UNLABELLED Thyroidectomy under the effect of superficial cervical plexus block (SCPB) has met resistance. AIM to compare variables in patients submitted to hemithyroidectomy under the effect of general anesthesia (GA) and SCPB. CASE REPORT AND METHODS GA was used in 21 patients, and SCPB was used in another 21 patients. Following sedation, marcaine 0.5% with vasoconstrictor was used in the ...

The group B streptococcus (GBS) is a major cause of pneumonia, sepsis, and meningitis in neonates and a serious cause of mortality or morbidity in immunocompromised adults. Although these streptococci adhere efficiently and invade a variety of tissue-specific epithelial and endothelial cells, adhesins and invasins are still unknown. All serotypes of GBS studied to date express C5a peptidase (SC...

We examined the effects of 3 neuropeptides and the bioactive amine 5-HT on identified motoneurons (B15 and B16) and interneurons (B4, B5) involved in the control of feeding behavior in Aplysia californica. The application of egg-laying hormone (ELH), small cardioactive peptide b (SCPb), and 5-HT elicits distinct patterns of synaptically induced bursting in the neurons, while PheMetArgPheamide (...

Group B streptococci (GBS) are a major cause of pneumonia, sepsis, and meningitis in newborns and infants. GBS initiate infection of the lung by colonizing mucosal surfaces of the respiratory tract; adherence of the bacteria to host cells is presumed to be the initial step in and prerequisite for successful colonization (G. S. Tamura, J. M. Kuypers, S. Smith, H. Raff, and C. E. Rubens, Infect. ...

Many group B Streptococcus agalactiae strains and other pathogenic streptococci express a cell-associated peptidase that inactivates C5a (C5a-ase), the major neutrophil chemoattractant produced by activation of the complement cascade. Type III group B streptococci (GBS) can be classified genotypically into three restriction digest pattern types. Functional C5a-ase activity of GBS correlates wit...

Respiratory pumping in Aplysia consists of transient, synchronous pumping actions of the gill, siphon, mantle shelf, and parapodia. This behavior has previously been shown to be driven by a network of coupled interneurons in the abdominal ganglion, the R25 and the L25 cells. We describe here a pair of electrically coupled cells, the R20 cells, which when active can initiate respiratory pumping ...

Recent evidence suggests that serotonin (5-HT) and a neuropeptide, small cardioactive peptideB (SCPB), exert parallel modulatory actions on neuronal and muscular function in Aplysia via changes in the levels of cAMP. We have examined the effects of both of these neurotransmitters on the adenylate cyclase activity in membrane homogenates of pleural ganglia. The results indicated that 5-HT and SC...

Low-frequency susceptibility of the split Cooper-pair box (SCPB) is investigated for use in sensitive measurements of external phase or charge. Depending on the coupling scheme, the box appears as either inductive or capacitive reactance which depends on external phase and charge. While coupling to the source-drain phase, we review how the SCPB looks like a tunable inductance, which property we...

1. Serotonin (5-HT), small cardioactive peptide B (SCPB) and FMRFamide have well-established facilitatory and inhibitory effects on sensory neurons and their connections with motor neurons mediating withdrawal reflexes in Aplysia. Little is known, however, about their effects on interneurons contributing to those reflexes. As a first step, we examined the effects of these three transmitters on ...