Single-injection thoracic paravertebral block for postoperative pain treatment after thoracoscopic surgery

Background. Thoracoscopic surgery can be associated with considerable postoperative pain. While the benefits of paravertebral block on pain after thoracotomy have been demonstrated, no investigations on the effects of paravertebral block on pain after thoracoscopy have been conducted. We tested the hypothesis that a single-injection thoracic paravertebral block, performed preoperatively, reduces pain scores after thoracoscopic surgery. Methods. Of 45 patients recruited, 40 completed the study. They were randomly allocated to two groups: the paravertebral group received i.v. patient-controlled analgesia (PCA) with morphine plus single-injection thoracic paravertebral block with bupivacaine 0.375% and adrenaline 1:200 000 0.4 ml kg−1 (n=20). The control group was treated with a back puncture without injection and morphine PCA (n=20). Results. The main outcomes recorded during 48 h after surgery were pain scores using the visual analogue scale (VAS, 0-100). Secondary outcomes were cumulative morphine consumption and peak expiratory flow rate (PEFR). Half an hour and 24 h after surgery, median (25th-75th percentiles) VAS on coughing in the paravertebral group was 31.0 (20.0-55.0) and 30.5 (17.5-40.0) respectively and in the control group it was 70.0 (30.0-100.0) and 50.0 (25.0-75.0) respectively. The difference between the groups over the whole observation period was statistically significant (P<0.05). Twenty-four and 48 h after surgery, median (25th-75th percentiles) cumulative morphine consumption (mg) was 49.0 (38.3-87.0) and 69.3 (38.8-118.5) respectively in the paravertebral group and 51.2 (36.0-84.1) and 78.1 (38.4-93.1) in the control group (statistically not significant). No differences were found in PEFR or the incidence of any side-effects between groups. Conclusion. We conclude that single-shot preoperative paravertebral block improves post-operative pain treatment after thoracoscopic surgery in a clinically significant fashio

Measuring Consumer Preferences Using Conjoint Poker

We develop and test an incentive-compatible Conjoint Poker (CP) game. The preference data collected in the context of this game are comparable to incentive-compatible choice-based conjoint (CBC) analysis data. We develop a statistical efficiency measure and an algorithm to construct efficient CP designs. We compare incentive-compatible CP to incentive-compatible CBC in a series of three experiments (one online study and two eye-tracking studies). Our results suggest that CP induces respondents to consider more of the profile-related information presented to them compared with CBC

Pharmacological manipulation of L-carnitine transport into L6 cells with stable overexpression of human OCTN2

Abstract.: The high-affinity Na+-dependent carnitine transporter OCTN2 (SLC22A5) has a high renal expression and reabsorbs most filtered carnitine. To gain more insight into substrate specificity of OCTN2, we overexpressed hOCTN2 in L6 cells and characterized the structural requirements of substances acting as human OCTN2 (hOCTN2) inhibitors. A 1905-bp fragment containing the hOCTN2 complete coding sequence was introduced into the pWpiresGFP vector, and L6 cells were stably transduced using a lentiviral system. The transduced L6 cells revealed increased expression of hOCTN2 on the mRNA, protein and functional levels. Structural requirements for hOCTN2 inhibition were predicted in silico and investigated in vitro. Essential structural requirements for OCTN2 inhibition include a constantly positively charged nitrogen atom and a carboxyl, nitrile or ester group connected by a 2-4-atom linker. Our cell system is suitable for studying in vitro interactions with OCTN2, which can subsequently be investigated in viv

Performance of the CMS Cathode Strip Chambers with Cosmic Rays

The Cathode Strip Chambers (CSCs) constitute the primary muon tracking device in the CMS endcaps. Their performance has been evaluated using data taken during a cosmic ray run in fall 2008. Measured noise levels are low, with the number of noisy channels well below 1%. Coordinate resolution was measured for all types of chambers, and fall in the range 47 microns to 243 microns. The efficiencies for local charged track triggers, for hit and for segments reconstruction were measured, and are above 99%. The timing resolution per layer is approximately 5 ns

Search for the standard model Higgs boson in the H to ZZ to 2l 2nu channel in pp collisions at sqrt(s) = 7 TeV

A search for the standard model Higgs boson in the H to ZZ to 2l 2nu decay channel, where l = e or mu, in pp collisions at a center-of-mass energy of 7 TeV is presented. The data were collected at the LHC, with the CMS detector, and correspond to an integrated luminosity of 4.6 inverse femtobarns. No significant excess is observed above the background expectation, and upper limits are set on the Higgs boson production cross section. The presence of the standard model Higgs boson with a mass in the 270-440 GeV range is excluded at 95% confidence level.Comment: Submitted to JHE