A multi-purpose biofeedback device for penile plethysmography

This report describes the coupling of an audio feedback device to a standard penile transducer. A subject wearing the transducer on his penis can hear an audio signal that increases in direct proportion to the expansion of the transducer as he becomes sexually aroused. Applications of the instrument are suggested for the training of sexual offenders and the sexually impotent.     

The Sda Blood Group Antigen

Abstract. Material with high Sd^a blood group activity can be prepared from urine by precipitation with ethanol. Partial separation of substances with Sd^a and A activity can be effected by gel-filtration, ultracentrifugation or precipitation with anti-A serum. Substances with Sd^a activity are inactivated by acid, alkali and periodate and are partly soluble in phenol.     

The visual perception of plane tilt from motion in small field and large field: psychophysics and theory

Subjects indicated the tilt of dotted planes rotating in depth, in monocular viewing, under perspective projection. The responses depended on the FOV (field of view) and on the angle W between the tilt and frontal translation (orthogonal to the rotation axis). Response accuracy increased with the FOV, and decreased with W. Our results support the processing of the second-order optic flow in all cases, but indicate that this flow is quantitatively small in small-field, leading to tilt ambiguities. We examine computational models based on the affine components of the optic flow to interpret our results.     

Long-Term Survival After Resection of Metachronous Bilateral Adrenal Metastases of Mucinous Gastric Carcinoma: Report of a Case

We report a case of metachronous bilateral adrenal metastases from mucinous adenocarcinoma of the stomach. A 68-year-old man who had undergone surgery for advanced gastric cancer 5 months earlier had a follow-up computed tomography (CT) scan, which showed a right adrenal tumor. We performed a right adrenalectomy, and histopathological examination revealed a mucinous adenocarcinoma with features consistent with those of gastric cancer. A routine follow-up CT scan done 41 months after the right adrenalectomy showed a left adrenal mass. Chemotherapy had no apparent effect, and left adrenalectomy was performed 65 months after the right adrenalectomy. Histopathological examination also revealed a metastasis from gastric cancer. The patient was alive without recurrence 40 months after the left adrenalectomy. This case suggests that resection of adrenal metastasis from gastric cancer is an effective treatment option that may prolong survival in selected patients.     

Skin conductance monitoring compared with bispectral index monitoring to assess emergence from general anaesthesia using sevoflurane and remifentanil

Background. Changes in skin conductance have previously beenreported to correlate well with plasma levels of stress hormonesand awakening stimuli. In this study, monitoring of skin conductanceduring emergence from general anaesthesia was compared withthe monitoring of bispectral index (BIS). Methods. Twenty-five patients undergoing minor elective surgerywere investigated. The number of fluctuations in mean skin conductance(NFSC), BIS and haemodynamic parameters were recorded simultaneously.The performance of the monitoring devices to predict and distinguishbetween the clinical states ‘steady-state anaesthesia’,‘first reaction’ and ‘extubation’ werecompared using the method of prediction probability (P_K) calculation. Results. Both monitors showed similar performance in distinguishingbetween ‘steady-state anaesthesia’ vs ‘firstreaction’ (P_K NFSC 0.89; BIS^® 0.94) and ‘steady-stateanaesthesia’ vs ‘extubation’ (P_K NFSC 0.96;BIS^® 0.96). The response times of the monitors, to indicatethe likelihood of ‘first reaction’, were not significantlydifferent. Conclusions. NFSC, as a parameter of skin conductance, performedsimilarly to BIS in patients waking after a general anaesthetic.     

Adolescents and consent to treatment.

Adolescents, defined by WHO as 10 to 19 years old, can give independent consent for reproductive health services if their capacities for understanding have sufficiently evolved. The international Convention on the Rights of the Child, almost universally ratified, limits parental powers, and duties, by adolescents' "evolving capacities" for self-determination. Legal systems may recognize "mature minors" as enjoying adult rights of medical consent, even when consent to sexual relations does not absolve partners of criminal liability; their consent does not make the adolescents offenders. There is usually no chronological "age of consent" for medical care, but a condition of consent, meaning capacity for understanding. Like adults, mature minors enjoy confidentiality and the right to treatment according to their wishes rather than their best interests. Minors incapable of self-determination may grant or deny assent to treatment for which guardians provide consent. Emancipated minors' self-determination may also be recognized, for instance on marriage or default of adults' guardianship.     

Paradoxical intention in the treatment of obsessional flatulence ruminations

A case study of the paradoxical treatment of long standing obsessional ruminations about flatulence in a 33-year old female respiratory therapist is described. Self- reported estimates of the frequency and intensity of flatulence were unaffected by a misconception correction procedure that entailed the presentation of scientific data disconfirming the bases of her concerns. Paradoxical instructions to intensify flatus emissions were then employed. These instructions resulted in a rapid elimination of the obsessional ruminations; this improvement was enhanced at 1 yr follow-up.     

Stabilized vision through a bleaching window

The visibility of stimuli flickering at low temporal frequencies was studied with images viewed normally and when stabilized by a new technique (bleached-window stabilization) that produces perfectly stabilized images without attachment to the eye. Contrary to expectation, sensitivity to low-frequency flicker was higher in the stabilized than in the unstabilized case. Several controls exclude the possibility that the paradoxical increase in sensitivity is an artefact of the new technique, and suggest that, in normal viewing, transient activity created by fixational eye-movements can mask the signals arising from the low-frequency flicker.     

Activation of complement by Naegleria

Neither Naegleria nor its culture supernatant was found to be directly chemotactic for human neutrophils. Interaction of Naegleria with human serum, however, resulted in the generation of a strong chemotactic stimulus. The reduction of serum activity by heat-inactivation indicated a dependence on serum complement for the interaction. The ability of Naegleria to activate the alternative complement pathway was demonstrated with the use of C2-deficient serum.