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SummaryThe incidence of inguinal hernia is higher in premature infants, particularly in low birth weight neonates. This latter group may also incur increased postoperative respiratory complications and inpatient admissions. The purpose of this study was to compare the effects of general and spinal anaesthesia on postoperative respiratory morbidity and on the length of hospital stay in high-risk infants undergoing inguinal herniorrhaphy. Forty patients, all high-risk infants who underwent unilateral or bilateral herniorrhaphies, were randomly assigned to receive general anaesthesia (n ¼ 20) or spinal anaesthesia (n ¼ 20). There was a significant difference in respiratory morbidity between the two groups, as well as a significant difference in the inpatient hospital stay. The present study suggests that spinal anaesthesia can be used safely for high-risk infants, preterm or formerly preterm, undergoing inguinal hernia repair.

The accumulation, uptake mechanism, cytotoxicity, cellular localisation of-and mode of cell death induced by-dinuclear ruthenium(II) complexes ΔΔ/ΛΛ-[{Ru(phen)(2) }(2) {μ-bb(n) }](4+) (Rubb(n)), where phen is 1,10-phenanthroline, bb(n) is bis[4(4'-methyl-2,2'-bipyridyl)]-1,n-alkane (n=2, 5, 7, 10, 12 or 16), and the corresponding mononuclear complexes containing the bb(n) ligands, were studied in L1210 murine leukaemia cells. Cytotoxicity increased with linker chain length, and the ΔΔ-Rubb(16) complex displayed the highest cytotoxicity of the series, with an IC(50) value of 5 μM, similar to that of carboplatin in the L1210 murine leukaemia cell line. Confocal microscopy and flow cytometry studies indicated that the complexes accumulate in the mitochondria of L1210 cells, with the magnitude of cellular uptake and accumulation increasing with linking chain length in the bb(n) bridge of the metal complex. ΔΔ-Rubb(16) entered the L1210 cells by passive diffusion (with a minor contribution from protein-mediated active transport), inducing cell death via apoptosis. Additionally, metal-complex uptake in leukaemia cells was approximately 16-times that observed in healthy B cells highlighting that the bb(n) series of complexes may have potential as selective anticancer drugs.

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These data suggest that the viscosity of the initial flushing solution may play an important role in determining the outcome of organ procurement from non-heart beating donors.

This study presents a Web-based interactive homework quiz and tutorial package that we have devised to improve the learning of first-year undergraduate chemistry students. We developed this automated scheme, based on WWWAssign, to produce randomly generated quizzes from a large database of questions, instantaneously grade that homework, give a fully-worked solution, and provide individually targeted tutorial assistance. Success in these quizzes was a necessary requirement before taking supervised tests. We found a positive correlation at the p= 0.1 level (90%) between voluntary extra use of the quizzes in the interactive package and the final course grade. All students undertook more quizzes than the base course requirement even though the quiz grades did not contribute to the total course grades. We suggest that students were motivated to pursue additional practice with the quizzes and associated tutorial information, as they perceived some benefit in this student-centered study tool and could access it at any time.

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