Syringomyelia following lumboureteral shunting for communicating hydrocephalus. Report of three cases

Three patients are described in whom syringomyelia was identified long after the treatment of communicating hydrocephalus by a lumboureteral shunt. The reason for syrinx formation in these cases could not be determined. In two there was either autopsy-proven or presumed evidence for arachnoiditis, and in the third patient the symptoms of syringomyelia were acutely aggravated by temporary obstruction of shunt. The development of a pressure drop from the intracranial compartment to the spinal compartment with crowding at the foramen magnum is also a suggested mechanism.

Cerebrospinal fluid rhinorrhea via the fossa of Rosenmuller

Traumatic cerebrospinal fluid fistulas in children are not rare as described by Harwood-Nash and Caldicott, North, and Simpson. Those involving the sphenoid bone apparently are rare, particularly in early childhood.

Ventricular perfusion in cats with kaolin-induced hydrocephalus

✓ Cats were made hydrocephalic by cisternal instillation of kaolin. Three to 8 weeks later it was found by perfusion between the ventricular system and the spinal subarachnoid space that communication had been reestablished through a demonstrably dilated central canal of the spinal cord. Absorption of fluid from the ventricular system, measured both by ventriculospinal perfusion and, after ligation of the spinal cord, by perfusion between the lateral ventricles, was found to be indistinguishable from zero over a wide range of ventricular pressure.

Similarity as determinant of social influence in affective judgments

The present study tests the hypothesis that emotional judgments are more influenced by the comparative information provided by similar others than by dissimilar others. Male Ss heard 2 accomplices evaluate a series of 10 slides depicting nude females and details from paintings by Bosch and were given the task of publicly offering their own evaluations. Similarity between Ss and accomplices was manipulated through the attire of the accomplices and through bogus scores on a fake artist subscale of the Strong Vocational Interest Blank. The results show that only evaluations of the nude slides were significantly influenced by the similar accomplice. Similar others may be less influential as evaluative concerns become less emotional (personal) and more cognitive (impersonal).

The permeability of capillaries of the sciatic nerve of the rabbit to several materials

✓ The course of penetration of radioactive sodium, chloride potassium, and thiourea from plasma into rabbits' sciatic nerves was observed after establishing and maintaining a level of radioactivity in plasma. The observations confirm the existence of a blood-nerve barrier since the exchange between blood and nerve is very much slower than the corresponding turnover for muscle. The vasa nervorum were 10 times more permeable to sodium and chloride than the cerebral vessels.

Chiasmapexy for the correction of traction on the optic nerves and chiasm associated with their descent into an empty sella turcica. Case report

✓ A patient recovered full vision after evacuation of a chromaphobe adenoma and subsequent irradiation, but experienced delayed visual loss in the left eye associated with descent of the diaphragm of the sella and the optic nerves and chiasm into the tumor bed. More normal anatomical relationships were restored by inserting silicone sponge beneath the diaphragm of the sella. Vision improved rapidly thereafter and has been maintained for more than 3½ years.

The permeation of several materials into the fluids of the rabbit's brain

1. (24)Na, (36)Cl and (35)S thiourea were infused I.V. in rabbits according to schedules designed to yield approximately level activity in plasma for periods up to 5 hr. Cerebrospinal fluid was sampled before ending the experiment by decapitation and the radioactivities in cerebrospinal fluid and in homogenized brain were compared in each case to a time weighted mean value for plasma.2. The results are considered in terms of a simplified model which specifically acknowledges the continuity of the extracellular and cerebrospinal fluids and thus the coupling between processes which occur at the interfaces bordering those fluids.3. From the rate constants for exchange across the blood-brain interface that were necessary for simulation of the observed behaviours, permeability coefficients for that interface were estimated for the materials studied and, from experiments of others, for (42)K.