The urographic signs of acute on chronic obstruction of the kidney

The signs of acute obstruction of the kidney and of chronic obstruction are well recognised and the combination of these signs enables a group of patients with acute-on-chronic obstruction to be recognised. The signs of acute obstruction are entirely nephrographic. They are manifested by an increasingly dense nephrogram, which may become striated, followed by an anatomically normal pyelogram. The signs of chronic obstruction are both pyelographic and nephrographic. The pyelographic signs are a dilated pelvicalyceal system. The nephrographic signs are a normal or low density nephrogram. Crescents may appear; these are due to opacification of the distorted medulla which retains its ability to concentrate the urine. In acute-on-chronic obstruction the signs of both conditions are present. Thus there is an increasingly dense nephrogram with a negative pyelogram. Crescents may appear. There is a slow flow in the dilated pelvicalyceal system.     

谈铜版画的迹象特征

绘画其本体语言就是指痕迹——迹象。研究迹象在画面中的作用具有重要的意义。铜版画中出现的迹象包括偶然出现的迹象、不同材料（自然材料、工业材料）带来的迹象和画家用刀、笔刻画出来的迹象。本文从技术层面论述了迹象在铜版画中的特征。     

Correlation study on infrared thermography and nerve root signs in lumbar intervertebral disk herniation patient: a short report

OBJECTIVE: To determine whether infrared skin thermography is an objective measurement reflecting the seriousness of nerve root irritation in lumbar disk herniation patients. DESIGN: Quantified nerve root signs by physical examination were collected from the patients along with the infrared skin temperature measurement on the lumbosacral region and posterior part of thighs. A correlation study was applied to observe the relation between the nerve root signs and the skin temperature before a successful conservative treatment (mainly spine manipulation), and between the alteration of nerve root signs and that of skin temperature after the treatment. SETTING: Hospitalized care. PATIENTS: Twenty-seven hospitalized samples with computed tomography or magnetic resonance approval were consecutively selected during the latter half of 1990. MAIN OUTCOME MEASURE: Changes in nerve root signs. RESULTS: The temperature difference between a troubled thigh and healthy one is significantly correlated to the score of the nerve root signs before the treatment; and the reduction of temperature difference between two thighs is also significantly correlated with decreasing score of nerve root signs after the treatment. The correlation between the temperature difference on the left and right sides of the lumbosacral region and the nerve root signs before the treatment is insignificant; and the variation of the temperature difference of the same region after the treatment is not correlated with the decreasing score of the nerve root signs. CONCLUSION: Infrared skin thermography of lower extremities might be an objective sign in signaling the soothing process of the nerve root irritation in lumbar disk herniation patients, which may help a doctor in checking the responses of the patient to treatment.     

Place conditioning of mice with the NMDA receptor antagonists, eliprodil and dizocilpine

Leptomeningeal carcinomatosis (LC) occurs in solid tumors like breast, lung carcinoma and melanoma, rarely sarcoma and in leukemia and lymphoma. Clinical symptoms of LC often present with differential diagnostic problems. The most common presentation are multiple neuraxis syndromes which for didactic reasons are classically considered as central nervous system (CNS), spinal (SP) or cranial nerve (CN) symptoms and signs and appear isolated or more frequently in combinations. It is generally agreed that signs are usually more prominent than symptoms. Only few series focus on monolocular presentation at clinical manifestation. This overview describes the clinical symptoms and signs in patients with LC, the concept of multiple neuraxis lesions, CNS, CN and SP signs and symptoms. Also the problem of new symptoms and signs in patients treated with antineoplastic chemotherapy and radiation is addressed. The study is based on own results and a survey of the present literature.     

Electrocardiographic changes in chest deformities. Apropos of 20 cases in black subjects

The objective of this study is to describe the electrocardiographic signs associated with certain chest deformities. This is a prospective, case-control study comparing 20 black subjects with chest deformity (11 cases of flat back syndrome, 5 cases of pigeon chest, 4 cases of funnel chest) with 20 age- and sex-matched healthy controls. Cardiac duplex ultrasound was performed for each individual to exclude associated heart disease. Atypical electrocardiographic signs were observed in 15 subjects with chest deformity versus only 3 in the control group. The anomalies observed consisted of signs of atrial or ventricular hypetrophy, right branch block, abnormalities of repolarization on the T wave or ST segment. Chest deformities are therefore associated with several electrical signs simulating most cardiac diseases. A good knowledge of these modifications should help to avoid the numerous diagnostic traps associated with these signs.     

