Anesthesiology
-
The Drosophila Shaker mutant fruit-fly, with its malfunctioning voltage-gated potassium channel, exhibits anesthetic requirements that are more than twice normal. Shaker mutants with an abnormal Kv1.2 channel also demonstrate significantly reduced sleep. Given the important role the thalamus plays in both sleep and arousal, the authors investigated whether localized central medial thalamic (CMT) microinfusion of an antibody designed to block the pore of the Kv1.2 channel might awaken anesthetized rats. ⋯ These findings support the idea that the CMT plays a role in modulating levels of arousal during anesthesia and further suggest that voltage-gated potassium channels in the CMT may contribute to regulating arousal or may even be relevant targets of anesthetic action.
-
Multicenter Study
Natriuretic peptide system gene variants are associated with ventricular dysfunction after coronary artery bypass grafting.
Ventricular dysfunction (VnD) after primary coronary artery bypass grafting is associated with increased hospital stay and mortality. Natriuretic peptides have compensatory vasodilatory, natriuretic, and paracrine influences on myocardial failure and ischemia. The authors hypothesized that natriuretic peptide system gene variants independently predict risk of VnD after primary coronary artery bypass grafting. ⋯ Genetic variation within the NPPA/NPPB and NPR3 genes is associated with risk of VnD after primary coronary artery bypass grafting. Knowledge of such genotypic predictors may result in better understanding of the molecular mechanisms underlying postoperative VnD.
-
Previous research on anesthesia-related mortality in the United States was limited to data from individual hospitals. The purpose of this study was to examine the epidemiologic patterns of anesthesia-related deaths at the national level. ⋯ Each year in the United States, anesthesia/anesthetics are reported as the underlying cause in approximately 34 deaths and contributing factors in another 281 deaths, with excess mortality risk in the elderly and men.