Rice-powder electrolyte solution as oral-therapy in diarrhoea due to Vibrio cholerae and Escherichia coli.

124 patients with acute diarrhoea due to Vibrio cholerae or Escherichia coli were treated with either the standard sucrose-electrolyte solution or a cereal-based electrolyte solution, containing 30 g rice powder per litre and electrolytes as recommended by the World Health Organisation. The treatments were compared by measuring the rate of purging, change in body weight, serum specific gravity, urine output, and post-hydrolysis sugar content in the stool. The proportions of successfully treated patients in the rice-powder group were 80% for cholera patients and 88% for E.

Controlled trial of chlorpromazine as antisecretory agent in patients with cholera hydrated intravenously.

A randomised controlled trial was conducted to investigate the ability of chlorpromazine to reduce intestinal secretion in cholera. Chlorpromazine had reduced loss of intestinal fluid in animals with diarrhoea induced by cholera toxin, and in a preliminary study the drug had reduced purging in patients with cholera. Forty-six adults with cholera were included in the randomised trial.

Lateralized effects of monocular training on dendritic branching in adult split-brain rats.

A number of experimental approaches have indicated differential interneuronal connectivity following differential experience during both development and adulthood. In Golgi preparations, prolonged maze training was reported to alter dendritic branching of distal apical dendrites of Layer IV and V pyramidal neurons in adult rat occipital cortex. To determine the specificity of this effect to direct involvement in the visual aspects of training, the effects of monocular maze training, using a split-brain procedure and opaque contact occluders, was examined in the present study.

Distortions induced in neuronal quantification by camera lucida analysis: comparisons using a semi-automated data acquisition system.

Quantitative analysis of dendritic structure is widely used in assessing neural relationships in Golgi-stained tissue. Quantitative techniques are tedious and time-consuming. A computer-microscope system is described which speeds data acquisition and analysis.

Binding of intraluminal toxin in cholera: trial of GM1 ganglioside charcoal.

A study was undertaken to investigate whether toxin produced in the gut lumen contributes significantly to clinical illness and whether binding such toxin by GM1 ganglioside adsorbed onto charcoal could alter the clinical course of disease. 46 patients with severe cholera receiving standard intravenous therapy were randomly assigned to one of three groups: GM1 ganglioside-charcoal (16), charcoal alone (16), or water (14). The results demonstrated that patients were given sufficient GM1 ganglioside-charcoal to bind all luminal toxin produced by Vibrio cholerae in their intestines.

A Golgi impregnation technique for thin brain slices maintained in vitro.

A technique for using routine rapid Golgi impregnation procedures on very thin freshly fixed slices (less than 0.5 mm) of brain tissue is described. The technique was particularly successful with hippocampal slices that were maintained and stimulated in vitro prior to fixation.

S aureus endocarditis: a review and plea for early surgery.

In a study of 31 cases and a review of the literature, Staphylococcus aureus endocarditis was distinguished from that due to other organisms by the absence of prior valvular disease, by the presence of debilitating illness or acute onset, and by a toxic fulminant course. Availability of semi-synthetic penicillins decreased mortality from 90% to about 50%, with death due to heart failure rather than sepsis. Valvular replacement may improve survival if employed at the first signs of cardiac decompensation, rather than after medical therapy has failed to stabilize a downhill course.

Cerebellar plasticity: modification of Purkinje cell structure by differential rearing in monkeys.

Dendritic branching in Purkinje and granule cells and the diameters of Purkinje cell somas were compared in several cerebellar areas of monkeys reared in isolation, with social experience, or in a large colony. In the colony-reared monkeys, spiny branchlets of Purkinje cells were more extensive in the paraflocculus and the nodulus than they were in the other two groups. Granule cell dendritic branching in the paraflocculus and nodulus did not differ across groups.

A quantitative investigation of spine and dendrite development of neurons in visual cortex (area 17) of Macaca nemestrina monkeys.

In a previous Golgi study (Lund et al., '77) which examined the development of the macaque monkey striate cortex (area 17) it was observed that the dendrites of neurons within the visual cortex show a marked increase in the number of spines on their surface during the first eight weeks of postnatal life. The qualitative observation was also made that all neurons then showed a marked decrease in spine numbers by the time the animal was adult.

Chlorpromazine reduces fluid-loss in cholera.

Because chlorpromazine inhibited cholera-toxin-stimulated intestinal adenylate cyclase and fluid secretion in laboratory animals its ability to reduce fluid-loss in human cholera was investigated. Eleven cholera patients with severe purging (360--1340 ml/h) were studied. Eight were given chlorpromazine intramuscularly (1 mg/kg of 4 mg/kg), and three were given a dose of 1 mg/kg by mouth.

Subsynaptic plate perforations: changes with age and experience in the rat.

The relative frequency of appearance of discontinuities in the postsynaptic thickening, or perforations in the subsynaptic plate, increased with age and experience. Rats reared from weaning in complex or social environments had a significantly higher proportion of occipital cortical synapses with perforations than did rats reared in isolation. In addition, the relative frequency of these perforations more than tripled between 10 and 60 days of age.

Hospital costs and mortality attributed to nosocomial bacteremias.

Hospital patients with nosocomial bacteremia and matched hospital control patients without this infection were used to determine the excess hospital costs and mortality attributed to nosocomial bacteremias. Mortality was 14 times greater in patients with nosocomial bacteremia than in matched members of the control group with the same primary diagnoses. An itemized cost analysis, based on 81 case-control pairs, showed an average excess of approximately $3,600 in direct hospital costs for patients who had nosocomial bacteremias.

Circulating non-human microfilaria in a patient with systemic lupus erythematosus.

A 12-yr-old girl with systemic lupus erythematosus requiring steroid therapy was found to have a circulating microfilaria during an exacerbation of her illness. Morphologically, the microfilaria does not correspond precisely with any previously described species, though similarities exist between the patient's microfilaria and those of Dipetalonema reconditum of the dog and D. interstitium of the grey squirrel.