New guidelines for concussion management.
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Biomedical subjects
Publications and source records attributed to L Purcell.
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We report the cases of two children, ages 8 and 10 years, with painful defecation and constipation due to impaction of sunflower seed shells that did not respond to laxative and enema therapy. Physical examination revealed a prickly mass in the rectal vault. Proctoscopy revealed bezoars of sunflower seed shells, which were removed by endoscopic biopsy forceps followed by a combination of rectal irrigation and manual disimpaction. The rectal pain resolved, and bowel habits returned to normal with laxatives. Patients with rectal bezoars who fail to respond to enemas or colonic lavage may require endoscopic management for resolution of their symptoms.
The function of SPARC (Secreted Protein, Acidic, Rich in Cysteine) in early embryonic development was assayed by microinjecting affinity-purified antibodies directed against SPARC into the blastocoel cavity of Xenopus embryos. Microinjection of SPARC antibodies did not appear to interfere with development until late neurulation. By hatching, a broad spectrum of external developmental anomalies were observable, including bent embryonic axes, accentuated ventral masses, shortened embryonic axes, and lack of visible eye pigment. Histological sections of injected embryos demonstrated that lack of visible eye pigmentation was often associated with deformities in eye development. Bending and shortening of the embryonic axis was associated with highly disorganized myotome patterns and loss of segmental boundaries. The results indicate a requirement for SPARC in the early morphological development of several tissues in Xenopus.
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Adding a dialysis filter to the perfusion circuit at the end of cardiopulmonary bypass (CPB) has become an accepted means of reducing potassium rapidly and safely. Rapid removal of solute requires a dialysate for diffusion, and peritoneal dialysis solutions have been the standard because of availability, although occasionally normal saline or bicarb/ saline mixtures are used. Cardioplegia solution is high in glucose as well as potassium and, with many diabetic patients undergoing CPB, it is desirable to minimize glucose loads. In this prospective cohort study, six patients received a commercially available sterile bicarbonate dialysate prepared in a point of care fashion. From the cardiovascular data base, four control patients (receiving lactate based dialysis solution during CPB) were matched for age, surgery type, body surface area (BSA), and pump duration for each of the six patients receiving bicarbonate dialysate. All of the control patients were dialysed against lactate buffered peritoneal dialysis solution. Plasma levels of potassium, glucose, and bicarb were measured before and after dialysis for each dialysate. Plasma potassium, glucose, and bicarb were not significantly different at start of dialysis. The lactate dialysate (LD) group received a mean of 17.4+/-7.7 L of lactate containing dialysate versus 14.6+/-4.7 L of bicarbonate dialysate (BD) (p = 0.41). After dialysis, potassium had been reduced to a similar degree in both groups, but plasma glucose levels had increased during LD while they fell during BD, and bicarbonate levels fell during LD while they rose during BD. Use of a commercially available sterile bicarbonate dialysate can safely help to lower plasma potassium during CPB and preserve more physiologic levels of glucose and bicarbonate.