Use of peritoneal dialysis and mesothelium in non primary renal conditions.

The management of a handful of non renal clinical conditions includes peritoneal dialysis (PD) as a therapeutic tool. Peritoneal lavage after abdominal surgery is still performed in infectious peritonitis and cases of necrotizing hemorrhagic pancreatitis. Use of PD in active psoriasis resulted in approximately 40 papers reporting mostly isolated cases and showing both therapeutic success and failure.

Critique of Sohlberg and Birgegard's (2003) report of persistent complex effects of subliminal psychodynamic activation messages.

Silverman in 1983 held that the unconscious encoding of MOMMY AND I ARE ONE triggers a fantasy of symbiotic union with the good mother of early childhood. In contrast, later Sohlberg and Birgegard contended that MOMMY AND I triggers associations to similarity issues with mother, associations that may be influenced by the words following MOMMY AND I. Although their messages produce, lmost invariably, no reportable sensation, Sohlberg and Birgegard claimed strong evidence for the influence of such messages on perception, motivation, and memory, 10 ays poststimulation and suggestive evidence 4 mo.

Iron deficiency is a common cause of anemia in chronic kidney disease and can often be corrected with intravenous iron.

Background: There is some epidemiological and clinical evidence that the anemia seen in chronic kidney disease (CKD) in patients not on dialysis could be due to a significant extent to iron deficiency, and that adequate iron replacement could cause a marked improvement in the anemia even without the use of erythropoietin (EPO). The purpose of this work was to study the effects of intravenous (i.v.

The impact of peritoneal dialysis upon quality of life and mortality of patients with end-stage congestive heart failure.

Background: Aged patients affected by congestive heart failure refractory to pharmacologic therapy, coupled with severe comorbidities that preclude heart transplantation have a gloomy prognosis. Use of automated peritoneal dialysis resulted in a significantly improved quality of life and survival.

Methods: Twenty patients (mean age: 65.

Peritoneal dialysis in refractory end-stage congestive heart failure: a challenge facing a no-win situation.

Background: Current medical therapeutic strategies for refractory congestive heart failure (CHF) in the population of 65 years and older with contraindications for heart transplantation are limited. Peritoneal dialysis applied to CHF patients with or without renal impairment showed clinical functional improvement.

Methods: A single centre, prospective but non-randomized study in 20 patients with severe congestive heart failure refractory to optimal pharmacological therapy [New York Heart Association (NYHA), class IV] was performed between 2000 and 2003.

The Mozart effect: questions about the seminal findings of Rauscher, Shaw, and colleagues.

Seminal evidence for the Mozart effect was presented by Rauscher, Shaw, and colleagues in 1993 and 1994. A critical evaluation of their methodologies and interpretation of findings raises questions that must be answered before this evidence can be regarded as valid. We discuss issues such as their scoring of the Stanford-Binet Intelligence Scale, the experimental design used in their 1993 study, the validity of their 1993 IQ measure, the duration of the Mozart effect, their choice of experimental tasks in relation to predictions of the trion model of neural functioning, and the statistical analyses and interpretation of results in the 1993 and 1994 studies.

Methodology in subliminal psychodynamic activation: basic questions remain unanswered.

Birgegard and Sohlberg recently implied that the interchange between them and Fudin in 1999 to 2000 resolved methodological issues in subliminal psychodynamic activation research. There remain, however, unresolved problems, both logical and empirical, which impair interpretations of findings in this area. These issues include questions concerning the value of the presentation of partial vs complete messages and the parameters involved in the information processing of such stimuli.

Relationship between the presentation of the MOMMY AND I ARE ONE stimulus and mood.

In 1992 Weinberger suggested the effects of the presentation of MOMMY AND I ARE ONE might be mediated by its capacity to produce positive mood changes. Later support for this idea is unconvincing because these experiments lack the converging operations required to support the assumption that participants can encode the complete meaning of MOMMY AND I ARE ONE. Furthermore, without justification, they bypassed several variables of importance in prior research.

Problems in Silverman's work indicate the need for a new approach to research on subliminal psychodynamic activation.

The basic assumption in subliminal psychodynamic activation research is that participants can unconsciously perceive the psychodynamic meaning of a complete message as it is intended by the experimenter. In attempts to account for negative findings Silverman contended that this assumption holds only under certain luminance conditions and visual field positions of a message. Paradoxically, almost all of his findings, his major evidence in support of the basic assumption, came from experiments in violation of those strictures.

Comment on Birgegard and Sohlberg's (1999) suggestions for research in subliminal psychodynamic activation.

Methodological changes in subliminal psychodynamic activation experiments based on the assumption that multiletter messages can be encoded automatically (Birgegard & Sohlberg, 1999) are questioned. Their contention that partial experimental messages and appropriate nonsense anagram controls (Fudin, 1986) need not be presented in every experiment is supported, with a reservation. If the difference between responses to the complete message and its control is significant in the predicted direction, then Fudin's procedure should be used.

Subliminal psychodynamic activation: methodological problems and questions in Silverman's experiments.

Analyses of procedures in Lloyd H. Silverman's subliminal psychodynamic activation experiments identify problems and questions. Given the information provided, none of his experiments can be replicated, and none of his positive results were found under luminance conditions he reckoned in 1983 were typical of such outcomes.

Research in subliminal psychodynamic activation: note on Masling (1998).

Masling (1998) questioned Malik, Apel, Nelham, Rutkowski, and Ladd's 1997 suggestion that subliminal psychodynamic activation research with MOMMY AND I ARE ONE should be restricted. Problems in Masling's paper and the scope of research with MOMMY AND I ARE ONE are discussed. His position that such research should not be restricted is supported on the condition that subliminal psychodynamic activation research with MOMMY AND I ARE ONE (and other messages) use Fudin's 1986 procedure that could clarify the interpretation of successful experimental outcomes.

