Normal and pathological respiratory sounds analyzed by means of a new phonopneumographic apparatus

A technique and an original apparatus for recording and displaying the sound levels emitted by human lungs during respiratory movements are described. By means of it a graphic recording of chest acoustics can be obtained. An analysis of the phonopneumographic findings shows clear differences between normal pathological readings, both in the level of the sounds and in their frequency content. Evidence is given of cases in which the physician can directly recognize the presence of special diseases. Beside this, FPGraphic representations are also useful for retaining evidence of findings which cannot be recorded by other methods, and for checking the natural evolution of a disease or its response to clinical treatments.     

Interactions between alcohol and other drugs on open-field and temperature measurements in gerbils

Open-field activity and rectal temperature were measured in mongolian gerbils treated with alcholol (1 and 2 g/kg) only and when alcohol was combined with bemegride (20 and 40 mg/kg), DH-524 (20 mg/kg), or d-amphetamine (8 mg/kg). None of the purported antagonists normalized the alcholol-produced changes in the open-field test, nor did they reverse the alcohol-induced hypothermia. However, alcohol offered protection against bemegride-induced convulsion and death. When compared with pervious data (1) it is suggested that alcohol is differentiated from pentobarbital and diazepam on the basis of their interactional effects with bemegride.     

ADER: Arbitrary High Order Godunov Approach

This paper concerns the construction of non-oscillatory schemes of very high order of accuracy in space and time, to solve non-linear hyperbolic conservation laws. The schemes result from extending the ADER approach, which is related to the ENO/WENO methodology. Our schemes are conservative, one-step, explicit and fully discrete, requiring only the computation of the inter-cell fluxes to advance the solution by a full time step; the schemes have optimal stability condition. To compute the intercell flux in one space dimension we solve a generalised Riemann problem by reducing it to the solution a sequence of m conventional Riemann problems for the kth spatial derivatives of the solution, with k=0, 1,..., m–1, where m is arbitrary and is the order of the accuracy of the resulting scheme. We provide numerical examples using schemes of up to fifth order of accuracy in both time and space.     

Uterine position and presentation of minipig-fetuses and their order and presentation at birth

Uterine position and presentation of fetuses in 17 minipigs during pregnancy were compared with their order and presentation at birth. Fetuses from 1 or both uterine horns were marked between day 80 and day 105 of gestation by 1 or more transuterine injections of either a 2.5% solution of dianil blue (3 animals) or a radiopaque substance (14 animals). Roentgenograms of the newborn pigs, which were ear-notched immediately after birth, enabled making individual identification. Pigs seemed to be delivered randomly from the 2 uterine horns. They either followed a neighbor from the same horn (n = 42) or followed a pig from the contralateral horn (n = 52). Only in 3 dams did 1 uterine horn become empty before delivery from the other horn started. In 4 dams, 1 pig passed its neighbor from the same horn, thereby being born earlier than expected. Moreover, passing of pigs could have occurred and gone undetected in those dams from which the pigs of only 1 horn were marked. This passing might have taken place within the uterine body. From 18 of 95 pigs (19%) , the presentation at birth differed from the one observed at laparotomy.     

Diffuse cavernous hemangioma of the spleen

Diffuse hemangioma of the spleen occurred in a 59-year-old man. The presenting features were a dull ache and heaviness in the left upper quadrant for 3 weeks, severe left-sided pain and fever immediately before hospitalization, and a tender mass in the left upper quadrant. The condition was diagnosed at laparotomy; splenectomy was performed. In this case intrahemangiomatous hemorrhage had occurred, but not rupture of the spleen, which is a potentially lethal complication. Other complications of diffuse splenic hemangioma are thrombosis, infarction, infection with abscess formation, and partial calcification of the vascular spaces. The condition is rare; only 56 cases have been reported.