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Reports on comments of readers on diseases related to the lungs. Use of amiodarone as antiarrhythmic; Paradoxical vocal cord movement; Link of nasal obstruction to sleep apnea; Sleep-disordered breathing in middle-aged adults.

Suchman's model of health care utilization has been applied in a different social setting from that in which it was developed. The results of the application are contrasted with re-computations of Suchman's original data. These data raise some questions about the empirical reliability of the general model proposed by Suchman as a possible explanation of medical care behavior. The collective findings of the two studies open up several possibilities for alternative explanations of the varying relationships of the principal components of the original model; one such alternative model is presented. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

A controlled, double-blind investigation was undertaken to determine whether regional anesthesia by dorsal penile nerve block (DPNB) could effectively minimize the pain and behavioral disruptions usually associated with newborn circumcision. Fifteen infants had DPNB with lidocaine, eight control infants had DPNB with saline, and eight additional control infants were circumcised without undergoing DPNB. Newborn distress was gauged by subjective observation, measurement of heart rate, and the percent of time spent crying in six sequential timed intervals during circumcision. Ninety-three percent of subjects who received lidocaine were observed to have a decrease in agitation after anesthetic administration. The mean increase in heart rate during circumcision was at least 50 percent less in the lidocaine injected group than in either control group (p < 0.01). Infants who had DPNB with lidocaine cried 50 percent less during circumcision compared to combined controls (p < 0.01). DPNB was easily administered, and there were no significant complications. Physicians who circumcise newborns have good reason to employ the technique of dorsal penile nerve block with lidocaine to minimize infant pain and distress. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The effect of 100 separate viral infections of the respiratory tract on pulmonary function was evaluated prospectively over an eight-year period in 84 patients with chronic obstructive pulmonary diseases and in eight normal subjects. Some viral infections were associated with small acute declines in forced vital capacity and/or 1-sec forced expiratory volume of 25–300 ml. These declines were detectable only during the 90-day period after infection. The greatest abnormalities of pulmonary function followed infections with influenza virus, and the mean acute changes in I-sec forced expiratory volume (- 118.5 ml) were significantly greater than expected (- 15.2 ml; P = 0.03). Smaller, statistically insignificant declines followed infections with parainfluenza virus, rhinovirus, adenovirus, and respiratory syncytial virus, and no changes were detectable after infections with coronavirus, herpes simplex virus, Mycoplasma pneumoniae, and Haemophilus influenzae. Long-term effects of influenza or other viral infections on the course of chronic obstructive pulmonary disease were not detected in this study population. [ABSTRACT FROM PUBLISHER]

The possibility that viral infections of the respiratory tract might predispose to bacterial colonization or infection was studied in 120 patients with chronic obstructive pulmonary disease and 30 control subjects; these individuals were observed for seven years. The ratio of the number of observed to the number of expected associations between viruses and bacteria was 2.43 (P = 0.037) for the pair influenza virus and Streptococcus pneumoniae and was 2.06 (P = 0.056) for influenza virus and Haemophilus influenzae. Consistently positive, but not significant, associations were detected between rhinovirus and herpes simplex virus infections and isolations of S. pneumoniae and H. influenzae. In contrast, isolations of the nonpathogenic Haemophilus parainfluenzae could not be related to prior viral infections. Significant rises in titer of antibody to H. iniluenzae were detected on 76 occasions, and 20 (26%) of these antibody rises were associated with viral or mycoplasmal infections during the preceding 120 days. The expected number of such associations was 8.34 (ratio of number observed to number expected, 2.40; P = 0.08). These results suggest that viral infections of the respiratory tract in patients with chronic obstructive pulmonary disease are associated with increased colonization by potentially pathogenic bacteria and may also predispose to infection with H. injluenxae. [ABSTRACT FROM PUBLISHER]

The availability or non-availability of a name is a question of historical fact. A name once made available under the International Code of Zoological Nomenclature can be rendered unavailable only by use of the plenary powers of the Commission. The question whether a name is a nomen dubium or not is a matter of taxonomic judgement. The difficulty with the Sarcocystinae discussed by Frenkel et al. (1979) stems from the fact that, under the present provisions of the Code, it is not possible to designate for the species concerned types that will serve any useful function. The Commission is now considering changes to the Code proposed to remedy this defect in a general, legislative way. It will not, as a matter of general practice, entertain proposals for the suppression of names merely because they are considered to be nomina dubia. The application submitted by Professor Frenkel and his colleagues will nevertheless be published in the Bulletin of Zoological Nomenclature so that the Commission can, if necessary, deliver a ruling on it before the new edition of the Code has appeared. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

A comprehensive series of speckle experiments is described for opal glass diffusers ranging in thickness from 10 to 500 μm. Wavelength decorrelation measurements are made using a cw dye laser source; and accurate square-law detection is provided by the use of an optic-fiber, photomultiplier combination rather than film. For this diffuser set intensity distribution functions, polarized and unpolarized, are plotted. Second-order correlation functions are presented for different apertures, relating diffuser motion and probe motion. Remote texture determination using contrast ratio and frequency decorrelation is illustrated. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Spatial radiation patterns for the light transmitted by diffusers of varying thickness are presented for both the parallel and cross-polarized intensities when plane-polarized, monochromatic illumination is normally incident. In separate experiments with a thick diffuser, the parallel and cross-polarized components of its speckled image are shown to be not highly correlated. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

In 19 subjects (four controls, one gastric ulcer and 14 duodenal ulcer) maximal gastric secretion was evoked with histamine 0.13 mumol/kg/h (0.04 mg/kg/h) for two to two and a half hours. A slow intravenous bolus dose of 200 mg cimetidine was given at the beginning of the last hour. Gastric secretion was measured before and after cimetidine administration and expressed both as mean acid output (mmol H+/h) and 'pyloric loss and duodenogastric reflux corrected' volume (Vg, ml/h). Mean reduction by acid output was 86%; mean reduction by corrected volume (Vg) was only 64%. The discrepancy, which is significant (p less than 0.01), is caused by a marked increase in duodenogastric reflux after cimetidine. [ABSTRACT FROM PUBLISHER]

Space-time interaction analysis was applied to data from 101 elementary school children who contracted variola minor during an epidemic in Bragança Paulista County, Brazil. One school had two and the other three shifts of students occupying the same classrooms each day. There was no evidence found for excessive numbers of cases to occur among unvaccinated students occupying the same desks or seated near the desks occupied by cases occurring during another shift. Only three cases occurred among the 31 unvaccinated students occupying desks of students with variola from other shifts. Only one of these three subsequent cases occurred at a time interval suggestive of transmission. For the three models tested there was no evidence of space-time interaction between time of onset of the disease and location of desk for pairs of students from different shifts. [ABSTRACT FROM PUBLISHER]