Pleural flap closure of pericardial defects following intrapericardial pneumonectomy.

Persistent pericardial defects following intrapericardial pneumonectomy are, historically, the major cause of iatrogenic cardiac herniation. This complication is uniformly fatal when unrecognized and untreated and has been associated with a 43% mortality even with surgical correction. Suture approximation of all small defects is recommended, and a technique for routine pleural flap closure of moderate to large-sized defects is described.     

Transfer of state-dependent control of discriminative behaviour between subcutaneously and intraventricularly administered nicotine and saline

Rats were trained to choose between the side compartments of a three-chambered shock-escape apparatus according to whether they were injected with nicotine or saline. Half of the rats learned to discriminate between 0.4 mg/kg nicotine and saline administered subcutaneously, whereas the other half learned to differentiate between 644 ng nicotine or saline administered intraventricularly. The rats trained by the subcutaneous route of administration had the ability to discriminate between nicotine and saline given intraventricularly and the rats trained by the intraventricular route could differentiate when the two substances were injected subcutaneously. This transfer of state-dependent control of discriminative behaviour between subcutaneously and intraventricularly administered nicotine and saline is presented as evidence for the central origin of the nicotine-produced interoceptive cue.This work supported by a grant from the American Medical Association Education and Research Foundation.     

Ocular findings in a newborn with cri du chat syndrome.

A deletion of the short arm of chromosome No. 5 has been termed the cri du chat (cat cry) syndrome. We report the first ophthalmologic examination of a newborn infant with this syndrome. Multiple ophthalmic abnormalities were found, including hypertelorism, telecanthus, epicanthal folds, antimongoloid palpebral fissures, exotropia, optic atrophy, and tortuosity of the retinal vasculature. It is of interest that these changes are congenital and present at birth, rather than developmental. Although such individuals are usually so severely mentally retarded that no ophthalmologic intervention is indicated, there are rare exceptions, and each case must be judged individually. Ten percent to 15% of these children inherit the chromosomal abnormality from phenotypically normal parents. Chromosomes from each parent should therefore be evaluated for the purposes of genetic counseling.     

Changes in beta-adrenoceptor-blocking activity produced by chemical modifications in the practolol molecule

Following administration of an acute dose of l-dopa (200 mg/kg i.p.), the concentration of this aminoacid increased rapidly in whole rat brain, to 10 μg/g and this new level was maintained for at least 20 min. At the same time, there was a significant (p < 0.01) depletion of brain serotonin (5HT), which was correlated with the level of dopa in the brain. The level of brain tryptophan (TP) also decreased. If l-dopa was given orally at a dose of 250 mg/kg, an increased concentration of this drug in the brain was still seen but the levels reached were 20 times less than the levels obtained after i.p. administration. In this situation the brain levels of 5HT and TP were unchanged. The chronic administration of l-dopa did not cause accumulation of the drug in the brain nor did it affect the concentration of 5HT and TP.     

Intraventricular bleeding from cerebral aneurysmal rupture

Summary Aneurysms rupturing into the ventricles have been shown at postmortem but rarely during angiography. Factors incriminated have been the high pressure during injection, the amount of contrast material, the proximity of site of injection to the aneurysm or a combination of more than one factor. We personally think it is unrelated to any of these factors, but rather a coincidental happening. The value of early angiography and delayed films is emphasized.

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Intraventrikuläre Blutung von einem rupturierten cerebralen Aneurysma

Zusammenfassung Bei der Ruptur eines Aneurysmas während der Angiographie werden verschiedene Faktoren für diese Ruptur herangezogen. Es soll sich dabei um den hohen Injektionsdruck handeln, um die Menge des Kontrastmittels oder um Kombination von mehreren Faktoren. Die Autoren sind der Ansicht, daß es sich jedoch um ein rein zufälliges Zusammentreffen handelt.

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Hémorragie intra-ventriculaire par rupture d'un anévrisme cérébral

Résumé Les ruptures d'anévrisme dans les ventricules ont été démontrées post-mortem et plus rarement au cours d'une angiographie. Les facteurs mis en cause sont la pression élevée durant l'injection, la quantité du produit de contraste, la proximité du point d'injection avec le siège de l'anévrisme ou l'association de plusieurs facteurs. Les auteurs pensent qu'on ne peut incriminer aucun de ces facteurs et qu'il s'agit plutôt d'une coincidence. II souligne la valeur de l'angiographie précoce et de l'étalement des films dans le temps.

     

Antibodies against polyalanyl determinants attached to negatively or positively charged carriers

Polyalanyl determinants, when attached to acidic or basic carriers, provoke a specific anti-polyalanyl antibody population, the majority of which possesses an electrical charge which is inversely related to that of the carrier. The alanine chains in the immunogens form complete determinants and the contribution of the carrier to the specificity of the antibodies is minimal. The anti-polyalanyl antibodies, when fractionated into a more acidic and a more basic fraction, possess similar properties of their combining sites, as judged from hapten inhibition and equilibrium dialysis studies. Thus, the specificity of the antibodies and the combining site features are determined by the hapten determinants, whereas the net charge of the antibodies is determined by the net charge of the immunogen. The difference in the net electrical charge of the antibodies may reflect differences in areas of the molecule other than the combining site. A comparison of anti-polyalanyl antibodies obtained with different carriers has shown that the specificity and size of the combining sites are similar regardless of the nature of the carrier molecule, whereas different affinities of the antibodies are obtained with different immunogens.