Complications of airway intrusion in 100 consecutive cases in a pediatric ICU.

One-hundred consecutive patients who underwent orotracheal intubation (OT), nasotracheal intubation (NT), or tracheostomy in the pediatric ICU were evaluated for complications of these airway invasions. Twelve patients had major complications as a result of airway intervention. The mortality for patients requiring mechanical ventilation was 17% as compared with a total overall mortality of 8.

Assay for yeast susceptibility to 5-fluorocytosine and amphotericin B in a frozen microtiter system.

A microtiter plate method for determining susceptibility of yeasts to 5-fluorocytosine and amphotericin B, which uses color indicators to detect end points, is presented. The microtiter plates can be made in advance and stored frozen for at least eight weeks. Forty-two isolates of Candida albicans, 12 of Candida tropicalis, and nine of Torulopsis glabrata were tested.

Encephalopathy and fatty metamorphosis of the liver associated with cold-agglutinin autoimmune hemolytic anemia.

Three patients with encephalopathy clinically indistinguishable from Reye syndrome but associated with elevated cold-agglutinin titers and antiglobulin-I autoimmune hemolytic anemia are reported. The patients were treated with exchange transfusions, dexamethasone, controlled hyperventilation, and intracranial pressure monitoring. Liver biopsy specimens in two of the three patients showed fatty infiltration of the hepatocytes, but the light microscopic and electron microscopic appearance of the liver was not typical for Reye syndrome.

Record-keeping in a state hospital: a modification of the Weed system.

The Weed problem-oriented medical record has been modified for use in a state psychiatric hospital that has a large proportion of long-term patients and uses an interdisciplinary team approach to treatment. Three new record forms were developed during a pilot study at the hospital: the processed-problem list, the problem card, and the unprocessed-problem list. The modified problem-oriented record system is being used in 28 wards providing both short- and long-term psychiatric care.

Short-term effects of smoked marihuana on left ventricular function in man.

The short-term effects of smoking one to three marihuana cigarettes (900 mg of marihuana per cigarette; 2.2% delta9-tetrahydrocannabinol) on left ventricular performance were evaluated in 21 experienced users of cannabis at different times during a 94-day in-hospital study of the biologic effect of daily heavy smoking of marihuana. In six subjects, cardiac output was determined using the indocyanine-green dye-dilution technique; and in two of these individuals and 15 additional subjects, cardiac output, ejection fraction, preejection period (PEP), left ventricular ejection time (LVET), and the velocity of circumferential fiber shortening (Vcf) were determined using echocardiograms, phonocardiograms, and carotid pulse recordings.

Echocardiographic diagnosis of a mobile, pedunculated tumor in the left ventricular cavity.

A mobile left ventricular tumor was detected by echocardiography. The tracing showed a cluster of echoes in the left ventricular cavity corresponding to the location of the tumor as seen in angiograms. At surgery the tumor was attached to the interventricular septum by a thin fibrous stalk.

Tracking Decrement as a Result of Grip Holding Endurance.

This study explores the feasibility of using the static strength and endurance relationships suggested by Rohmert in 1960 to predict pursuit tracking performance, Ten male subjects are tested on a pursuit rotor before and after being subjected to specific levels of loading on a grip holding device. The loading corresponded to specific levels of each subject's maximum endurance as determined from Rohmert's strength and endurance equation. The hypotheses are: (a) predetermined schedules of strength expenditure cause a systematic decrement in tracking efficiency; and (b) the process of recovering efficiency is dependent upon the expenditure schedules.