,2],着重强调对优化心肌细胞培养至关重要的分离过程.1　材料　分离装置可用典型的Langandorff装置,配合无菌操作要求,对心脏进行逆行灌注.基本灌流液(溶液A),是用纯水和高纯度试剂制备,其成分有(mmol·L-1):NaCl130;HEPES23;葡萄糖21;牛磺酸20;肌酸5;MgCl25;丙酮酸钠5;KCl4.5;NaH2PO41;pH7.3.过滤(0.2μm滤纸片)溶液除去微生物和水颗粒.A溶液是分离过程中使用的其他4种溶液的原料:1750μmol·L-1Ca2+溶液(300mLA溶液+750μmol·L-1Ca2+);2游离Ca2++EGTA…     

An early exploration of the use of the Microsoft Azure Kinect for estimation of urban tree Diameter at Breast Height

ABSTRACT

Forest and urban tree inventory measurements are increasingly adopting Remote Sensing (RS) techniques due to the accurate and rapid estimates available compared to conventional methods. The focus of this study is to assess the accuracy and potential application of the Microsoft Azure Kinect – a lightweight depth sensor – for outdoor measurement of tree stem Diameter at Breast Height (DBH). Individual urban trees (n = 51) were recorded from one viewing angle at a distance of 1 m to 5 m away using the various Field of View (FOV) settings on the depth sensor, from which resultant point clouds provided DBH estimates using a circle-fitting approach. The optimal capture method was observed at a distance of 2 m using the binned Near Field of View (NFOV) setting. Root Mean Square Error (RMSE) of DBH using this method was 8.43 cm; however, after removing trees with irregular or non-circular stems, this improved to 3.53 cm. Variations in ambient light were observed to have little effect on DBH estimates. The results of this study suggest when in an outdoor environment, the Azure Kinect should be used at a distance no greater than 3 m away, using the binned NFOV sensor setting, for DBH estimates.     

Hansen's disease in a general hospital: uncommon presentations and delay in diagnosis

Background  The question was raised as to why 'obvious' signs of leprosy, Hansen's disease (HD), are often missed by medical doctors working in a HD endemic area.
Methods  This study describes a small sample of patients who were diagnosed with HD during their hospital admission and not before. The discussion is whether the typical early signs and symptoms of HD are just not recognized, or whether unusual presentations confuse the attending physician.
Results  A total of 23 HD patients were hospitalized during the study period, of which 6 (26%) were only diagnosed with HD during their admission. All were classified as lepromatous leprosy (LL) with a history of signs and symptoms of HD. In nearly all patients, a suspicion of HD might have been raised earlier if a careful history and dermato-neurological examination had been done.
Conclusions  Multibacillary (MB) HD, especially close to the lepromatous end of the spectrum, may mimic other diseases, and the patient can not be diagnosed without a biopsy or a slit skin smear examination. Clinicians working in a HD endemic area (Rio de Janeiro) do not always include HD in their differential diagnosis, especially when the clinical presentation is unusual. HD should be considered in all patients with skin lesions not responding to treatment, especially when they have neurological deficits, and live or have lived in an HD endemic area. Due to the increase in global travel and immigration, doctors in low endemic areas need to consider HD as a possible diagnosis.

Conflicts of interest

None declared