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At least 451 records · Page 25Linked to original sources

Cecal vitamin bezoar formation inducing abdominal discomfort.

OBJECTIVE: To document a case of cecal lecithin-vitamin B12 bezoar formation inducing abdominal discomfort. DESIGN: Case study. SETTING: 500-bed, community teaching hospital. PATIENT: 81-year-old man with a history of multiple abdominal surgeries who presented with a chief complaint of abdominal pain. Flat plate X-ray of the abdomen revealed multiple capsule-shaped objects lodged in the cecum. INTERVENTIONS: Catharsis with bisacodyl, magnesium citrate, NaCl 0.9%; dissolution with heated, dilute barium administered rectally in conjunction with external manipulation; laparotomy. MAIN OUTCOME MEASURES: None planned; dissolution or transit of bezoar through gastrointestinal tract desired outcome. RESULTS/DISCUSSION: Classification of bezoars and treatment discussed in relation to this case report. CONCLUSIONS: Medicinal agents have been implicated in bezoar formation. Treatment options have included: cathartics, heated solvent enemas, and external manipulation and surgery.

Abdominal Pain↗

Extrapyramidal symptoms following accidental ingestion of risperidone in a child.

OBJECTIVE: To describe the development of extrapyramidal symptoms (EPS) precipitated by an accidental overdose of risperidone in a 3.5-year-old boy. CASE SUMMARY: The boy presented to the emergency department with bilateral upward eye gaze, jerky movements of his extremities, and motor restlessness following an accidental ingestion of a single 4-mg risperidone tablet. Decontamination with NaCl 0.9% lavage and activated charcoal with sorbitol was performed. His symptoms responded immediately to intravenous diphenhydramine (on 3 different occasions) during his first 9.5 hours of hospitalization. He experienced no additional EPS, and was discharged home approximately 33 hours following initial presentation. At home, he received three oral doses of diphenhydramine in the 24 hours following hospital discharge because of hand tremor, total body shivering, and eye wandering. These signs resolved without further complications. DISCUSSION: Although the incidence of EPS associated with therapeutic risperidone use is low, its occurrence following overdose is less clearly defined. This represents the first published case, to our knowledge, of risperidone overdose in a child and highlights the potential for dystonic reactions at low doses in this population. Seven intentional overdoses of risperidone in adults (aged 21-68 y) have been reported in the literature and are reviewed. Amounts ingested ranged from 5 to 270 mg. All adult patients appeared to have a relatively benign course. Reported symptoms included drowsiness, slurred speech, altered levels of consciousness, hypertension, tachycardia, electrocardiogram abnormalities, atypical motor behavior, tremors, and other EPS (not specified). CONCLUSIONS: Accidental ingestion of low doses of risperidone can cause EPS in children that may respond well to an anticholinergic agent. Overdose management includes gastrointestinal lavage, activated charcoal with cathartic, cardiovascular monitoring, and supportive therapy.

Antiparkinson Agents↗

Mesocaval shunt: patency after 22 years--a case report.

A case of a mesocaval shunt placed urgently in a 52-year-old man to control life-threatening hemorrhage from esophageal varices is reported. The latter resulted from portal hypertension secondary to Laennec's cirrhosis. The patient suffered from acute and chronic alcoholism, but not alcoholic hepatitis. Twenty-three years later, the shunt is angiographically patent; the patient is alive and well. He has been free from encephalopathy with the exception of three episodes of gastrointestinal hemorrhage secondary to peptic ulcer disease. In each case, hepatic coma responded promptly to cathartics, enemas, and lactulose once bleeding ceased.

Esophageal and Gastric Varices↗

The influence of Nietzsche on Freud's ideas.

