Use of erythropoietin for bloodless surgery in a Jehovah's witness infant.

We present a case of surgery in a 2-month-old infant of the Jehovah's Witness (JW) faith weighing 2.8 kg scheduled for left upper lobectomy because of congenital lobar emphysema. He presented with physiological anaemia (haematocrit 33.8%) in accordance with his age. Because of the relative emergency of surgery, a short erythropoietin course was instituted. Recombinant human erythropoietin (rHuEPO) at a dosage of 180 U x kg-1x day-1 was administered for 10 days preoperatively and for 4 days postoperatively. Iron was administered orally and intravenously over the entire perioperative period. No side-effects from either erythropoietin or intravenously administered iron were observed. To our knowledge, this is the first case published of a short perioperative rHuEPO course in an infant.

Successful airway control with the laryngeal mask in an infant with Beckwith-Wiedemann syndrome and hepatoblastoma for central line catheterization.

We present a case of an infant with severe macroglossia, hypoglycaemia and inguinal hernia associated with hepatoblastoma (Beckwith-Wiedemann syndrome) in which a laryngeal mask airway (LMA) was useful to secure the airway during central line insertion. Carbon dioxide monitoring through LMA proved effective to assess airway patency during positioning for central vein puncture. In this syndrome, where a potentially difficult airway may be encountered, LMA allowed adequate ventilation, avoiding the risk and inconvenience of tracheal intubation.

Cochlear microphonic potentials elicited by biosonar signals in flying bats, Pteronotus p. parnellii.

Cochlear microphonic (CM) potentials were recorded from the bat, Pteronotus p. parnellii during tethered flight and during simulated flight on a pendulum. For each emitted signal the frequency of the ca. 61 kHz constant frequency (CF) component was compared with the frequency response characteristics of the animals's ear. The majority of "resting pulses' had CF components with the maximum frequency approximately 200 Hz below the best frequency (BF) of the CM audiogram. Doppler shift compensation occurred only during forward swings of the pendulum and in such a way that the echo CF components were always maintained near the BF, but on the low frequency slope of the CM audiogram. CM responses to emitted pulses were usually small in amplitude and in some animals no responses were seen. Echoes Doppler shifted upward, however, evoked high amplitude potentials. Echo CF components estimated to be at least 43 dB fainter than the emitted pulses evoked higher amplitude CM potentials than the loud emitted pulses. Echoes from large surfaces up to 4.5-5.0 meters away evoked CM potentials as high in amplitude as those elicited by emitted pulses, even when there was no Doppler shift. Beats in the CM were observed on many occasions and occurred as a result of pulse-echo and echo-echo interactions.

Microspectrophotometry of rhodopsin and metarhodopsin in the moth Galleria.

Fresh, frozen sections of the photoreceptor layer of the compound eye of the moth Galleria have been examined by microspectrophotometry, using 4 times 8 mum measuring beams that sampled from approximately two to four rhabdoms. The principal visual pigment absorbs maximally at 510 nm (P510), and on irradiation is converted to a thermally stable, pH-insensitive metarhodopsin with lambda max at 484 nm (M484) and a 43% increase in molar extinction coefficient. Subsequently, short wavelength irradiation of the metarhodopsin photoregenerates some P510, but the absence of an isosbestic point the cycle of spectral changes is consistent with the presence of smaller amounts of violet-or ultraviolet-sensitive visual pigment(s) that also are converted to a blue-absorbing metarhodopsin. Difference spectra for both P510 and M484 were measured, using hydroxylamine. The 484-nm metarhodopsin is reversibly converted to a form with lambda max at 363 nm by high concentrations of glycerol. Dark regeneration of rhodopsin in vivo after several minutes exposure of thoroughly dark-adapted animals to full sunlight requires several days.