Is additional epidural sympathetic block in microvascular surgery contraindicated? A preliminary report

The use of additional epidural sympathetic block during and after microvascular surgery in the lower extremities to prevent vasospasm is generally agreed on. However, a significant fall in the perfusion rate of the transplants was seen after application of bupivacaine (Marcain) via the epidural catheter. This effect has, to our knowledge, not been described before and is probably caused by the sympathectomy effect of this type of analgesia.     

VISUOMOTOR PERFORMANCE OF NORMAL AND CLUMSY CHILDREN. II: ARM-TRACKING WITH AND WITHOUT VISUAL FEEDBACK

Tracking performance was investigated in normal and clumsy children in two age-groups, six to seven and 10 to 11 years. Target signals moving unpredictably along a straight line had to be tracked, both with and without visual feedback. Performance was described in three ways: (1) performance in the low-frequency range (LF); (2) the delay between target signal and tracking movement (DL); and (3) a measure of tracking quality or over-all similarity in the shape of target signal and tracking movement (Q). Clumsy children in both age-groups had a lower tracking quality (Q) and longer delay (DL) than the normal children. Disturbances in the regulation of attention seemed to affect tracking performance, particularly of the six- to seven-year-old clumsy children. There was no significant difference between normal and clumsy children in the effect of visual feedback on tracking performance. This suggests that clumsiness is not linked to disturbance of integration of visual feedback information and motor processes.     

Automatic assessment of levodopa-induced dyskinesias in daily life by neural networks.

We developed an objective and automatic procedure to assess the severity of levodopa-induced dyskinesia (LID) in patients with Parkinson's disease during daily life activities. Thirteen patients were continuously monitored in a home-like situation for a period of approximately 2.5 hours. During this time period, the patients performed approximately 35 functional daily life activities. Behavior of the patients was measured using triaxial accelerometers, which were placed at six different positions on the body. A neural network was trained to assess the severity of LID using various variables of the accelerometer signals. Neural network scores were compared with the assessment by physicians, who evaluated the continuously videotaped behavior of the patients off-line. The neural network correctly classified dyskinesia or the absence of dyskinesia in 15-minute intervals in 93.7, 99.7, and 97.0% for the arm, trunk, and leg, respectively. In the few cases of misclassification, the rating by the neural network was in the class next to that indicated by the physicians using the AIMS score (scale 0-4). Analysis of the neural networks revealed several new variables, which are relevant for assessing the severity of LID. The results indicate that the neural network can accurately assess the severity of LID and could distinguish LID from voluntary movements in daily life situations.     

Cytotoxic activity of bis-[di-n-butyl(4-aminosalicylato)tin] oxide, NSC: 628561, bis-[diphenyl(4-aminosalicylato)tin] oxide, NSC: 628562, and some related compounds, against a series of human tumour cell lines.

Bis[di-n-butyl (4-aminosalicylato)tin] oxide [NSC: 628561] (compound 1), bis [diphenyl(4-aminosalicylato)tin] oxide [NSC: 628562] (compound 2), and six other analogous compounds of the type [n-Bu2 (XYZ-C6H2COO)Sn]2O (compounds 3 to 8), were tested in vitro at the National Cancer Institute, Bethesda, Maryland, USA, for cytotoxic activity against a series of human cell lines. Compounds 1, 6 and 8 score globally satisfactorily since four of the five relevant sensitivity or selectivity parameters, DGI50, DTGI or DLC50, DH and MGDH, are statistically significant. Compounds 3 and 7 are less satisfactory because only three such parameters are statistically significant. For compound 2, only two of the parameters are significant.     

