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Alteration of the counterregulatory responses to insulin-induced hypoglycemia and of cognitive function after massive weight reduction in severely obese subjects.

The autonomic nervous system (ANS) and hypothalamic-pituitary-adrenal (HPA) axis are reported as activated in excess in the morbidly obese state and, therefore, changes after weight loss can be anticipated. The aim of this study was to investigate the impact of a massive (approximately 30%) weight reduction on the activation of the HPA axis and the ANS following bariatric surgery. Eight (7 women, 1 man) severely obese (125+/-12 kg; body mass index [BMI], 45+/-4 kg/m2) nondiabetic subjects, underwent a 3-hour hyperinsulinemic (1,034 pmol/kg/h) glucose clamp study at hypoglycemia of arterial B-glucose concentration of 3.4 mmol/L. Cognitive function was evaluated by a visuospatial computerized problem-solving test, the Perceptual Maze Test (PMT). The mean weight loss was 40+/-9 kg approximately 12 months postsurgery when their weight was stabilized (85+/-6 kg; BMI, 31+/-3 kg/m2), and insulin sensitivity improved to an average increase of 376%+/-250% (P<.01) of initial value. Before weight reduction, all patients demonstrated brisk peak responses in glucagon, epinephrine, pancreatic polypeptide (PP), norepinephrine, and cortisol, indicative of preserved or exaggerated activation of ANS and HPA axis. In the reduced-obese state, all these responses were attenuated and most markedly so for glucagon, which was totally abolished. In contrast, the growth hormone (GH) response was increased after weight reduction. The cognitive function was clearly modified by weight reduction both during normoglycemia and hypoglycemia and was changed preferentially to a speed-preferring strategy in the reduced-obese state compared with a more accuracy preferred problem-solving process of PMT test presurgery. These results demonstrate a reduction of the glucose counterregulatory hormonal responses, increased insulin sensitivity, and perturbed cognitive function after massive weight reduction. It may be speculated on if the increased insulin sensitivity and reduced counterregulation to hypoglycemia could predispose to low plasma glucose concentrations.

Adrenal Glands↗

Heart rate variability in obesity and the effect of weight loss.

To investigate the effects of obesity and weight loss on cardiovascular autonomic function, we examined 28 obese patients referred for weight-reducing gastroplasty, 24 obese patients who received dietary recommendations, and 28 lean subjects. Body weight, blood pressure, and 24-hour urinary norepinephrine excretion were measured, and time and frequency domain indexes of heart rate variability (HRV) were obtained from 24-hour Holter recordings. A measure of long-term HRV, the SD of all normal RR intervals (SDANN), was used as an index of sympathetic activity and the high-frequency (HF) component of the frequency domain, reflecting short-term HRV, as an estimate of vagal activity. All 3 study groups were investigated at baseline, and the 2 obese groups were reexamined at 1-year follow-up. Obese patients had higher blood pressure, higher urinary norepinephrine excretion, and attenuated SDANN and HF values than lean subjects (p <0.01). Obese patients treated with surgery had a mean weight loss of 32 kg (28%), whereas the obese group treated with dietary recommendations remained weight stable (p <0.001). At follow-up the weight-loss group displayed decreases in blood pressure and norepinephrine excretion and showed increments in SDANN and HF values. These changes were significantly greater than those observed in the obese control group (p <0.05). Our findings suggest that obese patients have increased sympathetic activity and a withdrawal of vagal activity and that these autonomic disturbances improve after weight loss.

Adult↗

Sphincter and nerve preserving total mesorectal excision.

The summer of 2002 has seen the introduction of two new key words in the literature on rectal carcinoma. The words are TME Workshop. Papers attesting to a major impact on rectal cancer outcomes in Norway, Sweden, and Holland, are the background to two major papers in the August British Journal of Surgery, one from Ireland and one from Sweden plus a leading article from a professor in Singapore entitled "Adjuvant therapy for rectal cancer cannot be based on the results of other surgeons".

