Fatal systemic fluorosis due to hydrofluoric acid burns

A patient with a 70% hydrofluoric acid burn developed systemic dissemination of fluoride ion from a 9% to 10% body surface area exposure on the lower extremities. Severe hypocalcemia and intractable ventricular arrhythmias resulted. This case is the second documented occurrence of hypocalcemia from hydrofluoric acid burns. It is the first case to document myocardial injury and systemic fluorosis from a skin burn.     

Innervation of dystrophic muscle after muscle stem cell therapy

Introduction: Duchenne muscular dystrophy (DMD) is caused by loss of the structural protein, dystrophin, resulting in muscle fragility. Muscle stem cell (MuSC) transplantation is a potential therapy for DMD. It is unknown whether donor‐derived muscle fibers are structurally innervated. Methods: Green fluorescent protein (GFP)–expressing MuSCs were transplanted into the tibials anterior of adult dystrophic mdx/mTR mice. Three weeks later the neuromuscular junction was labeled by immunohistochemistry. Results: The percent overlap between pre‐ and postsynaptic immunolabeling was greater in donor‐derived GFP⁺ myofibers, and fewer GFP⁺ myofibers were identified as denervated compared with control GFP^– fibers (P = 0.001 and 0.03). GFP⁺ fibers also demonstrated acetylcholine receptor fragmentation and expanded endplate area, indicators of muscle reinnervation (P = 0.008 and 0.033). Conclusion: It is unclear whether GFP⁺ fibers are a result of de novo synthesis or fusion with damaged endogenous fibers. Either way, donor‐derived fibers demonstrate clear histological innervation. Muscle Nerve 54 : 763–768, 2016     

华东地区615例化学烧伤患者流行病学调查

目的 探讨化学烧伤的现场急救、早期处理和治疗方法中的流行病学因素. 方法 整理笔者单位2001年1月-2010年12月收治的2682例烧伤患者中615例化学烧伤患者病例资料.对性别、年龄、致伤面积与深度、发病规律、致伤原因、致伤物质、致伤部位、合并症、院前处理情况、治疗及预后情况等进行归纳总结.采用线性趋势检验统计分析年度收治的烧伤患者总数、化学烧伤人数. 结果 (1)一般情况:本组病例中男562例占91.4％,女53例占8.6％,年龄(32±12)岁.烧伤总面积为1％ ～95％[(30±25)％]TBSA,其中Ⅲ度面积0～85％[(18±24)％]TBSA.(2)发病规律:10年中笔者单位每年收治的烧伤患者总数呈缓慢增长趋势(x2 =4.009,P＜0.05),但化学烧伤患者所占比例相差不大(x2 =0.060,P＞0.05).本组化学烧伤高发于夏秋季,患者一般从4月开始逐渐增多,8月达到高峰,之后逐渐减少.(3)致伤原因:患者以工伤为主,共572例占93.0％,其中私营和民营企业工人占工伤患者的70.8％(405/572).(4)致伤物质:本组病例中以酸烧伤最多,共299例占48.6％.(5)致伤部位:四肢和头颈部等暴露部位最易受伤.(6)合并症:吸入性损伤47例占7.6％,眼烧伤94例占15.3％,复合伤51例占8.3％,中毒67例占10.9％.(7)院前处理情况:大部分患者伤后未经清水冲洗(30.4％,187/615)或清水冲洗不够充分(61.1％,376/615).(8)治疗及预后情况:212例(34.5％)患者在伤后1周内行切削痂植皮或皮瓣移植手术.本组患者治愈599例,其中8例共11只眼睛失明;死亡16例,死亡率为2.6％. 结论 笔者单位化学烧伤患者占同期收治烧伤患者总数比例相对较高,以工伤为主.化学烧伤救治的关键在于充分的早期冲洗和解毒,深度创面尽早切削痂可以减少机体对有毒物质的吸收.     

Progressive severe kyphosis as a complication of multilevel cervical percutaneous facet neurotomy: a case report

Background context

Percutaneous facet neurotomy is a procedure commonly used for the treatment of pain thought to originate from zygoapophyseal joint dysfunction. Some practitioners have also used this technique to treat cervicogenic headache. Previously reported complications for this procedure have been minimal and have included dysthesias and local pain.

Study design

Case report.

Methods

Bilateral multilevel cervical percutaneous facet neurotomies were used to treat a patient suffering from a chronic headache and neck pain that had failed to respond to extensive medical management.

Results

Within days of completing the bilateral facet neurotomies, the patient developed head drop. Subsequent electromyography revealed denervation of the patient's paraspinous muscles. Initially the patient was managed conservatively in a cervical collar with the hope that he would recover some function. After few years, the patient developed fixed kyphotic deformity. Correction of the patient's deformity required multilevel anterior cervical discectomy and fusion followed by posterior instrumented fusion.

