Magnetic Resonance Cisternography in the Diagnosis of Delayed Iatrogenic Cerebrospinal Fistula: A Case Report

A 52–year–old woman presented with a clinical picture consistent with bacterial meningitis 3 years after functional endoscopic sinus surgery. Diagnosis of a cerebrospinal fluid (CSF) fistula was made clinically, and the site of the fistula was confirmed using magnetic resonance cisternography. The utilization of this technique in the diagnosis of CSF disorders is gaining popularity. Its usefulness in the context of other imaging modalities is discussed.     

Intervention program for obese school children.

The purpose of this study was to implement and evaluate a program for obese school children. A pretest-posttest design was utilized. Data was collected related to weight status, skinfold measurements, self-esteem, and nutritional knowledge. A convenience sample of 26 children, in the fourth to sixth grades, completed this 9-week program. The results indicate that self-esteem increased significantly (p less than .001) between the pretest and posttest interval. Weight status and nutritional knowledge showed no improvement. Exercise was difficult to assess on self-report, therefore no conclusions were were drawn in relation to this variable. Future research will be directed toward refining this intervention program.     

3H]-flunitrazepam binding after morphine treatment and under abstinence syndrome.

Chronic morphine treatment produced increases in [3H]-flunitrazepam binding in some hippocampal areas of the rat brain. The differences in binding were statistically significant in some cases. Both morphine-dependent and morphine-deprived (abstinence syndrome) animals showed an identical response in binding, which confirms a real, although small, increase in benzodiazepine binding sites in the hippocampus after morphine treatment, that is not affected by a naloxone-induced abstinence syndrome under the conditions studied. These findings support the hypothesis of a morphine-induced up-regulation of benzodiazepine binding sites in the hippocampus. A possible different response in benzodiazepine binding sites 1 and 2 could explain the different findings reported in the literature. Our data suggest that the detected increase in benzodiazepine binding would be mainly due to type 2 binding sites, since the hippocampus has a higher density of this type of benzodiazepine binding sites.     

Effects of IFN-gamma and interleukin-1beta on major histocompatibility complex antigen and intercellular adhesion molecule-1 expression by 9L gliosarcoma: relevance to its cytolysis by alloreactive cytotoxic T lymphocytes.

To enhance the efficacy of cellular immunotherapy for gliomas, we tested the concept of using proinflammatory cytokine treatment with interferon-gamma (IFN-gamma) or interleukin-1beta (IL-1beta) or both to render glioma cells more susceptible to cytolysis by alloreactive cytotoxic T lymphocytes (aCTL). The cytokines, separately or in combination, were able to upregulate major histocompatibility complex (MHC) class I antigen or intercellular adhesion molecule-1 (ICAM-1) on Fischer rat 9L gliosarcoma cells. 9L cells were incubated in vitro for 24, 48, or 72 h with varying concentrations of rat IFN-gamma (0-2000 U/ml) or recombinant human IL-1 (rHUIL-1) (0-1000 U/ml) or both. By 48 h, IFN-gamma (500 U/ml) maximally induced the percentage of positive expressing cells and the relative antigen density of MHC class I and ICAM-1 on 9L cells, whereas IL-1 induced only ICAM-1 expression. Simultaneous incubation of IL-1 with IFN-gamma did not further affect the induction of class I on 9L cells more than that achieved with IFN-gamma alone. 9L cells with upregulated MHC class I and ICAM-1 expression were more sensitive to lysis by aCTL in in vitro cytotoxicity assays, regardless of whether the precursor aCTL came from naive or from 9L-immunized rats. Furthermore, inhibition of 9L cytotoxicity in assays that included blocking antibodies to MHC class I or to ICAM-1 revealed that T cell receptor (TCR) interactions with MHC class I and that ICAM-1 interactions with lymphocyte function-associated-1 (LFA-1) antigen account for a portion of the glioma lysis by aCTL.     

Brainstem anaesthesia after peribulbar anaesthesia

Purpose  To present a case of brainstem anaesthesia as a complication of peribulbar anaesthesia. Clinical features  A 75-yr-old woman received peribulbar anaesthesia for cataract surgery. A few seconds after the block was performed, she had a respiratory arrest, became unconscious, and developed hypertension and tachycardia followed by hypotension and bradycardia. Ventilatory and haemodynamic support were performed before the patient regained adequate spontaneous breathing and normal heart rate and blood pressure. Conclusion  Peribulbar anaesthesia generally cames a low risk of serious complications. However, respiratory arrest and brainstem anaesthesia may occur as complications of peribulbar blocks.

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Résumé Objectif  Présenter un cas d’anesthésie du tronc cérébral compliquant une anesthésie péribulbaire. éléments cliniques  Un bloc péribulbaire était réalisé chez une femine de 75 ans pour l’extraction d’une cataracte. Quelques secondes après l’injection, la patiente cessait de respirer et perdait conscience. Elle devenait hypertendue et tachycarde puts hypotendue et bradycarde. La ventilation et la circulation devaient être supportées jusqu’au retour spontané à la normale. Conclusion  En général, l’anesthésie péribulbare comporte un faible risque de complications sérieuses. Un arrêt respiratoire par anesthésie du tronc cérébral est toujours possible.

     

Affective and physiological responses to environmental noises and music.

Research suggests that respiratory patterns may reflect general dimensions of emotional response. In this study, we investigated the relationships between judgments of affective valence (pleasantness) and arousal and respiratory responses to acoustic stimuli. Sixteen environmental noises and 16 musical fragments of 30 s duration were presented to 31 participants, while respiration, skin conductance level and heart rate were recorded. Judgments of valence and arousal were registered using the 9-point Self-Assessment Manikin. For noises, breathing accelerated and minute ventilation augmented with decreases in pleasantness for low-arousal stimuli and with increases in arousal for positive stimuli. For music, breathing accelerated and minute ventilation augmented with increases both in rated valence and arousal. Skin conductance level increased with arousal ratings for music but not for noises, whereas mean heart rate increased with rated arousal for noises but not for music. Although both noises and music are sound-vibrations, differences in the relationships between affective judgments and physiological responses were found suggesting differences in the processing of the two types of acoustic stimuli.     

A Drosophila melanogaster hobo-white+ vector mediates low frequency gene transfer in D. virilis with full interspecific white+ complementation

Transformation of a Drosophila virilis white mutant host strain was attempted using a hobo vector containing the D. melanogaster mini-white⁺ cassette (H[w⁺, hawN]) and an unmodified or heat shock regulated hobo transposase helper. Two transformant lines were recovered with the unmodified helper (HFL1), one containing only the white⁺ marked vector, and a sibling line containing the vector as well as an HFL1 helper integration. An approximate total transformation frequency of 1% is deduced. A high frequency of wing and eye morphology mutants were also observed, suggesting that hobo may have mobilized a related element in D. virilis. The data reaffirms a relatively low transformation vector activity for the hobo transposon in D. virilis; however, nearly full interspecific expression of the white⁺ marker supports its possible function in other species as well.