No abstract

No abstract

In the Intraoperative Hypothermia for Aneurysm Surgery Trial, neither systemic hypothermia nor supplemental protective drug affected short- or long-term neurologic outcomes of patients undergoing temporary clipping.

We present prospective clinical and neuropathologic details of a pedigree segregating familial Alzheimer's disease (FAD) associated with a mutation (G----A substitution) at nucleotide 2149 in exon 17 of the amyloid precursor protein (APP) gene. This mutation, which is predicted to cause the missense substitution of isoleucine for valine at codon 717 of APP, cosegregated perfectly with the FAD trait (lod score = 3.49 at theta = 0.00). The earliest clinical manifestations of the disease relate to deficits in memory function, cognitive processing speed, and attention to complex cognitive sets. These changes occurred in the absence of changes in nonmemory language and visuospatial functions. The neuropathologic features of FAD associated with the APP717 mutation in this family include severe neuronal loss, abundant neurofibrillary tangles, amyloid plaques, and amyloid angiopathy. These results provide independent confirmation that mutations in the APP gene are linked to the FAD trait in some families.

Background Perioperative hypothermia has been reported to increase the occurrence of cardiovascular complications. By increasing sympathetic nervous system activity, perioperative hypothermia also has the potential to increase cardiac injury and dysfunction associated with subarachnoid hemorrhage. Methods The Intraoperative Hypothermia for Aneurysm Surgery Trial randomized patients undergoing cerebral aneurysm surgery to intraoperative hypothermia (n = 499, 33.3 ± 0.8°C) or normothermia (n = 501, 36.7 ± 0.5°C). Cardiovascular events (hypotension, arrhythmias, vasopressor use, myocardial infarction, etc.) were prospectively followed until 3 month follow-up and were compared between hypothermic and normothermic patients. A subset of 62 patients (hypothermia, n = 33; normothermia, n = 29) also had preoperative and postoperative (within 24 h) measurement of cardiac troponin-I and echocardiography to explore the association between perioperative hypothermia and subarachnoid hemorrhage-associated myocardial injury and left ventricular function. Results There was no difference between hypothermic and normothermic patients in the occurrence of any single cardiovascular event or in composite cardiovascular events. There was no difference in mortality (6%) between groups and there was only a single primary cardiovascular death (normothermia). There was no difference between hypothermic and normothermic patients in post- vs. preoperative left ventricular regional wall motion or ejection fraction. Compared with preoperative values, hypothermic patients had no postoperative increase in cardiac troponin-I (median change 0.00 μg/L) whereas normothermic patients had a small postoperative increase (median change + 0.01 μg/L, P = 0.038). Conclusion In patients undergoing cerebral aneurysm surgery, perioperative hypothermia was not associated with an increased occurrence of cardiovascular events.

Background We explored the relationship between nitrous oxide use and neurological and neuropsychological outcome in a population of patients likely to experience intraoperative cerebral ischemia: i.e., those who had temporary cerebral arterial occlusion during aneurysm clipping surgery. Methods A post hoc analysis of a subset of the data from the Intraoperative Hypothermia for Aneurysm Surgery Trial was conducted. Only subjects who had temporary arterial occlusion during surgery were included in the analysis. Metrics of short-term and long-term (i.e., 3 months post-surgery) outcome were evaluated via both univariate and multivariate logistic regression analysis. An odds ratio (OR) of greater than 1.0 denotes a worse outcome in patients receiving nitrous oxide. Results We evaluated 441 patients, of which 199 received nitrous oxide. Patients receiving nitrous oxide had a greater risk of delayed ischemic neurologic deficits (i.e., the clinical manifestation of vasospasm) (OR=1.78, 95% confidence interval [CI]=1.08–2.95, p=0.025). However, at 3 months after surgery, there was no difference in any metric of gross neurologic outcome: Glasgow Outcome Score (OR=0.67, CI=0.44–1.03, p=0.065), Rankin Score (OR=0.74, CI=0.47–1.16, p=0.192), National Institutes of Health Stroke Scale (OR=1.02, CI=0.66–1.56, p=0.937), or Barthel’s Index (OR=0.69, CI=0.38–1.25, p=0.22). The risk of impairment on at least one test of neuropsychological function was reduced in those who received nitrous oxide (OR=0.56, CI=0.36–0.89, p=0.013). Conclusion In our patient population, use of nitrous oxide was associated with an increased risk for the development of delayed ischemic neurologic deficits; however, there was no evidence of detriment to long-term gross neurologic or neuropsychological outcome.

Over the past five years an aggressive movement has emerged to return immigration enforcement powers to the local level in the US, and to some extent in Europe as well. Hazleton, PA, was home to the first local government in the US to pass an ‘Illegal Immigration Relief Act’ (IIRA), which subsequently became a model for other cities across the country seeking to implement their own immigration regulations. We argue that Hazleton's IIRA was as much productive of tensions over migration as it was the product of them. Neoliberal economic restructuring left Hazleton residents feeling a sense of ‘class downgrading’ but the ordinance itself was central in creating divisions between the native-born white population and recent Latino arrivals. As much as the ordinance served to exclude undocumented immigrants, it simultaneously served to unify native-born white residents by repositioning Hazleton as ‘small-town USA’, no longer marginal but, instead, central to the defense of American ‘quality of life’. Control over housing became a key form of spatial and territorial control through the creation of a location in which outsiders could be defined as not-belonging and local citizenship could be imbued with new meaning. The paper illuminates the ways in which ‘Americanness’ and citizenship are locally constructed and highlights the significance of territorial control and collective identity in addition to economic restructuring in the resurgence of local immigration regulations.

No abstract