Early diagnosis of pregnancy in general practice

The value of the signs and symptoms of pregnancy and of the pregnancy diagnostic test as predictors of pregnancy was estimated for 1,592 women seen in general practice. The presence of a sign or symptom alone is a poor pointer to a diagnosis of pregnancy. The combination of pairs of features improves the value, the best being breast signs combined with either the presence of signs of pregnancy on vaginal examination or a palpable fundus, both giving predictive values of 0.89. The pregnancy diagnostic test alone, however, had a predictive value of 0.91, a value of 1.00 indicating 100 per cent reliability.     

Diagnosis of post-partum ovarian vein thrombophlebitis by color Doppler ultrasonography: about 10 cases

BACKGROUND: Post-partum ovarian vein thrombosis is often overlooked or mistaken for other complications such as endometritis. Color Doppler ultrasonography is a very good diagnostic method when properly indicated and correctly interpreted according to clinical data. METHODS: This study reports ten cases that were retrospectively studied, during which color Doppler ultrasonography was used. The clinical signs and the results are reviewed. RESULTS: The lesions were clearly visualized in eight of the ten cases; one of the two failures resulted from a methodological fault (uninterpretable result); the other one was due to the lack of experience of the operator and nonrecognition of the clinical signs. Thrombosis appears as a hypoechogenic and tubular image. This type of examination is particularly indicated in the presence of certain clinical signs that were observed in our cases: fever and iliac pain are the main precursor signs, often associated with abdominal meteorism and slow digestive transit; provoked cul-de-sac pain during vaginal probing was the only constant sign, sometimes associated with painful swelling.     

Effects of iconicity and semantic relatedness on lexical access in american sign language.

Iconicity is a property that pervades the lexicon of many sign languages, including American Sign Language (ASL). Iconic signs exhibit a motivated, nonarbitrary mapping between the form of the sign and its meaning. We investigated whether iconicity enhances semantic priming effects for ASL and whether iconic signs are recognized more quickly than noniconic signs are (controlling for strength of iconicity, semantic relatedness, familiarity, and imageability). Twenty deaf signers made lexical decisions to the 2nd item of a prime–target pair. Iconic target signs were preceded by prime signs that were (a) iconic and semantically related, (b) noniconic and semantically related, or (c) semantically unrelated. In addition, a set of noniconic target signs was preceded by semantically unrelated primes. Significant facilitation was observed for target signs when they were preceded by semantically related primes. However, iconicity did not increase the priming effect (e.g., the target sign PIANO was primed equally by the iconic sign GUITAR and the noniconic sign MUSIC). In addition, iconic signs were not recognized faster or more accurately than were noniconic signs. These results confirm the existence of semantic priming for sign language and suggest that iconicity does not play a robust role in online lexical processing. (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2010 APA, all rights reserved)     

Role pf genetic and other biomarkers in the prognostication of postoperative course in patients with lung cancer

Relationships between genetic polymorphisms (ABO, RH, HP, TF, GC, Pi, ACP1, PGM1, GLO1, PTC) and some clinical, biochemical, and functional parameters were studied in patients with epidermoid carcinoma of the lung who were divided into 2 groups: those with uncomplicated and complicated postoperative courses of the disease. They were found to be different in the two groups. The values of ESR, albumin, lymphocytes, vital capacity, and RQ are the most distinctive signs that differentiate the patient groups. A high correlation was found between the signs in patients with an uncomplicated postoperative course. A less correlation between the signs, as a higher intergroup variability in the majority of the signs under study suggests that there is a significantly impaired physiological homeostasis in the group of patients with a complicated course. Comparing the mean values and dispersions shows their equal direction in the two groups of patients irrespective of their genetic polymorphism. The GC system is associated with profound changes of the studied signs in the group of patients with an uncomplicated course and GC*1F carriage should be regarded as a poor factor in the prognosis of the disease.     

The vascular laboratory: a critical component required for successful management of peripheral arterial occlusive disease

Carotid artery dissection is a major cause of cerebral infarction in the young. The extracranial portion of the internal carotid artery is much more frequently involved than the intracranial portion. In up to 20% of cases it is bilateral or associated with vertebral artery dissection. It is mainly characterised by local signs such as headache or facial pain, Horner's syndrome, lower cranial nerve palsies and pulsatile tinnitus, followed a few hours or days later by signs of cerebral or retinal ischemia. Ultrasound investigations show signs of distal stenosis or occlusion, highly suggestive of dissection, but the best diagnostic tool is presently the association of magnetic resonance imaging (MRI) and MR angiography which tend to replace intra-arterial angiography. The prognosis is highly variable: excellent in cases limited to local signs, but very poor leading to death or major sequelae in about 15% of cases. Various treatments have been suggested but no controlled trial has ever been performed in this condition. Heparin in the acute stage followed by warfarin or aspirin for 3 to 6 months is most commonly used.     

Sequence, syntax, and semantics: Responses of a language-trained sea lion (Zalophus californianus) to novel sign combinations.

