The Kobe journal of medical sciences
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Twenty-six patients underwent resection and graft replacement of an aortic arch aneurysm (proximal arch,5; transverse arch:2, distal arch,8; and type A dissecting aneurysm. Retrograde cerebral perfusion with pharmacological cerebral protection was carried out during aortic arch aneurysm surgery. Prostaglandin E1, thiopental methylpredonisolone were administered for cerebral protection during core cooling. ⋯ The remaining 21 patients survived neurologically intact. Retrograde cerebral perfusion with pharmacological cerebral protection is a very simple method to prevent air embolism or thromboembolism in aortic arch aneurysm surgery and allows aortic arch replacement in a bloodless field. In spite of the extended circulatory arrest time, recovery of consciousness was complete.
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There has been an abundance of research on the connections of the mammillary bodies but the projections from the lateral mammillary nucleus to the anterodorsal thalamic nucleus has remained a gray area due to a dearth of material which directly addresses the details of this pathway. This study seeks to further define the nature of this particular nerve connection within the mammillothalmic tract. The technique employed is fluorescent nerve tract tracing using two fluorescent tracers implanted separately into each anterodorsal thalamic nucleus then followed retrogradely to the soma of the neurons in the lateral mammillary nucleus. ⋯ The mammillary bodies play an important role in the limbic circuitry and a part of the so-called "Papez Circuit". The pathway by which the mammillary body projects to the other structures of the limbic system and the way it connects the limbic system to other parts of the brain like the tegmentum is not fully understood. This clarification of the connection between the lateral mammilary nucleus and the anterodorsal thalamic nucleus is but one of the contemplated pathways.
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The purpose of this study was to assess the quadriceps and hamstrings muscle strength deficits at different knee flexion angles (30 degrees and 60 degrees) in individuals who had sustained anterior cruciate ligament (ACL) injury, who had never had thigh muscle strengthening exercise. Isometric (0 degree/sec) and isokinetic (60 degrees/sec and 180 degrees/sec) torque measurements were performed on sixty-six patients (29 males and 37 females) with chronic ACL insufficiency. Significant strength deficits of the quadriceps and hamstrings muscles in injured knees were found at both 30 degrees and 60 degrees of knee flexion in three testing conditions (0 degree/sec, 60 degrees/sec, and 180 degrees/sec). ⋯ For the female group, significantly greater deficits of the quadriceps and hamstrings torque were found at 30 degrees knee flexion in isokinetic 60 degrees/sec and at 60 degrees in isokinetic 60 degrees/sec and 180 degrees/sec as compared to the isometric test. It was concluded that long lasting instability without any muscle exercises may result in the weakness of not only the quadriceps muscle but also even hamstrings muscle, and that the quadriceps strength might be more susceptible to ACL insufficiency at 60 degrees knee flexion angle than at 30 degrees knee flexion angle, whereas, the hamstrings did not show any angular-specific torque deficits. These findings might resulted from characteristics of torque-curves of the quadriceps and hamstrings muscles.(ABSTRACT TRUNCATED AT 400 WORDS)