[«Man-in-the-barrel¼ syndrome: atypical manifestation of giant cell arteritis]. / Sindrome del hombre en el barril: manifestacion atipica de la arteritis de celulas gigantes.

INTRODUCTION: «Man-in-the-barrel¼ syndrome refers to diplegia of the upper extremities in which mobility of the head and lower limbs is preserved. Brachial plexitis that presents as «man-in-the-barrel¼ syndrome is an unusual manifestation of giant cell arteritis. We report a case of C5-C6 plexitis as part of the clinical features of a patient with giant cell arteritis. CASE REPORT: A 70-year-old male with a two-month history of weight loss, headache, facial pain and jaw claudication, associated with a persistent elevation of acute phase reactants and bilateral brachial plexopathy, with no evidence of neck or brain injuries or occult neoplasm and with negative autoimmunity tests. Results of the biopsy study of the temporal artery were compatible with giant cell arteritis, and the positron emission tomography scan revealed extensive vascular involvement of the aorta and its branches. CONCLUSIONS: Although the typical clinical manifestations of giant cell arteritis are headache, jaw claudication, loss of sight, constitutional symptoms and polymyalgia rheumatica, its presence must be suspected in patients over the age of 50 who manifest alterations affecting the peripheral nerve, including brachial diplegia with no other demonstrable cause.

TITLE: Sindrome del hombre en el barril: manifestacion atipica de la arteritis de celulas gigantes.Introduccion. El sindrome del hombre en el barril hace referencia a la diplejia de los miembros superiores con movilidad preservada de la cabeza y los miembros inferiores. La plexitis braquial que se presenta como sindrome del hombre en el barril es una manifestacion inusual de la arteritis de celulas gigantes. Se comunica un caso de plexitis C5-C6 como parte del cuadro clinico de un paciente con arteritis de celulas gigantes. Caso clinico. Varon de 70 años con dos meses de evolucion de perdida de peso, cefalea, dolor facial y claudicacion mandibular, asociados a elevacion persistente de reactantes de fase aguda y plexopatia braquial bilateral, sin evidencia de lesiones cervicales o cerebrales, neoplasia oculta y con pruebas de autoinmunidad negativas; la biopsia de la arteria temporal fue compatible con arteritis de celulas gigantes y la tomografia por emision de positrones demostro una extensa afeccion vascular de la aorta y sus ramas. Conclusiones. Si bien las manifestaciones clinicas tipicas de la arteritis de celulas gigantes son cefalea, claudicacion mandibular, perdida visual, sintomas constitucionales y polimialgia reumatica, se debe sospechar su presencia en pacientes mayores de 50 años que manifiesten alteraciones del nervio periferico, entre ellas, diplejia braquial sin otra causa demostrable.

Test of charge conjugation invariance.

We report on the first determination of upper limits on the branching ratio (BR) of eta decay to pi0pi0gamma and to pi0pi0pi0gamma. Both decay modes are strictly forbidden by charge conjugation (C) invariance. Using the Crystal Ball multiphoton detector, we obtained BR(eta-->pi0pi0gamma)<5 x 10(-4) at the 90% confidence level, in support of C invariance of isoscalar electromagnetic interactions of the light quarks. We have also measured BR(eta-->pi0pi0pi0gamma)<6 x 10(-5) at the 90% confidence level, in support of C invariance of isovector electromagnetic interactions.

Dynamics of the pi(-)p-->pi(0)pi(0)n reaction for p(pi(-))<750 MeV/c.

Data are presented for the reaction pi(-)p-->pi(0)pi(0)n in the range from threshold to p(pi(-))=750 MeV/c. The systematics of the data and multipole analyses are examined for sensitivity to a f(0)(600) ("sigma") meson. A one-pion-exchange mechanism is found to be very weak, or absent. The reaction appears to become dominated by sequential pi(0) decays through the Delta(1232) resonance as the beam momentum increases, along with substantial interference effects from several competing mechanisms.

Properties of the Lambda(1670)(1-)/2 resonance.

Recently the Crystal Ball Collaboration measured precise new data for the near-threshold reaction K(-)p-->etaLambda, which is dominated by formation of the Lambda(1670)1 / 2(-). In this Letter, we present results of a unitary, multichannel analysis that incorporates the new Crystal Ball data. For our preferred fit, we obtain mass M = 1673+/-2 MeV, width Gamma = 23+/-6 MeV, and elasticity x = 0.37+/-0.07. This elasticity is significantly larger than previously recognized. Resonance parameters of our preferred fit are in striking agreement with the quark-model predictions of Koniuk and Isgur.

Determination of the quadratic slope parameter in eta-->3pi(0) decay.

We have determined the quadratic slope parameter alpha for eta-->3pi(0) to be alpha = -0.031(4) from a 99% pure sample of 10(6)eta-->3pi(0) decays produced in the reaction pi(-)p-->n(eta) close to the eta threshold using the Crystal Ball detector at the AGS. The result is four times more precise than the present world data and disagrees with current chiral perturbation theory calculations by about four standard deviations.

Measurement of pi(0)pi(0) production in the nuclear medium by pi(-) interactions at 0.408 GeV/c.

We report on an investigation of the (pi(-),pi(0)pi(0)) reaction by means of measurements of the pi(0)pi(0) invariant mass distributions from pi(-) interactions on H, D, C, Al, and Cu targets at p(pi(-)) = 0.408 GeV/c. The sharp, strong peak in the pi(+)pi(-) invariant mass near 2m(pi) reported by the CHAOS Collaboration is not seen in our pi(0)pi(0) data. However, we do observe a change in the shape of the pi(0)pi(0) invariant mass spectrum for the different targets, indicating that the pi(0)pi(0) interaction diminishes in the nuclear medium as represented by nuclei D, C, Al, and Cu, compared to hydrogen.

[Esophageal manometry in patients with sliding hiatal hernia]. / Manometría esofágica en pacientes con hernia hiatal por deslizamiento.

This presents the method to be followed for the valuation of the gastro-esophagic function in patients with sliding hiatal hernia, twenty-one patients with this diagnosis were studied through X-Rays. Besides gastric and esophagic endoscopy, a complete clinical examinations was made to compare the information obtained from the studies, with the direct measurement of the contractions of the esophagus and the lower sphincter through conventional manometric methods. The relationship between the simptoms and the clinical procedures done in the patients were observed as was the usefulness of esophagic manometry to detect not only the direct pressure of the gastro-esophagic sphincter, but also to determine the concurrent motor changes that can occur in patients which show hiatal hernia. The benefit of this studies to decide the therapeutic handling, specially surgical, is discussed.

[Evaluation of antacids "in vitro"]. / Evaluación de antiácidos "in vitro".

Five different antacids were compared "in vitro" through titration with NaOH 0.5 N to observe their neutralising power towards HCl 1.0 N. Eight pH measurements were done for each antacid. The neutralising capacity of the antacid was calculated with a specific formula for each pH measure reading, with this information statistical calculation were made to compare the antacids among themselves, with suggest that the method can be useful in the valuation of newly produced antacid before their clinical application.