[Withdrawal of life support in the permanent vegetative state, and a dignified death].

Patient relatives often request withdrawal of life support, especially artificial nutrition and hydration, in cases of permanent vegetative or minimally conscious state, and resort to court in case of disagreement. Two recent cases of withdrawal authorized by the courts concerned, one from abroad and one from Argentina, have been controversial. Although it may appear inhuman to stop feeding and hydrating such patients, to continue it only prolongs a state of irreversible biological subsistence.

Lung recruitment prevents collapse during laparoscopy in children: A randomised controlled trial.

Background: Capnoperitoneum and anaesthesia impair lung aeration during laparoscopy in children. These changes can be detected and monitored at the bedside by lung ultrasound (LUS).

Objective: The aim of our study was to assess the impact of general anaesthesia and capnoperitoneum on lung collapse and the potential preventive effect of lung recruitment manoeuvres, using LUS in children undergoing laparoscopy.

Universal ethical principles and their application in clinical drug trials.

Since 1931, and especially since the Nuremberg Code of 1947, an increasing number of declarations, regulations, norms, guidelines, laws, resolutions, and rules intended to create conditions for better protection of subjects participating in research studies have been published, although some have meant setbacks in the human rights of vulnerable populations. As such, violations of the dignity of experimental subjects in clinical trials continue. What researchers investigate and how the research is done, the quality and transparency of the data, and the analysis and the publication of results (of both raw and processed data) respond to the financial interests of the pharmaceutical companies, coming into permanent tension with bioethical principles and the needs of society.

Accuracy of transthoracic lung ultrasound for diagnosing anesthesia-induced atelectasis in children.

Background: The aim of this study was to test the accuracy of lung sonography (LUS) to diagnose anesthesia-induced atelectasis in children undergoing magnetic resonance imaging (MRI).

Methods: Fifteen children with American Society of Anesthesiology's physical status classification I and aged 1 to 7 yr old were studied. Sevoflurane anesthesia was performed with the patients breathing spontaneously during the study period.

Seasonal variation and trends in stroke hospitalizations and mortality in a South American community hospital.

Numerous studies have reported the presence of temporal variations in biological processes. Seasonal variation (SV) in stroke has been widely studied, but little data have been published on this phenomenon in the Southern Hemisphere, and there have been no studies reported from Argentina. The goals of the present study were to describe the SV of admissions and deaths for stroke and examine trends in stroke morbidity and mortality over a 3-year period in a community hospital in Argentina.

[Paroxysmal upgaze deviation syndrome].

In 1988, Ouvrier and Billson described four children with a condition they termed "benign paroxysmal tonic upgaze syndrome". The clinical picture is characterized by the appearance, in the first months of life, of episodes of paroxysmal upgaze deviation of varying duration, and without alteration of consciousness. Fixation nystagmus is observed when trying to look down.

[Independent ethics committees for clinical research in Argentina. An evaluation and a system to guarantee their independence].

The Administración Nacional de Medicamentos, Alimentos y Tecnología Médica de la República Argentina (ANMAT) requires that an independent ethics committee of sponsors and/or researchers must previously evaluate and approve all the new pharmacological research protocols carried out on human beings. However, due to the lucrative nature of the evaluation, and because the selection of the Independent Ethics Committee is carried out by the sponsors and/or researchers, the assumed autonomy of the former can be reduced to merely a relationship of "service provider-customer". The Institutional Review Board of the Mar del Plata s Community Hospital has evaluated, between 2005 and 2006, thirty three research protocols (with their corresponding information sheets for patients and informed consent forms) previously approved by a non-institutional Independent Ethics Committee.

Ischemic stroke related to anabolic abuse.

Anabolic-androgenic steroid (AAS) abuse increased in recent years, and it is associated with numerous adverse effects. Few reports on ischemic stroke related to anabolic steroid abuse have been published. We report a case of a 26-year-old male amateur athlete who suffered a posterior territory ischemic stroke.