Facial palsy in an infant with coarctation of the aorta and hypertension

We report the unusual association of facial palsy and severe hypertension in an infant with coarctation of the aorta. The facial palsy resolved before the hypertension was cured.     

An unusual congenital dorsal midline thoracic mass

Objective : To describe the presentation and investigation of an unusual form of congenital dorsal midline thoracic mass.
Results : An infant born by emergency Caesarean section at 34 weeks gestation was found to have a large dorsal midline thoracic mass. The infant had normal neurological function in all limbs. Radiological investigation showed no abnormality in the vertebrae. Ultrasonographic investigation suggested the mass to consist of subcutaneous oedema. The mass resolved completely within the first 2 weeks.
Conclusions : The lesion observed in this infant represents a very unusual location for a benign condition caused by cervical pressure on the presenting fetal part. The use of ultrasonography enabled rapid exclusion of the more common, potentially serious, causes of a congenital midline dorsal thoracic mass.     

Combination chemotherapy in advanced gastrointestinal cancers: ex vivo sensitivity to gemcitabine and mitomycin C

Advanced or metastatic disease is common in both oesophagogastric and colorectal cancers, with poor 5-year survival despite palliative chemotherapy. We have investigated the sensitivity of gastrointestinal tumours to gemcitabine in combination with mitomycin C (GeM), using a modified ex vivo ATP-based tumour chemosensitivity assay (ATP-TCA). Tumour material from 41 colorectal and 22 oesophagogastric cancers were assessed. The GeM combination showed variable but definite activity in most of the samples tested. The results show that GeM achieves >95% inhibition at concentrations within the range achievable clinically in 60% of colorectal tumours (21 out of 35) and 38% of oesophagogastric tumours (five out of 13) tested. We did not identify any significant difference in sensitivity using concurrent or sequential exposure of tumour-derived cells to these two drugs. The results from this study suggest that GeM may be a useful combination in the treatment of advanced gastrointestinal malignancy.     

Maternal behaviors: evidence that they feed back to alter brain morphology and function

We review evidence suggesting that the brain of maternally behaving rats is altered as a result of the behavior of the animal towards her pups. Morphological changes seen in the supraoptic nucleus, which contains oxytocinergic neurons important for lactation, are observed not only in parturient, lactating animals but also in virgin animals induced by the presence of rat pups to behave maternally. The supraoptic nuclei of lactating and maternally behaving virgin animals have a higher incidence of dendritic bundling relative to non-maternal virgin animals. Also, stimulation of the lateral olfactory tract in in vitro brain slices elevates electrotonic coupling among supraoptic neurons only in maternally behaving animals and not in male or non-maternal virgins. In general the evidence presented supports the idea that maternal behavior in lactating and non-lactating animals, can have profound effects on the morphology and physiological functioning of oxytocinergic neurons in the hypothalamus.     

冠心病患者无症状心肌缺血阈的分析

目的：探讨冠心病患者无症状心肌缺血阈的临床意义。方法：应用24h动态心电监测，检测62例冠心病患者心肌缺血阈值、MIT的变异度、每次缺血发作持续时间和ST段最大位移，以及昼夜缺血次数。结果：共检出506次心肌缺血，93．5％在ST段压低时心率加快，夜间心肌缺血阈值较低，但缺血时间及ST段压低程度明显重于昼间。结论：心肌缺血有不同的机制，应根据情况给予不同的治疗。     

抗NMDAR脑炎血清抗NMDAR抗体阴性患者临床分析

目的 探讨血清抗N-甲基-D-天冬氨酸受体(NMDAR)抗体阴性的抗NMDAR脑炎患者的临床表现特征、治疗及其预后特点.方法 收集郑州大学第一附属医院2013-09—2019-12确诊为抗NMDAR脑炎的60例患者,根据其血清中抗NMDAR抗体的情况分为血清抗体阴性组和阳性组,分析2组临床表现特征、辅助检查、治疗及预后...     

Flt3L对COPD大鼠铜绿假单胞菌肺炎的防治研究

目的 建立铜绿假单胞菌(PA)肺部感染大鼠慢性阻塞性肺疾病(COPD)模型,研究Flt3L(Fms-like tyrosine kinase-3 ligand )对其炎症反应的防治作用.方法 将50只健康雄性清洁级Wistar大鼠随机分为对照组(NS组)、PA感染对照组(NPA组)、COPD大鼠组(COPD组)、COPD大鼠PA感染组(CPA组)和COPD大鼠PA感染Flt3L处理组(Flt3L组),每组动物各10只.用烟雾暴露法复制大鼠COPD模型,气管内滴入PA溶液复制肺部PA感染模型.COPD组、CPA组、Flt3L组大鼠分别在第1～60天以烟雾暴露法复制COPD模型,Flt3L组于第61～65天连续给予Flt3L(20g/kg)腹腔注射,每天1次,连续5d,第66天同时建立NPA组、CPA组和Flt3L组模型.24h后计算大鼠死亡率,对支气管肺泡灌洗液(BALF)、肺组织进行细菌学、细胞学、病理学等研究.无菌操作下取出大鼠脏器进行细菌培养、菌落计数及细菌鉴定.结果 Flt3L组大鼠存活率(87.5%)显著高于CPA组(50.0%)(P<0.01),Flt3L组大鼠支气管肺泡灌洗液中淋巴细胞数[(0.41～0.05)×109/L]与CPA组[(0.24～0.04)×109/L]比较显著增加(P<0.01),光镜下观察比较发现Flt3L组大鼠肺组织炎症反应较CPA组明显减轻,脏器细菌培养阳性率CPA组(37.5%)显著高于Flt3L组(12.5%)(P<0.01).结论 Flt3L能够增强COPD大鼠对PA肺部感染的抗病力.     

The design of the SAFE or SORRY? study: a cluster randomised trial on the development and testing of an evidence based inpatient safety program for the prevention of adverse events

Background  

Patients in hospitals and nursing homes are at risk of the development of, often preventable, adverse events (AEs), which threaten patient safety. Guidelines for prevention of many types of AEs are available, however, compliance with these guidelines appears to be lacking. Besides general barriers that inhibit implementation, this non-compliance is associated with the large number of guidelines competing for attention. As implementation of a guideline is time-consuming, it is difficult for organisations to implement all available guidelines. Another problem is lack of feedback about performance using quality indicators of guideline based care and lack of a recognisable, unambiguous system for implementation. A program that allows organisations to implement multiple guidelines simultaneously may facilitate guideline use and thus improve patient safety.