Autonomic Pathways↗

Re-growth of catecholaminergic fibers and protection of cholinergic spinal cord neurons in spinal repaired rats.

The extent of re-growth of catecholaminergic fibers, the survival of cholinergic neurons and the degree of autonomic dysreflexia were assessed in complete spinal cord-transected adult rats that received a repair treatment of peripheral nerve grafts and acidic fibroblast growth factor (aFGF). The rats were randomly divided into three groups: (1) sham control group (laminectomy only); (2) spinal cord transection at T8 (transected group); and (3) spinal cord transection at T8, followed by aFGF treatment and peripheral nerve graft (repaired group). The spinal cords and brains of all rats were collected at 6 months post-surgery. Immunohistochemistry for tyrosine hydroxylase (TH) and dopamine-beta-hydroxylase (DBH), and fluoro-gold (FG) retrograde tracing were used to evaluate axon growth across the damage site, and immunocytochemistry for choline acetyl transferase (ChAT) was used to evaluate cholinergic neuronal cell survival following the injury and treatment. When comparing with the transected group, the repaired group showed: (1) lower elevation of mean arterial pressure during colorectal distension; (2) retrogradely labeled neurons in the hypothalamus, zona incerta, subcoeruleus nuclei and rostral ventrolateral medulla following application of FG below the repair site; (3) the presence of TH- and DBH-labeled axons below the lesion site; (4) higher numbers of ChAT-positive neurons in ventral horn and intermediolateral column near the lesion site. We conclude that peripheral nerve graft and aFGF treatments facilitate the re-growth of catecholaminergic fibers, also protect sympathetic preganglionic neurons and spinal motor neurons, and reduce autonomic dysfunction in a T-8 spinal cord-transected rat model.

Acetylcholine↗

Progressive posttraumatic myelomalacic myelopathy: treatment with untethering and expansive duraplasty.

Patients with progressive posttraumatic myelomalacic myelopathy (PPMM), or tethered cord syndrome, present with symptoms and signs similar to those observed in case of progressive posttraumatic cystic myelopathy, that is, sensorimotor function deterioration, local and/or radicular pain, increased spasticity, increased autonomic dysreflexia, and sphincter dysfunction. The authors investigated surgical outcomes of untethering combined with expansive duraplasty. Forty patients with PPMM who presented with functional deterioration underwent untethering of the spinal cord and nerve roots with an expansive duraplasty. Meticulous dissections of adhesions on the dorsal and lateral aspects of the spinal cord and nerve roots were performed. Intraoperative ultrasonography was used to detect the presence of a confluent cyst and to assess the success of untethering. After surgery, the patients were treated using a protocol that involved frequent turning for 48 hours and subsequently mobilization. Preoperative magnetic resonance (MR) imaging, with and without administration of a contrast agent, was obtained in all patients, except one patient who underwent immediate and delayed computerized tomography (CT) myelography. The mean follow-up period was 3 years (range 20-57 months) for the 36 patients available for follow-up review. Spinal cord tethering was observed in all patients preoperatively. Trauma was the most common cause of this pathology, accounting for 31 of the 40 cases. Preoperative MR imaging did not demonstrate tumor recurrence in the group of five patients who had undergone an initial operation for tumor excision. The interval between the causative event and the operation was less than 5 years in half of the patients (20 of 40), with the longest interval lasting up to 37 years. Motor function deterioration was the most frequent manifestation; it was present in 31 of 40 patients. Improvements in motor function, autonomic dysreflexia, pain, sphincter dysfunction, and sensory function were found during the most recent follow-up examination in 79%, 75%, 62%, 50%, and 43% of the patients, respectively. Two patients experienced retethering of the spinal cord and one underwent a second operation. Surgical untethering and expansive duraplasty, followed by postoperative position rotation to avoid retethering, provide symptomatic relief for patients with PPMM.

Adolescent↗

Functional and biochemical alterations in the rabbit urinary bladder following ileocystoplasty.

