Potato gun ocular injury

PURPOSE: This study aimed to identify a dangerous new weapon capable of causing damage to the ocular and periocular regions. METHODS: The authors report two patients who had penetrating ocular injury in the past year because of homemade recreational potato guns. RESULTS: In one 14-year-old boy, projectiles from the firing of a potato gun resulted in orbital and cranial injuries that were life threatening with widespread fractures, marked disruption of facial structures, a cerebrospinal fluid fistula requiring bifrontal surgical repair, and loss of one eye. In a separate accident with a different potato gun, a 14-year-old boy who was wearing glasses at the time of injury had a sight-threatening perforating corneal laceration. CONCLUSION: Practitioners must be aware of the existence of these new, homemade unregulated devices. Information about the use and construction of these guns is widespread on the Internet, but no injuries resulting from these guns currently are documented in the medical literature.     

Thoracoscopic treatment of mediastinal cysts in children

BACKGROUND/PURPOSE: The development of thoracoscopic surgery has made many procedures possible, including the treatment of mediastinal cysts in children. The authors report their experience with this procedure between 1992 and 1997. METHODS: Surgery was performed on 22 children aged from 1 month to 9 years (median, 27 months), weighing 5 to 49 kg (median, 12.5 kg). Diagnosis was made by antenatal ultrasound scan in six cases (27%), with a chest x-ray performed for respiratory symptoms in 14 cases, and with a chest x-ray performed for positive tuberculin intradermoreaction in two cases. Decision to resect the cyst was determined by thoracoscopy in 21 of the 22 cases, and by open surgery in one case only (subcarinal compressive cyst with left lung distension and a mediastinal shift). RESULTS: Eighteen of the 21 (86%) cases were treated successfully by thoracoscopy. In three cases of bronchogenic cysts, we performed an associated thoracotomy because the dissection was too difficult and dangerous. In three cases, a small part of a common wall between the cyst and the bronchus was not removed. The pathological diagnosis was bronchogenic cysts in 15 cases (71%), pleuropericardiat cysts in three cases (14%), esophageal duplication in two cases (10%), and cystic hygroma in one case (5%). Two postoperative complications were observed: one esophageal wound and a case of recurrent pneumothorax after chest tube removal. Patients were discharged after 2 to 11 days (median, 3 days). Follow-up was uneventful. CONCLUSIONS: Treatment of mediastinal cyst by thoracoscopy is feasible in most cases. Compressive cysts with lung distension and mediastinal shift remain a contraindication. If the cysts have a common wall with the bronchus or esophagus, or if they are subcarinal, the dissection may be difficult and dangerous, and thoracotomy may be preferable.     

Love potions and the ointment of witches: historical aspects of the nightshade alkaloids

BACKGROUND: Nightshade plants (Solanaceae) have been utilized as hallucinogenic drugs since antiquity in nearly every culture. The Solanaceae alkaloids, atropine and scopolamine, were the active substances in ointment of witches and medieval anesthetics, and in modern poisons. They are still currently used as hallucinogenic drugs. In poisonings, a dosage- and substance-dependent clinical picture occurs, with central and peripheral symptoms. Hallucinations are predominant in the middle dose range, which explains the drugs' earlier utilization for religious and prophetic purposes. Respiratory depression and arrest at high doses confirm the use of scopolamine as a lethal poison. Despite this, the nightshade alkaloids were utilized in clinical medicine in the 19th century. This is an overview of the cultural history of the nightshade alkaloids.     

Clear lens extraction and implantation of negative-power posterior chamber intraocular lenses to correct extreme myopia

