Supplemental 80% oxygen does not attenuate post-operative nausea and vomiting after breast surgery.

BACKGROUND: Although supplemental oxygen has been shown to be as effective as ondansetron in the prevention of post-operative nausea and vomiting (PONV) in one study in abdominal surgery patients, the antiemetic efficacy of supplemental oxygen is controversial on the basis of studies with other patients. We compared the efficacy of 80% and 30% oxygen in decreasing PONV in breast surgery. Ondansetron was used as an active control. METHODS: Ninety patients were given a standardized sevoflurane anesthetic. They were randomly assigned to three groups: 30% oxygen in nitrogen and saline 2 ml intravenously (i.v.) at the end of surgery (group 30); 80% oxygen in nitrogen and saline 2 ml (group 80); and 30% oxygen in nitrogen and ondansetron 4 mg (group O). Oxygen was administered during surgery and up to 2 h after surgery. RESULTS: The incidence of total response (no retching or vomiting, no nausea) during the first 24 post-operative hours was not different between group 80 (17%) and group 30 (11%) but was higher in group O (43%) than in group 30 (P<0.05). Compared with group O, patients in group 80 experienced more vomiting during the study period 0-24 h (66% vs. 32%; P<0.05) and more nausea during the period 6-24 h (72% vs. 39%; P<0.05). There was no difference between the groups in their risk for PONV, pain scores, opioid consumption, or patient satisfaction. CONCLUSIONS: In this study, supplemental 80% oxygen administration failed to decrease PONV in breast surgery.

Supplemental oxygen for prevention of nausea and vomiting after breast surgery.

BACKGROUND: Administration of supplemental oxygen 80% has been shown to halve the incidence of postoperative nausea and vomiting (PONV). We tested the efficacy of supplemental oxygen 50% in decreasing the incidence of PONV after breast surgery. METHODS: One hundred patients receiving standardized sevoflurane anaesthesia were randomly assigned to two groups: oxygen 30% administration (Group 30); and oxygen 50% administration (Group 50). Oxygen was administered during surgery and for 2 h from the end of surgery. RESULTS: The incidence of PONV over 24 h after surgery showed no difference between the groups: 82% in Group 30 and 89% in Group 50. However, during the postoperative oxygen administration, eight patients vomited in Group 30, compared with none in Group 50 (P<0.05). After oxygen therapy ceased, there was no difference in the incidence of vomiting between the groups. Nausea and need for rescue antiemetics did not differ between the groups. CONCLUSION: The incidence of vomiting decreased during the short postoperative administration of supplemental oxygen 50%. However, perioperative oxygen 50% administration did not prevent PONV over the 24-h follow-up period in patients undergoing breast surgery performed under general anaesthesia.

Self-Assembly of Trisoligonucleotidyls: The Case for Nano-Acetylene and Nano-Cyclobutadiene.

Rapid cooling is the recipe for the self-assembly of nanostructures from trisoligonucleotidyls, a novel class of branched oligonucleotides whose 3'-termini are connected by a trifunctional linker. The topology of the smallest complex is formally equivalent to the topology of acetylene, if a DNA double strand is envisioned as a C-C bond. The model of nano-acetylene is shown.

Patent literature as a source of information for research and development: an investigation on calcium phosphate-containing biomaterials, Part I.

The usefulness of patent literature for research and development is mostly unknown. Therefore a specific patent retrieval has been carried out concerning calcium phosphate-containing biomaterials. This research field includes chemical, medical, and engineering problems and is of importance to the development of bioactive materials for bone replacement. The preliminary work includes information on the characteristics and the availability of patent literature as well as about patent classification systems according to which the documents are filed in patent collections. By reading the non-patent literature searching questions can be formulated. The proper patent retrieval starts with the study of secondary literature especially that in Chemical Abstracts, which report on patents since 1907. The structure of Chemical Abstracts, their indexes and sections help to find relevant patents of chemical or chemical engineering contents fast and inspire to read patents of bordering areas. This retrieval from Chemical Abstracts led to 171 patents disclosed 1975-1985 and to 95 patents disclosed in 1986; the latter are listed in a table. The contents of the abstracts inform on the research activity and help to reduce time and effort for a continuation of the retrieval in a patent collections or database.