Anaesthesia
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A patient received an hypoxic anaesthetic gas mixture and made an uneventful recovery. The fault was traced to an air-oxygen mixer valve in the Intensive Care Unit. An oxygen monitor in theatre would have detected the fault before the patient was anaesthetised.
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Cardiopulmonary bypass and complement activation. Involvement of classical and alternative pathways.
Complement is activated during cardiopulmonary bypass with consumption of the complement components C3, C4 and factor B. This takes place when either a bubble or membrane oxygenator is used and is not affected by steroid therapy. Complement activation is predominantly by the classical pathway and may be related to the aggregation of IgM found in bypass sera.
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Biography Historical Article
Eugen Bogdan Aburel (1899-1975). The pioneer of regional analgesia for pain relief in childbirth.
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The effect upon the neonate of a short period of maternal hypotension sustained during the initiation of spinal analgesia for Caesarean section was studied. Babies born to mothers with hypotension were significantly more acidotic than controls although acid-base levels were still within normal limits. Neurobehavioural studies were found to be normal in both groups at 4 and 24 hours. It was concluded that a short period (less than 2 minutes) of hypotension was not harmful to the neonate.