Upsala journal of medical sciences
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Low-dose arginine vasopressin (AVP) has been proposed as an adjunctive vasopressor for the treatment of advanced vasodilatory shock. However, its effects on renal, hepatic, and intestinal dysfunction during sepsis remain controversial. ⋯ An adjunctive AVP to norepinephrine infusion exhibits a favorable impact on renal function without deleterious effects on the liver and intestine in a porcine model of experimental sepsis when compared with norepinephrine infusion alone.
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Animal studies have shown that surgical trauma activates the descending noradrenergic pathway. However, perioperative patients have decreased concentrations of noradrenaline (NA) in the cerebrospinal fluid (CSF). We proposed that the descending monoaminergic pathway is altered in post-traumatic pain patients and that CSF monoamine neurotransmitters may be more closely related to affective symptoms. We investigated the levels of monoamine neurotransmitters and assessed pain in these patients. ⋯ Post-traumatic pain patients demonstrated decreased concentrations of NAin CSF, indicating that descending noradrenergic pain control pathways may be inhibited. NA is more closely related to negative affects in post-traumatic pain patients.
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Review Case Reports
A case of hypoglycemic hemiparesis and literature review.
An 89-year-old man with diabetes treated with metformin 500 mg/day and glimepiride 4 mg/day was hospitalized because of hypoglycemic right hemiparesis and dysarthria (casual glucose value 1.8 mmol/L), which resolved quickly following administration of 40 mL of 40% dextrose. Hemiparesis is a rare symptom (4.2%) of hypoglycemia. There are about 200 case reports of hypoglycemic hemiparesis. ⋯ On imaging studies, abnormal findings were frequently observed in the internal capsule or splenium of the corpus callosum. The mechanism of hemiparesis is not fully understood. The existence of cases in which hypoglycemia cannot be distinguished from stroke on imaging studies suggests the importance of measurement of the blood glucose level when the symptoms of stroke are first recognized.
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A wide range of health problems has been reported in elderly post-stroke patients. ⋯ Almost all patients had a health problem during the year, but few occurred in a given week. Cognitive and communication problems were more common in interview data than record data. Co-occurrence may be used to identify subtle health problems.
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The family of platelet-derived growth factors (PDGFs) plays a number of critical roles in normal embryonic development, cellular differentiation, and response to tissue damage. Not surprisingly, as it is a multi-faceted regulatory system, numerous pathological conditions are associated with aberrant activity of the PDGFs and their receptors. ⋯ The cellular distribution of these proteins in tumors indicates that glial tumor cells are stimulated via PDGF/PDGFR-α autocrine and paracrine loops, while tumor vessels are stimulated via the PDGFR-β. Here we summarize the initial discoveries on the role of PDGF and PDGF receptors in gliomas and provide a brief overview of what is known in this field.