Presents a sea lion's (Zalophus californianus) responses to anomalous (unfamiliar) combinations of signs created by reordering, deleting, or adding signs. The sea lion's responses to these anomalous combinations demonstrated that she had learned a number of syntactic relations from exposure to a limited set of standard combinatorial forms. The learned syntactic relations included 2 types of conditional relations, (1) sequential conditional relations between sign classes and (2) hierarchical conditional relations between subsets of signs within a combination. The sea lion's responses also showed that she made little, if any, use of logical or semantic properties of the signs. The authors propose that the emergence of semantically or logically based syntactic relations may depend on the ability to form stimulus equivalence relations between signs and referents. (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2010 APA, all rights reserved)     

Design and interpretability of road signs.

To determine ways to improve road sign interpretability in the United States, 30 European signs were printed on cards and shown to several groups of Americans students of about 30 Ss each. There were 5 phases: "The first two phases employed different methods for determining the interpretability of 30 of the European signs prior to training… . The third phase was an attempt to assess the effect of limited experience with the signs on their interpretability. The fourth phase was designed to discover the stereotypes for sign meanings. The fifth phase was concerned with determining the interpretability of signs derived from Phase IV, i.e., the interpretability of signs based on the stereotypes." Some could be used here without prior instructions, however, to apply most of the European signs to America would require a minimal degree of prior familiarization. From Psyc Abstracts 36:01:3LM30B. (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2010 APA, all rights reserved)     

DNA single strand breakage, DNA adducts, and sister chromatid exchange in lymphocytes and phenanthrene and pyrene metabolites in urine of coke oven workers

During heart transplantation (HTX) all neural connections are severed. In humans, signs of autonomic reinnervation have been found. In this study non-invasive tests were used to compare signs of sympathetic and parasympathetic reinnervation. Non-invasive autonomic function tests and heart rate variability parameters (HRV; 24 h electrocardiographic registration) were used to investigate signs of reinnervation. 16 HTX patients (14 males) were compared with age-and sex-matched controls. Parasympathetic heart rate changes in HTX compared to controls were attenuated during the diving test, deep breathing, the Valsalva maneuver and standing up but not during carotid sinus massage. Sympathetic heart rate increases were lower during the cold pressor test and mental stress. The blood pressure responses were comparable to the control group, but not during active standing and tilting. This finding suggests an obligatory 'blood pressure' role for the innervated heart in these two tests. All HRV parameters were lower in HTX. One or more normal parasympathetic responses were found in 13 out of 16 patients versus 4 out of 16 with normal sympathetic responses (p < 0.05). Heart rate variations were less in case of a higher donor age, and higher in case of a longer time after HTX. Parasympathetic signs of reinnervation are more common than sympathetic signs of reinnervation. A higher donor age reduces signs of reinnervation. If the sympatho-vagal balance is a prognostic factor in HTX patients as it is in other cardiac diseases these findings are clinically relevant.     

Macrophage apoptosis in muscle tissue in experimental autoimmune myasthenia gravis

BACKGROUND: In adhesive small bowel obstruction, the early recognition of complications such as strangulation or volvulus is essential to choose between surgical or conservative initial treatment. The objective of this study was to determine prospectively the contribution of computed tomography (CT) to decision making in the management of these patients. METHODS: Patients with suspected adhesive small bowel obstruction had CT at admission. Patients with CT signs of volvulus or strangulation and/or clinical signs of peritoneal irritation underwent urgent surgery; other patients had conservative initial treatment. RESULTS: Fifty-four patients were evaluated. CT demonstrated signs of strangulation or volvulus in 19 patients, including three with signs of peritoneal irritation. Within this group, urgent laparotomy was performed in 17 patients and confirmed the CT diagnosis in 16. Thirty-seven patients without clinical or CT signs of complications had initial conservative treatment; among them, seven of 12 with a distal obstruction determined by CT required a delayed operation for persisting obstruction, compared with two of 25 patients with a proximal obstruction (P < 0.01). CONCLUSION: CT is useful for the evaluation of adhesive small bowel obstruction, to detect accurately patients with complications who require urgent operation and to determine the location of the adhesion, which represents a significant prognostic factor for success of conservative treatment.     

Comparative accuracy of recognizing American and international road signs.

