Improving compliance to meal-replacement food regimens. Forming implementation intentions (conscious IF-THEN plans) increases compliance

Creating and changing habits around dieting behaviour can be a way to help consumers to consume more healthy products and to control their weight. Previous studies suggested that implementation intentions - deliberate plans on when, where and how - increase the likelihood that consumers perform the intended behaviour (Armitage, 2004; Gollwitzer & Sheeran, 2006; Jackson et al., 2005). This study investigated the effect of forming implementation intentions on compliance to a regimen based on a range of meal-replacement food products and snacks. Participants (n = 57) were allocated to one of two groups, either: (1) an implementation-intention group, who formed deliberate plans (implementation intentions) to consume the products - these implementation intentions were formed only once at the beginning of the study -, or (2) a control group who formed no implementation intentions. Participants were then instructed to follow a daily regimen, which included the consumption of foods from a range of meal-replacement products and snacks provided gratis for four weeks. Results showed that the implementation-intention group consumed significantly more meal-replacement food products per week (p < 0.05) and decreased their BMI score more than did the control group (p < 0.05). The effect of forming the implementation intentions was apparent for 18 days. These findings indicate that forming implementation intentions may assist individuals in their compliance to a meal-replacement product regimen.     

Endovascular treatment of 2 patients with an aneurysm of the descending thoracic aorta]

Two men, aged 71 and 70, who had previously experienced an abdominal aneurysm were found to have thoracic aortal aneurysms of respectively 8 cm and 7.5 cm in length. For the first patient an endovascular operation was carried out due to a high operative risk: with the help of a radiograph, four endoprostheses were inserted into the thoracic descending aorta via the femoral artery, after which the aorta diameter became more normal. A month later, the patient died from persistent renal failure, which had developed as a result of the previously ruptured abdominal aneurysm. In the second patient with an aneurysm of the proximal descending aorta, a left decompensation arose following aortal clamping during open surgical repair. Ten weeks later an endoprosthesis was inserted via the femoral artery. A year later the aortal diameter had decreased to 6.5 cm; the patient functioned well. The insertion of an endoprosthesis in the thoracic aorta is a minimally invasive procedure in which the patient experiences little perioperative inconvenience.     

Post lobectomy atelectasis: the use of a Servo 900 B as a high-frequency ventilator

High-frequency ventilation (HFV) has been used with good results in a variety of clinical situations where conventional ventilation has proved ineffective. However, all of the reports so far have involved the use of a specially purchased specifically designed ventilator which tends to be unfamiliar to most medical and nursing staff responsible for its use. A case where HFV was used in combination with differential lung ventilation in the treatment of unilateral pulmonary atelectasis is described using a Servo 900B as the high-frequency ventilator. It serves to demonstrate that the Servo 900B can be used as an occasional high-frequency ventilator as required, thus avoiding the expense of purchasing a specialized ventilator.     

Postpartum Headache Following Regional Analgesia; A Symptom of Cerebral Venous Thrombosis

In this report we describe a patient who developed severe headache following uneventful continuous epidural analgesia for labour and delivery. Initially it was thought that she had a spinal headache. However, with the aid of Magnetic Resonance Imaging the diagnosis of cerebral venous thrombosis was later established. The entity of cerebral venous thrombosis, its manifestation, pathology, diagnosis and treatment are discussed.     

Cytokine manipulation of primitive human hematopoietic cell self-renewal

Previous studies have shown that primitive human hematopoietic cells detectable as long-term culture-initiating cells (LTC-ICs) and colony-forming cells (CFCs) can be amplified when CD34⁺ CD38⁻ marrow cells are cultured for 10 days in serum-free medium containing flt3 ligand (FL), Steel factor (SF), interleukin (IL)-3, IL-6, and granulocyte colony-stimulating factor. We now show that the generation of these two cell types in such cultures is differentially affected at the single cell level by changes in the concentrations of these cytokines. Thus, maximal expansion of LTC-ICs (60-fold) was obtained in the presence of 30 times more FL, SF, IL-3, IL-6, and granulocyte colony-stimulating factor than could concomitantly stimulate the near-maximal (280-fold) amplification of CFCs. Furthermore, the reduced ability of suboptimal cytokine concentrations to support the production of LTC-ICs could be ascribed to a differential response of the stimulated cells since this was not accompanied by a change in the number of input CD34⁺ CD38⁻ cells that proliferated. Reduced LTC-IC amplification in the absence of a significant effect on CFC generation also occurred when the concentrations of FL and SF were decreased but the concentration of IL-3 was high (as compared with cultures containing high levels of all three cytokines). To our knowledge, these findings provide the first evidence suggesting that extrinsically acting cytokines can alter the self-renewal behavior of primary human hematopoietic stem cells independent of effects on their viability or proliferation.