BACKGROUND:: The evidence for or against the presence of a 'July Phenomenon' in resident teaching hospitals has been inconsistent. Moreover, there are limited data on the "July Phenomenon" in the field of Neurosurgery. OBJECTIVE:: To determine if a July phenomenon exists for neurosurgical mortality or complications. METHODS:: A search of ...

AbstractBackground. There is scant evidence to guide the management of patients after hepatic artery embolization (HAE). We examined length of stay (LOS), laboratory patterns, medication usage, morbidity, and mortality of patients hospitalized after HAE for metastatic neuroendocrine tumors.Methods. Data were abstracted retrospectively from electronic medical records on LOS, liver function ...

The Tumour Board Meeting was held on August 16, 2011, in the Seminar Hall at B.J. Wadia Hospital for children. The panelists of the meeting were Dr. S. Ranganathan, Pediatric Pathologist from Children's Hospital of Pittsburgh; Dr. Archana Swami, Consultant Pediatric Oncologist at Wadia Children's Hospital; Dr. Sajid Qureshi Onco-surgeon ...

BACKGROUND: Morphine is among the top 10 medications given to children in the inpatient setting. It is not labeled for any pediatric indication, making it one of the drugs most widely used off-label in pediatrics. OBJECTIVES: The aims of this study were to describe the epidemiology of morphine use in ...

Background: Morphine was reintroduced into Nigeria after a long period of absence due to technical problems relating to stock accounting. With this reintroduction, prescriber education was commenced in many centers including the University of Ibadan. Aims and Objective: The aim of this study is to review the morphine prescription habits ...

Physician factors can influence congestion and wait times in emergency departments. This article provides some guidance to improve personal and departmental efficiency.

Objective  In view of the substantial incidence of bloodborne diseases and risk to surgical healthcare workers in low- and middle-income countries (LMICs), we evaluated the availability of eye protection, aprons, sterile gloves, sterilizers and suction pumps. Methods  Review of studies using the WHO Tool for the Situational Analysis of Access ...

As the spectacle over reducing the federal deficit continues, the sustainable growth rate formula (SGR) that Medicare uses to calculate physicians' fees remains a political football. Over the past decade, Congress has intervened repeatedly to block SGR-dictated reductions in Medicare's physician fees, but legislators could never muster enough votes to ...

Background: Data on the average US costs of an outpatient visit, emergency room (ER) visit or hospitalization for migraine are scant, with the most recent available values based on healthcare charges reported from 1994 data. Methods: We estimated healthcare costs associated with outpatient and ER visits and inpatient hospitalizations related ...

This year's series of tornadoes, hurricanes, earthquakes and other natural disasters sent shivers down the spines of hospital and health information technology leaders. Most wired hospitals have safeguards in place so systems can be restored quickly.

Healthcare CEOs saw their compensation slip relative to other industries but still earned big paydays last year. "2010 was a great year for corporate earnings and stock performance," says Steve Kaplan, left, a professor of finance and entrepreneurship. "Part of the reason for the increase in pay is that the ...

Background and aim: This study attempts to estimate the socioeconomic differences between three major alternatives for the management of upper and lower ureteral lithiasis.Material and methods: Two hundred and forty patients with upper and lower ureteral lithiasis, have been studied retrospectively, divided in six equal groups of forty. These patients ...

The objective of this descriptive study was to identify the physical, chemical and biological controls of the sterilization process by saturated steam in Pasteur autoclaves at Material and Sterilization Centers (MSC). The data was obtained by interviewing the worker responsible for the MSC of the largest hospital in every city ...

Hospitals are investing in emergency departments and technology.

The department of radiology at Akron Children's Hospital embarked on a Lean Six Sigma mission as part of a hospital wide initiative to show increased customer satisfaction, reduce employee dissatisfaction and frustration, and decrease costs. Three processes that were addressed were reducing the MRI scheduling back-log, reconciling discrepancies in billing ...

To assess the risk a hospital faces from improper billing, coding, and pricing for pharmacy items, hospital finance leaders should perform an audit of the pharmacy department's charge description master. The audit should look for inaccuracies with respect to: National drug codes. Healthcare Common Procedure Coding System codes. UB-04 revenue ...

Having a good understanding of the billing process, whether through internal workflow audits or employing a software solution to make sure a hospital is being reimbursed for every service it provides, is crucial to maximizing revenue streams.

Before a hospital seeks a change in control, trustees need to identify their organization's strengths, weaknesses, goals and partner criteria.

A 35-year-old businessman with a history of migraine with aura developed new neck pain while lying on a sofa in his home. He was given neck massage and physical therapy for a day, and subsequently after two days developed severe generalized headache when sitting or standing. He was hospitalized in ...

