Blind oral intubation in a spontaneously breathing patient can be facilitated with a combination of two devices used mainly for nasotracheal intubation, the BAAM (Beck Airway Air Flow Monitor, Great Plains Ballistics, Lubbock, TX) and the Endotrol endotracheal tube (Mallinckrodt Critical Care, Inc., St. Louis, MO). We describe a case in which intubation of a spontaneously breathing intensive care unit patient was unsuccessful by traditional methods. In the successful approach we describe, the tube was passed through the oral cavity and pharynx in a blind fashion, using the BAAM's whistling sound for guidance and the plastic ring of the Endotrol tube to help positioning. This equipment combination may be useful in certain difficult intubation situations.

Adult↗

PubMedDate not supplied

Clonal response to ethanol of proliferating rat hepatoma cells in vitro.

We have grown HTC cells (ascites variant of Morris hepatoma 7288c) in spinner cultures in the presence of various concentrations of ethanol, both in short-term incubations and in chronically exposed cultures. In short-term exposures cell proliferation is decreased in a dose-related fashion, falling to approximately 25% of control values at 35 mM ethanol. In refed cultures maintained at ethanol concentrations gradually increased to 17 mM, there is an initial decrease in proliferation followed by stabilization. Comparison of the growth patterns of cells chronically exposed to ethanol with the growth patterns of uncloned naive cells suggests the presence of both ethanol-sensitive and -resistant HTC cell clones. Preliminary cloning experiments have been successful in demonstrating that HTC clones do exist which have widely varying responses to ethanol. Clones have been isolated which are growth-inhibited by low concentrations of ethanol whereas others are resistant or even stimulated in the same concentration range. The critical differences between ethanol-sensitive and -resistant HTC cells are currently unknown, but the general phenomenon of clonal selection during chronic ethanol exposure is of interest in the pathogenesis of alcohol-related diseases.

Adaptation, Physiological↗

PubMedDate not supplied

Biologic fate of cryopreserved human saphenous allografts: case report and hypothesis.

A femoroperoneal bypass using a cryopreserved human saphenous allograft was performed on a patient who presented with critical ischemia of the left lower extremity. The patient died of myocardial infarction 48 hours later and the graft was examined histologically. There was karryorhexis and focal neutrophilic infiltrate in the media underlying a layer of fibrin on the intimal surface. Immunoperoxidase studies showed nonspecific luminal deposition of immunoglobulins and fibrinogen. The histologic changes that occur in cryopreserved venous allografts are similar in experimental and human material and may be the result of anoxia of the vessel wall rather than immunologic mechanisms.

Aged↗