One Small Step for a Patient, One Giant Leap for Orthostatic Hypotension.

A 52-year-old man with ischemic cardiomyopathy presented with progressive, severe orthostatic hypotension refractory to medical therapy. Standard abdominal and leg compression devices were used without success. A novel, inflatable abdominal compression device was created that alleviated the patient's symptoms and maintained his blood pressure.

Incorporation of omics analyses into artificial gravity research for space exploration countermeasure development.

The next major steps in human spaceflight include flyby, orbital, and landing missions to the Moon, Mars, and near earth asteroids. The first crewed deep space mission is expected to launch in 2022, which affords less than 7 years to address the complex question of whether and how to apply artificial gravity to counter the effects of prolonged weightlessness. Various phenotypic changes are demonstrated during artificial gravity experiments.

A reassessment of the SIDS Back to Sleep Campaign.

The Back to Sleep Campaign was initiated in 1994 to implement the American Academy of Pediatrics' (AAP) recommendation that infants be placed in the nonprone sleeping position to reduce the risk of the Sudden Infant Death Syndrome (SIDS). This paper offers a challenge to the Back to Sleep Campaign (BTSC) from two perspectives: (1) the questionable validity of SIDS mortality and risk statistics, and (2) the BTSC as human experimentation rather than as confirmed preventive therapy. The principal argument that initiated the BTSC and that continues to justify its existence is the observed parallel declines in the number of infants placed in the prone sleeping position and the number of reported SIDS deaths.

A non-inflatable anti-shock garment for obstetric hemorrhage.

Objectives: Maternal death from hemorrhage in low resource settings is frequently due to long delays in transportation to referral centers and/or in obtaining blood and surgical interventions. This case series was designed to demonstrate the feasibility, efficacy and safety of the non-inflatable anti-shock garment (NI-ASG) for resuscitation and hemostasis in the initial management of obstetric hemorrhage and shock.

Methods: Fourteen cases of obstetric hemorrhage and hypovolemic shock at Memorial Christian Hospital, Sialkot, Pakistan were managed with a specific clinical protocol based on using NI-ASG as the primary intervention.

A unifying concept of seizure onset and termination.

Recent discoveries in molecular biology and human genetics have contributed greatly to an understanding of the nature of seizure (ictal) activity. However, two questions of fundamental clinical importance continue to resist scientific inquiry: when and why does a seizure begin; and when and why does a seizure end? This paper cites evidence from the medical literature in support of two counterintuitive concepts that address this issue. First, that despite the diversity of conditions that are associated with seizures, the ictal response results from disturbances of a mitochondrial metabolic pathway that is common to them all.

Ictogenesis: the origin of seizures in humans. A new look at an old theory.

Seizure (ictal) behavior in humans has been observed and recorded since ancient times. A satisfactory solution to this vexing problem continues to elude medical science. Antiepileptic drug (AED) therapy fails to control seizures in 20% of patients with primary generalized epilepsy and 35% of patients with partial epilepsy and has many side effects, including death.

Rett syndrome: stimulation of endogenous biogenic amines.

Transient hypercapnic hyperoxemia was induced in two Rett syndrome children by the administration of a gaseous mixture of 80% O2 and 20% CO2. Time course studies of neurotransmitters and their metabolites showed an immediate and marked increase in central biogenic amine turnover following inhalation of the gas mixture. The increased turnover of biogenic amines was associated with improved clinical changes.

The medical antigravity suit for management of surgically uncontrollable bleeding associated with abdominal pregnancy.

Three patients with abdominal pregnancy have been treated at Stanford University Hospital in recent years. Common to each was surgically uncontrolled hemorrhage for which circumferential pneumatic compression (supplied by a medical antigravity suit) was used to stop the bleeding. In each patient, the hemostatic effect of treatment was dramatic.

Control of intractable abdominal bleeding by external counterpressure.

Pressure of 20 to 25 mm Hg circumferentially applied to the abdomen and legs for periods up to 48 hours is a safe, effective, and practical adjunct to standard medical and surgical techniques for controlling intra-abdominal hemorrhage. Pressure is distributed uniformly through the abdominal cavity and aids hemostasis by decreasing transmural pressure and blood flow in arteries and veins. Compression of the venous capacitance reservoir causes shunting of blood to vital organs above the diaphragm.