Trends but not individual values of central venous oxygen saturation agree with mixed venous oxygen saturation during varying hemodynamic conditions.

Background: Previous studies found contradictory results regarding the question whether mixed venous oxygen saturation (Svo2) and central venous oxygen saturation (Scvo2) are equivalent. The inconsistency of study results may result from different study designs and different, partly questionable, statistical approaches.

Methods: The authors performed a prospective clinical trial comparing individual oxygen saturation values as well as the trend of values in blood from the superior vena cava (Scvo2), the right atrium (Srao2), and the pulmonary artery (Svo2) during varying hemodynamic situations.

Propofol attenuates responses of the auditory cortex to acoustic stimulation in a dose-dependent manner: a FMRI study.

Background: Functional magnetic resonance imaging (fMRI) using blood-oxygen-level-dependent (BOLD) contrasts is a common method for studying sensory or cognitive brain functions. The aim of the present study was to assess the effect of the intravenous anaesthetic propofol on auditory-induced brain activation using BOLD contrast fMRI.

Methods: In eight neurosurgical patients, musical stimuli were presented binaurally in a block design.

[Why does blood have a pH-value of 7.4? The theory of acid-base management].

Aim of the present paper is to discuss the physiologic principles of the acid-base status, in particular those of the pH value. The alpha-stat theory of acid-base management interprets the normal value of arterial pH, usually thought of as being 7.40, as a value derived from the intracellular pH, which is close to neutrality.

Different F-wave recovery after neuromuscular blockade with pancuronium and mivacurium.

We performed this study to assess the recovery period after neuromuscular blockade by electromyographic F-wave analysis, a method that supplies more information about more proximal parts of the motor system than conventionally used methods, e.g., mechanomyography (MMG).

Propofol impairs the central but not the peripheral part of the motor system.

Propofol provides some degree of muscle relaxation. Previous studies have investigated the effects of propofol on either the central or peripheral parts of the motor system. In this study, we simultaneously assessed both central (spinal) and peripheral effects.