Alteration of muscle membrane excitability in sepsis: possible involvement of ciliary nervous trophic factor (CNTF).

One of the main factor involved neuromyopathy acquired in intensive care unit (ICU) appears to be sepsis. It induces the release of many pro- and anti-inflammatory factors which can directly modulate the muscle excitability. We have studied the effects of one of them: the ciliary nervous trophic factor (CNTF) which is a cytokine released in the early phase of sepsis. CNTF induces a decrease in the sodium current and an increase in resting potential as in sodium inversion potential. These effects could participate to the hypo-excitability observed during sepsis and could be involved in the ICU acquired neuromyopathy. As for TNFα, this early effect is mainly mediated by protein kinase C (PKC) activation and appears to be a reversible post-transcriptional effect.

[From emergency services to neurosurgical intensive care, the role of the nurse in neurosurgery]. / Des urgences à la réanimation neurochirurgicale, le rôle de l'infirmière en neurochirurgie.

Treating a patient with a head injury requires a full general assessment, a rigorous evaluation of the severity of the trauma and the prevention of brain insults of systemic origin. Monitoring by the nurse is essential and determines the carrying out of additional tests. She must look out for neurological deterioration and prepare the patient and his or her family for potential sequelae.

Intracerebral hemorrhage related to systemic gas embolism during hysteroscopy.

Iatrogenic gas embolism is a rare but serious problem that has been documented in almost all medical specialties including gynecology. We present a 49-year-old woman undergoing operative hysteroscopy and myomectomy, who sustained sudden hypotension and decrease in the end-tidal carbon dioxid levels during the procedure. Systemic gas embolism was confirmed by echocardiographic evidence of bubbles in both right and left cardiac cavities and a rise of troponin. Hyperbaric oxygen was rapidly administered in addition to maintenance of vital functions and anti-thrombotic prevention with calciparin. A right hemiparesis was apparent after recovery from general anesthesia. Brain-computed tomography and magnetic resonnance imaging, performed on Days 3 and 2 respectively, showed a left fronto-parietal hematoma surrounded by edema. Having ruled out risk factors for a primary ischemic or hemorrhagic stroke, we concluded that hemorragic transformation of the ischemic cerebral lesion caused by gas embolism was responsible for the observed intraparenchymal hematoma. As far as we know, this is the first report relating cerebral gas embolism with an intracerebral hemorrhage. It provides an argument against anticoagulant therapy during the early stages of gas embolism care.

Benzothiadiazole induces local resistance to Bemisia tabaci (Hemiptera: Aleyrodidae) in tomato plants.

Plant resistance to the B and Q biotypes of sweetpotato whitefly, Bemisa tabaci (Gennadius), induced by benzo [1,2,3] thiadiazole-7-carbothioic acid-S-methyl ester (BTH or acibenzolar-S-methyl) in tomato 'Marmande' plants was evaluated in free-choice and no-choice assays under different conditions. BTH is the active ingredient of the Syngenta plant activator Bion. BTH treatment affected host preference of B. tabaci (B and Q biotypes) adults on plants sprayed with Bion at 0.2 and 0.4 g/liter during the earlier days of free-choice assays. As a consequence, a decrease in the total number of eggs (although female fecundity was not affected) and in the final number of pupae and empty pupal cases was observed. The effect produced by BTH applied at 0.1 g/liter Bion was not significant. In no-choice assays, a reduction of the numbers of first-stage larvae and total individuals and a delay in insect development were observed when local treatment was restricted to one leaflet per plant, 5 d before B. tabaci (biotype B) infestation. This acquired resistance induced by BTH seemed to be locally expressed because of the differences between treated and nontreated leaflets in the same plants, whereas no differences in nontreated leaflets were observed between BTH-treated and control plants.