Palatal and retropharyngeal injury secondary to intubation using the GlideScope® video laryngoscope.

INTRODUCTION: There are few reports of injury to the soft palate and retropharynx sustained during intubation with the GlideScope® video laryngoscope. Most reports are of isolated injury to the soft palate. CASE HISTORY: We describe a patient in whom the retropharynx was injured but the extent of the injury was not observed initially. The patient did not suffer severe sequelae from this injury. However, this injury can cause serious sequelae if it is not recognised (eg development of a retropharyngeal abscess). CONCLUSIONS: We recommend that any patient who sustains injury to the soft palate during intubation (particularly if the endotracheal tube passes through the soft palate) should be reviewed an otolaryngologist before removal of the endotracheal tube.

Epidemiologic programs for computers and calculators. Simple algorithms for the representation of deterministic and stochastic versions of the Reed-Frost epidemic model using a programmable calculator.

Two programs are described for the emulation of the dynamics of Reed-Frost progressive epidemics in a handheld programmable calculator (HP-41C series). The programs provide a complete record of cases, susceptibles, and immunes at each epidemic period using either the deterministic formulation or the trough analogue of the mechanical model for the stochastic version. Both programs can compute epidemics that include a constant rate of influx or outflux of susceptibles and single or double infectivity time periods.

Calibration of prestained protein molecular weight standards for use in the "Western" or enzyme-linked immunoelectrotransfer blot techniques.

Prestained protein molecular weight standards allow easy, direct visual location of electrophoretically transblotted lanes on nitrocellulose. They also provide a simple and accurate means for calibrating the molecular weights of resolved bands. Commercial prestained protein molecular weight standards, however, appear to have significantly different molecular weights from the original unstained proteins. We describe a calibration of these prestained molecular weight standards.

Immunofluorescent staining of Treponema in tissues fixed with formalin.

Immunofluorescent examination of formalin-fixed tissue for Treponema pallidum has generally been unsatisfactory because of nonspecific background fluorescence and poor contrast. We examined the process of treating deparaffinized formalin-fixed tissue sections with 1% ammonium hydroxide (NH4OH) to improve fluorescent staining. Treponema pallidum- and Treponema pertenue-infected rabbit testes or human tissue biopsy specimens fixed in 10% buffered formalin and embedded in paraffin were examined. Sections were cut one week to five years after embedment. Tissues were then stained with fluorescein- or rhodamine-labeled human anti- T pallidum globulin for 30 minutes at 37 degrees C. Treponemes were consistently stained and background staining was generally reduced after NH4OH treatment in both fresh and stored tissue. Cutting sections at a thickness of approximately 2 micron was critical to achieve optimal fluorescence.

Enzyme-linked immunoelectrotransfer blot techniques (EITB) for studying the specificities of antigens and antibodies separated by gel electrophoresis.

PIP: The enzyme-linked immunoelectrotransfer blot technique (EITB) combines the high resolving power of gradient sodium dodecyl sulfate-polyacrylamide gel electrophoresis (SDS-PAGE) and the high sensitivity of the enzyme-linked immunosorbent assay (ELISA) to produce an extremely powerful qualitative tool for studying antigen-antibody pairs. The EITB is conducted in 3 stages: 1) the antigen mixture is resolved by gel electrophoresis, 2) the resolved gel is then electrophoretically blotted onto nitrocellulose sheets, and 3) the blotted nitrocellulose is then develped by ELISA. This article details all the procedures involved in this methodology and describes the necessary materials. There is the theoretical danger that not all the antigenic sites can retain the native configuration after SDS treatment to allow recognition by appropriate antibodies. However, experiments with IgG, BSA, and other defined antigens tend to negate this argument. The general use of transfer blotting electrophoretically separated biologic molecules began with the DNA-RNA hybridization studies of Southern, with a technique now referred to as the Southern blot.^ieng