Reflex responses of paraspinal muscles to tapping.

ERECTOR SPINAE REFLEX STUDIES IN HEALTHY SUBJECTS REVEALED TWO RESPONSES: a 12·0±1·6 ms latency, oligosynaptic response, and a 30 to 50 ms latency response with polysynaptic reflex characteristics. There was a silent period after the first and second responses. The effect of limb position, trunk, neck, postural changes, Jendrassik manoeuvre and vibration on both responses were also evaluated.

Eyelid tumors anmd renal transplantation.

The high incidence of malignant neoplasms in renal transplant recipients and other immunosuppressed patients is well recognized. A large proportion of these neoplasms are skin cancers. The frequent occurrence of other ocular complications, such as cataract, elevated intraocular pressure, hypertensive retinopathy, cytomegalovirus retinitis, and herpetic keratitis in patients after kidney transplant, has also been described.

Normalization of plasma insulin profiles with intraperitoneal insulin infusion in diabetic man.

This study examined the feasibility of normalizing the plasma insulin profile in five insulin deficient diabetic males. Acute meal-related increases in plasma free insulin concentration were achieved by administering short-acting insulin intraperitoneally with a pre-programmed portable rotary splenoid driven pump. This insulin response was compared to that achieved when short-acting insulin was injected subcutaneously 15 minutes prior to each meal.

Rebound excitation and the rhythmic activity of the ventrobasal complex of the thalamus.

(1) Membrane potential changes of 18 thalamocortical relay (TCR) cells of the ventrobasal complex of the cat thalamus were recorded intracellularly during rhythmic thalamic activities under moderate barbiturate anesthesia. (2) A single cutaneous stimulus evoked an initial EPSP followed by a longlasting IPSP. On the late declining phase of the IPSP, clustered rapidly rising depolarizations (RDs) were seen to generate a burst of spike potentials.

Interim FDA report on intraocular lenses.

Intraocular lenses have been regulated by the Food and Drug Administration since February 9, 1978. Data reported through August 9, 1979 reveal 177,503 lenses of four different classes have been implanted. The anterior chamber intraocular lens appears to have a higher incidence of certain postoperative complications compared with both control operations and implantation of lenses in the other three classes.

Modified hospital pumps for pulsed insulin delivery.

Two standard hospital pumps have been modified to provide bimodal insulin delivery for use as "open loop+ artificial beta cells. The units have been designed to deliver both a low infusion basal rate of insulin for glycemic control during a fasting state in diabetics and a high infusion rate in response to a meal challenge. The basal rate can be varied in steps of 0;2 milliliter per hour from roughly one to three milliliters per hour.

Endogenous and exogenous ocular and systemic silver deposition.

The ocular distribution of particulate silver after prolonged ingestion and the topical application of an organic silver compound (argyrol) are described and compared with the distribution after long-term occupational contact with refined silver. The deposits appear to be inert and to cause no functional visual deficit.

Some engineering aspects of insulin delivery systems.

The characteristics of electronically controlled insulin delivery systems are presented. Early experiments with an external system have shown promise in providing improved glycemic control over conventional methods of single or multiple subcutaneous insulin injections. The encouraging results with external insulin delivery systems have led to the development and early testing in dogs of an implantable system with remote controls to permit variable insulin flow rates.

A portable insulin infusion system with a rotary solenoid-driven peristaltic pump.

A portable, external, preprogrammed insulin infusion system with a mass of 560 grams and a battery lifetime of 4 months is described. The system uses a rotary solenoid-driven peristaltic pump, with low-power CMOS timing circuitry and controls to provide bimodal insulin delivery with a timed high rate. Accurate and reproducible delivery of 2 microliter fluid pulses at programmed intervals from 0.

Normalization of plasma insulin profiles in diabetic subjects with programmed insulin delivery.

Normalization of plasma glucose concentration with subcutaneous injections of insulin has been difficult. With intravenous insulin delivery, normalization of plasma glucose concentration in adult-onset diabetic patients has been achieved when their plasma insulin concentration was normalized. In juvenile-onset diabetic subjects totally lacking endogenous insulin, the effect of normalization of the plasma insulin concentration has not yet been reported.

Spatial and temporal features of afferent inhibition of thalamocortical relay cells.

1. The temporal and spatial features of the afferent inhibition of thalamocortical relay (TCR) cells in the ventrobasal complex of the thalamus have been examined using paired conditioning and test air jets. 2.

Cutaneous masking. I. Psychophysical observations on interactions of multipoint stimuli in man.

1. Psychophysical masking of cutaneous sensation at the locus of punctate test stimulation has been quantitatively examined with phasic mechanical and brief air-pulse stimuli using a conditioning-test stimulus paradigm. 2.

Cutaneous masking. II. Geometry of excitatory andinhibitory receptive fields of single units in somatosensory cortex of the cat.

1. The responses of single neurons in the primary somatosensory cortex of the cat to brief air-pulse stimuli were quantitatively examined. These controlled natural stimuli activated almost exclusively rapidly adapting hair units which, on systematic movement of the stimulus through the receptive field, gave unit-response profiles that showed the classical unimodal tent-shaped distribution.

Diagnostic modalities and natural behavior of optic nerve gliomas.

The preoperative evaluation of a patient with a suspected optic nerve glioma has been enhanced by the use of recently developed techniques such as computerized tomography and ultrasonography, which enable evaluation of tumor configuration. Conventional radiographic studies with stereoscopic orbital foramen views, as well as tomography of the optic canal, are important and permit accurate measurement of canal size, shape, and margins. The glioma characteristically develops as an intradural, monolobular, fusiform enlargement of the orbital, canalicular, or chiasmal portion of the nerve.

The peritoneal absorption of insulin in diabetic man: a potential site for a mechanical insulin delivery system.

The potential of the peritoneum as a site for an "artificial beta cell" was studied. Three 14-hr studies were performed in an insulin-dependent diabetic male maintained on chronic peritoneal dialysis. All studies were performed between dialyses and throughout three standard American Diabetes Association (ADA) 600 calorie meals.

Performance of the Du Pont aca ammonia method.

We evaluated the performance of the Du Pont aca ammonia procedure with regard to (a) linearity, (b) precision, (c) interferences, and (d) effect of anticoagulants. Linearity extends to 2,000 mumol/L. The SD of the method was essentially constant (2 to 3 mumol/L) and independent of the NH3 concentration.