We use cookies to distinguish you from other users and to provide you with a better experience on our websites. Close this message to accept cookies or find out how to manage your cookie settings.
To save content items to your account,
please confirm that you agree to abide by our usage policies.
If this is the first time you use this feature, you will be asked to authorise Cambridge Core to connect with your account.
Find out more about saving content to .
To save content items to your Kindle, first ensure no-reply@cambridge.org
is added to your Approved Personal Document E-mail List under your Personal Document Settings
on the Manage Your Content and Devices page of your Amazon account. Then enter the ‘name’ part
of your Kindle email address below.
Find out more about saving to your Kindle.
Note you can select to save to either the @free.kindle.com or @kindle.com variations.
‘@free.kindle.com’ emails are free but can only be saved to your device when it is connected to wi-fi.
‘@kindle.com’ emails can be delivered even when you are not connected to wi-fi, but note that service fees apply.
Ketamine has recently become an agent of interest as an acute treatment for severe depression and as the anaesthetic for electroconvulsive therapy (ECT). Subanaesthetic doses result in an acute reduction in depression severity while evidence is equivocal for this antidepressant effect with anaesthetic or adjuvant doses. Recent systematic reviews call for high-quality evidence from further randomised controlled trials (RCTs).
Aims
To establish if ketamine as the anaesthetic for ECT results in fewer ECT treatments, improvements in depression severity ratings and less memory impairment than the standard anaesthetic.
Method
Double-blind, parallel-design, RCT of intravenous ketamine (up to 2 mg/kg) with an active comparator, intravenous propofol (up to 2.5 mg/kg), as the anaesthetic for ECT in patients receiving ECT for major depression on an informal basis. (Trial registration: European Clinical Trials Database (EudraCT): 2011-000396-14 and clinicalTrials.gov: NCT01306760.)
Results
No significant differences were found on any outcome measure during, at the end of or 1 month following the ECT course.
Conclusions
Ketamine as an anaesthetic does not enhance the efficacy of ECT.
The metabolic and performance benefits of prior consumption of low-glycaemic index (GI) meals v. high-GI meals were determined in extended high-intensity intermittent exercise. Participants (ten males and four females, aged 25·8 (sd 7·3) years) completed two testing days (each consisting of back-to-back 90-min intermittent high-intensity treadmill running protocols separated by 3 h) spaced by at least 7 d. Using a randomised counterbalanced cross-over design, low-GI, lentil-based meals (GI about 42) or high-GI, potato-based meals (GI about 78) matched for energy value were consumed 2 h before, and within 1 h after, the first exercise session. Performance was measured by the distance covered during five 1-min sprints (separated by 2·5 min walking) at the end of each exercise session. Peak postprandial blood glucose was higher by 30·8 % in the high-GI trial compared with the low-GI trial, as was insulin (P = 0·039 and P = 0·003, respectively). Carbohydrate oxidation was lower by 5·5 % during the low-GI trials compared with the high-GI trials at the start of the first exercise session (P < 0·05). Blood lactate was significantly higher (6·1 v. 2·6 mmol/l; P = 0·019) and blood glucose significantly lower (4·8 v. 5·4 mmol/l; P = 0·039) at the end of the second exercise session during the high-GI trial compared with the low-GI trial. Sprint distance was not significantly different between conditions. A low-GI meal improved the metabolic profile before and during extended high-intensity intermittent exercise, but did not affect performance. Improvements in metabolic responses when consuming low-GI meals before exercise may be beneficial to the long-term health of athletes.
Finney et al. (1982) reported on the susceptibility of the 4th to 6th larval instars and pupae of Choristoneura fumiferana (Clemens) to Heterorhabditis heliothidis (Khan, Brooks and Hirschmann). This report describes the susceptibility of the first three larval instars to the nematode. First-instar larvae search for suitable sites where they spin hibernacula in which they molt and overwinter as second-instar larvae. Most third-instar larvae burrow within the balsam fir buds. All these stages occupy cryptic habitats to which delivery of chemical pesticides is a problem. Rhabditid nematodes, which can actively seek out a target insect, may prove a more useful control agent under these circumstances.
A cattle-baited (C-B) trap and a Trueman–McIver (T-M) segregating CO2 trap provided information on seasonal abundance, host-seeking activity, and blood-feeding of biting-flies near St. John's, Newfoundland. A total of 19 682 biting-flies (26 species) were collected (C-B trap = 11 407; T-M trap = 8275) from 26 May to 16 September 1982. Black-flies (Simuliidae) comprised 94.1% of the total sample (C-B trap = 10 747; T-M trap = 7773). Mosquitoes (Culicidae), biting midges (Ceratopogonidae), and tabanids (Tabanidae) comprised the remainder. Blood-fed flies represented 54.7% of the total catch in the C-B trap, but the proportion varied considerably among species. Black-fly activity was concentrated in June and July, though flies were also collected in May, August, and September. Prosimulium mixtum was the predominant species in June and Simulium venustum/verecundum complex was the major pest in July. Prosimulium mixtum was most active from mid-morning to late-afternoon, with little evening activity. Simulium venustum/verecundum complex showed 2 peaks of activity, one in the morning and another in the early evening. A few P. mixtum and S. venustum/verecundum complex were active after dark. Captures from the T-M and C-B traps were compared to test the reliability of the T-M trap as an indicator of activity of biting-flies attracted to cattle. Significant correlations (P < 0.001) between the number of flies collected in the 2 traps were found for P. mixtum and S. venustum/verecundum complex. Remaining species were taken in numbers too low for analysis.
Twenty species of black flies are now recorded from the Maritime Provinces of Canada. These include five species of Prosimulium, two species of Cnephia, and 13 species of Simulium. With the exception of S. vernum Meigen, all species have been previously recorded from maritime Canada. The known biology of these black flies is summarized and includes information on overwintering stages, larval and pupal habitats, adult emergence and feeding habits, and seasonal occurrence and abundance.
The Chinese term pu-cho (“catch”) an earthquake expresses the Chinese Government's resolve to save lives and property by applying the political techniques of mass mobilization to improve upon the predictive accuracy achievable with fine instruments and professional methods alone. To be more specific, during the most critical stage of the shortrange prediction process the public can contribute large numbers of useful observations not requiring ultra-sensitive instruments.