The analgesic effect of paracetamol when added to lidocaine for intravenous regional anesthesia.

Background: In this study, we evaluated the effect of paracetamol on sensory and motor block onset time, tourniquet pain, and postoperative analgesia, when added to lidocaine in IV regional anesthesia (IVRA).

Methods: Sixty patients undergoing hand surgery were randomly and blindly divided into three groups. All groups received IVRA lidocaine (3 mg/kg) diluted with saline to a total volume of 40 mL.

Routine use of nasogastric tubes does not reduce postoperative nausea and vomiting.

Routine use of a nasogastric (NG) tube has been suggested to prevent postoperative nausea and vomiting (PONV) despite conflicting data. Accordingly, we tested the hypothesis that routine use of a NG tube does not reduce PONV. Our work is based on data from a large trial of 4055 patients initially designed to quantify the effectiveness of combinations of antiemetic treatments for the prevention of PONV.

Droperidol has comparable clinical efficacy against both nausea and vomiting.

Background: Droperidol is commonly noted to be more effective at preventing postoperative nausea (PON) than vomiting (POV) and it is assumed to have a short duration of action. This may be relevant for clinical decisions, especially for designing multiple-drug antiemetic regimens.

Methods: We conducted a post hoc analysis of a large multicentre trial.

Ultrasound-guided lumbar medial branch block in obese patients: a fluoroscopically confirmed clinical feasibility study.

Background And Objectives: Obesity is a major risk factor for lower back pain. Fluoroscope-guided medial branch block is a common diagnostic tool in these patients. Although approach to the facet joint guided by ultrasound has been demonstrated successfully in lean patients, its success in obese patients is unknown.

Dietary Fat Feeding Alters Lipid Peroxidation in Surfactant-like Particles Secreted by Rat Small Intestine.

Background: Long-term feeding of fish oil (n-3) and corn oil (n-6) markedly enhances levels of lipid peroxidation within isolated rat enterocytes. The effect is 10-fold greater at the villus tip than in the crypt region, correlating with the distribution of deleterious oxidative systems (glutathione reductase) in the tip and beneficial systems (superoxide dismutase) at the base of the villus. Because of this vertical gradient of peroxidation, the process was thought to play a role in apoptosis of enterocytes at the villus tip.

Laryngocele and epiglottic cyst as rare causes of obstructive sleep apnea.

Introduction: Upper airway pathologies have been reported to cause obstructive sleep apnea (OSA).

Case Report: We present two rare cases of OSA, one with laryngocele secondary to partial laryngectomy and the other with epiglottic cyst.

Conclusion: In the management of cases with OSA symptoms, a detailed evaluation of upper airways, including endoscopic and radiological examinations as well as polysomnography, should be done.

Sudden death due to eosinophilic endomyocardial diseases: three case reports.

Eosinophils are associated with various disorders, such as allergic or hypersensitivity reactions, parasitic diseases, connective tissue diseases, certain neoplastic diseases (Hodgkin's disease, lymphomas, and carcinomas), and various immune deficiency states. Eosinophils can infiltrate any tissue and can cause tissue damage. Heart, has been demonstrated to be the most extensively involved and toxicity of eosinophils is well-established on cardiac tissue.

Determining small intestinal transit time and pathomorphology in critically ill patients using video capsule technology.

Purpose: Gastrointestinal motility can be impaired by serious illness or medications, compromising enteral feeding in critical care patients. We compared small bowel transit time and morphology in neurosurgical critical care (ICU) patients with those in healthy subjects.

Methods: We evaluated small intestinal transit time, quality of visualization and intestinal morphology in 16 ICU patients (Glasgow Coma Scale score from 6 to 14) and 16 healthy ambulatory patients.

Feasibility analysis of color removal from textile dyeing wastewater in a fixed-bed column system by surfactant-modified zeolite (SMZ).

In this study, the ability of surfactant-modified zeolite (SMZ) to remove color from real textile wastewater was investigated. Tests were performed in a fixed-bed column reactor and the surface of natural zeolite was modified with a quaternary amine surfactant hexadecyltrimethylammonium bromide (HTAB). The zeolite bed that was modified at 1 g L(-1) HTAB concentration and HTAB flow rate of 0.

Effect of deep vein thrombosis on ischaemia-modified albumin levels.

Background: An increasing number of studies have shown that ischaemia-modified albumin (IMA) levels rise in a number of acute ischaemic conditions such as cerebral infarct, myocardial infarct, pulmonary infarct and mesenteric infarct, suggesting that IMA may be useful as a diagnostic marker. A study was undertaken to investigate the effect on IMA levels of deep vein thrombosis (DVT), frequently encountered at the outset or during the course of diseases such as pulmonary embolism and cerebral infarct.

Methods: A case-control study was performed in the emergency department of Karadeniz Technical University Hospital, Turkey.

Effect of fat feeding on pro-oxidant and anti-oxidant enzyme systems in rat intestine: possible role in the turnover of enterocytes.

Immature epithelial cells generated in the crypt base undergo differentiation while progressing to the villus tip, where the cells upon apoptosis are detached from the underlying muscular tissue. We previously reported that lipid peroxidation might be involved in the turnover of enterocytes across the crypt-villus axis in rat intestine (Dig Dis Sci 52:1840-1844, 2007). To examine whether long-term feeding of fat with different fatty-acid composition influences this process, in the present study we investigated the effect of feeding fish oil (n - 3) and corn oil (n - 6) polyunsaturated fatty acids on lipid per-oxidation and anti-oxidant systems in different epithelial cell fractions isolated in rat intestine.