Correction of uremic iron deficiency anemia in hemodialyzed patients: a prospective study.

This prospective study was designed to evaluate the eventual correction of anemia and iron status in 39 iron-deficient uremics starting hemodialysis. Nine patients (control group) had no iron supplementation, 10 had oral ferrous iron, and 20 were treated with intravenous iron gluconate. Follow-up periods were 12 months for the control group and 26 months for patients treated with oral or intravenous iron.

Re-examination of evidence questions Christman's (1989) report of moderate experimental support for the visual spatial frequency hypothesis.

The visual spatial frequency hypothesis contends that perceptual characteristics of stimulus arrays can affect the magnitude and direction of hemispheric asymmetries in laterality experiments. In a 1989 literature review, Christman reported that 45 of 79 experimental comparisons yielded significant interactions for side of hemispheric advantage x perceptual characteristic which supported the visual spatial frequency hypothesis, a level of support he characterized as moderate. Re-examination of those 45 outcomes shows that in 20 of them either a significant interaction for side of hemispheric advantage x perceptual characteristic was not found or, if it was, the particulars do not agree fully with predictions of the visual spatial frequency hypothesis as presented by Christman in the 1989 paper.

Treatment of surgical and non-surgical septic multiorgan failure with bicarbonate hemodialysis and sequential hemofiltration.

Objective: Hospital mortality of patients with septic multiorgan failure (MOF) is still around 95%. The present study investigates whether this high mortality could be significantly reduced by the addition of sequential hemofiltration (SH) with bicarbonate hemodialysis (HD) to the currently used life supportive measures.

Design: 35 (18 surgical and 17 nonsurgical) patients, with 3 or more organ failures, had daily sessions of zero balance SH, for periods ranging from 2-22 days.

Analysis of data from Reichler's (1979) The Baseball Encyclopedia: right-handed pitchers are taller and heavier than left-handed pitchers.

In 1989 Coren concluded right-handed Major League pitchers whose careers began up to 1975 are significantly taller and heavier than left-handed pitchers. His source of data, Reichler's 1979 edition of The Baseball Encyclopedia, however, lists heights and weights for pitchers whose careers began through 1978 and for individuals who pitched but who almost always appeared at a different position or positions. Coren did not indicate why he did not analyze all of the relevant data in Reichler nor did he explain how he decided that an individual's usual position was that of pitcher.

Sinistrality and reduced longevity: reply to Coren and Halpern's replay.

Coren and Halpern's response to Fudin, Renninger, Lembessis, and Hirshon's 1993 report of a nonsignificant difference in longevity between left-handed and right-handed baseball players contained errors of fact, theory, and omission. Especially disturbing is that they ignored the fact that our negative findings were found not only with parametric tests but with the same nonparametric tests that they had used. We defend our use of parametric tests given the particular data we analyzed, and we comment on the databases that we and Halpern and Coren considered and the results of studies of handedness and longevity.

Final comments on Hudesman, Page, and Rautiainen's (1992) subliminal psychodynamic activation experiment.

Hudesman, et al.'s (1992) contention that their finding shows that subliminal psychodynamic activation (SPA) improved academic performance is questioned. That experiment lacked controls outlined by Fudin in 1986 which are needed to support the assumption that a positive SPA outcome is effected because the meaning of an entire experimental message is encoded.

Comments on Hudesman and Page's reply to Fudin's comments on Hudesman, Page and Rautianen's subliminal psychodynamic activation experiment.

Hudesman and Page's contention that Gustafson and Källmén's 1991 results indicate that subsequent subliminal psychodynamic activation experiments do not require the controls suggested by Fudin in 1986 is questioned. The rationale for Fudin's 1993 comment concerning the limited generalizability of Hudesman, et al.'s (1992) results, a comment Hudesman and Page contended is unfounded, is discussed.

Comments on Hudesman, Page, and Rautiainen's (1992) subliminal psychodynamic activation experiment.

Hudesman, et al.'s (1992) contention that their finding and those of Ariam (1979), Parker (1982), and Cook (1985) show that subliminal psychodynamic activation (SPA) can improve academic performance is questioned. Results obtained from experiments using methodological innovations (Fudin, 1986) would allow a clearer interpretation of positive SPA outcomes.

Sinistrality and reduced longevity: Reichler's 1979 data on baseball players do not indicate a relationship.

Halpern and Coren's 1988 results concerning the longevity of sinistral and dextral baseball players have been used to support the idea that sinistrality is associated with reduced longevity. Halpern and Coren stated that they used Reichler's 1979 The Baseball Encyclopedia, which has longevity data through 1978, as their source. Apparent errors in reporting findings from that source suggested the possible value of analyzing Reichler's 1979 data.

Subliminal psychodynamic activation: updated comprehensive list of experimental results and comments on previous lists.

A comprehensive list of results from visual subliminal psychodynamic activation experiments is presented. This list includes results reported since the publication of the last comprehensive list by Weinberger and Hardaway in 1990 and several results not found on that list. On the present list, SPA results are categorized according to criteria that we contend are more objective than those used previously.

Loss of microvascular negative charges accompanied by interstitial edema in septic rats' heart.

We studied the effect of Gram-negative sepsis on negative charges of heart capillaries and myocardial cells. We used a rat model of multiorgan failure, with ruthenium red (RR) and polyethyleneimine (PEI) as cationic binding tracers. Twenty-four hours after induction of sepsis, negative charges had decreased in glycocalyx and basement membrane of myocardial capillary endothelial cells.