BACKGROUND: The striking analogies between the ideas of Freud and Friedrich Nietzsche, whose works were published from one to three decades before those of Freud, have been commented upon, but no previous systematic correlation of the ideas of Nietzsche and Freud has been made. METHOD: The major works of Nietzsche were read, and each possible analogy to an idea later broached by Freud was correlated by a systematic review of his works. Any references to Nietzsche in Freud's writings and reported conversation were culled. RESULTS: Concepts of Nietzsche which are similar to those of Freud include (a) the concept of the unconscious mind; (b) the idea that repression pushes unacceptable feelings and thoughts into the unconscious and thus makes the individual emotionally more comfortable and effective; (c) the conception that repressed emotions and instinctual drives later are expressed in disguised ways (for example, hostile feelings and ideas may be expressed as altruistic sentiments and acts); (d) the concept of dreams as complex, symbolic "illusions of illusions" and dreaming itself as a cathartic process which has healthy properties; and (e) the suggestion that the projection of hostile, unconscious feelings onto others, who are then perceived as persecutors of the individual, is the basis of paranoid thinking. Some of Freud's basic terms are identical to those used by Nietzsche. CONCLUSION: Freud repeatedly stated that he had never read Nietzsche. Evidence contradicting this are his references to Nietzsche and his quotations and paraphrases of him, in causal conversation and his now published personal correspondence, as well as in his early and later writings.

Austria↗

Fecal levels of short-chain fatty acids and bile acids as determinants of colonic mucosal cell proliferation in humans.

We studied the correlation between fecal levels of short-chain fatty acids (SCFA), bile acids (BA), and colonic mucosal proliferation in humans on a free diet. Subjects [n = 43: 27 men and 16 women; 61 +/- 7 and 59 +/- 6 (SE) yr old, respectively] were outpatients who previously underwent resection of at least two sporadic colon polyps. Mucosal proliferation was determined by [3H]thymidine incorporation in vitro in three colorectal biopsies obtained without cathartics and was expressed as labeling index (LI). BA were analyzed in feces by mass spectrometry and SCFA by gas chromatography. We found that increasing levels of BA in feces did not correlate with higher LI. On the contrary, higher levels of SCFA were significantly associated with lower LI in the colonic mucosa (P for trend = 0.02). In conclusion, in humans on a free diet, intestinal proliferation seems to be regulated by the levels of SCFA in feces and not by BA. Because a lower intestinal proliferation is associated with a decreased colon cancer risk, treatments or diets that increase colonic levels of SCFA might be beneficial for colonic mucosa.

Aged↗

Massive carbamazepine overdose: clinical and pharmacologic observations in five episodes.

We report five episodes of carbamazepine (CBZ) intoxication in four patients. Clinically, there were four distinct stages: I--coma, seizures (CBZ levels more than 25 micrograms/ml [105 mumol/l]); II--combativeness, hallucinations, choreiform movements (15 to 25 micrograms/ml [65 to 105 mumol/l]); III--drowsiness, ataxia (11 to 15 micrograms/ml [45 to 65 mumol/l]); and IV--potentially catastrophic relapse (less than 11 micrograms/ml [45 mumol/l]). Pharmacokinetic studies revealed a prolongation of the CBZ half-life, elevation of the CBZ-epoxide/CBZ ratio, and emergence of CBZ-epoxide as a significant toxic metabolite. A treatment approach is proposed including repeated gastric lavage, detection of an insoluble tablet coagulum, electrolyte monitoring, avoidance of cathartics, and treatment of seizures with diazepam and phenytoin.

Adolescent↗

[Pharmacological studies on bamboo grass. (2) Central depressant and antitoxic actions of a water-soluble fraction (folin) extracted from Sasa albomarginata Makino et Shibata].

Folin administered showed a significant antagonistic effect to caffeine induced hyperactivity and slightly prolonged hexobarbital induced sleeping time in mice. An antitussive effect was evident only with high doses and anticonvulsant effects were not observed. A mixture of Folin with HgCl2, NaAsO2, 3CdSO4-8H2O or tetrodotoxin resulted in an apparent decrease in mortality rates. However Folin had no effect in the case of alternate administration with a poison or preadministration of Folin. As other pharmacological properties of Folin, a protective effect on induced stress ulcer in rats and an increase in acid output in pylorus-ligated rats in which aspirin was administered. Folin had no inhibitory effect on reserpine ulcer and acetic acid induced anal ulcer in the rat. Neither an increase in gastric motility nor cathartic effect was observed with Folin. In addition, Folin showed a tendency of inhibition on heat induced edema and increase of urinary vikyne and electrolytes in rats.

Anesthesia↗

Freud and the theatre.

