Normal audiometric findings

We argue that the scope of basic audiometric assessment must be broadened to include speech audiometric measures sensitive to central auditory dysfunction. Findings in twenty cases of retrocochlear disorder illustrate the fact that conventional criteria of audiometric normalcy are inadequate.

A comparison of the respiratory effects of meptazinol, pentazocine and morphine

The respiratory effects of a new strong analgesic, meptazinol, were compared with a placebo and with equianalgesic doses of morphine and pentazocine in a double-blind crossover trial in seven healthy volunteers. No significant change in the ventilatory response to rebreathing carbon dioxide was observed after meptazinol 100 mg/70 kg or placebo. However, both morphine 10 mg/70 kg and pentazocine 60 mg/70 kg depresesd the slope of the ventilatory response (-30.0% and -31.6% respectively, P less than 0.02, averaged over the first 3.5-h period). End-tidal carbon dioxide tension (PE'CO2) while breathing room air increased significantly following all three drugs. However, the increase in PE'CO2 after meptazinol (0.22 kPa averaged over 3.5 h) was significantly less than that following morphine (0.40 kPa, P less than 0.05) and pentazocine (0.59 kPa, P less than 0.01). While breathing room air with a resistive inspiratory load of 8 kPa litre-1 s, PE'CO2 again increased significantly (P less than 0.05) following all three drugs. The increase in PE'CO2 after meptazinol was then the same as that after morphine (0.51 kPa averaged over 3.5 h). The increase following pentazocine (0.80 kPa) was significantly greater than that after both morphine and meptazinol (P less than 0.02).

Measurement of the relative contributions of rib cage and abdomen/diaphragm to tidal breathing in man

A simple mathematical model of the chest wall was constructed so that during tidal breathing the relative volume contributions of the rib cage and abdomen/diaphragm could be measured in man, using four mercury-in-rubber strain gauges around the trunk. From the dimensions of the trunk and the change in circumference determined by the four gauges, the separate contributions of rib cage and abdomen/diaphragm could be determined using a purpose-built analog computer. The system was evaluated in 13 laboratory personnel, and in 13 other subjects before and after anaesthesia. There was a linear relationship between tidal volumes computed and measured at the mouth, over the residual volume to (FRC + 1 litre) range, with an error of +/- 8%. The relative contribution of rib cage to tidal breathing showed a large scatter from 5 to 42% with a non-significant tendency to decrease with age.

Bacillus cereus endogenous panophthalmitis

A case of severe suppurative endogenous panophthalmitis caused by Bacillus cereus resulted from intravenously administered medications. This is the first, to our knowledge, well-documented case of endogenous endophthalmitis associated with this organism. It is recommended that if on Gram's stain of the anterior chamber fluid, Gram-positive rods are seen, chloramphenicol should be administered in addition to penicillin because of the possibility of B cereus infection.

Pastoral care and chronic disaster victims: the Buffalo Creek experience

A concern for the demands of the Law and for the message of the forgiveness of sins does not characterize the way most modern, progressive, clinically educated pastors tend to view or practice their ministry with troubled persons. But if our pastoral care is to become more fully responsive and responsible to our theological heritage, and more profoundly related in a Christian way to the persons we serve, it will be necessary to recover the centrality of the doctrine of Law and Gospel in pastoral care and counseling. This article attempts to show why and how it might be done.

This article focuses on the threefold nature of chronic disaster trauma in the Buffalo Creek context and the pastoral care response to it. The introduction sketches the events of the disaster and the living conditions of the past years. Attention is then centered on unresolved grief, disaster trauma, and loss of community. Case material is used to portray features of these various forms of disaster hurt and to show the interrelatedness of psychic, social, and religious issues. The paper then portrays the pastoral care response to disaster victims. The style of ministry is described, and the assumptions of the ministry are listed. Conclusions are then made on the basis of the experience of the past two years. These conclusions emphasize the need for a comprehensive pastoral care effort which is attentive to social issues in disaster as well as intrapsychic ones and is sensitive to the cultural and religious setting.

A proteolytic pseudomonad from skin lesions of rainbow trout (Salmo gairdnerii). II. Some properties of the proteinase

An extracellular proteinase from a pseudomonad pathogenic to rainbow trout was purified 33-fold by ammonium sulfate fractionation, DEAE-cellulose column chromatography, and Sephadex G 75 gel filtration. The purified enzyme was active over a wide pH range, from pH 5.0 to 10.0. Heating at 98 °C for 1 h did not completely inactivate the enzyme. Its observed temperature optimum was 45 °C. Michaelis–Menten constants were found to be 0.625% for casein and 0.263% for rainbow trout muscle albumin. Activation energies calculated for these substrates were 8.1 kcal and 11.4 kcal per mole, respectively. The involvement of bivalent cations and free sulfhydryl groups in the enzymatic activity was demonstrated by the inhibition caused by metal-complexing agents and p-chloromercuribenzoate, respectively.