Dicationic furans inhibit development of Cryptosporidium parvum in HSD/ICR suckling Swiss mice

The efficacy of dicationic diarylfurans was evaluated against Cryptosporidium parvum by a suckling murine model. Candidate drugs were solubilized or suspended in deionized water and administered orally at a constant dose rate on days 0-5 (treatment day 0) to suckling ICR Swiss mice experimentally inoculated with oocysts of C. parvum. Efficacy was based on numbers of oocysts recovered from the intestinal tracts of mice subjected to necropsy examination on day 6. Numerous candidate furans significantly reduced the numbers of oocysts recovered from treated mice compared with control mice. Compounds 1, 2, 4, and 9 demonstrated superior efficacies (10% of controls or better) against C. parvum. Compounds 3, 5, 6, 7, 8, 11, 17, 18, and 19 also significantly reduced the numbers of oocysts recovered from treated mice but demonstrated efficacies ranging from 17 to 65% of controls. Compound 4 was particularly efficacious against C. parvum at a dosage as low as 8.5 mg/kg of body weight. Compound 4 is identified as a lead compound for additional studies in other animal models.     

Coronary artery perforation and delayed cardiac tamponade following balloon coronary angioplasty

A 62-year-old woman who had coronary artery disease and hypertrophic cardiomyopathy received percutaneous transluminal coronary angioplasty and endomyocardial biopsy. She withstood the procedure well. However, delayed pericardial tamponade occurred 2 hours after discharge from the cardiac catheterization laboratory. Despite pericardial drainage with a pigtail catheter and blood transfusion, the patient required emergency surgery. An oozing diagonal branch of the left anterior descending coronary artery was found. Ligation of this small branch stabilized the hemodynamics. Avoidance of improper positioning of the guide wire in the small coronary artery branch is important in preventing arterial wall trauma and subsequent perforation.     

A practical method of autotransfusion in the emergency center

A new mobile autotransfusion device, modified for use in the Emergency Center, is described. Preliminary usage in thirty trauma patients who underwent autotransfusion of 60 units of blood indicated the device was simple to utilize, efficacious, inexpensive, cost-effective, and safe.     

Cholinomimetics and memory. The effect of choline chloride

Young normal subjects received 16 g of choline chloride in a double-blind A-B-A design. Short- and long-term memory function was evaluated. Comparison of group means indicated that choline chloride did not significantly affect short-term memory or long-term memory. However, individual subjects may have had some aspects of long-term memory affected by choline chloride treatments. The results suggest that the effect of lower doses of choline on long-term memory should be evaluated.     

Excretion of levamisole in milk from cows treated with various formulations

The rate of disappearance of levamisole in milk from cows given levamisole hydrochloride drench, levamisole resinate in feed pellets, levamisole hydrochloride boluses, or levamisole phosphate injectable was determined. Each formulation was given as a single treatment to each of five cows at a rate equivalent to 8 mg of levamisole hydrochloride/kg of body weight. Levamisole hydrochloride residues in milk averaged .50, .55, .58, and .32 ppm at 12 hr after the administration of levamisole drench, feed, bolus, and injectable formulations. Levamisole hydrochloride residues were below .01 ppm in milk at 48 h after drench treatment and at 60 h after treatment with other three formulations. Toxicity symptoms were not observed in any cows following treatment.     

Urinary photocatabolites of bilirubin in jaundiced neonates

Success in the use of custom-fabricated Silastic implants in patients with facial contour defects led us to utilize this method in reconstructing mandibular defects. However, mandibular reconstruction with alloplastic material is quite difficult because of the presence of continous stress and motion in that region. The evolution in the use in the use of the mandibular implant from the commercially available one to the K-wire reinforced, prefabricated, silicone implant was largely dependent on the availability of silicone and the ultimate result obtained. In the past few years, about 30 subdermal implants were inserted. Some of those implants were placed immediately into patients undergoing resection for tumor. The implant was prefabricated prior to surgery from x-ray measurements of the anticipated segment to be resected; it was then used to reconstruct the defect prior to the final closure of the operative wound. Other implants were manufactured 6-18 months after resection for tumor or for deformity as a result of trauma. The implants were used to reconstruct the facial defects and to correct the funtional abnormality, such as drooling or deviation of the affected side by the unstable mandibular segment. Patients with severe congenital malformation have soft tissue deficiency in association with their bony malformation. Therefore, implants in such conditions were doomed to failure. Patient selection is the key to successful implantation.