We report observations of a long filament that underwent recurrent partial eruptions on August 4, 6, and 8, 2012. The filament reappeared in the subsequent rotation of the Sun, and disappeared completely on August 31, 2012. We implemented an automated filament detection algorithm developed by us for estimating different attributes of these filaments few hours prior to its disappearance in Hα and studied their evolution. Based on these attributes, we determine the onset time of the disappearance of Hα filaments. We then compared these onset times with that of the associated CMEs observed by LASCO/SOHO coronagraphs. This is also useful to understand temporal relationship of EUV and X-ray flux variation associated with filament disappearances in Hα. Our results show the importance of such studies in understanding the mechanism of CME initiation, particularly the role of eruptive filaments, in this process.

Pipecuronium bromide, a long acting non-depolarizing neuromuscular blocking agent was administered to four groups of 10 patients using the priming technique.The effects of the combination of two different priming doses (0.01 or 0.015 mg kg−1) given at two different time intervals (3 or 4 min) before the ‘main’ intubating dose (0.07 or 0.065 mg kg−1) were investigated. Onset times were recorded and the intubation conditions were scored and compared with a group of patients receiving the same total amount of pipecuronium(0.08 mg kg−1) in a single bolus injection. Intubating conditions at 90 s after administration of the intubating dose were found to be significantly improved in all primed groups but the onset times, evaluated using the response of the adductor pollicis muscle to a single twitch stimulation, were similar to that observed after the single bolus injection. The optimal priming combination is considered to be 0.01 mg kg−1 of pipecuronium followed 3 to 4 min later by 0.07 mg kg−1.

A general relation between the rate of onset and rate of recovery from non-depolarizing blockade has been demonstrated, with recovery consistently about ten times slower than onset. This observation has led to the suggestion that non-depolarizing agents share a common mechanism of action. Rocuronium, a recently introduced steroidal non-depolarizing agent, is claimed to have a very rapid onset but an intermediate duration and appears to test this hypothesis. To investigate this paradox we have calculated the rates of onset and recovery of rocuronium using the isolated human forearm and compared them with those of pipecuronium. The mean ratio of recovery time/onset time for rocuronium was 31.3, which is significantly greater than that for pipecuronium, 11.6 (P < 0.01). Whilst pipecuronium conforms to the same general relation between onset and offset described previously for other non-depolarizing agents, rocuronium appears to have a disproportionately rapid rate of onset for its rate of recovery. This suggests that onset, recovery, or both onset and recovery, from rocuronium blockade occur in a different manner to that of other non-depolarizing agents.