Surfactant displacement by meconium free fatty acids: an alternative explanation for atelectasis in meconium aspiration syndrome.

Meconium, an ether extract of meconium, and the major free fatty acids of meconium (palmitic, stearic, and oleic acids) were all found to increase the surface tension minimum of dog lung extract in a Wilhelmy balance. Each of these fractions was instilled into the lungs of dogs (15 experimental, eight saline solution controls), and cardiac output, venous and arterial blood gases, pulmonary, atrial, and systemic pressures, airway pressure, and static lung compliance were serially monitored for 2 hours. Mean airway pressure increased and static lung compliance decreased significantly in all of the experimental groups. Although arterial pH and PaCO2 and the various hemodynamic measurements did not change during the experiment, PaO2 decreased significantly and did not return to baseline in all experimental groups. Extracts from atelectatic portions of experimental dog lung had a surface tension minimum of greater than 20 dynes/cm, whereas airway foam had a surface tension minimum of less than 10 dynes/cm, suggesting that the free fatty acids of meconium are able to strip surfactant from the alveoli.

Regeneration of canopy trees in tropical wet forests.

The most diverse tree communities on earth, the tropical wet forests, to a large degree remain ecological enigmas. What accounts for the coexistence of 100 or more tree species per hectare, compared to the 15 or fewer found in most temperate forests? What are the lifespans of tropical forest trees? What factors control their populations through time and space? Do the different species have highly individual regeneration patterns, or are many in fact ecological equivalents? Although we are far from having satisfactory answers to these questions, recent studies of regeneration processes are leading toward new interpretations of these complex communities.

Anemia of prematurity: determinants of the erythropoietin response.

This study was undertaken to determine the factors that are important in determining the erythropoietin response in low-birth-weight infants during the period of so-called anemia of prematurity. In the first weeks of life oxygen consumption in a group of 21 infants gradually increased as hemoglobin level fell. The magnitude of the erythropoietin response inversely varied with the central venous oxygen tension (P-vO2) (r = -0.55, P less than 0.001). When the P-vO2 declined to less than 30 torr, erythropoietin values were uniformly increased above the "normal" range (defined as the values associated with P-vO2 greater than 38 torr). Erythropoietin values varied inversely with hemoglobin but in general did not exceed the values observed for normal adult men. The erythropoietin values in the infants were remarkably lower at any given hemoglobin level when compared with those of older children with anemia resulting from bone marrow failure. In general, elevations of erythropoietin were seen when the hemoglobin concentration declined to less than 10.0 gm/dl. Change in heart rate did not appear to be a reliable indicator of the presence of anemia; rather, it correlated best with oxygen consumption.