Profiles of impaired health professionals.

There are numerous studies that describe the characteristics of impaired health professionals and the types of professional misconduct leading to licensing board action. These studies have two fundamental limitations. The first is the sampling procedure, and the second is that they typically do not examine health professionals who are currently in treatment.

Unusual complication of surgical voice restoration.

A case of oesophageal obstruction following the removal of a tracheoesophageal valve by division is presented. The obstruction was caused by impaction of a portion of the valve at a previously undiscovered benign oesophageal stricture. The obstruction was resolved by interventional radiology with no long-term sequelae.

Removal of retained urinary catheters.

In a 1-year register, retained urinary catheters were encountered on 23 occasions. In vitro tests showed that 2 ml of ether or chloroform injected through the inflation channel of catheter balloons caused disruption within a few seconds but liquid paraffin took over 20 min, leaving an unacceptable amount of debris. A new method of removal using diagnostic ultrasound to identify the balloon of the retained catheter is described, together with suggestions for removal of retained catheters occurring under different circumstances.

Hepatic haematoma following blunt injury: non-operative management.

Four patients with multiple injuries including suspected closed hepatic injury are described, all of whom needed resuscitation in the Intensive Care Unit. All 4 had local signs suggesting hepatic injuries, but no evidence of generalized intraperitoneal bleeding. They were carefully monitored clinically, and the suspected diagnosis of hepatic haematoma was confirmed by ultrasound scanning and follow-up with repeated scans until complete resolution occurred.

Synaptic activation of erratic burst-type myenteric neurons in cat small intestine.

To study further the ongoing spike discharge of burst-type myenteric neurons, extracellular recordings were made with either Teflon-insulated Pt wire electrodes (tip diam, 20 micrometers) or 3 M NaCl-filled glass micropipettes (tip diam, 1-2 micrometers). Presynaptic fibers to the erratic bursters were activated by electrical shocks delivered through Teflon-insulated Pt wire electrodes. Single electrical shocks applied to either the surface of the ganglion or an interganglionic connective elicited bursts of spikes that had parameters (interspike intervals and spikes per burst) that closely resembled the spontaneously occurring bursts in the same neuron.

Toward a rapprochement of empirical and clinical injury in evaluation of psychologically oriented alcoholism treatment.

The need to synthesize clinical and empirical considerations in naturalistic studies of psychologically oriented alcoholism treatment is discussed. Well done naturalistic studies are viewed as a necessary complement to more traditional controlled studies of treatment in order to maintain an interface of clinicall reality with scientific respectability. A general clinical framework and scientific model for naturalistic study are proposed by which scientific and clinical considerations may be reconciled.

A clinical-interactive approach to alcoholism treatment evaluation.

This presentation is concerned with a particular approach to empirical evaluation of psychologically-oriented alcoholism treatment which offers hope for results that are more relevant to clinical applications than has been the case with past empirical research. This particular approach has been termed, for want of a better term, a "clinical-interactive" one for two reasons. First, the psychological makeup of alcoholic patients and the experiential nature of the treatment process they undergo constitute much of the focus of investigation, providing more vivid conceptual bridges to clinical applications.

Analysis of frog neuromuscular function at hyperbaric pressures.

Nerve and muscle compound action potentials were measured in the frog sciatic nerve-gastrocnemius muscle preparation in a hyperbaric helium-air environment. Helium pressure to 69 ATA induced a reversible depression in muscle compound action potential amplitude without significantly affecting other parameters. Blockade other parameters.