Evaluation of Thimerosal on the Potency and Stability of Inactivated Animal Rabies Vaccine

Thimerosal is used as a preservative in Rabies vaccine. This study aimed at comparing potency and stability of inactivated animal rabies vaccine with and without thimerosal. Therefore, two groups of rabies vaccine were produced. The results indicated that thimerosal has no deleterious effect on the vaccine; furthermore, its elimination did not influence the potency and stability of the vaccine.     

Adult Onset of Tethered Spinal Cord Syndrome Due to Fibrous Diastematomyelia: Case Report

Abstract Adult onset of the symptoms of tethered spinal cord is a rare entity that is occasionally associated with diastematomyelia. Only one case of fibrous diastematomyelia in an adult has been reported. The fibrous nature of this disease may present a diagnostic difficulty. A 32-year-old man with the adult onset of impairment of sacral functions with lumbar fibrous diastematomyelia is reported. Surgical release of the spinal cord was followed by improvement of the patient's function.</jats:p

A comparison of effects of bipolar and monopolar electrocoagulation in brain

✓ Controlled bipolar and monopolar coagulation lesions were generated in the cerebral cortex of cats. Higher output powers were associated with larger lesions, while the lesion size was independent of the mode of coagulation. When cortical vessels were mobilized and coagulated for hemostasis, bipolar mode was associated with more rapid coagulation and less damage to the underlying brain. Higher output powers were not associated with larger lesions, probably because coagulation was more rapid. The neural damage resulting from radiofrequency current appears to be of thermal origin, and the blood-brain barrier dysfunction is a more sensitive measure of this damage than the stainable cellular changes.</jats:p

Transient encephalopathy and asterixis following metrizamide myelography

✓ A case is presented in which cervicolumbar myelography with metrizamide was followed by transient encephalopathy and asterixis. Metabolic etiology was excluded. A large degree of intracranial penetration of metrizamide was demonstrated by computerized tomography. Residual symptoms persisted for 10 days.</jats:p

Removal of retained ventricular shunt catheters without craniotomy

✓ A technique is described in which insulated suction is used to extract infected retained ventricular catheters in cases of shunt infection. This procedure allows safe removal without craniotomy. Retained catheters are pulled through an insulated No. 11F or 13F suction tube attached to an electrocoagulation unit used for resection and coagulation of adhesions. The technique has been successful in two cases with retained catheters.</jats:p

Early decompression and neurological outcome in acute cervical spinal cord injuries

✓ To evaluate the effect on neurological outcome of spinal cord compression persisting after a closed injury, the authors reviewed 44 of 62 consecutively managed cases of cervical spinal cord and spine injuries at C3–7, inclusive. Decompression within 48 hours of injury was confirmed by myelography or open reduction. Neurological status, graded numerically on a spinal trauma scale at admission and at follow-up review (an average of 1 year ± 2 months after admission), and percent recovery of neurological deficit were compared to canal narrowing (22 severe, ≥ 30%; versus 22 moderate, 11% to 29%; or mild, ≤ 10%) and to delay before treatment (30 within 8 hours of injury versus 14 treated 9 to 48 hours after injury). Severe narrowing was equated with compression. Status at admission and at follow-up review was positively correlated. Patients with admission scores of less than 2 recovered a mean of 15% of their deficit, while those with scores more than 2 recovered a mean of 77%. Admission status correlated significantly with spinal canal narrowing but not with vertebral body displacement. Time of treatment had no significant effect upon admission status and percent recovery. No significant difference in the percent of recovery was noted, whether decompression was early (up to 8 hours) or late (9 to 48 hours) after injury. Surgery did not significantly alter the percent of recovery. The findings indicate that the initial injury to the cervical spinal cord and spine remains the primary determinant of neurological outcome. Severe canal narrowing with cord compression thereafter appears to have comparatively little effect. The conclusion that decompression is without effect is not possible without comparison with a group of patients whose spinal canals remained narrowed at follow-up review.</jats:p

Evoked somatosensory potentials to common peroneal nerve stimulation in man

✓ This study was undertaken to identify the normal somatosensory evoked potential pattern from stimulation of the common peroneal nerve in order to provide basic data for clinical use in diagnosis and management of patients with spinal cord lesions. Thirty-four adult volunteers, free of neurological disease, and 12 patients were tested. The recording technique is described and is similar to that reported by Perot. The primary evoked response (P1) was easily visualized in 88% of the recordings from normal subjects. The peak latency of the primary response was 38.9 msec, and the deflection was positive. A vertex potential (P4) was a relatively consistent peak that appeared at approximately 240 msec in 78% of the subjects. Additional components of the waveform are also described and are compared to previous studies. Clinically, the presence of primary response seems to correlate with a favorable neurological outcome, and recovery of the primary response may precede major clinical improvement. The literature is reviewed and results compared to the current study.</jats:p

A Thermal Maturity Analysis of the Effective Cretaceous Petroleum System in the Southern Persian Gulf Basin

Commercial hydrocarbon discoveries in the Cretaceous of the southern Persian Gulf basin provide direct evidence that there is an effective petroleum system associated with the Cretaceous series. The revised models of thermal maturity in this region are needed to investigate lateral and stratigraphic variations of thermal maturity, which have not so far been addressed in detail for this part of the Persian Gulf. Such thermal maturity models are required to delineate the existing play assessment risks and to predict properties in more deeply buried undrilled sections. This study uses two dimensional basin modeling techniques to reconstruct maturity evolution of the Cenomanian Middle Sarvak source rock, presumably the most likely source for these hydrocarbons. The results indicate that an estimated 900 meter difference in the depth of burial between the southeastern high and the adjacent trough tends to be translated into noticeable variations at both temperature (135 °C versus 162 °C) and vitrinite reflectance (0.91% versus 1.35%). Since the organic matter in the mentioned source rock is of reactive type II, these could cause a shift of about 18 million years in the onset of hydrocarbon generation over respective areas