Canine end-systolic pressure-length relationships: depressed by diltiazem, invalidated by ischemia.

This study was designed to determine whether the end-systolic pressure-length relationship (ESPLR) reflects changes in regional contractility during the imposition of graded ischemia, and whether it is modified by diltiazem during propofol anesthesia. Seven beagles were anesthetized and instrumented to measure left ventricular pressure and subendocardial segment lengths (sonomicrometry) in the region of the left anterior descending (LAD) and circumflex (LC) arteries. Afterload was increased by the tightening of a snare around the descending thoracic aorta.

Wisconsin physicians' knowledge and attitudes about opioid analgesic regulations.

This pilot study was designed to evaluate physician knowledge of the controlled substance regulations that govern the prescribing of opioids and whether concerns about regulatory scrutiny affect reported prescribing practices. Two hundred Wisconsin physicians were surveyed, and 90 (45%) of the questionnaires were evaluable. Approximately 50% of the responses to questions about controlled substance regulations were incorrect.

Substance abuse by anesthesiology residents.

A 1989 cross-sectional substance abuse survey of 260 former anesthesiology residents of the Medical College of Wisconsin (MCW) during the previous 30 years yielded 183 responses (70.3%). Over three-fourths (77.

Pulmonary artery occlusion pressure is not accurate immediately after cardiopulmonary bypass.

Elevated pulmonary vascular resistance (PVR), differential cardiac dynamics, and increased lung water following cardiopulmonary bypass (CPB) have been proposed as limitations to the accuracy of the pulmonary artery occlusion pressure (PAOP) in estimating left ventricular preload. A prospective study of 22 patients undergoing elective myocardial revascularization is described wherein PAOP was compared with directly measured left atrial pressure (LAP). The reliability of PAOP to estimate LAP in the hour immediately following CPB and at 1, 4, 8, and 12 hours post-CPB was examined with repeated measures analysis of variance.

Educational role of cancer pain rounds.

Lack of appropriate physician education is one of several reasons for the recognized deficits in cancer pain management. This article describes the educational role of a weekly meeting, "Cancer Pain Rounds," attended by a multidisciplinary team of health professionals skilled in cancer pain management and student physicians caring for inpatients with cancer. Educational benefits occur in three spheres including factual information concerning assessment, treatment, and attitude issues, legitimization of the cancer pain problem, and role modeling.

Forehead pulse oximetry compared with finger pulse oximetry and arterial blood gas measurement.

Usual monitoring sites for pulse oximetry involve the fingers, toes, ear lobe, and nasal septum. This study examined the performance of a forehead sensor compared with a finger sensor for the pulse oximeter and arterial blood gas (ABG) analysis. Ten healthy adult volunteers and 22 ventilator-dependent patients were studied.

An interactive data management and analysis system for clinical investigators.

An interactive minicomputer-based system has been developed that enables the clinical research investigator to personally explore and analyze his research data and, as a consequence of these explorations, to acquire more information. This system, which does not require extensive training or computer programming, enables the investigator to describe his data interactively in his own terms, enter data values while having them checked for validity, store time-oriented patient data in a carefully controlled on-line data base, retrieve data by patient, variable, and time, create subsets of patients with common characteristics, perform statistical analyses, and produce tables and graphs. It also permits data to be transferred to and from other computers.

Azoospermia in dogs induced by injection of sclerosing agents into the caudae of the epididymides.

Injections of sclerosing agents into the caudae of the epididymides of adult and prepubertal dogs induced a long-lasting and probably irreversible azoospermia. The technique is easy to do and inexpensive, does not seem to cause undesirable side effects, and appears suitable for large-scale sterilization programs in male dogs.