[A case of upper airway obstruction associated with flexed cervical position after posterior occipito-cervical fusion--a retrospective radiographic analysis by the O-C2 angle].

A 71-year-old female developed upper airway obstruction due to flexed cervical position after posterior occipito-cervical fusion. After the operation, she was re-intubated with the air-Q intubating laryngeal airway. Revision surgery allowing the angle to return to the neutral position was performed to attenuate the overflexion of the cervical position.

Usefulness of olanzapine as an adjunct to opioid treatment and for the treatment of neuropathic pain.

Background: The use of opioids for pain management is often associated with nausea and vomiting. Although conventional antipsychotics are often used to counter emesis, they can be associated with extrapyramidal symptoms. However, chronic pain can induce sleep disturbance.

[Anesthesia for a patient with stiff-person syndrome].

Stiff-person syndrome is a rare disease characterized by muscle rigidity and painful spasms in the axial and limb muscles. The authors reported here a case of an axilally lymphadenectomy in a 46-year-old woman with stiff-person syndrome. With train of four ratio (TOFR) monitoring at the ulnar nerve, general anesthesia was induced and maintained with fentanyl, vecuronium and propofol with target controlled infusion.

Silencing of caspase-8 and caspase-3 by RNA interference prevents vascular endothelial cell injury in mice with endotoxic shock.

Objectives: Septic shock and sequential multiple organ failure remain the cause of death in septic patients. Vascular endothelial cell apoptosis may play a role in the pathogenesis of the septic syndrome. Caspase-8 is presumed to be the apex of the death receptor-mediated apoptosis pathway, whereas caspase-3 belongs to the "effector" protease in the apoptosis cascade.