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Memory complaints before bilateral electroconvulsive therapy (ECT), 1 week after ECT, and 6 months after ECT were assessed in 35 patients using a newly developed self-rating scale. Memory complaints that occurred 1 week after ECT differed quantitatively and qualitatively from memory complaints that occurred before ECT. Six months later, memory complaints qualitatively resembled the complaints reported 1 week after ECT and differed sharply from those reported before ECT. It was suggested that a patient's impression of his memory is altered by bilateral ECT and that this altered impression persists in gradually diminishing form for at least 6 months after a typical course of treatment. Since the self-rating instrument used here appeared to differentiate between memory complaints associated with depression (before ECT) and memory complaints associated with amnesia (1 week after ECT), this instrument may be useful in a variety of settings where there is interest in human memory function.

The effects of acute marijuana intoxication on remote memory and new learning were assessed. To test for the effects of marijuana on remote memory, titles of one-season television shows, aired up to 14 years previously, were used in three tests measuring recognition, temporal judgement and detailed recall of facts from the shows. Marijuana did not affect remote memory in comparison to placebo. The effects of marijuana on the learning of a word list were also tested. Marijuana significantly impaired new learning at the same time that remote memory was unaffected.

The clinical and laboratory data on 140 premature infants, 74 cases with retinopathy of prematurity (ROP) and 66 control cases without ROP, were correlated with ROP grades of increasing severity. By using multiple linear regression (MLR), it is shown that for predicting ROP grades the importance of certain variables varies considerably depending on the gestational age. Below 32 weeks of gestation, acidosis, hyperoxemia, gestational age, pathologic paCO2 levels, and multiple birth are strong regressors. Above 31 weeks, the most important regressors are multiple birth and acidosis, while gestational age and duration of FiO2 greater than 0.4 are much less influential. Blood transfusions and artificial ventilation do not seem important in the MLR of either group. When ROP is regressed on the number of paO2 values above 100 torr and gestational age or on the number of paCO2 values above 50 torr and gestational age, the regression coefficients of these variables drop to near zero at a gestational age of about 32 weeks. This loss of weight of the two variables paO2 and paCO2 with increasing gestational age coincides with a comparable drop of the relative incidence of ROP and the relative incidence of immature retinal vessels. It is hypothesized that it is the proportion of infants with an immature retinal vasculature in populations of given gestational ages rather than the gestational age itself which is responsible for the widely varying importance of certain factors during the development of ROP.

The ABT 4000 ventilator is aimed at being used in operating theatres, as it can be used in an open or a closed circuit, as well as for short periods of artificial ventilation with room air with or without added oxygen. This paper gives a description of the apparatus easy to understand, as well as an analysis of the workings of this constant volume ventilator controlled by microprocessor.