Optimal intensity for respiratory muscle endurance training in patients with spinal cord injury.

OBJECTIVE: Respiratory muscle endurance of able-bodied persons, assessed by normocapnic hyperpnoea at 70% of their maximal voluntary ventilation, usually ranges from 10 to 20 minutes. The aim of this study was to determine the level of ventilation that patients with paraplegia and tetraplegia can sustain for 10-20 minutes to later be used as the guideline for respiratory muscle endurance training. DESIGN: Pilot study; cross-over setting. SUBJECTS: Two groups, 8 patients with paraplegia and 6 with tetraplegia. METHODS: Respiratory muscle endurance tests were performed at 3 different intensities of normocapnic hyperpnoea, i.e. 20%, 40% and 60% maximal voluntary ventilation. Subjects performed partial re-breathing from a bag to assure normocapnia. Respiratory endurance was separately analysed for patients with paraplegia and tetraplegia. RESULTS: Mean respiratory endurance times were 46.0, 18.9 and 4.2 minutes at 20%, 40% and 60% maximal voluntary ventilation in patients with tetraplegia and 51.8, 38.8 and 12.2 minutes in patients with paraplegia. The duration differed significantly at 60% maximal voluntary ventilation between the groups. CONCLUSION: Minute ventilation to perform respiratory muscle endurance training can be set at around 40% of maximal voluntary ventilation for patients with tetraplegia and around 60% of maximal voluntary ventilation for patients with paraplegia, as these levels can be sustained for 10-20 minutes.     

Outcomes at 3 years of a prospective pilot study of Campath-1H and sirolimus immunosuppression for renal transplantation

Campath-1H (alemtuzumab) induction was used for renal transplantation in combination with sirolimus as immunosuppression. We previously reported a high (28%) rate of early rejection with this regimen, and now report 3-year outcomes. Twenty-nine patients were recipients of either deceased donor or non-HLA (Human Leukocyte Antigen) identical living donor primary renal allografts. Clinical parameters including infection, malignancy, kidney function, and kidney histology were followed prospectively for 3 years. Three-year cumulative graft and patient survival were 96% and 100%, respectively. Twenty patients were maintained on steroid-free immunosuppressive regimens, and 15 patients were maintained on monotherapy for immunosuppression (12 on sirolimus). No serious infectious complications were observed and two patients developed basal cell skin cancer. The 3-year results of our initial pilot study demonstrate good graft (96%) and patient (100%) outcomes. Campath-1H induction has yielded a high proportion of patients maintained on immunosuppressive monotherapy (57%) without serious infectious- and no malignancy-related complications. The reported regimen yielded novel insights into both Campath-1H and sirolimus therapy in renal transplantation. Because of the higher incidence of early rejection, we recommend a modified strategy of immunosuppression including a brief course of a calcineurin inhibitor.     

HUMAN LONGINGS AND MASCULINE TERRORS: MASCULINITY AND SEPARATION FROM MOTHER

ABSTRACT The paper explores two literary texts - Dostoevsky's novel Crime and Punishment and Euripides'play Bacchae - from the point of view of immature masculinity and the catastrophe that can follow if the boy fails to achieve a genuine separation from the maternal object. The author examines the masculine anxieties and defences that arise when the boy fails to work through the Oedipus complex and instead retreats to a dyadic relation with mother which excludes the father. This retreat involves a denial of reality and the creation of a paranoid world in which his own wishes to take possession of mother can be experienced by him as an intrusion by the mother into his own masculine identity and ultimately as castration by the mother. Attempts to resolve this threat to masculinity include the use of anal defences and tyrannical states of mind in the creation of a pseudo-masculinity.
The movement into the male Oedipus complex necessarily involves a psychological state in which the externality of the oedipal-object mother is continually in danger of being blurred by the shadow cast by the pre-oedipal mother. (Thomas Ogden 1992)     

Compressed collagen sponges as gastroretentive dosage forms: in vitro and in vivo studies.

The objective of the present investigations was to develop oblong tablets which expand after contact with gastrointestinal fluids within a few minutes to a length of 4-6 cm and which should remain in the stomach for a prolonged period of time due to their size. The tablets were prepared from riboflavin-containing collagen sponges using a computer controlled single punch tablet machine. The collagen material was compressed to oblong tablets with dimensions of 3.5 mm x 9 mm x 18 mm. In vitro investigations were carried out to characterise drug release. The model drug riboflavin was released from the collagen tablets over 12h. The gastrointestinal retention time of the new dosage form was indirectly estimated by determining the duration of riboflavin excretion after oral intake of the tablet. A crossover in vivo study with 12 healthy male and female subjects was performed. The renal excretion of riboflavin was measured after oral administration of collagen tablets and small sustained release hydrocolloid tablets as reference preparation. The amount of riboflavin excreted into the urine was enhanced after administration of the expanding collagen tablets in comparison with the hydrocolloid tablets. The differences were statistically significant after 5, 6, 8, 9, 10 and 12 h.     

Prenatal nicotine exposure increased duration of nicotine-induced analgesia in adult rats

The effect of prenatal exposure to nicotine on nicotine-induced analgesia was studied in rats. The analgesic effect of a single dose of nicotine (1 mg/kg SC) was measured by the tail-flick technique, and two subsequent studies were carried out. In the first study, 7-month-old male rats, born to dams chronically treated with nicotine during pregnancy (NIC), exhibited prolonged nicotine-induced analgesia compared to matched controls. The second study was designed to explore whether rats prenatally exposed to nicotine (NIC rats) are born with an increased sensitivity to nicotine and whether there is any sex difference. The analgesic effect of nicotine was tested on control and NIC rats of both sexes once a month from 2 to 7 months of age. At an early age, male but not female NIC rats, exhibited shorter analgesic responses to nicotine than did the matched controls. With increasing age, however, the duration of nicotine analgesia began to be prolonged in NIC rats of both sexes. Significant differences between control and NIC rats were found at the age of 6 and 7 months, in both sexes. Thus, rats prenatally exposed to nicotine are not born with an increased sensitivity to the analgesic effect of a single dose of nicotine. This phenomenon develops later, during the course of life, independently of gender.     

Interpreting cerebrospinal fluid pleocytosis in HIV in the era of potent antiretroviral therapy

Background  

Cerebrospinal fluid (CSF) pleocytosis may be seen in asymptomatic HIV-infected individuals. This finding complicates interpretation of CSF abnormalities when such individuals are evaluated for other central nervous system infections. The goal of this study was to determine the relationship between CSF pleocytosis, central nervous system (CNS) antiretroviral penetration, adherence to antiretroviral medication regimens, neurological symptoms and performance on neuropsychological tests.