Effects of aging on sex differences in psychomotor reminiscence and tracking proficiency

The influence of aging on sex differences in psychomotor reminiscence and practice distribution effects was investigated in young (18 to 22 year) and elderly (57 to 86 year) participants within the context of reactive inhibition theory. As predicted by the theory in conjunction with hormonal considerations, aging eliminated the sex differences typically found in young adults, reduced the absolute amount of reminiscence, and diminished the gains in task proficiency arising from practice distribution, progressively so as practice increased. Significant age effects on task proficiency were detectable even within the age span of the elderly adults.     

Complications in surgical patients: A comparison of methods for identifying occurrence

Because reporting of complications by physicians is not reliable, monitoring of the hospital course of surgical patients by nurses can improve effectiveness of identifying complications. Monitoring the course of only those patients who remain in the hospital more than four postoperative days will disclose 90 per cent of complications expected in all patients undergoing operation. Twenty hours per week of a nurse's time is sufficient to monitor 1,300 such patients annually. Identification of patients with large hospital bills will include most patients with complicated hospital courses but does not discriminate them from the large number of uncomplicated courses which also generate large hospital charges.     

Allograft renal vascular thrombosis--lack of increase with cyclosporine immunosuppression

Several recent reports have demonstrated an increased incidence of allograft renal vascular thrombosis in patients receiving cyclosporine alone or as part of multiple drug regimens when compared with patients receiving azathioprine (AZA) and prednisone (P). To determine whether CsA therapy is indeed a risk factor for renal artery or vein thrombosis, we examined the incidence of these complications in 224 adult renal allograft recipients who were prospectively randomized and stratified by risk to treatment with either CsA-P (n = 117) or AZA-P-antilymphocyte globulin (n = 107) between September 1980 and October 1983, and in 452 adult and 87 pediatric patients on triple (AZA-P-CsA) or quadruple (AZA-P-CsA-ALG) therapy protocols between July 1984 and November 1987. In the randomized trial, one of 107 AZA-P-ALG patients (0.9%) and two of 117 CsA-P patients (1.7%) developed renal vein thrombosis (P = 0.94), and there were no cases of arterial thrombosis. Though CsA levels were elevated in one of the two CsA-treated patients at the time of their events, and both these patients demonstrated other predisposing factors for thrombosis. In the triple/quadruple therapy era, there were no cases of renal vein thrombosis, and the only case of renal artery thrombosis occurred in a pediatric recipient who was not receiving CsA at the time. These data, when taken together with a critical review of the conflicting literature, strongly suggest that factors other than immunosuppression with CsA, including surgical technique, allograft rejection, use of multiple artery and/or pediatric donor kidneys, and postoperative hypotension, are important in the pathogenesis of allograft renal vascular thrombosis. It seems possible, however, that high initial dosing of CsA might trigger this complication in the early posttransplant period when other predisposing factors are present.     

Renal thorium deposition associated with transitional cell carcinoma: radiologic demonstration in two patients

Abdominal radiography, excretory urography, retrograde pyelography, and computed tomography were performed in two patients who had undergone retrograde pyelography with thorium dioxide (Thorotrast) approximately 40 years ago. Both patients developed a transitional cell carcinoma due to suburothelial thorium deposition. Typical thorium densities were demonstrated at CT in the peripelvicalyceal area as well as in retroperitoneal lymph nodes. Elderly patients in whom radiographic examination reveals retained Thorotrast in the kidney should be followed up because of the high risk of renal carcinoma.     

Effets tardifs de la radiothérapie chez l'enfant

Although most pediatrie tumors can be cured with lower doses of radiation than their adult counterparts, long-term radiation-induced complications and sequelae remain a major concern both in terms of frequency and intensity. Most of them have been extensively documented in the pre-chemotherapeutic era like those affecting bone, cartilage and soft tissue growth or CMS and endocrine glands. More recently the emphasis has been put on the apparent increasing incidence of reported second malignancies. This could have been favored by the chemo-radiation combinations used in most children but also has been made possible mainly by the extensive follow-up of the increasing cohort of cured children.     

Axonal branching in parasagittal zones of the rat olivocerebellar projection: a retrograde fluorescent double-labelling study

Summary Axonal branching in the olivocerebellar projection was investigated using the retrograde fluorescent double-labelling method. Combinations of true blue and diamidino yellow injections (50 nl) were made in the cerebellar cortex of anaesthetized rats to investigate branching within single longitudinal zones and branching between such zones. The topographical arrangement of the projection was similar to that previously described, but additionally it was found that lateral parts of the inferior olive project more rostrally within a longitudinal zone and medial parts project more caudally in the same zone. Double-labelled olivary neurones, with axons branching rostrally and caudally within a single zone, were found to lie in an intermediate position between the two groups of single-labelled neurones. No such double-labelled neurones occurred when branching between zones was investigated. The correlation between these anatomical findings and earlier physiological work is discussed.