Cardiac Vagal Tone, defensiveness, and motivational style.

Cardiac Vagal Tone has been proposed as a stable biological marker for the ability to sustain attention and regulate emotion [Porges, Monographs of the Society for Research in Child Development 59 (1994) 167-186]. Vagal tone is a physiological index of parasympathetic nervous system influence on the heart that has predicted a number of emotional behaviors and styles in infants, children, and adults. Little research, however, has sought to explore the link between vagal tone and established variables relating to personality and self-regulation.

The objective assessment of amnesia in dissociative identity disorder using event-related potentials.

Assessment of amnesia in Dissociative Identity Disorder (DID) typically relies on self-report, the veracity of which cannot often be independently verified. Memory in DID was therefore assessed using an objective method that involved event-related potentials (ERPs) as well as indirect behavioral measures of memory, and that provided statistically supported assessments for each participant. Four participants who met DSM-IV criteria for DID participated in an ERP memory assessment task, in which words learned by one identity (identity A) were then presented to a second identity (identity B).

Prolene sutures are not a significant factor in anastomotic false aneurysms.

Anastomotic false aneurysms have been a significant complication in vascular surgery, and the sutures used have been a major cause. Monofilament sutures have been indicated as contributing to the formation of false aneurysm. However, most of the monofilament sutures operative in the formation of false aneurysms have been made of polyethylene.

Prevention of high flow problems of arteriovenous grafts. Development of a new tapered graft.

Blood flow of 2 to 3 liters/min was measured in polytetrafluoroethylene (PTFE) arteriovenous dialysis grafts. The flow studies were done at the time of graft banding for high output cardiac failure or peripheral steal. Routine tapering of the arterial end of these grafts to a diameter of less than 5 mm has virtually eliminated this problem.

Classic migraine with cerebral cortical infarction causing permanent hemianopia.

A patient with typical classic migraine, including clear-cut visual auras, who had been followed up clinically for more than 15 years developed permanent right homonymous hemianopia. The underlying cause of this clinical syndrome was established by computerized axial tomography as vascular infarction or ischemia, involving the contralateral visual cortex.

A technic for carotid thromboendarterectomy.

An exacting technic for carotid thromboendarterectomy is described. Certain anatomic features and pitfalls are discussed along with specific instrumentation. Intraoperative use, insertion, and removal of the inlying carotid shunt are described.

Comparison of Payne and Scott operations for morbid obesity.

One hundred five patients were operated upon for morbid obesity using accepted criteria for operation. Forty-five patients with the Payne operation (35 cm of jejunum anastomosed end-to-side to 10 cm of ileum) were compared with 45 patients having the Scott operation (30 cm of jejunum anatomosed end-to-end to 15 cm of ileum with the proximal cut end of ileum vented into the transverse colon). The weight loss in the first two years was similar, although the Scott procedure patients lost slightly more weight.

Problems with bovine heterografts for hemodialysis. Recognition, correction, and prevention.

1. Careful examination of the peripheral blood vessels is essential in choosing the site for an arteriovenous heterograft. 2.