Theatre historians credit Freud and his theories for being the prime impetus for the birth of the modern theatre. Freud's theatre-going activities varied throughout his life. In his younger days, he seemed to enjoy attending performances. In later life, he rarely went to the theatre except for an occasional Mozart opera or Shakespeare play. When writing about the drama, he tended to deal with it as a literary product rather than as a performed event. On only one occasion did he communicate to a friend that the healing cathartic effect of art might be greatest when viewing the drama. Although credited with being the "father" of the modern theatre, Freud was somewhat skeptical about its artistic merits and was certainly concerned about its emphasis on the irrational. However reluctant Freud was about modern dramaturgy, his ideas had a profound effect on playwrights, such as Schnitzler and O'Neill, and through them was instrumental in freeing the theatre from its Victorian moral straitjacket. Freud's ideas also served as the background for other psychoanalysts interested in the theatre, especially Otto Fenichel, who wrote the seminal paper on the actor's personality.

Character↗

Anorexia, masochism, self-mutilation, and autoerotism: the spider mother.

In summary, both self-mutilators and eating-disordered individuals come from dysfunctional homes with a very controlling mother and usually absent father. They often have a history of trauma. They are depressed and obsessive, attached to their mothers, who discourage attempts at emancipation. The symptoms serve the purpose of keeping them as little girls with negative feelings toward menstruation, sexual maturity, development, and femininity in general. These symptoms comprise self-destructive behavior in the service of removing sexual thoughts, temptation, and activities. Favazza (1987) included both eating disorders and self mutilation in his "deliberate self-harm syndrome." The symptoms, whether they be anorexic, bulimic, or a form of self-mutilation are seen as "autoerotic in nature and a substitute for normal masturbation" (Hull & Lane, 1988). Eating disorders and delicate self-mutilation are said to have "a cathartic, self-purifying, function in that they modulate states of anxiety, sexual tension, anger or dissociated emptiness, and they bring about a tremendous quasi-physical sense of relief" (Cross, 1993, p. 50). These patients' use of substitutes prevents maturation and growth as women, causing regression to pregenital phases with the use of pregenital defenses, and the demise of the demands of puberty and mature sexuality.

Adolescent↗

Opisthotonic posturing with neuromuscular irritability attributable to 4-aminopyridine ingestion by a healthy pediatric patient.

INTRODUCTION: 4-Aminopyridine (4-AP) is a potassium channel blocker used to increase muscle strength in the treatment of demyelinating diseases such as multiple sclerosis. We describe a case of ingestion by an 8-month-old child that resulted in severe but transient symptoms. CASE REPORT: An 8-month-old boy was found with greenish saliva, and a capsule with green 4-AP powder was missing. On arrival to an emergency department, he was jittery, tachycardic, and tachypneic. Activated charcoal, a cathartic, and midazolam (0.5 mg/kg) were administered before transfer to a tertiary pediatric hospital. On arrival, the infant remained tachycardic and tachypneic. His eyes deviated upward and he was noted to have 3+ deep tendon reflexes bilaterally. He was administered 0.9% normal saline (20 mL/kg) for a wide pulse pressure with low diastolic blood pressure. The patient developed dramatic opisthotonic posturing and vermiform tongue fasciculations. The symptoms responded well to repeated intravenous doses of benzodiazepines. In this case, we used 2 doses of lorazepam (0.05 mg/kg each). During opisthotonic posturing, an electroencephalogram performed in the intensive care unit revealed no evidence of seizure activity. Within 20 hours after admission, the patient became asymptomatic. CONCLUSION: This case is, to our knowledge, the first documented pediatric 4-AP ingestion. Clinical signs and symptoms are described as well as the response to therapy with benzodiazepines. The electroencephalogram performed while the patient was symptomatic was negative for seizures.

4-Aminopyridine↗

Protein electrophoresis as a diagnostic and prognostic tool in raptor medicine.

Plasma proteins of 139 healthy adult birds of prey from 10 species were separated by electrophoresis to characterize and document normal reference ranges and species-specific electrophoretic patternsand to evaluate the value of this technique for health screening, disease diagnosis, and prognostic indication. Species studied included bald eagle (Haliaeetus leucocephalus), red-tailed hawk (Buteo jamaicensis), barn owl (Tyto alba), great horned owl (Bubo virginianus), turkey vulture (Cathartes aura), Harris' hawk (Parabuteo unicinctus), Stellar's sea eagle (Haliaeetus pelagicus), barred owl (Strix varia), screech owl (Otus asio), and black vulture (Coragyps atratus). Several clinical cases show the diagnostic/therapeutic value of protein electrophoresis in raptors. This study establishes species-specific reference ranges for several birds of prey and discusses the benefit of electrophoresis as a diagnostic technique in health screens, as a diagnostic aid in conjunction with other tests, and as a prognostic indicator in clinical evaluation of raptors.

