The effect of naloxone on the preoperative gastric volume and pH

The effect of 4 mg oral naloxone on preoperative gastric volume and pH of gastric aspirate was studied in a double-blind, randomized study. Twenty patients received 10 ml of naloxone (4 mg) mixed with 10 ml of orange juice, and 20 patients received 10 ml of isotonic saline mixed with 10 ml of orange juice, 2 h before surgery. Gastric content was obtained immediately after intubation of the trachea. No significant difference in gastric volume and pH of gastric aspirate was found between the two groups. It is concluded that naloxone does not affect gastric emptying and gastric acid secretion to a degree great enough to protect against aspiration of gastric contents into the lungs.     

Galvanic current in the conservative treatment of acute pancreatitis

Experiments were conducted on 42 adult dogs with a model of acute pancreatitis to study the degree of antibiotic storage in the pancreatic tissue in different variants of intralesional+ electrophoresis. Optimum concentration of the antibiotic was produced in transverse galvanization of the zone of the pancreas. Clinical observations over 63 patients with various forms of acute pancreatitis bear evidence that the method raises the efficacy of nonoperative treatment in the oedematous stage of the process and reduces the duration of treatment.     

Chronic Cocaine Injections Attenuate Behavioral Response of κ-Opioid Receptors to U-50,488H Agonist

Chronic injections of cocaine (20 mg/kg daily for 10 days) increase activity and decrease anxiety in male C57Bl/6j mice in comparison with animals chronically injected with normal saline. U-50,488H (κ-opioid receptor agonist; 2.5 mg/kg) produced an anxiolytic effect in animals preinjected with normal saline and had no effect in animals chronically injected with cocaine. Presumably, chronic activation of dopaminergic systems caused by cocaine injections is paralleled by desensitization of k-opioid receptor system. __________ Translated from Byulleten' Eksperimental'noi Biologii i Meditsiny, Vol. 140, No. 9, pp. 305–307, September, 2005