Effects of trypsin on the in situ identification of epidermal cell membrane antigens

In this work the role of trypsin in revealing epidermal cell surface antigens, with the use of immunological markers, was investigated. Two monoclonal antibodies (MCA) were used, the first: D47, belongs to the first cluster of differentiation and recognizes a membrane antigen of human thymocytes; the second HLA-ABC-m3, is an anti-HLA-B27 MCA. Preliminary treatment with various concentrations of trypsin was performed on frozen skin sections and followed by indirect immunofluorescence. D47 reacted with epidermal dendritic cells only after trypsin pretreatment of skin sections. In addition a mild preliminary trypsinization was shown to increase in situ immunoreactivity of MCA HLA-ABC-m3 with epidermal cells. Best results were obtained when trypsin concentrations ranging from 2.5 to 5 micrograms/ml were applied for 10 min at 37 degrees C. Preliminary trypsinization may be of interest for a better exposure of some surface antigens to immunohistochemical markers.     

Differential effects of human recombinant interleukin-1 beta on cytochrome P-450-dependent activities in cultured fetal rat hepatocytes.

The immunomodulator interleukin-1 beta (IL-1) is one of the major inflammatory mediators. In vivo, it has been reported to depress some rat liver cytochromes P-450 (cytochrome P-450). Our aim was to study those effects in vitro, using cultured fetal rat hepatocytes as a model. Testosterone 6 beta-hydroxylase (cytochrome P-450 IIIA family activity) was not depressed by IL-1 treatments, but its induction by dexamethasone was prevented. The effect was time- and dose-dependent. Ethoxyresorufine-O-deethylase (cytochrome P-450 IA1 activity) decreased after IL-1 treatment, and dexamethasone partially prevented this inhibition. Acute phase effects of IL-1 were assayed by albumin and transferrin secretions. The cell's sensitivity to glucocorticoids was determined by tyrosine-aminotransferase activity. Our data demonstrate that IL-1 was able to prevent the glucocorticoid induction of cytochrome P-450 IIIA involving at least two different mechanisms. This is in agreement with the theory suggesting that the induction of CYPIIIA family by glucocorticoids requires the presence of the glucocorticoid receptor and some other regulatory elements. Other cytochrome P-450-dependent activities (IIA1, IIB1/2, and IIC11) were inhibited by IL-1 treatments, depending on dose and time, but some were also protected by dexamethasone.     

Newspaper coverage of residential fires: an opportunity for prevention communication.

BACKGROUND: Worldwide, fire-related burns are a major cause of unintentional injury, morbidity and mortality, with the majority of deaths occurring in developing countries. In the US, as in other countries, most fatal fires occur in the home. Effective prevention strategies for residential fires are, however, currently underutilized. The news media is one available communication channel to promote such strategies, and analyzing current news coverage is a first step towards incorporating media advocacy into injury prevention efforts related to residential fires. METHODS: Four daily newspapers circulating widely in Maryland were monitored for 1 year. Articles describing residential fires were coded for measures of prominence, content and frame. Analysis focused on measures of issue newsworthiness, reporting of causation and consequences of fires, and inclusion of public health context and conveyance of prevention messages. RESULTS: The data indicate that fires are newsworthy, with 374 relevant news articles in a 1-year period, 32% of which appear on the first page of a section. Coverage generally concerned recent local fire events. Most articles discussed the consequences of fires (88%), and identified a causal factor (58%). Only 36%, however, included prevention information, and less than one-quarter set residential fires in a public health context. CONCLUSION: The newsworthiness of residential fires provides a clear opportunity for widespread communication around injury prevention. Improving media advocacy will entail framing discussion of recent fire events in such a way as to support inclusion of prevention strategies and a public health context in news coverage.     

The effect of isoluminant and isochromatic stimuli on latency and amplitude of saccades

When two stimuli are presented in different positions successively at short time intervals saccadic eye movements are usually directed at intermediate positions. This phenomenon of "averaging" of saccadic eye movements has been studied in responses to double-step target displacements in different stimulus conditions. In these conditions isoluminant and isochromatic stimuli were used with variable contrast and at different background luminances. Although the critical duration of temporal summation differed considerably in these stimulus conditions the duration of the phenomenon of "averaging" remained the same in all conditions. This indicates that temporal properties of the sensory system are not the prime cause of "averaging". Moreover, the onset time of "averaging" relative to the second target displacement turned out to be highly correlated with the mean latency of saccades in the different conditions. The implications of the results for models of oculomotor control are discussed.