Perioperative specific management of blood volume loss in craniosynostosis surgery

Accurate assessment and replacement of blood loss and fluid-electrolyte deficit during craniosynostosis repair is difficult owing to patient size and the diversity of surgical technique. Forty-three patients undergoing primary craniosynostosis repair over a 10-year period were studied retrospectively to determine blood loss and fluid deficit and to assess blood transfusion practices during both intraoperative and postoperative periods. Blood loss was calculated on the basis of estimated red cell mass (ERCM) and fluid-electrolyte imbalance was investigated with blood samplings. Blood transfusion was considered appropriate if the postoperative or posttransfusion ERCM was within 12% of the preoperative value. Estimated fluid requirement (EFR) was used in 4 ml kg(-1) h(-1) except for neonates. Intraoperatively, 80% of all patients were appropriately managed with respect to blood transfusion and EFR. Postoperatively only 20% of the patients receiving transfusions were transfused appropriately. In 23.3% of these patients (10/43) unexpected respiratory distress developed immediately after their recovery from the anesthesia. With the measurement of estimated blood volume and allowable blood loss, appropriate transfusion could be achieved for the successful treatment of the primary craniosynostosis.     

Antisense inhibition of striatal GABAA receptor proteins decreases GABA-stimulated chloride uptake and increases cocaine sensitivity in rats

The functional status of striatal GABAA receptors appears to be inversely related to the magnitude of cocaine-induced behaviors. Exposure of striatum to antisense oligodeoxynucleotides (ASODNs) targeted to the mRNAs for the alpha 2 and the beta 3 subunits of the GABAA receptor should decrease expression of receptor proteins and therefore might be expected to increase cocaine sensitivity. ASODNs, scrambled ODNs or saline were injected into right lateral ventricle of rats and behavioral responses to cocaine were tested 18-20 h after treatment. Animals injected separately with alpha 2 or beta 3 ASODNs exhibited increased behavioral sensitivity to cocaine compared to rats injected with saline or scrambled ODNs including performing more 360 degrees turns to the left than to the right. There was significantly less GABA-stimulated Cl uptake in right striatum compared to left striatum of ASODN-treated rats with no significant difference between sides in control animals. Specific binding to benzodiazepine and convulsant sites on the GABAA receptor was not selectively altered by ASODN treatment. Combined alpha 2 beta 3 ASODN treatment did not affect either cocaine sensitivity or GABAA receptor function. There was no difference between the density of Nissl stained cells in the left and right edges of striatum in control or ASODN-treated rats indicating the absence of significant neurotoxic effects of the ASODN treatment. Injection of fluorescein-conjugated ASODNs indicated that ASODN is present in striatum at times during which behavioral and neurochemical indices of GABA receptor function are decreased. Thus, the functional status of GABAA receptors in striatum may be involved in determining cocaine sensitivity.     

Ratio of free-to-total prostate specific antigen in serum cannot distinguish patients with prostate cancer from those with chronic inflammation of the prostate

PURPOSE: We demonstrate the effect of chronic inflammation of the prostate on the ratio of free-to-total prostate specific antigen (PSA) in serum calculated as a percentage of free PSA and, therefore, that percentage of free PSA is an unspecific means to distinguish among prostate cancer, chronic prostatitis and benign prostatic hyperplasia (BPH). MATERIALS AND METHODS: Total, free and percentage of free PSA was measured in 66 men with prostate cancer, 119 with BPH and 17 with asymptomatic chronic prostatitis. In all patients the diagnosis was histopathologically confirmed by microscopic examination of prostatic specimens after sextant biopsy, transurethral prostatic resection or prostatectomy. RESULTS: The median values of total, free and percentage of free PSA were 4.11 microg./l., 0.75 microg./l. and 20.4% in patients with BPH, 10.0 microg./l., 0.84 microg./l. and 8.5% in those with prostate cancer, and 7.60 microg./l., 1.23 microg./l. and 10.6% in those with chronic prostatitis. Patients with prostate cancer and chronic prostatitis had a significantly lower percentage of free PSA than those with BPH. Receiver operating characteristics curve analysis showed that percentage of free PSA as a discriminator between prostate cancer and BPH was not suitable for differentiating between prostate cancer and chronic prostatitis. CONCLUSIONS: Chronic prostatitis is not characterized by elevated total PSA concentrations alone but also by a decreased percentage of free PSA, a tendency similar to that in prostate cancer. This unspecific change in percentage of free PSA must be considered to interpret the percentage of free PSA correctly.     

Ohmic contact and transport properties of II–VI Green/Blue laser diodes

The employment of the Zn(Se,Te) pseudo-graded contacting scheme to p-type ZnSe-based alloys contributes directly to the recent demonstration of room temperature continuous-wave operation of II– VI green-blue laser diodes. Contact ohmicity is maintained down to cryogenic temperatures which enabled the investigation of electrical transport properties associated with the p-type nitrogen-doped ZnSe, Zn(S,Se), and (Zn,Mg)(S,Se). The observation of both persistent photoconductivity and a metastable population of holes which are in thermodynamic equilibrium with hydrogenic acceptors having reduced activation energy suggests the presence of a DX-like behavior for holes in p-type (Zn,Mg)(S,Se).     

Delayed self-heterodyne linewidth measurement of VCSELs

We report on high-resolution linewidth measurements of proton-implanted InGaAs-GaAs VCSELs employing the delayed self-heterodyne method. Devices with 16-/spl mu/m active diameter exhibit record low linewidths of 20 MHz and 4-MHz residual linewidth. The linewidth enhancement factor is accurately determined from the ratio of induced phase to amplitude modulation indexes.     

Performance of TZCD-MBOK watermarking scheme in T-DMB systems

Recently, watermarking based data transmission techniques using terrestrial digital TV signal have been proposed since they are also cost-free and can overcome the limitations of GPS. However, in the previous watermarking based methods, the detection accuracy is low and additional data rate is too low. Thus, we propose the throughput enhancement method by employing the TZCD-MBOK watermarking technique in T-DMB system. By applying the proposed scheme to T-DMB, it allows additional data transmission for disaster broadcasting and improves efficiency of data transmission in shadow region and indoor to mobile environment through watermarking spread code. From the simulation results, we confirm the proposed watermarking scheme affected on the existing T-DMB signal. Moreover, it was also confirmed that the system capacity increases as the power of additional watermarking signal rose. The results of the paper can be applied to wireless multimedia digital broadcasting systems.