Effect of chronic β-blockade on the utility of an epinephrine-containing test dose to detect intravascular injection in nonsedated patients.

Background And Objectives: A test dose containing epinephrine is routinely used during epidural blockade to detect accidental intravenous needle or catheter placement before the administration of local anesthetics to avert local anesthetic systemic toxicity. β-Blocker therapy may interfere with the expected hemodynamic response from an intravascular injection. This study describes a cohort of 24 patients and their response to an epinephrine test dose (ie, if expected increased heart rates during test-dose administration are valid in this population.

Measured density and calculated baricity of custom-compounded drugs for chronic intrathecal infusion.

Background And Objectives: To minimize the frequency that intrathecal pumps require refilling, drugs are custom compounded at very high concentrations. Unfortunately, the baricity of these custom solutions is unknown, which is problematic, given baricity's importance in determining the spread of intrathecally administered drugs. Consequently, we measured the density and calculated the baricity of clinically relevant concentrations of multiple drugs used for intrathecal infusion.

Chloroprocaine for spinal anesthesia: a retrospective analysis.

Background: Recent volunteer and clinical studies of chloroprocaine (CP) have evaluated its use for outpatient spinal anesthesia. This retrospective review describes the discharge characteristics and reported side effects of spinal CP in a large number of patients undergoing outpatient procedures.

Methods: All patients who received spinal anesthesia for ambulatory procedures over a 20-month period were accessed using computer-generated reports.

Prevention of local anesthetic systemic toxicity.

Although new drugs and techniques may improve outcomes when unintended high blood levels of local anesthetics occur, the primary focus of daily practice should remain the prevention of such events. Although adoption of no single "safety step" will reliably prevent systemic toxicity, the combination of several procedures seems to have reduced the frequency of systemic toxicity since 1981. These include the use of minimum effective doses, careful aspiration, and incremental injection, coupled with the use of intravascular markers when large doses are used.

ASRA practice advisory on local anesthetic systemic toxicity.

The American Society of Regional Anesthesia and Pain Medicine Practice Advisory on Local Anesthetic Systemic Toxicity assimilates and summarizes current knowledge regarding the prevention, diagnosis, and treatment of this potentially fatal complication. It offers evidence-based and/or expert opinion-based recommendations for all physicians and advanced practitioners who routinely administer local anesthetics in potentially toxic doses. The advisory does not address issues related to local anesthetic-related neurotoxicity, allergy, or methemoglobinemia.

Bioaccumulation of mercury in various fish species from Orlík and Kamýk water reservoirs in the Czech Republic.

The study evaluated contamination of fish by mercury in two important Czech water reservoirs, Orlík and Kamýk, which receive water from the whole watershed of Otava and Vltava rivers. Contamination of these reservoirs reflects the situation in southern and western Bohemia. Six environmentally representative sites were sampled in the area of interest and the evaluation was based on regression models relating Hg concentrations in fish tissues to the age of fish.

Effect of the new fluorescent brightener Rylux BSU on morphology and biosynthesis of cell walls in Saccharomyces cerevisiae.

Rylux BSU, a new fluorescent brightener from the family of 4,4'-diaminostilbene-2,2'disulfonic acid derivatives, inhibited growth and cytokinesis of the yeast Saccharomyces cerevisiae. In the presence of 0.1-1 mg/ml Rylux BSU the cells grew in clumps, had irregular shape and were larger than controls.

The fluorescence brightener Rylux BSU induces dimorphism in Basidiobolus ranarum.

The fluorescence brightener Rylux BSU (RBSU) showed an affinity for polysaccharide components of cell walls and accumulated in the extension zones of hyphal apices in Basidiobolus ranarum. It inhibited the polarized growth of mycelial hyphae and induced isotropic growth resulting in spherical thick-walled cells up to 456 microm in diameter. On the inner cell wall surface, massive protuberances were formed.

Genetics of dermatophytes.

By the end of 60s a team of scientists has started at Medical Faculty of Olomouc the research of micromycetes pathogenic for both the humans and animals. In this study, the appropriate results are summarized as concerned with the genetics of dermatophytes. Among these results, those significant in deeper assessing the biology of dermatophytes and etiopathogenesis of dermatophytoses have been selected.

Staining of fungal cell walls with fluorescent brighteners: flow-cytometric analysis.

Spore walls of Backusella lamprospora (Mucorales) were stained with ten fluorescent brighteners (FB) and the intensity of their fluorescence was determined. The fluorescence was most intense with Uvitex 2B (100%), other brighteners yielding lower fluorescence intensities: Blankophor BA 267% and BA 200% about 75%, Rylux BSU about 50%, other Rylux agents 10-30%. The agents most suitable for microscopic diagnostics of human and animal mycoses are Uvitex 2B, Blankophor BA 267% and BA 200%, Rylux BSU, and also Rylux BS and PRS.

[Fluorescence microscopy detection of mycopathogens using Rylux BSU].

Rylux BSU (Synthesia, Pardubice--Semtín), a derivative of diaminostilbendisulphonic acid, has a good affinity to chitin of fungal cell walls as well as to cellulose of algae. A histologic method using this compound for detection of fungi in dermatology is presented accompanied with results of a quick diagnostic procedure. Pathogenic fungi were stained with a 2 per cent solution of Rylux BSU in phosphate buffer (pH 7.

[Quantitative determination of yeast in sputum--a direct microscopy method].

The authors describes a fluorescence microscopic method using fluorochrome Blankophor (Bayer) which binds to chitin of the cell walls of yeasts and filamentous fungi. The authors processed, using this method, 50 specimens of sputum and compared the results with those of cultivation examinations. In five instances, where cultivation was negative by the microscopic method large numbers of fungi were detected.

Hybridization and sexual stimulation in Trichophyton mentagrophytes.

Mating and sexual stimulation tests applied to 132 strains of this dermatophyte isolated in Czechoslovakia revealed among them strains of Arthroderma benhamiae (40 strains of the + mating type, one of the - mating type) and A. vanbreuseghemii (three strains of the + type, seven of the - type). No dependence was found concerning the anamorphic variety (T.

Teleomorphs and mating types in Trichophyton mentagrophytes complex.

In the set of 132 strains of Trichophyton mentagrophytes isolated from humans (129 strains) and animals (3 strains) with dermatophytosis in Czechoslovakia, 41 strains were classified as Arthroderma benhamiae. Out of them, 40 strains were of mating type + and one strain of type -. Ten strains were A.