Advanced pulmonary development in newborn guinea pigs (Cavia porcellus)

Morphological and morphometric evidence is presented to support the hypothesis that lung growth is advanced in mammals born at a relatively mature stage. The lungs from fetal and postnatal guinea pigs ranging in age from gestational age 56 days (normal gestation is 68 days in this species) through 16 days postpartum were fixed in situ by intratracheal glutaraldehyde. Morphometry included measurements of lung volume (V_L), tissue and air-space volumes, fraction of respiratory parenchyma, alveolar (S_A) and capillary (S_C) surface areas, and the arithmetic mean thickness of the tissue barrier (\documentclass{article}\pagestyle{empty}\begin{document}$ \bar \tau _t $\end{document}). V_L, S_A, and S_C all increased monoexponentially versus body weight (W) from birth to adulthood; the lungs appeared to be in the equilibrated growth phase, with no postnatal period of pronounced tissue proliferation as reported in the newborn rat and mouse. The prepartum value for \documentclass{article}\pagestyle{empty}\begin{document}$ \bar \tau _t $\end{document} was 1.96 μm; this value decreased by parturition to 1.27 μm and did not change significantly with additional age. At the light-microscopic level, respiratory bronchioles could be visualized giving rise to alveolar ducts by a gestational age of 58 days (10 days preterm) with welldeveloped alveolar septal partitioning evident. Structures resembling the primitive pre-alveolar saccules of newborn rats were never seen in even the youngest fetal animals. Elastin fibers were also evident at this age, both in bronchiolar and duct walls, as well as in alveolar septa. Using electron microscopy, the airblood barrier appeared mature by a gestational age of 61 days and thereafter, double capillary layers were only rarely seen in septal walls.     

Investigations on the correlation between gastritis and gastric ulcer (author's transl)

From 200 gastric ulcer-patients and 200 controls stepwise mucosa-biopsies were taken. Grade and expansion of gastritis were determined and correlated with the location of gastric ulcer and gastritis-grade at the margin of ulcer. Intensity and expansion of gastritis vary with the location of ulcer. Gastritis far from ulcer is equally or even more intense as at the margin of ulcer. There is no evidence for the conclusion, that an ulcer develops at the site of the more pronounced gastritis. There is also no evidence to assume, that gastritis forms the base for development of gastric ulcer.     

High-Frequency Positive-Pressure Ventilation (HFPPV) in Neonates and Infants during Neuroleptal Analgesia and Routine Plastic Surgery, and in Postoperative Management

The low pulmonary compliance, the high airway resistance and the "rapid" breathing pattern of neonatal and paediatric patients make it necessary to design special ventilators to match the pulmonary physiology of infants.
A ventilator system which also in small children has a negligible compression volume was evaluated in a lung model and during repair of cleft lip and palate in 16 patients under general anaesthesia and in two other infants during other operations. High-frequency positive-pressure ventilation (HFPPV) was given with an insufflation frequency (f) of 60 per min and a relative insufflation time (t%) of 32%. In addition, two neonates treated postoperatively with HFPPV are reported.
Despite the "open" character of the ventilator system both intra- and postoperative ventilation were uneventful in all patients. The arterial oxygenation was good in all cases, as judged from clinical signs or blood gas analyses. Postoperative ventilation required conventional clinical observation and intermittent analyses of blood.
HFPPV has been shown to depress, or abolish, spontaneous respiration via reflex mechanisms. In all patients in this investigation respiratory movements were absent at normo- or slight hyperventilation during HFPPV.     

Effect of treatment with activated prothrombin complex concentrate (FEIBA) on factor VIII-antibody level.

The influence of treatment with an activated prothrombin complex preparation (FEIBA) on the antibody level was studied in 10 haemophiliacs with an antibody to factor VIII. The antibody level was observed to rise at least once in five patients, while in the remaining five patients no rise occurred. In all, 6 out of 31 treatments were followed by an anamnestic rise of the antibody level, corresponding to 19.4%. A rise of the inhibitor level following FEIBA treatment is likely to occur in patients who show a marked antibody rise after factor VIII treatment (good responders), but have a low antibody level at the time of treatment. High doses of FEIBA and simultaneous of red cells may also enhance the likelihood of an anamnestic response. Stimulation of antibody production is probably due to the presence of small amounts of factor VIII in this preparation.     

The effects of delayed auditory feedback and masking on the fundamental frequency of stutterers and nonstutterers.

This investigation determined if fluency of the reader or type of auditory feedback changed characteristics of fundamental frequency or duration in oral reading by stutterers or nonstutterers. Mingographic tracings were made of sentences excerpted from tape recordings of paragraphs read by 15 adult male stutterers and 15 adult male nonstutterers in three conditions of feedback: normal auditory feedback (under earphones), delayed auditory feedback (0.14 sec delay), and masking (90 dB SPL). The data included 15 measures of fundamental frequency and two measures of duration. Stutterers read sentences in greater total time and with more downward inflections than nonstutterers. Comparison of the delayed auditory feedback (DAF) conditions with the normal auditory feedback (NAF) condition showed that the numbers of total, upward, and downward inflections and upward pitch shifts increased under DAF. In the DAF condition, average rates of upward and downward inflections decreased, and mean and median fundamental frequencies and total time increased. The only changes from the NAF to the masking condition were increases in mean and median fundamental frequencies.