Intravenous Lidocaine for Treatment of Chronic Pain: A Retrospective Cohort Study.

Introduction: Neuropathic pain is a widespread problem with a big impact on quality of life. The currently used drug regimens are often insufficiently effective or cause - sometimes unacceptable - side effects. Intravenous lidocaine could be an alternative treatment, by blocking spontaneous depolarization and hyperexcitability in upregulated sodium channels in nociceptors.

Complications and institutionalization are almost doubled after second hip fracture surgery in the elderly patient.

Purpose: To determine patient and hip fracture characteristics, early postoperative complication rate, and need for institutionalization at the time of discharge from the hospital in patients treated for a second contralateral hip fracture.

Methods: During a 6-year period (2003-2009), 71 patients (60 women and 11 men; age range, 54-94 years) underwent first hip fracture surgery and subsequent contralateral hip fracture surgery at our hospital. Variables, including age, gender, American Society of Anesthesiologists classification (ASA), AO fracture classification, time between both hip fractures, rate and severity of early postoperative complications, and destination of discharge were obtained from the electronic medical records.

The relationship between inspiratory lung function parameters and airway hyper-responsiveness in subjects with mild to moderate COPD.

Background: The aim of this study was to evaluate the effects of increasing doses of inhaled histamine on the forced expiratory volume in one second (FEV1), inspiratory lung function parameters (ILPs) and dyspnea in subjects with mild to moderate chronic obstructive pulmonary disease (COPD) METHODS: Thirty-nine (27 males and 12 females) stable COPD patients (GOLD stages I and II) inhaled a maximum of six sequential doses of histamine according to ERS standards until one of these provocative doses produced a 20% decrease in FEV1 (PD20). The effects on the FEV1, the forced inspiratory volume in one second (FIV1), inspiratory capacity (IC), forced inspiratory flow at 50% of the vital capacity (FIF50), peak inspiratory flow (PIF) and dyspnea score by a visual analogue scale (VAS) were measured and investigated after each dose step

Results: After each dose of histamine, declines in all of the lung function parameters were detected; the largest decrease was observed in the FEV1. At the PD20 endpoint, more FEV1 responders than ILP responders were found.

Specific molecular properties of organic solvents determine the fluorescence depolarization of DPH and TMA-DPH in membranes.

In pig liver microsomes and protein-free egg PC liposomes the effects of organic solvent molecules on the fluorescence depolarization of 1,6-diphenyl-1,3,5-hexatriene (DPH) and 1-[4-(trimethylamino)phenyl]-6-phenyl-hexa-3,5-triene (TMA-DPH) were investigated. Aromaticity, alkyl chain length, and stereometry of the solvent molecules are shown to determine the changes of fluorescence depolarization. A concentration-dependent decrease in the fluorescence anisotropy is obtained with aromatic molecules but not with aliphatic molecules.