Conclusions

When performing multilevel percutaneous cervical facet neurotomies, there is a risk of paraspinous muscle denervation, and subsequent kyphotic deformity may occur. The likelihood of this rare and previously unreported complication can probably be reduced by proper needle positioning and by minimizing the number of levels at which the procedure is performed.     

Neuronal adrenergic and muscular cholinergic contractile hypersensitivity in canine jejunum after extrinsic denervation

Extrinsic denervation may be responsible for motor dysfunction after small bowel transplantation. The aim of this study was to examine the role of extrinsic innervation of canine jejunum on contractile activity. An in vitro dose response of cholinergic and adrenergic agonists was evaluated in canine jejunal strips of circular muscle at 0, 2, and 8 weeks in a control group and after jejunoileal extrinsic denervation (EX DEN). Neurons in circular muscle were quantitated by means of immunohistochemical techniques. Adrenergic and cholinergic responses did not differ at any time in the control group. However, at 2 and 8 weeks, extrinsic denervation caused an increased sensitivity to the procontractile effects of the cholinergic agonist bethanechol at the level of the smooth muscle cells, and increased sensitivity to the inhibitory effects of the adrenergic agent norepinephrine mediated at the level of the enteric nervous system. Immunohistochemical analysis showed a reduction in all neurons and a complete lack of adrenergic fibers in the EX DEN group after 2 and 8 weeks. Extrinsic denervation induces enteric neuronal cholinergic and adrenergic smooth muscle hypersensitivity in canine jejunal circular muscle. Presented in part at the annual meeting of the American Gastroenterological Association, Orlando, Florida, May 18, 1999 (poster presentation), and published as an abstract in Gastroenterology 116:A1075, 1999. Supported by United States Public Health Service grant DK39337 from the National Institutes of Health (M.G.S.); the Swiss National Science Foundation; the Swiss Society of Gastroenterology and Hepatology; the Swiss Foundation for Medical and Biological Science; the Novartis Foundation; Astra Zeneca Pharmaceuticals, Switzerland; and the Department of Visceral and Transplantation Surgery, University of Bern, Switzerland.     

Relaxation-compensated fast multislice amide proton transfer (APT) imaging of acute ischemic stroke.

Amide proton transfer (APT) imaging is a variant form of chemical exchange saturation transfer (CEST) imaging that is based on the magnetization exchange between bulk water and labile endogenous amide protons. Given that chemical exchange is pH-dependent, APT imaging has been shown capable of imaging ischemic tissue acidosis, and as such, may serve as a surrogate metabolic imaging marker complementary to perfusion and diffusion MRI. In order for APT imaging to properly diagnose heterogeneous pathologies such as stroke and cancer, fast volumetric APT imaging has to be developed. In this study the evolution of CEST contrast after RF irradiation was solved showing that although the CEST steady state is reached by the apparent longitudinal relaxation rate, the decreases of CEST contrast after irradiation is governed by the intrinsic relaxation constant. A volumetric APT imaging sequence is proposed that acquires multislice images immediately after a single long continuous wave (CW) RF irradiation, wherein the relaxation-induced loss of CEST contrast is compensated for during postprocessing. The proposed technique was verified by numerical simulation, a tissue-like dual-pH phantom, and demonstrated on an embolic stroke animal model. In summary, our study has established a fast volumetric pH-weighted APT imaging technique, allowing further investigation to fully evaluate its diagnostic power.     

Optimal control of non‐linear chemical reactors via an initial‐value Hamiltonian problem

The problem of designing strategies for optimal feedback control of non‐linear processes, specially for regulation and set‐point changing, is attacked in this paper. A novel procedure based on the Hamiltonian equations associated to a bilinear approximation of the dynamics and a quadratic cost is presented. The usual boundary‐value situation for the coupled state–costate system is transformed into an initial‐value problem through the solution of a generalized algebraic Riccati equation. This allows to integrate the Hamiltonian equations on‐line, and to construct the feedback law by using the costate solution trajectory. Results are shown applied to a classical non‐linear chemical reactor model, and compared against suboptimal bilinear‐quadratic strategies based on power series expansions. Since state variables calculated from Hamiltonian equations may differ from the values of physical states, the proposed control strategy is suboptimal with respect to the original plant. Copyright © 2005 John Wiley & Sons, Ltd.     

胃肠道恶性肿瘤术后腹腔内温热化疗灌注的应用

目的:探讨胃肠道恶性肿瘤术后采用腹腔内温热化疗的疗效。方法:选择Ⅱ～Ⅳ期胃肠道恶性肿瘤术后患者60例,32例作为治疗组,采用腹腔内温热化疗 静脉化疗,28例作为对照组,采用常规静脉化疗。结果:治疗组腹腔复发率及转移率明显低于对照组(P<0.01)。治疗组3年及5年的生存率明显高于对照组(P<0.01)。结论:胃肠道恶性肿瘤术后腹腔内温热化疗 静脉化疗,不但能有效降低胃肠道恶性肿瘤术后腹腔复发及转移,而且能提高3年及5年的生存率。