PURPOSE: To evaluate the effectiveness, predictability, and safety of clear lens extraction to correct extreme myopia. SETTING: Clinica de Nuestra Se?ora de la Concepción, Fundación Jiménez Díaz, Madrid, Spain. METHODS: This retrospective study comprised 26 eyes of 17 highly myopic patients who had clear lens extraction and implantation of a negative-power posterior chamber intraocular lens (IOL). The IOL power was calculated using the SRK/T formula. Analyzed were visual and refractive results and intraoperative and postoperative complications. Follow-up was at least 12 months in all cases. RESULTS: Uncorrected visual acuity improved in all cases, with 80.77% of eyes achieving 20/100 or better and 42.30%, 20/40 or better. Best spectacle-corrected visual acuity (BSCVA) improved in 23 eyes (88.46%). The percentage of eyes achieving a BSCVA of 20/100 or better increased from 73.07% preoperatively to 92.30% postoperatively and the percentage achieving 20/40 or better, from 23.07 to 73.07%. Of the 26 eyes, 76.91% were within 1.00 diopter (D) of refractive error and 96.16% were within 2.00 D. No intraoperative complications occurred. Although postoperatively 3 eyes (11.53%) developed choroidal detachment and 5 (19.23%) had an intraocular pressure greater than 25 mm Hg, all had a favorable outcome. Four eyes (15.38%) developed posterior capsule opacification and had a neodymium:YAG laser posterior capsulotomy 6 months postoperatively. No retinal detachments were observed. CONCLUSION: Clear lens extraction with negative-power IOL implantation using the SRK/T formula had good effectiveness, acceptable predictability, and a low morbidity in eyes with extreme myopia over a short follow-up. A longer follow-up with more cases is needed to assess the safety of the procedure.     

Enantioselective synthesis and pharmacology of 11-hydroxy-(1'S,2'R)-dimethylheptyl-delta 8-THC

An enantioselective synthesis of the (1'S,2'R)-dimethylheptyl cannabinoid side chain has been developed and employed in the synthesis of 11-hydroxy-(1'S,2'R)-dimethylheptyl-delta 8-THC (3). Pharmacology, in vivo and in vitro, indicate (3) to be one of the most potent traditional cannabinoids known.     

Delta opioid peptide [D-Ala2,D-leu5]enkephalin blocks the long-term loss of dopamine transporters induced by multiple administrations of methamphetamine: involvement of opioid receptors and reactive oxygen species

Delta opioid peptide [D-Ala2,D-leu5]enkephalin (DADLE) can prolong organ preservation and increases myocardial tolerance to ischemia. Our study examined the protective property of DADLE against methamphetamine- (METH) induced dopaminergic terminal damage in the central nervous system. Because the neurotoxicity of METH involves reactive oxygen species, we also examined if DADLE might be an antioxidative agent in vitro. DADLE at 2 and 4 mg/kg (i.p.), given 30 min before each METH administration (5 or 10 mg/kg, i.p., four injections in a day at 2-hr intervals), dose-dependently blocked the METH-induced long-term dopamine transporter loss. The opioid antagonist naltrexone blocked this action of DADLE in both aspects of striata but tends not to affect the effects of DADLE in the nucleus accumbens. DADLE did not alter changes in body temperature induced by METH. The reduction of striatal dopaminergic content and tyrosine hydroxylase activity caused by METH, however, were not blocked by DADLE. In vitro, DADLE was approximately equipotent to glutathione in inhibiting both superoxide anion formation induced by xanthine oxidase and hydroxyl radical formation evoked by ferrous/citrate complex. DADLE was only slightly less potent than glutathione in inhibiting the iron/ascorbate-induced brain lipid peroxidation. These results suggest that DADLE can protect the terminal membranes of dopaminergic neurons against METH-induced insult but not the loss of dopaminergic content and tyrosine hydroxylase activity and that this action of DADLE might involve opioid receptors as well as the sequestration of free radical.     

Conceptus, progesterone, and breed effects on uterine protein secretion in swine

This experiment consisted of the following treatment-breed groups: 1) White crossbred gilts, 2) White crossbred gilts treated with progesterone (200 mg/d in corn oil given on d 2 and 3 after estrus), and 3) Chinese Meishan gilts. Pregnant and nonpregnant gilts (n=3 to 6) from each treatment-breed combination were assigned to be slaughtered on d 10, 11, 12, 13, and 15. At slaughter each uterine horn was flushed with 20 mL of minimal essential medium. Uterine flushings were assayed for total protein, acid phosphatase, uteroferrin, retinol-binding protein, and oxytocin. Uterine flush total protein was increased by progesterone treatment, was unaffected by pregnancy status, and was less in Meishans. Similar patterns were found for retinol binding protein and uteroferrin, except that uteroferrin was greater in pregnant than in nonpregnant gilts. Oxytocin was greater in pregnant than in nonpregnant gilts, was not influenced by progesterone treatment, and was similar in Meishan and in White crossbred gilts. These results indicate that the conceptus does not influence secretion of either total protein or retinol binding protein during pregnancy and that the onset of secretion of these uterine proteins may be controlled by progesterone. The presence of the conceptus is associated with increased uteroferrin and oxytocin production. The decreased secretion of uterine proteins in Meishan gilts may partially explain the slower embryonic development that has been reported for this breed.     

