News in ORbit

News in ORbit

Plastic surgery advances

Dangerous vegetables

Plastic surgeons in Toronto are redesigning not only the exterior but also other basic features of the skull with the help of threedimensional photography and topographic maps of faces. The surgery techniques were developed by Dr Paul Tessier, Paris. Dr Ian R Munro, Hospital for Sick Children and Sunnybrook Hospital, Toronto, uses Dr Tessier’s techniques.

Severe Pseudomonas infections which developed in Pittsburgh’s Mercy Hospital might be linked to raw vegetables in the hospital kitchen. Cultures of the vegetables yielded high counts of Pseudomonas aeruginosa and Klebsiella. These organisms grow in moist environments and can cause nosocomial infections, especially in susceptible patients. Patients with burns and those receiving immunosuppressive therapy are particularly vulnerable. Spyros Kominos, MD, chief of clinical microbiology, i s trying to establish a direct connection between the organisms on the vegetables and the infections.

The patient is photographed with a three-dimensional camera and a topographic map of the face is drawn. The map i s then fed into a machine which reproduces the contours in Styrofoam layers, providing an idea of the postoperative result. The method saves time and guesswork during surgery. Using this method, Dr Munro can produce dramatic changes in the face, such as repositioning the eye sockets in the skull, moving the upper part of the jaw forward, or reshaping entire sections of the skull.

The hospital eliminated the infections

by

removing raw vegetables from the hospital menu, by stressing good handwarhing technique, and by requiring gloves for direct patient care. They also tried to keep moist areas free of contamination by the organisms.

Science Digest November 1973

AORN Journal, January 1974, Vol 19, N o 1

Nursing ‘73 September 1973

135

Fetal anoxia

Jef lag

Fetal anoxia during labor, a major cause

Your internal clock does not know where

of infant brain damage, can be detected by electronically monitoring fetal heart rate and uterine contractions simultaneously.

you are. Governed by heredity or environment, the body has clocks. Jet lag can

This i s done with an electrocardiogram and

cause any number of maladies, from a headache to disorientation, and even brittle

a pressure-sensitive catheter passed into the

nails, among some other ills.

uterus after the membrane ruptures and by attaching an electrode to the presenting part of the fetus. An ultrasonic device using the Doppler principle may also be used. Printouts on graphic sheets show changes not detected by stethoscope. The fetal heart rate normally falls when a contraction begins and rises when i t ends. Three patterns of heart rate deceleration may be noted: early, or normal; and abnormal,

or

variable

and

late. Variable

warns of umbilical cord compression. Late shows the inability of the fetus to discharge

To combat the dysrhythmia before the flight: 1) get as much rest as possible; 2) try to arrive in the evening; 3) keep eating and drinking to a minimum; arrival; and

5) resort

absolutely necessary.

Mr Khrushchev his shoe on the table of the United

Jet lag probably caused to pound

Nation several years ago. Several major corporations are searching for a drug to combat this process. Diversion Oct/Nov 1973

COz and absorb O2 Conservative measures used to correct variable or late deceleration include changing the mother's position, giving oxygen a t six to seven liters per minute, checking for cord prolapse, and stopping oxytoxin in induced labor. A cesarean section i s considered

if conservative measures fail. Nursing Updafe September 1973

Fewer babies die Infant mortality for 1972 was 18.2 infant deaths per 1,000 live births as compared with 19.2 in 1971 and 19.8 in 1970. The newborn of 1972 also has a life expectancy of 71.2 years, the highest ever attained in the

USA. Science Digest October 1973

Sound smashes sfones Urinary stones can be easily broken up in a test tube b y ultrasonic irradiation, according to investigators a t the University of Virginia Medical School. This opens the way to developing miniaturized equipment to transmit

ultrasonic

energy

to

a

stone

through a catheter which would be passed into the urinary system without surgical incision. One of every thousand Americans i s hospitalized for treatment of urinary stones and their complications, and 10% to 20% require surgery.

136

4) exercise upon if

to a mild sedation

Women smarter Women stay smarter longer. In a 20-year study of

54 men and women as they pro-

gressed from their sixties into their eighties, three New York women

retain

researchers found that

their

overall

intelligence

longer. Tests measured vocabulary, general intelligence and

number reasoning.

Sta-

tistics show that women outlive men, and

now it appears that they also outsmart them.

Science Digesf

Science Digest

October 1973

October 1973

AORN Journal, January 1974, Vol 19, N o 1