Cocaine-associated intestinal gangrene in a pregnant woman.

A 31-year-old pregnant woman who was an active cocaine abuser presented to our emergency department five times in 1 week for abdominal pain and vomiting. She continued to use cocaine regularly despite having abdominal pain. Her fifth admission was for seizures.

Hemodynamic, electrocardiographic, metabolic, and hematologic abnormalities resulting from lithium intoxication. A case report.

The authors report a unique case that presented with hemodynamic abnormalities and severe bradycardia, necessitating the insertion of a temporary pacemaker, as well as metabolic disturbances, hematologic changes, and hepatic and renal dysfunction in an elderly individual owing to lithium intoxication. This case also demonstrates that these various serious side effects of lithium resolved with prompt recognition and discontinuation of lithium. Lithium should be used with extreme caution and frequent monitoring especially in the elderly.

Abdominal Tuberculosis or Ovarian Carcinoma: Management Dilemma Associated With an Elevated CA-125 Level.

The CA-125 antigen is useful for detecting residual disease in women treated for ovarian cancer. Its role in screening for ovarian cancer is questionable, however, because anumber of other benign and malignant causes can elevate its level. In this case, a patient with genital tract tuberculosis was initially misdiagnosed with ovarian cancer.

Small cell carcinoma of gallbladder: report of two cases.

Extrapulmonary small cell carcinoma has been reported from multiple sites, including the gallbladder. Small cell carcinoma of the gallbladder is a very rare tumor, found usually in elderly women and associated with cholelithiasis. It carries a grave prognosis, metastasizing early and causing death shortly after diagnosis.

Pulmonary botryomycosis in a patient with AIDS.

We describe the clinical and pathologic findings of the first reported case of pulmonary botryomycosis in a patient with AIDS. Botryomycosis is an uncommon, chronic, suppurative disease that is often mistaken clinically and histologically for a fungal infection. The patient responded to systemic antibiotic therapy.

Wandering spleen with torsion in a geriatric patient. Report of an unusual case with a brief review of the clinical picture and management.

Wandering spleen is a rare condition that is extremely uncommon in the elderly. A case of wandering spleen with torsion in a 73-year-old female is described in detail. Our patient's presentation is unusual because in 1972, during a total hysterectomy, she had no evidence of a wandering spleen.

Long-term effects of partial denervation on sprouting and muscle fiber area in rat plantaris.

The long-term effects of partial denervation on the muscle fiber cross-sectional area, degree of axonal sprouting, and end-plate morphology were examined 1, 3, 6, 9, and 12 months postsurgery in rat plantaris muscle. After 1 month of partial denervation, mean cross-sectional areas of type I and type II myofibers were significantly lower than that of sham-operated controls; fiber atrophy and hypertrophy was observed. After 3 months, we found no statistical difference in the mean cross-sectional fiber area between the two experimental groups.

Recovery and loss of muscle force of rat plantaris after partial denervation.

The isometric contractile characteristics of rat plantaris muscles were assessed 1, 3, 6, 9, and 12 months after resection of the L4 radicular nerve. After 1 month of partial denervation, twitch and tetanus were significantly lower (26.1 and 22.

A rat model of the post-polio motor unit.

We examined the long-term effects of muscle usage on a rat model of the post-polio motor unit. Isometric tensions, type I and type II muscle fiber areas, the incidence of collateral sprouting, and motor endplate morphology were examined following 1, 3, 6, and 9 months of partial denervation in rat plantaris muscle. Full morphologic and functional stability of the expanded motor units occurred at 6 months post-partial denervation.

Nerve sprouting and endplate growth induced in normal muscle by contralateral partial denervation of rat plantaris.

The incidence of motor nerve and terminal sprouting was quantitatively analyzed in normal unoperated muscles, in homologous muscles contralateral to muscles which have been partially denervated, in partially denervated muscles, and in sham-operated muscles. Muscles were studied by light microscopy after staining motor endplates by a combined silver-cholinesterase stain. In addition, the incidence of endplates containing terminal sprouts, the number of terminal branch points per endplate, and endplate, and endplate size were also assessed in the various groups examined.

Tenotomy-induced motor endplate alterations in rat soleus muscle.

