Ultrasound quantification of anterior soft tissue thickness fails to predict difficult laryngoscopy in obese patients.

Morbid obesity is associated with difficult laryngoscopy and intubation. In the general population, bedside indices for predicting difficult intubation (i.e.

Does neostigmine administration produce a clinically important increase in postoperative nausea and vomiting?

Neostigmine is used to antagonize neuromuscular blocker-induced residual neuromuscular paralysis. Despite the findings of a previous meta-analysis, the effect of neostigmine on postoperative nausea and vomiting remains unresolved. We reevaluated the effect of neostigmine on postoperative nausea and vomiting while considering the different anticholinergics as potentially confounding factors.

Magnesium sulphate only slightly reduces the shivering threshold in humans.

Background: Hypothermia may be an effective treatment for stroke or acute myocardial infarction; however, it provokes vigorous shivering, which causes potentially dangerous haemodynamic responses and prevents further hypothermia. Magnesium is an attractive anti-shivering agent because it is used for treatment of postoperative shivering and provides protection against ischaemic injury in animal models. We tested the hypothesis that magnesium reduces the threshold (triggering core temperature) and gain of shivering without substantial sedation or muscle weakness.

Increased sensitivity to thermal pain and reduced subcutaneous lidocaine efficacy in redheads.

Background: Anesthetic requirement in redheads is exaggerated, suggesting that redheads may be especially sensitive to pain. Therefore, the authors tested the hypotheses that women with natural red hair are more sensitive to pain and that redheads are resistant to topical and subcutaneous lidocaine.

Methods: The authors evaluated pain sensitivity in red-haired (n = 30) or dark-haired (n = 30) women by determining the electrical current perception threshold, pain perception, and maximum pain tolerance with a Neurometer CPT/C (Neurotron, Inc.