BACKGROUND Tetanus is a life threatening disease. Reported mortality for tetanus is 15-39%. Conventional treatment includes heavy sedation and artificial ventilation. Complications resulting from long term heavy sedation and artificial ventilation contribute to 60% of the total mortality caused by tetanus. In this study magnesium sulphate was used to reduce the need for sedation and artificial ...

OBJECTIVE To investigate quality of life in an international population of patients with late-onset Pompe disease. METHODS Data on quality of life (SF-36), age, sex, disease duration, wheelchair use, and use of artificial ventilation were collected for 210 adults with Pompe disease from Australia, Germany, the Netherlands, the United Kingdom, and the United States. SF-36 scores were compared ...

Ethical issues relating to the withdrawal of dialysis are discussed, comparing dialysis with other life-support systems, particularly artificial ventilation. It is argued that there is no ethical difference between discontinuing treatment in each case. One practical difference between the two is that patients with chronic renal failure are less likely to have reduced autonomy, and so can engage...

An increasing proportion of the Earth's surface is illuminated at night. In aquatic ecosystems, artificial light at night (ALAN) may influence microbial communities living in the sediments. These communities are highly diverse and play an important role in the global carbon cycle. We combined field and laboratory experiments using sediments from an agricultural drainage system to examine how AL...

The case of a 57-year-old woman with rheumatoid arthritis is presented to illustrate the rare occurrence of a myasthenic syndrome induced by D-penicillamine, which led to prolonged (5.25-h) postoperative apnoea necessitating artificial ventilation.

TO ThO EDITOR Communications for this section will be published as space and priorities permit. The comments should not exceed 500 words in length, with a maximum of Jive references; one figure or table can be printed. Exceptions may occur under particular circumstances. Contributions may include comments on articles published In this periodical , or they may be reports of unique educational ch...

Häbler, H.-J., T. Bartsch, and W. Jänig. Rhythmicity in single fiber postganglionic activity supplying the rat tail. J. Neurophysiol. 81: 2026–2036, 1999. The temporal pattern of ongoing sympathetic vasoconstrictor activity may play an important role for neurovascular transmission. Here we analyzed the activity of postganglionic fibers projecting into the ventral collector nerve of anesthetized...

Rhythmicity in single fiber postganglionic activity supplying the rat tail. The temporal pattern of ongoing sympathetic vasoconstrictor activity may play an important role for neurovascular transmission. Here we analyzed the activity of postganglionic fibers projecting into the ventral collector nerve of anesthetized and artificially ventilated vagotomized Wistar rats with respect to the presen...