A method of gas analysis is described for estimating carbon dioxide in the presence of nitrous oxide, using a modified Lloyd-Haldane apparatus. Some of the sample, after scrubbing with soda-lime, bubbles through the potash and this eliminates the solubility effect of nitrous oxide by equilibrating the standard potash solution with nitrous oxide at the tension of the sample analysed and eliminat...

What does it take to get an established and effective but forgotten tool back into obstetric practice? In the case of nitrous oxide, it took a nurse-midwife. Nitrous oxide, also called laughing gas, is a colorless gas initially synthesized by the chemist JosephPriestly in 1772.1 In the late 1700s nitrous oxide was used recreationally to induce euphoria. It got the name laughing gas because user...

Peripheral vascular and myocardial effects of increasing concentrations of nitrous oxide (0 to 70 per cent) in oxygen were determined in 15 unanaesthetized calves before and after replacement in their natural heart (NH) with a pneumatically driven artificial heart (AH). Nitrous oxide produced concentration-related decreases in arterial and mixed venous pH and increases in minute ventilation and...

BACKGROUND Spectral entropy of the electroencephalogram (EEG) has been proposed to monitor anaesthetic depth. We investigated the effect of nitrous oxide on response (RE) and state entropy (SE) of the EEG during lumbar disc surgery under anaesthesia with sufentanil and sevoflurane. METHODS In an open study, anaesthesia was induced with propofol and sufentanil, and maintained with 2% end-tidal...

It is generally assumed that during denitrification bacteria oxidize organic substances completely to carbon dioxide concomitant with the reduction of nitrate or nitrite to nitrogen and nitrous oxide. This assumption is based upon the early experiments of Gayon and Dupetit (1886) which demonstrated that the ratio of carbon dioxide to nitrogen in denitrifying cultures corresponded to the theoret...

The low-oxygen regions of the world’s oceans have been shown to be major sources of nitrous oxide, a trace gas in the atmosphere that contributes to both greenhouse warming and the destruction of stratospheric ozone. Nitrous oxide can be produced as a by-product of nitrification or an intermediate of denitrification; low oxygen conditions enhance the yield of nitrous oxide from both pathways. W...

The nos (nitrous oxide reductase) operon of Paracoccus denitrificans contains a nosX gene homologous to those found in the nos operons of other denitrifiers. NosX is also homologous to NirX, which is so far unique to P. denitrificans. Single mutations of these genes did not result in any apparent phenotype, but a double nosX nirX mutant was unable to reduce nitrous oxide. Promoter-lacZ assays a...

We have studied the effect of nitrous oxide on bispectral index (BIS), calculated from a bipolar encephalogram. Inhalation of 70% nitrous oxide resulted in loss of consciousness in all healthy volunteers (n = 10) but no change in BIS. Brief inhalation up to 1.2% sevoflurane also resulted in loss of consciousness in volunteers (n = 5), but with sevoflurane, BIS decreased. BIS and the haemodynami...

We have examined the role of benzodiazepine receptors in nitrous oxide-induced neuronal depression in rats. The changes in neuronal excitability induced by nitrous oxide and the benzodiazepine inverse agonist, Ro15-4513, were monitored by measurement of visual evoked potentials (VEP). Administration of Ro15-4513 10 mg kg-1 i.p., in rats breathing air, did not affect the amplitude or latency of ...

Nitrous oxide pollution is common in paediatric anaesthetic practice. A questionnaire was sent to all UK members of the Association of Paediatric Anaesthetists requesting details of three areas of their paediatric practice relating to nitrous oxide: attitudes to its use; current usage; and availability of alternatives. Replies were received from 296 (68%) consultants. Of these, 169 (57%) stated...