Lancet
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To establish the effect of pain relief on maternal temperature during labour forty patients who went into spontaneous labour with a single fetus, had a normal temperature (less than 37.5 degrees C), and had no clinical evidence of infection were investigated prospectively. They were divided into two comparable groups--one receiving pethidine and the other epidural analgesia. Both groups had much the same temperatures at the beginning of labour and before any analgesic administration. ⋯ This rise was not related to any clinical evidence of infection. Patients receiving epidural analgesia during labour are at increased risk of developing pyrexia. This pyrexia may be the result of vascular and thermoregulatory modifications induced by epidural analgesia.
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To assess the effects of tin (Sn)-protoporphyrin (a synthetic haem analogue) in conjunction with long wave length ultraviolet light (UVA) radiation in psoriasis 10 patients, 9 of whom were substantially or completely unresponsive to other forms of therapy, received 2.0 mumol/kg bodyweight of Sn-protoporphyrin for 1 day followed by UVA light treatment for 21 days. The average starting UVA dose was 5.6 (SD 2.0) J/cm2, and the average cumulative UVA dose was 98.3 (35.1) J/cm2. Severity of psoriatic plaques, scored clinically on a scale of 0-3 for erythema, scaling, and induration, fell from a mean score of 7.9 at the start of the study to 3.6 at the end. ⋯ The responses lasted throughout the three weeks of the study and no deleterious side-effects of the treatment were noted. Clinical follow-up for three months showed no rebound in disease activity. Sn-protoporphyrin with conventional UVA light may be useful in the treatment of psoriasis.