Small doses of propofol or fentanyl at the end of sevoflurane anaesthesia comparably reduced EA. Propofol was better than fentanyl due to a lower incidence of nausea and vomiting.

No abstract

We have developed an MR method to measure the volumes of renal cysts and parenchyma in patients with polycystic kidney disease. Phantoms were designed to simulate polycystic kidneys. Four patients were recruited. MR scans were performed on the phantoms and patients. A stereology technique was applied for image segmentation and volume measurement. Volumetric measurement of renal cysts and parenchyma was accurate in phantom studies and reliable in both phantom and patient studies in these limited examples.

Recently, demand for minimally invasive surgery has increased greatly. As a result, robot-assisted techniques have gained in popularity, because they overcome several of the shortcomings of conventional laparoscopic techniques. However, robotic surgery may require innovations with regard to patient positioning and the overall arrangement of operative equipment and personnel, which may go against the conservative nature of anesthesia care. Anesthesiologists should become familiar with these changes by learning the basic features of robotic surgical systems to offer better anesthetic care and promote patient safety.

No abstract

Our results showed that the i-gel had easier insertion and better sealing function, and the air-Q SP provided improved fiberoptic views in children requiring general anesthesia.

Systemic lidocaine administration was associated with reductions in CPSP and sensory impairment after robot-assisted thyroidectomy although it was not able to reduce acute postsurgical pain or improve the quality of recovery. Trial registry number NCT01907997 ( http://clinicaltrials.gov ).

Background-(R /S)-Salsolinol (SAL), a condensation product of dopamine (DA) with acetaldehyde, has been speculated to have a role in the etiology of alcoholism. Earlier studies have shown the presence of SAL in biological fluids and postmortem brains from both alcoholics and non-alcoholics. However, the involvement of SAL in alcoholism has been controversial over several decades, since the reported SAL levels and their changes after ethanol exposure were not consistent, possibly due to inadequate analytical procedures and confounding factors such as diet and genetic predisposition. Using a newly developed mass spectrometric method to analyze SAL stereoisomers, we evaluated the contribution of ethanol, diet, and genetic background to SAL levels as well as its enantiomeric distribution.