[The Effect of Dexamethasone on Postoperative Nausea and Vomiting in Posterior Correction and Fusion Surgery for Adolescent Idiopathic Scoliosis].

Background: Although dexamethasone is widely used to prevent postoperative nausea and vomiting (PONV) in both adults and children, the evidence in children is mainly from minor, short surgical proce- dures such as tonsillectomy and strabismus surgery.

Methods: In this study, we reviewed medical re- cords of patients who had undergone posterior correc- tion and fusion surgery for adolescent idiopathic scoio- sis at our institution and evaluated the effect of dexa- methasone on PONV prophylaxis.

Results: Four of 11(36%) patients who had received prophylactic dexamethasone and 26 of 33 (79%) pa- tients who had not received dexamethasone developed PONV during the first 72 hours of surgery (OR 0.

Implication of Rho-associated kinase in the elevation of extracellular dopamine levels and its related behaviors induced by methamphetamine in rats.

A growing body of evidence suggests that several protein kinases are involved in the expression of pharmacological actions induced by a psychostimulant methamphetamine. The present study was designed to investigate the role of the Rho/Rho-associated kinase (ROCK)-dependent pathway in the expression of the increase in extracellular levels of dopamine in the nucleus accumbens and its related behaviors induced by methamphetamine in rats. Methamphetamine (1 mg/kg, subcutaneously) produced a substantial increase in extracellular levels of dopamine in the nucleus accumbens, with a progressive augmentation of dopamine-related behaviors including rearing and sniffing.

A putative sigma1 receptor antagonist NE-100 attenuates the discriminative stimulus effects of ketamine in rats.

Ketamine, one of the dissociative anaesthetic agents, has been shown to produce psychotomimetic effects. It has been well documented that activation of sigma receptors is responsible for the pathogenesis of some psychiatric disorders. In the present study, the effects of NE-100, a putative sigma(1) receptor antagonist, was investigated in rats trained to discriminate between ketamine (5 mg/kg, i.