Splenic rupture in a newborn.

Traumatic rupture of the spleen in the newborn is a rare event and is seldom reported in the literature. It can occur to an abnormally enlarged spleen or to a normal spleen. In the latter, it usually is associated with difficult delivery. Previously, the majority of patients died probably because of delayed or missed diagnoses. The classic presentation is a triad of bleeding, abdominal distension, and hemoperitoneum. High index of suspicion and improvement in diagnostic tools like ultrasonography and computed tomography are important contributions in early diagnosis so that appropriate treatment can be implemented. Splenectomy is no longer the standard treatment because it increases the chance of postsplenectomy sepsis. Instead, treatment should aim for hemostasis and preservation of spleen. The authors present a case of traumatic rupture of spleen in a normal newborn with normal labor and delivery. The first symptom began at 16 hours of age and evolved to a full-blown classic picture. The baby was saved without splenectomy, and the recovery was smooth and uneventful. This is probably the first reported case of a patient treated without splenectomy in this locality. Discussion of the condition and review of the literature also are presented.

Buspirone impaired acquisition and retention in avoidance tasks: involvement of the hippocampus.

This study investigated the effects of buspirone on acquisition as well as formation and expression of memory in three different types of avoidance tasks. Rats were trained and tested on a one-trial inhibitory avoidance task, an 8-trial active avoidance task or the Morris water maze. Buspirone (5.0 mg/kg) was administered subcutaneously 30 min before training, immediately after training or 30 min before testing. Retention was tested at various times after training. In the inhibitory avoidance task, pretraining injections of buspirone produced a marked impairing effect on retention, posttraining injections of buspirone produced a moderate but time-dependent memory deficit. Pretest injections of buspirone suppressed retention performance. Such an effect was more pronounced in the 1-day test than in the 21-day test. Intra-hippocampal infusion of buspirone (5.0 micrograms) before testing suppressed expression of the 1-day, but not the 21-day, memory. In the active avoidance task and the Morris water maze, an injection of buspirone before training or testing also impaired acquisition or suppressed retention performance. These findings suggest that buspirone given at various times could compromise acquisition, consolidation and retrieval of affective memory and the hippocampus was involved in the retrieval effect.