Coronary artery spasm in the denervated transplanted human heart: a clue to underlying mechanisms

The mechanism of coronary artery spasm has been poorly understood but there has been some suggestion that cardiac autonomic innervation may play an important role. We report coronary artery spasm in a 43 year old man two years after he had received a transplant. Provocative pharmacologic testing suggested functional denervation of the patient's heart. Thus, coronary artery spasm can occur in the transplanted, denervated human heart. Autonomic innervation of the heart is not essential in all cases of coronary spasm, and circulating catecholamines and/or metabolic of hormonal products may play an important role.     

Changes in pain perception after treatment for chronic pain

Pain threshold, sensitivity, response bias and ability to discriminate were measured before and after treatment for 15 improved and 15 unimproved chronic pain patients diagnosed as having myofascial pain dysfunction (MPD) syndrome, There were no differences between the groups before treatment. After treatment, the improved group showed an increase in pain threshold, sensitivity and ability to discriminate between different levels of painful stimulation and a decrease in response bias to report pain. The unimproved group showed no changes.     

Elbow dislocation during overhead skeletal traction therapy: a case report

A dislocation of the elbow occurred in a 7-year-old boy during overhead skeletal traction treatment for a supracondylar fracture of the humerus. Closed reduction of the dislocation was successful. A review of the literature failed to reveal a report of a similar incident.     

Reproductive performance and fertility testing in strain 13 and Hartley guinea pigs

A study to test the effects of certain experimental manipulation on the reproductive capacity of male guinea pigs required verifying the fertility of the male guinea pigs before and after manipulation. Methods of testing fertility were evaluated, and normal reproductive data from preexperimental and control groups were tabulated and analyzed. No data from the actual experiments were included. Virgin and proven fertile males were mated with 1 (1:1) or 2 (2:1) virgin or proven fertile females. Inbred (13/N Umm) and conventional (Mfi:CFDH-ML (DH) ) guinea pigs were used. Ninety-five percent of both groups of males were fertile. Eighty-four percent of both groups of females were fertile. Male guinea pigs previously proven fertile had the same subsequent fertility rate as virgin males. Over one-third of the conceptions did not take place during the first estrus cycle (16 da) during which the males and females were mated. Strain 13 and Hartley females had litters of approximately the same size (3.1 vs 3.0), but the neonatal mortality was statistically lower (P less than 0.001) in the Hartley stock (9.3%) than in the Strain 13 guinea pigs (28.4%).