Although the use of ileocystoplasty has increased significantly in recent years, very little is known concerning the smooth muscle properties of the implanted bowel segment. In a previous study, preliminary evidence was presented which indicated that the pharmacological response of the cytoplastic ileal segment to autonomic agonists changed toward that of the bladder. The present study extends and expands these preliminary observations on the physiology and pharmacology of augmentation cystoplasty. Augmentation cystoplasty with detubularized ileum was carried out in 16 rabbits. In vivo and in vitro physiological and pharmacological studies were carried out one and three months after surgery. The results can be summarized as follows: 1) in-vivo CMG at one month was similar to that of the preoperative bladder, but at three months there was a 24% increase in capacity, with the presence of multiple phasic contractions beginning at a volume of approximately 65% of capacity. 2) The frequency and magnitude of spontaneous activity in the cystoplastic ileum did not significantly alter from that of the normal ileum. 3) Cystoplastic ileum responded to muscarinic stimulation differently from the normal ileum. The bladder responded with an increase in the tension whereas the ileum responded with an increase in the frequency and amplitude of phasic contractions. The cystoplastic ileum responded with a pronounced sustained contraction with phasic contractions superimposed. The tonic contraction at three months was of a significantly greater magnitude than that at one month. 4) The qualitative and quantitative response to field stimulation of the cystoplastic ileum was altered from that of the ileum towards that of the bladder. 5) The normal bladder contains greater amount of creatine phosphate and lesser amounts of creatine than the normal ileum. Cystoplasty, after three months induced a change in the ileal segment towards the bladder (increased creatine phosphate and decreased creatine). 6) The normal ileum was found to have greater number of muscarinic receptors than the normal bladder whereas the cystoplastic ileum at three months was intermediate.

Animals↗

Thyroid nodules in pregnancy.

Thyroid nodules are common in pregnant women. Most of them are benign. Toxic autonomous nodules may be seen infrequently, and the diagnosis is supported by elevated free thyroid hormone levels and undetectable levels of TSH. The most common and most important problem is the diagnosis of thyroid cancer. FNB is the most reliable diagnostic tool. FNB findings also can be used to indicate the urgency for surgery and the appropriate extent of the operation when surgery is indicated. Best use of FNB data requires that the cytopathologist provide tissue diagnoses and that there has been enough experience to permit reasonable inferences of cancer probability for each diagnosis.

Adenocarcinoma↗

Prediction of outcome in severe head injury based on recognition of sleep related activity in the polygraphic electroencephalogram.

This study shows that the continuing presence of activity similar to normal sleep in the EEG in conjunction with the EEG polygraph (EEGP) can be used to determine the severity of brain damage after head injury. Recordings were taken within seven days of head injury from 154 unselected patients after resuscitation and emergency surgery. Sixteen patients with ongoing seizures were excluded. In the remaining 138 patients the presence of activity in the EEG, EEGP, or both, which can also be recognised in normal alertness and sleep, was noted. Particular attention was paid to the presence or absence of arousal related phasic activity involving EEG, motor, and autonomic changes. The traces were allocated to one of five groups: group 1, wakeful traces with normal alpha in at least one hemisphere; group 2, sleep-like traces with K complexes responsive to stimulation; group 3, traces with phasic activity related to abnormal spontaneous arousal including EEG changes; group 4, traces with abnormal spontaneous arousal activity without EEG changes; group 5, traces with no spontaneous arousal activity. The mean follow up was 21.5 months. Groups 2 and 3 were significantly associated with a good outcome and group 5 with death or a vegetative state. Comparison between the EEG/EEGP findings and the Glasgow coma scale at the time of the recording showed the EEG/EEGP to be the better predictor of outcome, particularly for individual patients.

Adolescent↗

Aging is not accompanied by sympathetic hyperresponsiveness to air-jet stress.

