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Notes: Background: 50 % of patients with functional dyspepsia have delayed gastric emptying. Levosulpiride is an orthopramide drug that stimulates gastrointestinal motility. Aim of our study was to evaluate the effect of levosulpiride on symptoms and gastric and gall-bladder emptying, in dyspeptic patients. Methods: Thirty adult patients, treated for 20 days with levosulpiride (75 mg/day) or placebo, were evaluated in a randomized double-blind study. Symptoms were assessed by a cumulative index and overall intensity (visual analogue line). Gastric and gall-bladder emptying were evaluated by epigastric impedance (liquid meal) and real-time ultrasonography (mixed meal). Results: Levosulpiride, with respect to placebo, accelerated the mean gastric half-emptying time of liquids (P 〈 0.05), gastric emptying (P 〈 0.001 at 180 min; P 〈 0.05 at 240 min), and gall-bladder emptying (P 〈 0.05 at 60 and 120 min) emptying after a solid-liquid mixed meal. Both the mean cumulative index (P 〈 0.05) and the overall intensity (P 〈 0.025) of dyspeptic symptoms were reduced significantly by levosulpiride. Conclusions: Our results showed that levosulpiride can be usefully employed in patients affected by functional dyspepsia.

Notes: Eleven cases of cutaneous amebiasis, observed at various hospitals in Mexico City, are reported. Three of these patients were infants. The external genitalia were the most commonly involved site.A previous history of diarrhea or dysentery was not frequently present in our adult cases; however, bloody diarrhea was present in the infants. The ulcers were characterized by fast growth, well-delineated edges surrounded by a red rim, hemopurulent exudate and intense pain.In nine cases the diagnosis was made by direct examination of the exudate; biopsies from the edges of the ulcers were obtained in the other two. Skin infection was the result of external factors, external self-infection, open hepatic abscesses or colonic surgery. Cures were obtained, in most cases in which adequate follow-up was possible, with the use of emetine.〈section xml:id="abs1-2"〉〈title type="main"〉RésuméNous présentons le compte rendu de onze cas d'amébiase cutanée observés dans de différents hôpitaux de Mexico City. Trois de ces patients étaient des nourrissons. La région la plus souvent atteinte était celle des organes génitaux externes. Dans nos cas d'adultes, la préexistence d'une histoire de diarrhée ou de dysenterie n'était pas fréquente; cependant, une diarrhée sanguinolente était presente chez les nourrissons. Les ulcères étaient caractérisés par une croissance rapide, des contours bien dessinés, entourés d'un bord rouge, un exsudat sanguino-purulent, et par une douleur intense.Dans neuf cas le diagnostique a été fait par l'examen direct de l'exsudat; dans les deux autres cas, on a effectué la biopsie des bords des ulcéres. L'infection cutanée était le résultat de facteurs externes, d'auto-infection externe, d'abcès hépatiques ouverts ou d'intervention chirurgicale du colon. Dans la plupart des cas qui ont pu être suivis convenablement, on a obtenu la guérison á la suite d'administration d'émétine.〈section xml:id="abs1-3"〉〈title type="main"〉ResumenSe comunican once casos de amibiasis cutánea observados en diversos hospitales de la Ciudad de México. Tres de ellos eran niños de corta edad. Los genitales externos fueron las regiones más comúnmente afectadas.El antecedente de diarrea O disentería no fue un hecho frecuente en nuestros pacientes adultos; en los niños, en cambio, se presentó diarrea sanguinolenta. Las ulceraciones se caracterizaban por su rápido desarrollo, bordes delineados rodeados por un anillo rojo, exudado hemopurulento y dolor intenso.En nueve casos el diagnóstico se hizo por medio del examen directo del exudado; en los dos enfermos restantes, mediante biopsias de los bordes de las ulceraciones. La infeccióin cutánea fue la resultante de factores extrínsecos, autoinfección externa, abscesos hepáticos abiertos, O bien intervenciones quirúrgicas sobre el colon.En la mayoría de los Casos que pudieron ser observados adecuadamente se logró la curación administrando emetina.

Notes: Abstract Two-proton correlation functions at small relative momentum have been systematically studied with the large solid angle detector DIOGENE at Saturne for interactions induced by Ne and Ar beams on various targets, and incident energies per nucleon ranging from 200 to 1000 MeV. From these distributions, informations on the space-time structure of the source have been derived as a function of the centrality of the collision, the target-projectile combinations and the incident energy, using the model of Koonin. Special attention has been devoted to take into account all experimental biases in order to get the distorted theoretical correlation curves before comparison to the experimental data. Other interesting conclusions have been obtained when comparing the extracted source radii to the dimensions of the overlapping volume of target by projectile in a pure geometrical model of the collision (clean cut geometry). Some results concerning fragment-fragment small angle correlations are also presented.

Notes: Abstract Mercury concentrations were studied in important edible species from an area of the northern Tyrrhenian Sea, near Mt. Amiata (Tuscany, Italy), affected by mercury contamination. The studied species were: Nephrops norvegicus (Norway lobster), Parapenaeus longirostris (pink shrimp), Merluccius merluccius(hake) and Eledone cirrhosa (horned octopus). From the results it was found that in N. norvegicus and M. merluccius the accumulation was exponential, while in the other two species it was linear. In females ofN. norvegicus, a sharper increase of Hg concentration beyond three centimetres of carapace length was observed and explained by the reduction in growth rate after sexual maturity. In M. merluccius, the metal concentration increased sharply after 40 cm of length, probably due to a reduction in growth rate over this size. In P. longirostris no statistically significant difference between the slope of the linear regressions of males and that of females was found. In Eledone cirrhosa nomercury accumulation difference between the two sexeswas found. The metal concentration was generally highin all the studied species, with a maximum of 4.2 μg g-1 of fresh weight in N. norvegicus.