The effects of tenotomy on the ultrastructure of rat soleus muscle motor endplates were examined both qualitatively and quantitatively. Rat soleus muscle was studied 2 weeks following tenotomy and compared with normal littermates. The motor endplates from the tenotomized muscles were found to exhibit both degenerative and regenerative changes.

Passive exercise and reinnervation of the rat denervated extensor digitorum longus muscle after nerve crush.

Denervated extensor digitorum longus muscles of Wistar rats were passively exercised for 4 days (2 h/day) after peroneal nerve crush 1 cm from the muscle. Isometric contractile properties and endplate ultrastructure were measured 11 days postcrush. No significant differences were observed in tension characteristics between the exercised and nonexercised muscles on day 11.

The effect of electrical stimulation on reinnervation of rat muscle: contractile properties and endplate morphometry.

Denervated extensor digitorum longus muscles of Wistar rats were electrically stimulated in vivo for 4 days (2h per day) after peroneal nerve crush 1 cm from the muscle. Isometric contractile properties and endplate ultrastructure were measured on days 11 and 18. On day 11, the time to peak (116% of control) and 1/2-relaxation time (136% of control) for the twitch tensions of stimulated muscles measured in vivo were significantly less than those (127% and 157% of controls, respectively) of non-stimulated muscles.

The effect of limb immobilization and stretch on the fine structure of the neuromuscular junction in rat muscle.

Limb immobilization of rat plantaris muscle in the stretched position for 3 weeks led to increased postsynaptic areas of junctional folds and clefts per nerve terminals in both type I and type II muscle fibers. In addition, various ultrastructural alterations were evident in both types of end plates.

Structural alterations of the intramuscular nerves and junctional region in extraocular muscles of C57BL/Ks (db/db) diabetic mice.

The extraocular muscles of the C57BL/Ks (db/db) diabetic mutant mouse were examined by electron microscopy. The intramuscular myelinated nerves and the junctional apparatus of the singly and multiply innervated muscle fibers were found to exhibit various anomalies. Lamellated inclusion bodies were found in many of the Schwann cells of the myelinated nerve fibers; intra-axonal inclusion bodies resembling polyglucosan bodies were also observed.

Motor endplate involvement in the extraocular muscles of the myotonic rat.

The motor endplates from the extraocular muscles of rats administered 20,25-diazacholesterol were examined by electron microscopy. Many anomalies were found at various levels of the junctional complex. Electron microscopy showed disrupted sole-plate nuclei, disruptions of the junctional sarcoplasm, atypical sarcoplasmic extensions, simplified postsynaptic areas, and interposition of Schwann cell cytoplasm between axonal terminal and muscle fiber with a reduplication of basement membrane, as well as atrophic and disrupted axonal terminals.

Effects of passive exercise on neurogenic atrophy in rat skeletal muscle.

Passive exercise treatment for 23 days produced a retardation of type II muscle fiber atrophy in denervated extensor digitorum longus muscle of rat compared with denervated-nontreated animals. The type I muscle fibers of both denervated groups were similar to that of control rats.

Neuromuscular plasticity following limb immobilization.

The effects of immobilization on the ultrastructure of the rat neuromuscular junction of type I and type II muscle fibres were studied both qualitatively and quantitatively. Muscle fibre areas were measured as well. The plantaris muscle was immobilized in a shortened position by applying a plaster cast for three weeks.

Rat extraocular muscle. 3. Histochemical variability along the length of multiply-innervated fibers of the orbital surface layer.

Multiply-innervated fibers from rat superior oblique extraocular muscle were followed in sequential serial sections using histochemistry. Sudan black and adenosine-triphosphatase (ATPase) histochemical staining reactions were used to identify these fibers in the muscle's global layer and orbital surface layer. Regional differences in ATPase staining occurred along the length of multiply-innervated fibers from the orbital surface layer.

Endplate postsynaptic structure dependent upon muscle activity.

The influence of contractile activity on the preservation of the denervated postsynaptic region of the endplate was quantitatively assessed by electron microscopy. The extensor digitorum longus muscle of rats were denervated for 21 days. Denervated animals were divided into two groups, those receiving electrical stimulation treatment (1 h/day for 21 days) and those left untreated.