A novel approach to cleft lip nose deformity: posterior dome graft technique.

The pathology of "nasal tip complex" remains as a problem to be solved in unilateral cleft lip nose deformity wherein open rhinoplasty and cartilage grafts are used frequently. For this reason, the research for the treatment of cleft-side tip projection lost and ala depression still continues. Our technique is to put the cartilage graft at posterior dome area after the release of cleft-side ala from vestibular mucosa and skin to elevate the ala depression and tip projection.

Transdermal nicotine patch failed to improve postoperative pain management.

Background: A single 3 mg intranasal dose of nicotine has been reported to have analgesic properties. We designed placebo-controlled study to test the hypothesis that transdermal nicotine (TDN) administered over a 3-day period would decrease postoperative pain and opioid analgesic usage and improve the recovery process after lower abdominal surgery.

Methods: Ninety-seven patients undergoing abdominal hysterectomy procedures were randomly assigned to one of two treatment groups: (1) control group received inert (sham) patches 1 h before and for 2 days after surgery, or the (2) nicotine group received TDN 30 (21 mg nicotine) patches 1 h before induction of anesthesia and for two additional days after surgery.

Quality assessment of perinatal and infant postmortem examinations in Turkey.

An autopsy examination is important in identifying the cause of death and as a means of auditing clinical and forensic practice; however, especially in perinatal and infantile age groups determining the cause of death leads to some difficulties in autopsy practice. In this study, 15,640 autopsies recorded during the years 2000-2004 in the Mortuary Department of the Council of Forensic Medicine were reviewed. Autopsy findings of 510 cases between 20 completed weeks of gestation and 1 year of age were analyzed retrospectively.

Comparison of the laryngeal mask (LMA) and laryngeal tube (LT) with the perilaryngeal airway (cobraPLA) in brief paediatric surgical procedures.

We compared the laryngeal mask airway (LMA) and the laryngeal tube (LT) with the perilaryngeal airway (CobraPLA, PLA) in anaesthetised, paralysed children having brief surgical procedures. After obtaining informed consent, 90 paediatric ASA Status 1 and 2 patients awaiting short surgical procedures were randomised to have their airways managed with an LMA, LT or PLA. Anaesthesia was induced with sevoflurane (2.

Effect of magnesium sulfate infusion on sevoflurane consumption, hemodynamics, and perioperative opioid consumption in lumbar disc surgery.

Background: Magnesium sulphate administration was initially reported to reduce postoperative analgesic requirements. Subsequent reports, though, were inconsistent. Specifically, we tested the hypotheses that intraoperative magnesium sulfate administration reduces postoperative requirement for opioids, secondary outcomes were intraoperative muscle relaxant, sevoflurane consumptions and postoperative pain.

Color removal from textile dyebath effluents in a zeolite fixed bed reactor: determination of optimum process conditions using Taguchi method.

Taguchi method was applied as an experimental design to determine optimum conditions for color removal from textile dyebath house effluents in a zeolite fixed bed reactor. After the parameters were determined to treat real textile wastewater, adsorption experiments were carried out. The breakthrough curves for adsorption studies were constructed under different conditions by plotting the normalized effluent color intensity (C/C(0)) versus time (min) or bed volumes (BV).

[Coccygectomy in patients with coccydynia].

Objectives: The results of coccygectomy were evaluated in patients with coccydynia unresponsive to conservative treatment.

Methods: Twenty-four patients (23 females, 1 male; mean age 33 years; range 21 to 60 years) underwent coccygectomy for coccydynia unresponsive to conservative treatment of at least a year. The mean symptom duration was 30 months (range 14 to 144 months), and the mean length of conservative treatment was 18 months (range 12 to 32 months).

Remifentanil for general anaesthesia: a systematic review.

We performed a quantitative systematic review of randomised, controlled trials that compared remifentanil to short-acting opioids (fentanyl, alfentanil, or sufentanil) for general anaesthesia. Eighty-five trials were identified and these included a total of 13 057 patients. Intra-operatively, remifentanil was associated with clinical signs of deeper analgesia and anaesthesia, such as fewer responses to noxious stimuli (relative risk 0.

Training motor skills of children with low vision.

The aim of this study was to study the effectiveness of a motor training program for visually impaired children. 40 children with low vision took part in the study. 20 children (10 boys, 10 girls), mean age 8:9 yr.

Prediction of difficult tracheal intubation in Turkish patients: a multi-center methodological study.

Background And Objective: Preoperative evaluation is important in the detection of patients at risk for difficult airway management. It is still unclear whether true prediction is possible and which variables should be chosen for evaluation. The aim of this prospective, multi-centre study was to investigate the incidence of difficult intubation, the sensitivity and positive predictive values of clinical screening tests and whether combining two or more of these tests will improve the prediction of difficult intubation in Turkish patients.

A comparison of oral midazolam, oral tramadol, and intranasal sufentanil premedication in pediatric patients.

Background: This study was designed to evaluate the efficacy and safety of oral midazolam, tramadol drops, and intranasal sufentanil for premedication of pediatric patients.

Methods: Sixty children, three to 10 years of age, who were designated as American Society of Anesthesiologists physical status 1 and who were undergoing adenotonsillectomy as inpatients were randomized to receive a dosage of 0.5 mg/kg (total of 4 ml) midazolam in cherry juice (n=20, Group M), 3 mg/kg tramadol drops (n=20, Group T), or 2 microg/kg intranasal sufentanil (n=20, Group S).