Video-assisted thoracoscopic placement of paravertebral catheters: a technique for postoperative analgesia for bilateral thoracoscopic surgery

Paravertebral catheters were placed bilaterally through a Tuohy needle under direct video control in a patient undergoing video-assisted thoracoscopic (VAT) surgery for recurrent, bilateral pneumothoraces. Postoperative analgesia was produced by infusing bupivacaine through the catheters. This provided good analgesia. VAT placement of paravertebral catheters is easily accomplished and may be a part of the surgical procedure.     

Extrusion studies of mixtures containing certain meat offals: Part 2-textural properties

Thermoplastically extruded products prepared from soy grits alone, and from those containing 20% or 35% of bovine or porcine offal, at various temperatures of extrusion, were subjected to instrumental texture profile analysis (hardness, elasticity, cohesiveness, gumminess, chewiness) and shear force measurements. The offal sources were untreated, or alkali-extracted, protein from bovine and porcine lung and bovine tripe (rumen and reticulum) and protein in extracted by sodium dodecyl sulphate (SDS) from bovine tripe. For products prepared from soy grits alone, hardness, gumminess, chewiness and shear force showed maxima at 170°C, whereas elasticity and cohesiveness increased progressively in the temperature range studied (140-190°C). Products containing SDS-extracted tripe protein required more force to shear, and were more hard, gummy and chewy, than products containing untreated offal, and values for all parameters were greater in the latter than in products containing alkali-extracted offal protein. The effect of extrusion temperature on the textural parameters of the products was less than that due to the mode of offal preparation used (untreated, alkali- or SDS-extracted) or the level of incorporation. Offal source was relatively unimportant. Products containing alkali-extracted offal protein had poor internal structure and were brittle; those containing SDS-extracted protein were tough. The different textural properties of the extracted products might determine their relative suitability for use either alone, as analogues or as extenders.     

Insulin-stimulated cell growth in insulin receptor substrate-1-deficient ZR-75-1 cells is mediated by a phosphatidylinositol-3-kinase-independent pathway

The projections of enteric neurons to the circular muscle of the guinea pig gastric corpus were investigated systematically by using the retrogradely transported fluorescent carbocyanine dye 1,1'-didodecyl-3,3,3',3'-tetramethyl indocarbocyanine perchlorate (DiI), applied to the muscle layer or myenteric plexus in vitro. DiI-labeled motor neuron cell bodies were located up to 6.3 mm aboral, 17 mm oral, and up to 20 mm circumferential to the DiI application site. Labeled nerve fibers ran for long distances from the DiI application site toward the greater and lesser curvatures, where they coursed parallel to the bundles of the "gastric sling" muscle. The majority of labeled cells were located toward the lesser curvature of the stomach. Nerve cell bodies that were aboral to the DiI application site were usually small, immunoreactive for choline acetyltransferase, and, thus, were likely to be excitatory motor neurons. Neurons that were located orally were larger, fewer in number, and immunoreactive for nitric oxide synthase and, thus, were likely to be inhibitory motor neurons. Application of DiI directly to the myenteric plexus filled neurons up to 15 mm aborally and up to 21 mm orally but labeled few neurons circumferentially. All nerve cells that were filled from either the circular muscle or the myenteric plexus had Dogiel type I morphological features. These results demonstrate a clear polarity of projection of inhibitory and excitatory motor neurons and a functionally continuous innervation of the circular and gastric sling muscle layers. Nonmotor neurons in the myenteric plexus were demonstrated, but neurons with Dogiel type II morphological features are apparently absent.     

The Impact of Social Media on Consumers’ Acculturation and Purchase Intentions

Social media has emerged as a significant and effective means of assisting and endorsing activities and communications among peers, consumers and organizations that outdo the restrictions of time and space. While the previous studies acknowledge the role of agents of culture change, it largely remains silent on the role of social media in influencing acculturation outcomes and consumption choices. This study uses self-administered questionnaire to collect data from 514 Turkish-Dutch respondents and examines how their use of social media affects their acculturation and consumption choices. This research makes a significant contribution to consumer acculturation research by showing that social media is a vital means of culture change and a driver of acculturation strategies and consumption choices. This study is the first to investigate the role of social media as an agent of culture change in terms of how it impacts acculturation and consumption. The paper discusses implications for theory development and for practice.     

Optimized traffic profile for FlexGrid optical networks

A precise alignment between point-to-point free space optical (FSO) networks is crucial in order to maximize the performance of data transmission. A sway or low-frequency vibration of FSO base station can affect line-of-sight quality and hence may lead to the occurrence of higher BER. Therefore, the work presented in this paper is to demonstrate an improved auto-alignment single-channel FSO transmission system at X-axis detection area. The receiver base station was fed with pulsed signal laser from a tunable laser source with a central wavelength of 1550 nm. The detection mechanism responds from an analog input signal received that corresponds to the X-axis direction of transmitter vibration. The detection performance of the system was observed by using two approaches: auto-searching of artificial intelligence (AI) detection with stop command and without stop command. The obtained results indicate that the bit sequence of the pulsed signal has low loss by implementing the auto-searching of AI detection with stop command features and hence improves the efficiency of the overall FSO transmission system.     

In vivo aortic muscle cell growth kinetics. Differences between thoracic and abdominal segments after intimal injury in the rabbit

Focal proliferation of smooth muscle cell (SMC) is an integral part of atherosclerotic plaque formation: characterization of regional variation in SMC growth kinetics is therefore important to the understanding of atherogenesis. SMC growth kinetics of rabbit abdominal and thoracic segments were compared. Rabbit aortas were denuded of endothelium and the animals killed after 3H-thymidine and Evans blue injections at 0 to 48 days after denudation. Incorporation of 3H-thymidine into both aortic segments peaked at 48 hours; no detectable incorporation occurred in the first 24 hours. Abdominal segment DNA specific activity (SA, dpm/micrograms DNA) and total kinetic activity (TKA, dpm/0.1 mm internal elastic lamina) at 48 hours were significantly greater than values for the thoracic aorta. Abdominal SA and TKA curves decreased exponentially after the 48-hour peak and parallel thoracic levels after day 7. SA and TKA values for each segment reflected the subsequent SMC intimal growth rates as measured morphometrically. Therefore, both segments share similar growth kinetic characteristics; however, the abdominal response to initimal injury is greater than the thoracic and leads to greater myointimal proliferation. The difference in response to injury in the two segments suggests regional variation in SMC's which are phenotypically similar.     

Area detector corrections for high quality synchrotron X-ray structure factor measurements

Correction procedures for obtaining accurate X-ray structure factors from large area detectors are considered, including subpanel effects, over excited pixels and careful intensity corrections. Problems associated with data normalization, the use of a pixel response correction from a glass standard and minimization of systematic errors are also discussed. Data from glassy GeSe₂ and liquid water measured with a Perkin Elmer amorphous-Silicon detector are used to demonstrate the effectiveness of these correction procedures. This requires reduction of systematic errors in the measured intensity to around the 0.1% level.     

Influence of coagulating bath composition on the texture of fibres spun from blood plasma

The effect of the composition of the coagulating bath on the formation of spun fibres from blood plasma protein has been investigated. The texture of these fibres is affected by the concentration of the coagulants, especially at low levels. The fibre retained an amount of sodium chloride, proportional to the salt level in the bath, which could be washed free from the fibre without redissolution. As a result a satisfactory level of ash in the textured product could be obtained.