This study investigated the hypothesis that symbol road signs (similar to the international signs) could be more accurately recognized than word road signs (typical of the American signs). The Ss were 81 college undergraduates. The hypothesis was significantly supported under 2 conditions. Under 1 condition, both the symbols and signs were black; in the other, the symbols were black and red. A further phase of the study demonstrated the ease with which the symbol signs were learned. A simple memory test conducted 24 hr. after the learning indicated perfect recall of the symbol signs and their meaning. The potential significance of the results and research possibilities were discussed. (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2010 APA, all rights reserved)     

Ocular manifestations in shaken baby syndrome

In the absence of external physical signs, child abuse is not easy to diagnose. Shaken baby syndrome is a unique form of child abuse where the only consistent external physical signs are its ocular manifestations. We report two cases which illustrate the typical presentation, with hallmarks of this syndrome, namely intraocular and intracranial haemorrhages. The visual prognosis of these infants are usually poor.     

Effect of adenosine metabolites on methyltransferase reactions in isolated rat livers

As introduction to a light- and electron-microscopial examination of rejected human corneal grafts a summary is given of the clinical signs of rejection. It is extremely important to recognize these signs in time and to initiate the correct therapy. Most failures in corneal transplantation are due to rejection. Rejection reactions are often not recognized early enough. The differential diagnosis is difficult because so many factors can trigger off a rejection. As the diagnosis is so often missed it is a good thing to consider the clinical picture of graft rejection once more. Maumenee: 'most ophthalmologists do not recognize the signs of early graft failure and usually do not refer the patient back for therapy until considerable oedema has developed from endothelial destruction' (1962). In the cases with a good prognosis the rejection percentage is plus or minus 12%; in vascularized corneas and complicated corneal transplantations as high as 75% (Polack, 1977).     

Interactions of cholinergic and glutamatergic neuronal systems in the functional activation of cerebral blood flow response: a PET study in unanesthetized monkeys

The present study investigated the effects of the NMDA receptor antagonists dizocilpine (MK-801) and ifenprodil on the appearance of diazepam withdrawal signs caused by discontinuation of long-term diazepam treatment using a drug-admixed food (DAF) method in Fischer 344 rats. The total withdrawal score was significantly decreased by after-withdrawal treatment with dizocilpine or ifenprodil. Dizocilpine, in particular, markedly suppressed the motor withdrawal signs and body weight loss, while ifenprodil suppressed the motor and emotional withdrawal signs. Furthermore, the decrease in the food intake during withdrawal (anorexia) was significantly reduced by dizocilpine, but not by ifenprodil. These behavioral results indicated that the activation of NMDA receptors during withdrawal may play an important role in the appearance of withdrawal signs (in particular motor withdrawal signs) caused by discontinuation of chronic diazepam treatment, and that inhibitory agents for NMDA receptors may be effective in alleviation of the appearance of benzodiazepine withdrawal signs.     

Use of guidance in teaching sign language to a chimpanzee (Pan troglodytes).

Taught a young female chimpanzee 12 signs of the American Sign Language using either molding (physically "molding" the hands and arms into the appropriate position), imitation, or freestyle (a combination) as the method of training. All 4 of the signs in both freestyle and molding were acquired within 4 training sessions but only 1 of the signs in imitation in the 4 training sessions. After another 4 training sessions without acquisition of the remaining 3 signs, the method of training was changed from imitation to molding and acquisition occurred within 4 additional sessions. An additional 18 signs were taught in Exp. II using molding (Sessions 1 and 2)-imitation (Sessions 3 and 4) and imitation (Sessions 1 and 2)-molding (Sessions 3 and 4). All 9 of the signs in molding-imitation, but only 1 in imitation-molding, were acquired during the 1st 2 training sessions. The remaining 8 signs in imitation-molding were acquired on the 3rd training session. (17 ref.) (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2010 APA, all rights reserved)     

Constitutive nitric oxide synthases in rat gastric mucosa: subcellular distribution, relative activity and different carboxyl-terminal antigenicity of the neuronal form compared with cerebellum

Acute lower respiratory tract illness is common among children seen in primary care. We reviewed the accuracy and precision of the clinical examination in detecting pneumonia in children. Although most cases are viral, it is important to identify bacterial pneumonia to provide appropriate therapy. Studies were identified by searching MEDLINE from 1982 to 1995, reviewing reference lists, reviewing a published compendium of studies of the clinical examination, and consulting experts. Observer agreement is good for most signs on the clinical examination. Each study was reviewed by 2 observers and graded for methodologic quality. There is better agreement about signs that can be observed (eg, use of accessory muscles, color, attentiveness; kappa, 0.48-0.66) than signs that require auscultation of the chest (eg, adventitious sounds; kappa, 0.3). Measurements of the respiratory rate are enhanced by counting for 60 seconds. The best individual finding for ruling out pneumonia is the absence of tachypnea. Chest indrawing, and other signs of increased work of breathing, increases the likelihood of pneumonia. If all clinical signs (respiratory rate, auscultation, and work of breathing) are negative, the chest x-ray findings are unlikely to be positive. Studies are needed to assess the value of clinical findings when they are used together.