CARCINOMA OF THE ESOPHAGUS AND GASTRIC CARDIA—With Special Reference to Treatment

During the last five years the thoracic and abdominothoracic approaches in esophageal and gastric surgery have become established. With improvements in surgical and anesthetic technique mortality rates have declined. Preoperative and postoperative care are of great importance.     

NUTRITIONAL ASPECTS OF ANASTOMOTIC OPERATIONS—With Special Reference to the Sprue Syndrome

Necessary but radical operation which results in short-circuits between various levels of the digestive tract, with or without resections of portions of the esophagus, stomach or intestine, frequently cures the condition for which the operation was done, but leaves the patient with difficult nutritional problems. These nutritional disturbances are usually associated with inability to maintain or gain weight as a result of badly regulated movement of food material through the altered digestive tract, and by the removal or diversion of important digestive secretions, such as those elaborated by the stomach, pancreas, duodenum and small bowel.Increased intestinal rate and diminished specific gastrointestinal secretions reduce the ability of the small bowel to properly absorb food, with resulting malnutrition, deficiency disease, and at times specific avitaminosis. Inability to absorb fat and fat-soluble substances is a constant feature of these conditions. Successful treatment of the nutritional problems involves constant, prolonged overfeeding of nonbulky foods, usually given in regular, frequently administered meals of small volume. Vitamin concentrates may occasionally be of some temporary assistance but are not needed if a balanced diet is given and may cause undesirable and sometimes dangerous symptoms. The use of supplemental substances, such as liver extract and a wetting agent, such as “Tween 80,” to improve fat absorption have been demonstrated to be of value.The postoperative conditions described are fairly similar to the condition known as sprue, and it is possible that the general principles underlying the treatment of this disease apply to the entire group of post-operative nutritional disturbances alluded to.     

ANTIBIOTICS IN MANAGEMENT OF STAPHYLOCOCCAL ENDOCARDITIS—With Special Reference to Increasing Bacterial Resistance

Eighteen patients with staphylococcal endocarditis were observed at the Los Angeles County Hospital over a 3-year period (1947-49, inclusive). Twelve died.Bacterial sensitivity studies were carried out in 15 of the cases, and there was resistance to penicillin in ten.Aureomycin was effective in two cases of Staphylococcus aureus endocarditis in which there was no response to penicillin therapy.In one case of Staphylococcus aureus endocarditis the organism was resistant to penicillin and developed increasing resistance to aureomycin.     

CONSERVATIVE THERAPY OF BENIGN UTERINE BLEEDING—With Special Reference to the Use of Ergot

Although operation frequently is carried out in cases of excessive uterine bleeding of benign origin, particularly if fibrous tumor is present, in many cases major surgical intervention could be averted by adequate conservative therapy.The authors have given Ergotrate® over long periods with good results in many cases and have noted no severe side effects. If this therapy fails, diagnostic dilatation and curettement sometimes reveals and removes the cause of bleeding.If infection is a factor, use of sulfonamides or antibiotics sometimes has dramatic effect.     

Addition to Special Issue “Transient interactions in biology”

Publisher's Note

Addition to Special Issue “Transient interactions in biology”     

Preface to the Special Issue “Presynaptic Dysfunction and Disease”

The synapse is formed between a presynapse (which releases neurotransmitter) and the postsynapse (which transduces this chemical signal). Over the past decade, presynaptic dysfunction has emerged as a key mediator of a series of neurodevelopmental and neurodegenerative disorders. This special issue will highlight some of the important presynaptic molecules and mechanisms that are disrupted in these conditions and reveal potential routes for therapy.     

Introduction to the Special Section on “Chinese Earthquake Risk Management”

Natural disasters by definition are surprises, causing a great deal of damage and inconvenience. Earthquakes are among the most terrifying and destructive natural disasters threatening humans. Emergency management has been described as the process of coordinating an emergency or its aftermath through communication and organization for deployment and the use of emergency resources. This special section of HERA provides the state of the art studies of risk and emergency management related to the Wenchuan earthquake that occurred in China in May 2008.     

Introduction to the Special Section on “Modeling Sustainable Risk Management”

In recent years, risk management has attracted a great deal of attention from both researchers and practitioners. Risk management practice has required new tools to achieve sustainability when dealing with loss exposure. Sustainable risk management is studied from different silo disciplinary perspectives.     

Introduction to the Special Issue “Functional monitoring in megadiverse tropical ecosystems”

Land-use and climate change are major threats to biodiversity and ecosystem functions. Most of the current biodiversity monitoring systems are based on periodic records of the populations of a set of threatened or popular ‘flagship’ indicator species. In contrast to the abundance-based monitoring of species, also specific indicators of processes and functional interactions in an ecosystem may become targets of a more functional monitoring which can unveil early responses of an ecosystem to environmental changes at different spatial and temporal scales. The contributions of this Special Issue present such functional indicators for assessing and predicting responses to environmental changes of ecosystem functions in a hotspot of tropical biodiversity.     

DISEASES OF THE HEART IN A WORKING POPULATION—A Study of Morbidity and Mortality in Relation to Cardiac Status and Nature of Job

A sample consisting of 2,252 persons among 20,199 Los Angeles civil service employees was observed for the occurrence of heart disease. The first examination measured the prevalence. Based upon the diagnosis of 165 cases of heart disease, the prevalence was 73 per 1,000 persons examined.Two reexaminations, at intervals of 12 to 18 months, of persons with normal heart on the first examination were carried out and 52 additional cases were diagnosed. There were also 13 deaths of heart disease in persons first diagnosed as having normal heart, making a total of 65 “new” cases (36.6 per 1,000) during the 30-month period of observation. An annual estimated heart disease incidence of 15 per 1,000 appears reasonable.Based on 89 deaths, the cardiovascular disease death rate was 11 per 1,000 among persons entering the study with normal heart, and 133 per 1,000 persons diagnosed as having heart disease at entry. The ratio of newly diagnosed cases to deaths of heart disease was 4 to 1.Among men diagnosed as having normal heart there was little difference in death rates whether their jobs were physically strenuous or sedentary. Among the men with heart disease, however, the highest death rates are observed among those employed at sedentary jobs and at light exertion. This may, of course, be an indication of the employee''s selection of the job rather than the effect of inactivity. The relative usefulness of minifilm x-ray, electrocardiograms and questioning as to history were considered.     

Introduction to Special Issue on “Frontiers in Industrial Microbiology and Biotechnology 2019”

Journal of Industrial Microbiology & Biotechnology -