Animals↗

Shortfalls using second-generation anticoagulant rodenticides.

Second-generation anticoagulant rodenticides can give rise to unexpected casualties in nontarget species in zoos. The first two offspring of a pair of turkey vultures (Cathartes aura) died of brodifacoum toxicosis. The adult birds fed rodenticide-killed mice to their offspring. There are previous case reports of small carnivorous birds (Dacelo novae-guinae and Tockus deckeni) killed eating poisoned (difenacoum and brodifacoum) mice. Even a granivorous species (Rollulus roulroul) died, probably by contamination of its food by cockroaches that transported the rodenticide.

4-Hydroxycoumarins↗

Poisoning in the elderly. Epidemiological, clinical and management considerations.

Poisoning is a significant problem in the elderly. The majority of poisonings in older people are unintentional and may result from dementia and confusion, improper use of the product, improper storage or mistaken identities. Depression is also common in the elderly and suicide attempts are more likely to be successful in this age group. The elderly patient's recuperative abilities may be inadequate as a result of numerous factors including impaired hepatic or renal function as well as chronic disease processes. General management of poisoning in the elderly parallels management of younger adults, but it is especially important to ascertain underlying medical conditions and concurrent medications. In most poisonings, activated charcoal and cathartic are sufficient. Haemodialysis or haemoperfusion may be required at lower plasma drug concentrations in elderly patients. While the specific indications for antidotes are the same for all age groups, dosage alterations and precautions may need to be considered in the elderly. Drugs most often implicated in poisonings in the elderly include psychotherapeutic drugs, cardiovascular drugs, analgesics and anti-inflammatory drugs, oral hypoglycaemics and theophylline. Cardiovascular and neurological toxicities occur with overdoses of neuroleptic drugs and, more frequently and severely, with cyclic antidepressants. Patients with pre-existing cardiovascular disease are at particular risk of worsening ischaemic heart disease and congestive heart failure. Benzodiazepines only appear to produce significant toxicity during long term administration or in combination with other CNS depressants. Digoxin can cause both chronic and acute intoxication, most seriously cardiac toxicity including severe ventricular arrhythmias, second or third degree heart block or severe refractory hyperkalaemia. Immune Fab antibody is indicated for the management of digoxin toxicity, although patients dependent on the inotropic effect of digoxin may develop heart failure after digoxin Fab antibody administration. Nitrates can cause toxicity including headache, vomiting, hypotension and tachycardia from excessive sublingual, transdermal or intravenous doses. Conduction disturbances and hypotension occur with overdoses of antihypertensive drugs; these effects are mild with angiotensin converting enzyme (ACE) inhibitors, occasionally severe with beta-blockers and of significant concern with calcium channel antagonists. The elderly commonly use aspirin and other salicylates, are more likely to develop chronic intoxications to these agents, and are more susceptible to severe complications such as pulmonary oedema. Salicylate poisoning, recognition of which is often delayed, should be considered in elderly patients with neurological abnormalities or breathing difficulties, especially in the setting of acid-base abnormalities. The clinical effects of NSAID overdose are mild and usually involve the central nervous system and gastrointestinal tract.(ABSTRACT TRUNCATED AT 400 WORDS)

Aged↗

History repeats itself: pharmacodynamic trends in the treatment of anxiety disorders.

The original treatment indicated for those suffering from neurotic anxiety was to employ psychotherapy to facilitate changes in behavior and coping with stressful events. A spectrum of somatic treatments "from cathartics and emetics to opium and "strengthening tonics", from atropine and digitalis to potassium bromide and chloral hydrate, from barbiturates to benzodiazepines", to serotonergics, came to be used as well [1]. The Food and Drug Administration originally approved many gamma-aminobutyric acid (GABA) facilitating drugs since the 1960s for anxiety treatment. The 1980s evidenced the approval of a few serotonergic treatments that cornered the prescribing market and the front line of most treatment protocols. More recently, GABAergic drugs are making a return in the treatment of anxiety disorders. The following paper details the pharmacodynamic history of treating anxiety and also updates the reader as to the newer GABA-based approaches mentioned above.