It has been postulated that sympathetic nervous system reactivity to acutely applied stress is increased with age. We investigated the autonomic and hemodynamic adjustments to air-jet stress in 9 mature (12-mo-old) and 11 senescent (24-mo-old) Fischer 344 rats. Rats were instrumented with arterial and venous catheters, flow probes around the renal artery, and nerve electrodes on the ipsilateral renal nerve. After the rats recovered from surgery, blood pressure, heart rate, renal blood flow, and renal sympathetic nerve activity were recorded during control conditions and during an 8-min continuous air-jet application. Renal resistance and the low (0.01-0.20 Hz)- and mid-frequency (0.20-0.50 Hz) power of blood pressure were computed off-line. The air jet induced an increase in blood pressure, heart rate, renal resistance, renal nerve activity, and blood pressure power in the low- and mid-frequency ranges in both groups. Blood pressure and low-frequency blood pressure power increased less, and the elevations in renal resistance and renal nerve activity were of shorter duration in senescent compared with mature rats. These data suggest that sympathetic responsiveness to air-jet stress is not enhanced with increasing age.

Aging↗

Cardiovascular disease in patients with diabetes: clinical considerations.

Cardiovascular disease is the major cause of morbidity and mortality in patients with diabetes. Diabetic individuals have a 200% to 400% greater risk for vascular disease than nondiabetics, with a disproportionately greater burden of disease complications in non-white minorities. Although the atherosclerotic plaques in the two groups are similar, diabetics have more severe and more diffuse disease than nondiabetics. Recent advances in the treatment of coronary disease have improved survival for diabetics and nondiabetics, but diabetics still have double the case fatality rate as nondiabetics, and diabetic women have particularly poor outcomes. Diabetic individuals also have an increased frequency of silent ischemia, systolic and diastolic left ventricular dysfunction, and cardiac autonomic neuropathy. The high frequency of modifiable risk factors provides great opportunities for prevention, the cornerstones of therapy being glycemic control, aggressive risk factor modification, and ongoing patient surveillance and monitoring to facilitate early disease detection and prompt intervention. In patients with coronary disease who require revascularization, both mechanical coronary interventions and bypass surgery are effective therapies. Patients with multivessel coronary disease have better results following bypass surgery with arterial grafts than following coronary interventions. However, diabetic patients are at increased risk for poor long-term outcome following either revascularization modality, with high rates of restenosis following mechanical interventions and the development of atherosclerosis in conduits following bypass surgery.

Angioplasty, Balloon, Coronary↗

Sympathetic reinnervation demonstrated on serial iodine-123-metaiodobenzylguanidine SPECT images after cardiac transplantation.

The transplanted heart is without autonomic nervous control in the early postsurgical period. We present here a case of cardiac transplantation in which 123I-metaiodobenzylguanidine (MIBG) SPECT and an exercise-loading test were used to monitor the sympathetic reinnervation. The distribution of myocardial 123I-MIBG uptake extended with time from 1 to 2 yr after surgery. However, functional improvement, estimated by the heart rate response to exercise, was not discernable during this period. The findings in this case suggest the feasibility of 123I-MIBG SPECT imaging in the serial monitoring of sympathetic reinnervation after transplantation and that scintigraphic evidence of reinnervation precedes functional recovery.

3-Iodobenzylguanidine↗

Oral and maxillofacial manifestations of hereditary sensory neuropathy.

Hereditary sensory neuropathies are a rare group of neurological disorders manifested from early childhood by diminished or absent sensibility to pain, touch and temperature. A Kashmiri family with four members affected by congenital sensory neuropathy and its oral manifestations is described. Pain and temperature sensation was lost in various parts of the body including the orofacial region resulting in mutilating acropathy, particularly of the limbs and face. Orofacial motor function was normal. Three of the four members had corneal opacification due to scarring from keratitis. To prevent any further mutilation, any corrective surgery is best delayed until the patient is old enough. A discussion of the oral manifestations of this condition with a review of the literature is presented.

