Laparoscopic repair of traumatic intrapericardial diaphragmatic hernia.

Diaphragm rupture is associated with approximately 5% of blunt abdominal trauma. However, rupture of the central tendon of the diaphragm leading to an intrapericardial diaphragmatic hernia is very rare, with less than 100 cases reported in the world literature. All previously reported cases have been repaired via laparotomy or thoracotomy. In this paper, we present the first laparoscopic repair of a traumatic intrapericardial diaphragmatic hernia.

External nasal dilator strips do not affect treadmill performance in subjects wearing mouthguards.

OBJECTIVE: To determine the effect of the Breathe Right (BR) external nasal dilator strip on treadmill exercise performed while wearing an upper maxillary mouthguard. DESIGN AND SETTING: Two-way repeated-measures design with subjects acting as their own controls. Subjects performed 2 randomly assigned bouts of incremental treadmill exercise (with and without the BR strip) while wearing upper maxillary mouthguards. SUBJECTS: Nineteen young, healthy, recreationally active men. MEASUREMENTS: we assessed subjective nasal patency levels at rest. We also recorded heart rate, dyspnea rating, and treadmill speed at 2 submaximal exercise levels and at volitional fatigue. RESULTS: Subjective nasal patency was significantly increased with the strip. Repeated-measures analyses of variance revealed a significant main effect of the BR strip on dyspnea ratings during exercise, but there was no effect of the strip on test duration, heart rate, or running speed during the tests. CONCLUSIONS: Our results suggest that the BR nasal dilator strip does not affect treadmill exercise performance in subjects wearing mouthguards.

Left hand advantage in a self-face recognition task.

Subjects were exposed to pictures of self and others (e.g., friend, stranger, and famous people) to determine if there was an advantage in reaction time and accuracy in identifying the self. It was found that upright and inverted self-faces were identified more rapidly than non-self faces when subjects responded with their left hand, which in other tasks has corresponded with contralateral hemispheric dominance. These data suggest that self-recognition may be correlated with neural activity in the right hemisphere, and that the differences observed may not be unique to self-face recognition. These results are in agreement with previous research indicating that self-directed awareness is correlated with right prefrontal activity.

Intraperitoneally injected cholecystokinin-octapeptide activates pica in rats.

Cholecystokinin-octapeptide (CCK-8) was injected intraperitoneally into rats to see if it could cause them to eat kaolin (clay)--a pica behavior which has been shown to indicate gastric distress. In the first study, a single large dose of CCK-8 (20 micrograms/kg) failed to produce pica. In the second study, 4 smaller doses of CCK-8 (8 micrograms/kg), 30 min apart, produced significant ingestion of kaolin compared to the baseline condition of vehicle injections. The pica was comparable to that observed in another group of rats given a toxic dose of LiCl (127 mg/kg, IP). It is concluded that intraperitoneal injections of CCK-8 can induce a state of gastric distress in the rat.

Acid and NaCl self-adaptation with micro-drop stimulation of fungiform papillae.

A small drop of either citric acid, HCl, or NaCl, judged to be approximately equal in magnitude, was applied to two papillae for a fixed duration (15 sec). The stimulus was then reapplied to the same papillae and judged for magnitude of sensation ("self-adaptation" design). NaCl was about 50% less intense after 15 sec of prior exposure whereas citric acid showed no significant decline and HCl showed either no decline or a significant increase in magnitude. When citric acid was tested with a longer exposure time (55 sec), significant decline in citric acid magnitude occurred for all subjects. These outcomes are discussed with regard to the problem of cutaneous irritation caused by certain stimuli and the difficulty of extracting cutaneous sensations from the sensory experience of strong concentrations of acids and salts.

Response to NaCl taste in mixture with HCl by sodium deficient rats.

Sodium deficient, adrenalectomized rats and nondeficient control rats were offered, for 20 min, a mixture of 0.1 M NaCl and 0.02 N HCl. The sodium deficient rats drank substantial amounts whereas control animals were essentially indifferent to the mixture. Further tests on the sodium deficient rats with a stronger NaCl concentration in the mixture did not alter the amount drunk, which was about 1/3 the amount ingested of singly presented 0.1 NaCl. These results suggest that the sodium deficient rat can recognize the similarity of the mixture to NaCl but that the other mixture component influences the behavioral outcome in a way other than simple intensity suppression.

Response to NaCl taste in mixture with sucrose by sodium deficient rats.

Sodium deficient, adrenalectomized rats and nondeficient control rats were offered, for 20 min, either a mixture of 0.15 M sodium chloride and 0.3 M sucrose, or a 0.3 M sucrose solution. The sodium deficient rats drank about 3 times more of the mixture than of the sucrose alone. Nondeficient control animals showed no differential preference for the mixture over the sucrose solution. Subsequent tests indicated that the amount of mixture ingested by the sodium deficient group was comparable to the intake of a much weaker (1/5 as strong) sodium chloride concentration given alone. These results are discussed in the context of taste component analysis of mixtures and suggest that the rodent taste system can specifically respond to sodium chloride in a sodium chloride-sucrose mixture.

Social and emotional adjustment of infants and toddlers to a day care setting.

Infants five to thirty months old were observed for one week on entering a day care program, and again at the end of one month. Frequency of behaviors reflecting social and emotional adjustment were recorded. There was significant decreases in frequency of crying, sitting alone, and interacting with adults, while interactions with other children increased significantly. Results indicate that children of this age can adjust well, and quite rapidly, to a day care setting.