Anti-Anxiety Agents↗

[Acute toxic exposure in children: an overview].

OBJECTIVE: To review the literature on acute toxic exposure in children, excluding envenomations. SOURCES OF DATA: MEDLINE review (emphasis on the past decade), including the American Academy of Clinical Toxicology and the European Association of Poison Centres and Clinical Toxicologists position statements and position papers (peer-reviewed information based on scientific evidence and broad consensus) on gastrointestinal decontamination, multiple-dose activated charcoal and urine alkalinization. SUMMARY OF THE FINDINGS: Acute toxic exposure in children is a common event, mainly in children under six years of age. Death is rare. Although widely employed, there is no evidence that gastrointestinal decontamination and multiple-dose activated charcoal improve the outcome of poisoned patients. Very few efficient antidotes are used on a consistent basis, and some of them are very expensive and not available in Brazil. CONCLUSIONS: Ipecac syrup and cathartics should not be administered on a routine basis in acute toxic exposures in outpatient treatment. Excluding the contraindications, single-dose activated charcoal and gastric lavage may be considered within one hour of ingestion if a patient ingested a potentially toxic amount or a potentially lethal amount, respectively. Whole bowel irrigation, multiple-dose activated charcoal and urine alkalinization may be considered in a few situations. Fomepizole and octreotide are safe and efficient antidotes, which can be used in the treatment of alcohol (methanol and ethylene glycol) and sulfonylureas poisoning, respectively.

Acute Disease↗

Hypolipidemic, antiobesity, and hypoglycemic-hypoinsulinemic effects of beta,beta'-methyl-substituted hexadecanedioic acid in sand rats.

Treatment of male sand rats kept on a balanced laboratory chow diet ad libitum with beta,beta'-tetramethyl-substituted hexadecanedioic acid (MEDICA 16) resulted in a hypolipidemic effect accompanied by an extensive reduction in adiposity, with a concomitant hypoglycemic-hypoinsulinemic effect. The overall effect was sustained as long as the drug was administered. The hypolipidemic effect of MEDICA 16 consisted of a 70 and 40% decrease in plasma triacylglycerols and cholesterol, respectively, and resulted from inhibition of liver lipogenesis and cholesterogenesis. Adipose reduction by MEDICA 16 treatment or calorie restriction consisted of a 75-90% decrease in the perirenal, omental, epididymal, and subcutaneous fat, with a 50% decrease in liver neutral lipids. The reduction in adiposity was accounted for by a respective decrease in the lipid content of individual adipocytes, with a concomitant decrease in the number of adipocytes of selected adipose tissues. The decrease induced in adiposity by MEDICA 16 treatment could not be accounted for by anorectic or cathartic effects of the drug. The hypoglycemic-hypoinsulinemic effect of MEDICA 16 consisted of amelioration of the tolerance of glucose with normalization of plasma insulin. It was accompanied by an eightfold increase in the number of insulin receptors in epididymal adipocytes, which was, however, counteracted by a decrease in their affinity for insulin. The receptor and postreceptor effects exerted by MEDICA 16 were similar to those of calorie restriction. The overall effect of MEDICA 16 in sand rats may reflect the pharmacological potential of MEDICA compounds in pathological hyperlipidemic-obesity-diabetic syndromes.

Adipose Tissue↗

Experimental study of aggression and catharsis in Japanese.

28 Japanese subjects were tested to investigate how aggressive motive and TAT fantasy writing would influence provoked subjects. To examine this psychologically and physiologically subjects' changes in affect and respiration rate were measured. The results showed significant provocation and cathartic effects.

Abreaction↗

The irrationality of the catharsis theory of aggression as justification for educators' support of interscholastic football.

The notion that hostile feelings can be catharted from the psyche by playing football or other aggressive sports was virtually destroyed by behavioral scientists several decades ago. Nonetheless educators continue to support interscholastic football as a means of venting the aggressive emotions that supposedly characterize adolescence. This work examines this phenomenon, concluding that educators realize the sport actually increases aggression but hide behind the outdated hypothesis about catharsis to perpetuate the sport--an activity which gives them much pleasure.

Adolescent↗