Adult↗

Nerve blocks and chronic pain states--an update. 1. Basic considerations.

Appreciation of the extremely complex nature of pain has resulted, regrettably, in diminished use of nerve blocking to manage chronic pain states. Nevertheless, clinical use of these time-honored techniques remains popular in clinical anesthesia for surgery, in obstetrics, and in the control of pathogenic pain resulting from injury or disease. Patients with chronic pain are best assessed by cross-matched analysis of medical, emotional, and social factors.

Autonomic Nerve Block↗

Reflex decalcifying algodystrophy of the hip in pregnancy (so-called transient osteoporosis). Review of the literature and four case reports.

Transient algodystrophy of the hip in pregnancy is a relatively rare condition, still unknown to many and easily overlooked. Diagnosis is important because of the related difficulties in natural delivery and the risk of fracture. Four unilateral cases are presented (two right and two left), characterised by pain, limping, limitation of the hip motion and demineralisation of the head and neck of the femur. Treatment was by rest and protected weight-bearing. Three were delivered by caesarean section. In one patient a fracture of the neck of the femur occurred a few weeks before delivery, requiring surgery. In all four cases the outcome was benign. Like algodystrophy occurring in adults of either sex the aetiology is unknown. In pregnant women the association with the right occiput anterior position of the fetus (documented in one patient where the affected hip was the right) suggests the possible involvement of one of the autonomic pelvic plexuses (right or left) in the unilateral cases.

Journal Article↗

[Current concepts regarding the cerebellum and cognition].

OBJECTIVE: To review the main cognitive processes regulated by the cerebellum and the anatomical circuits involved in their clinical correlation. DEVELOPMENT: The cerebellum is generally regarded as a regulator of motor function with a key role in movement coordination. Clinical evidence of the relation of the cerebellum to neural functions typically considered as cortical, is supplied by several neuropsychological alterations detected in both degenerative disorders and acute insult to the region such as vascular event and surgery. More anatomical circuits between the cerebellum and several cortical areas and limbic system, with the ventral pons region as main afference and efference relay of all these pathways. Cerebellar structures that are phylogenetically older such as the floculonodullar lobe, vermix, fastigial nuclei and globus nuclei have a tight relationship to emotional control and autonomic manifestations. More complex circuits are founded in the regulation of learning, motor planning and language. Functional imaging studies have helped to confirm the relationship between the cerebellum and memory processes, finding a selective activation of lateral regions during to cerebellar damage, such a frontal like syndromes, memory deficits and aphasia and even though dysmetria with incoordination between mental process velocity and its motor execution. CONCLUSIONS: All the data from clinical and functional studies indicate that the cerebellum has a central co-ordinating function not only of movement but also regulating thought. The cerebellum should, therefore, be reconsidered as a complex neurone system at much the same level as the more advanced cortical structures.

Cerebellum↗

Nursing's image on the university campus.

Our study found that the faculty sampled held a different and more positive view of nursing than the one presented by the media. Nurses were perceived as educated, autonomous and compassionate individuals whose role is vital in health care. These findings might be explained by the high degree of personal contact that the sample had with nurses. It is possible that personal contact with nurses may mediate against the negative media image of nursing. As one respondent wrote, "Nursing care after recent surgery certainly erased all stereotyped notions...." The implications are tremendous for the role of the nurse in every encounter with the public. Nursing's energies might be best directed toward promoting nursing, not as it is portrayed in the media world of make-believe, but as it is lived by real nurses and their clients. Nurses must convey an image of caring, competent professionals who are capable of addressing society's health care needs. In the words of another respondent, "Unfortunately, the American public does not know the reality of professional nursing and the nurses have been treated unfairly, far from what they deserve.... I hope the American public will look on nursing as one of the most respectable professions and give the nurses credit for their efforts, devotion, and knowledge...."

Attitude to Health↗

Vascular management of the diabetic foot--a British view.

