Safety and practicability of percutaneous translaryngeal tracheotomy (Fantoni technique) in surgery of maxillofacial and oropharyngeal tumours--own results and review of the literature.

Background: The study examines the suitability of the Fantoni method of translaryngeal tracheotomy (TLT) for airway management after surgery due to oropharyngeal and maxillofacial tumours.

Patients And Methods: During a 4-year period, 156 translaryngeal pull-through tracheotomies were performed in 145 patients. This method is the only puncture tracheotomy technique that involves a dilatation process from inside the trachea to the outside through the skin and differs from other established puncture methods regarding practicability and frequency of complications.

Environmental effects of agri-environmental schemes in Western Europe.

Agri-environmental schemes (AES) have been introduced as part of European Union's (EU) Common Agricultural Policy and are now an important part of this. A methodological approach to analyse the policy effects of AES is outlined, in which we distinguish between performance effects (on agricultural practices) and outcome effects (environmental impact). The performance effects are further approached including measurement of improvement and protection effects based on 12 indicators on changes/maintenance of land use and agricultural management.

The reaction of astrocytes and neurons in the hippocampus of adult rats during chronic ethanol treatment and correlations to behavioral impairments.

Chronic ethanol treatment of Wistar rats to 10% (v/v) ethanol over a period of 4, 12, and 36 weeks produced distinct alterations of the glial fibrillary acidic protein immunoreactivity (GFAP-IR) of dorsal hippocampal astrocytes. Ethanol consumption over a period of 4 weeks caused an increase in the total GFAP-IR of the astrocytes. Down-regulation of the total GFAP-IR was measured in all examined brain regions after 36 weeks of ethanol treatment.

Combined application of propranolol and local anesthetics: enhanced anticonvulsant action.

The influence of the local anesthetics procaine and lidocaine on the anticonvulsant action of propranolol was investigated using the maximal electroshock seizure test in mice. Combined application markedly reduced ED50 values either of the local anesthetics or of propranolol. Selected anticonvulsants and antiarrhythmics were tested by comparison.