Diagnostic focus on the child with myoclonic seizures in isolation or associated with other types of seizures

Myoclonus may be observed in children with mild or severe epileptic syndromes. Both types are seen at characteristic ages, together with other factors: aetiology, family history, hereditary pattern, effect on psychomotor development and EEG-EMG findings. In children with progressive or degenerative encephalopathies and myoclonus, better known as progressive myoclonic epilepsy, there are also specific clinical data, together with biological and genetic markers which permit identification. The most specific clinical characteristics of each of these clinical pictures are described, as are the complementary tests which permit confirmation of these diagnoses.     

On perspectives, theories, models, and friends: A reply to the relationalists.

The authors respond to the "relational" issue of Psychoanalytic Psychology (PP; Vol. 12, No. 1) and support Karol Marshall's remonstration about the need to clarify what exactly the category relational refers to. It is noteworthy that in this issue of PP the relational thinkers do not engage the specific topics of our essay. The author's article attempted to review the most comprehensive relational thinkers of that time across theoretical variables. Relationalists have begun to spell out the technical consequences of their perspective in recent discussions of neutrality, authority, and self-disclosure, among other issues. This is a useful trend in the relational literature, and we hope it continues. We are concerned, however, that the relational thinkers writing in this issue tend to dismiss the contributions to PP 12(1) because the perspectives presented there did not satisfy the relationalist vision of how scientific exchange should be undertaken. Although we feel that it is important for emerging points of view to be able to elaborate assumptions, constructs, and principles within their own framework and in their own way, constructive dialogue, much less a comparative analysis of the contributions and limitations of different points of view, requires that we have some common ground. (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2010 APA, all rights reserved)     

An orphan nuclear receptor activated by pregnanes defines a novel steroid signaling pathway

PURPOSE: To determine the effects of 28 d of creatine supplementation during training on body composition, strength, sprint performance, and hematological profiles. METHODS: In a double-blind and randomized manner, 25 NCAA division IA football players were matched-paired and assigned to supplement their diet for 28 d during resistance/agility training (8 h x wk[-1]) with a Phosphagen HP (Experimental and Applied Sciences, Golden, CO) placebo (P) containing 99 g x d(-1) of glucose, 3 g x d(-1) of taurine, 1.1 g x d(-1) of disodium phosphate, and 1.2 g x d(-1) of potassium phosphate (P) or Phosphagen HP containing the P with 15.75 g x d(-1) of HPCE pure creatine monohydrate (HP). Before and after supplementation, fasting blood samples were obtained; total body weight, total body water, and body composition were determined; subjects performed a maximal repetition test on the isotonic bench press, squat, and power clean; and subjects performed a cycle ergometer sprint test (12 x 6-s sprints with 30-s rest recovery). RESULTS: Hematological parameters remained within normal clinical limits for active individuals with no side effects reported. Total body weight significantly increased (P < 0.05) in the HP group (P 0.85 +/- 2.2; HP 2.42 +/- 1.4 kg) while no differences were observed in the percentage of total body water. DEXA scanned body mass (P 0.77 +/- 1.8; HP 2.22 +/- 1.5 kg) and fat/bone-free mass (P 1.33 +/- 1.1; HP 2.43 +/- 1.4 kg) were significantly increased in the HP group. Gains in bench press lifting volume (P -5 +/- 134; HP 225 +/- 246 kg), the sum of bench press, squat, and power clean lifting volume (P 1,105 +/- 429; HP 1,558 +/- 645 kg), and total work performed during the first five 6-s sprints was significantly greater in the HP group. CONCLUSION: The addition of creatine to the glucose/taurine/electrolyte supplement promoted greater gains in fat/bone-free mass, isotonic lifting volume, and sprint performance during intense resistance/agility training.