Approximately 50% of diabetic hospital admissions in the United Kingdom are for foot problems. These relate primarily to neuropathic and vascular disease, often presenting as separate entities. Added to these problems is an impairment of the inflammatory response to intercurrent infection. Arterial lesions are those of arteriosclerosis, occurring at a young age. The lesions are more prominent in the calf vessels and distal profunda artery than across the adductor canal or the aorta-iliac segment. Surprisingly, microangiopathy does not present a major problem in digital vessels. Classification of foot problems is based on foot deformity and the degree of ulceration, infection and gangrene. Management is most effectively directed at educating doctors, nurses, patients and their carers, on foot care. Established foot lesions are best managed by a team, including chiropodists, orthotists, physicians and surgeons. This combined approach ensures optimal treatment of the diabetes and associated risk factors, such as hypertension. Patients usually have sufficient autonomic neuropathy to negate any advantages of sympathectomy, but temporary improvement of severe ulceration and pain may be obtained by prostaglandin E2 infusions, allowing time for angiographic assessment. Angioplasty provides the first line of vascular reconstruction. Surgical reconstruction may involve bypass to the level of the shin and ankle. Such revascularisations may reduce foot surgery to local amputation and debridement. Major amputation should not be delayed if it provides the most effective means of rehabilitation and return to community life.

Angioplasty, Balloon↗

[Effects of anesthesia on postoperative micturition and urinary retention].

Postoperative micturition difficulties, considered as minor complications, have a high incidence. Acute urinary retention can follow all types of anaesthetics or operations. Surgical trauma to the pelvic nerves or to the bladder, postoperative oedema around the bladder neck, and pain-induced reflex spasm of the external and internal urethral sphincters may play a role in the development of urinary retention. Acute urinary retention is the most common complication of surgery for benign anorectal disease. The incidence of urinary retention is more likely to occur in old male patients. Preoperative urinary symptoms are not a prerequisite for developing postoperative urinary retention, although they are considered to be a risk factor. The type of anaesthetic, postoperative pain and its management may have little effect on the occurrence of postoperative urinary dysfunction. Studies on the urodynamic effects of various anaesthetic agents are rare. The parasympatholytic drugs increase bladder capacity, decrease the rate of bladder contractions and cause downward trends in urethral resistance. The barbiturates and halothane produce similar effects on urethral resistance. The anaesthetic agents decrease the intrabladder pressure and inhibit the micturition reflex. Halothane decreases bladder contractions and increases its capacity measured by the cystometrogram. Urinary retention is a side effect of opioids, particularly after intrathecal or epidural administration. Epidural morphine relaxes the detrusor muscle with a corresponding increase in the maximal bladder capacity. Spinal opioids influence the function of the lower urinary tract, by direct spinal action on the sacral nociceptive neurons and autonomic fibres, as well as by an effect on supraspinal centres. Naloxone increases detrusor pressure, decreases bladder capacity, and causes a need to void. Urinary retention is less common after a short-acting (lidocaine 5%) than after a long-acting agent (bupivacaine 0.5%). After spinal anaesthesia, detrusor strength and the ability to void restarts with the return of sacral sensation to pinprick. A single episode of bladder overdistention can result in significant morbidity. Overfilling of the bladder can stretch and damage the detrusor muscle, leading to atony of the bladder wall, so that recovery of micturition may not occur when the bladder is emptied. On the other hand, the excessive use of an indwelling catheter can lead to urinary tract infection, urethral stricture and prolonged hospital stay. Short-term prophylactic catheterisation is recommended in patients with obstructive symptoms. Patients at risk for urinary retention should be stimulated to void and provided a quiet environment in which to do so. They should be encouraged to seat, stand or ambulate as early as possible. The alpha 1 adrenergic receptor blocking agents have been used for treatment of organic or functional urinary retention. It is essential to make sure the bladder empties regularly in the postoperative period, especially in day-case surgery or in patients receiving opioid analgesia or after epidural anaesthesia.

Analgesics, Opioid↗