The provision of appropriate spinal imaging in cases of acute injury as a consequence of trauma or tumour is becoming ever more challenging. This study assessed the use of multimodal radiological investigations in the management of spinal cord compression as a result of trauma and metastatic cancer in all major ...

The objective of this article is to describe the process of approval of the Italian smoking ban, enacted in 2005. The method is to conduct a review of proposed and approved legislation 2000- 2005, and of articles published in Italian newspapers, 1998-2008. Enabling factors in the process were: the leadership ...

The purpose of this paper is to consider organisational climate as the vehicle to get an understanding, map and enhance the appropriate organisational culture for good clinical governance (CG). Based on this assertion, the purpose of this research is fourfold: to investigate CG attributes embedded in Greek hospitals' climate; to ...

The patient's delay in the visit to a hospital seems to play an important role in prognosis in invasive cutaneous squamous cell carcinoma (SCC). This report explored prognostic factors of cutaneous SCC focusing on patient delay in hospital visit. Data of 117 Japanese patients who were treated for invasive cutaneous ...

Muwaffaq-al-Deen abu-al-Abbas Ahmad ibn Abi Ussaibea (1203-1270) was born in Damascus. He started his brilliant career in his birth place then moved to Cairo where he worked and excelled for the rest of his life. His learning was intensified by the scholarly contacts of the intellectual leaders of the day. ...

Dogs hospitalized in veterinary clinics are likely to show signs of separation-induced anxiety from hospitalization. The study assessed the effect of dog-appeasing pheromone (DAP) on 10 typical separation-related behavioral signs in hospitalized dogs. A DAP treated group (n = 24) was compared with a placebo control group (n = 19). ...

Reports of milk protein induced enterocolitis are increasing, but few describe the condition in twins. Twin Japanese girls developed bloody diarrhea on day 4 and were transferred to the NICU in our hospital. Surgical disorder and infection were initially suspected, but the correct diagnosis was reached after 12 days of ...

Contrast-induced nephropathy is a significant cause of iatrogenic renal injury and its incidence is growing due to the increasing number of diagnostic and interventional procedures being performed. It is the third most common cause of hospital-acquired acute renal failure, adding to patient morbidity and mortality, and extending hospital stay.

We present the case of a 46-year-old woman with an impacted denture and an impending esophageal perforation. Her family physician initially missed the diagnosis but during a subsequent visit reviewed her x-ray and was able to see the shadow of the denture's wire attachment in her esophagus. The patient was ...

BACKGROUND: The King LT (King Systems Corporation, Noblesville, IN) is a rescue airway device that is gaining favor in the pre-hospital setting. Unlike other rescue airway devices, such as intubating laryngeal mask airways, the King LT does not allow for the placement of an endotracheal tube through the device. Emergency ...

The neurotoxicity of the vincristine is well known, however, cranial neuropathy is not widely recognized. We describe a child with acute lymphoblastic leukemia who developed vincristine-induced bilateral vocal cord paralysis. Vocal cord paralysis resolved spontaneously upon withdrawal of the vincristine. Vinca-alkaloid-induced vocal cord paralysis is a potentially dangerous but reversible ...

Heparin-induced thrombocytopenia is a severe drug adverse effect with possible dramatic consequences. The risk is 0.1% to 5%. The costs of heparin-induced thrombocytopenia in France were estimated using the Programme M??dicalis?? des Syst??mes d'Information (PMSI) national discharge database. Hospitalizations with heparin-induced thrombocytopenia were identified using diagnostic codes. Costs were assessed ...

OCHSNER AND ITS PHYSICIANS HAVE FIGURED IN WORKS OF FICTION: novels, plays, and music. A listing of these works, along with a description of each work, is provided.

Bistability in the lac operon of Escherichia coli has been widely studied, both experimentally and theoretically. Experimentally, bistability has been observed when E. coli is induced by an artificial, nonmetabolizable, inducer. However, if the lac operon is induced with lactose, the natural inducer, bistability has not been demonstrated. We derive ...

A fire disaster took place on New Year's Eve 2003 in a small closed environment as the result of a Molotov cocktail bomb attack. Seven persons suffered burns, two of whom died and five were hospitalized. The aim of this paper is to focus on the consequences of such explosions, ...

We investigated whether neuropeptides which control sexual differentiation in mollusks can induce imposex-a condition where female snails grow male accessory sex organs after exposure to tributyltin (TBT). Mud snails, Ilyanassa obsoleta, were dosed with one of four neuropeptides: APGWamide, conopressin, LSSFVRIamide, or FMRFamide for seven or fourteen days. TBT and ...

Haemoxygenase catalyses the degradation of haem to bilirubin, and the inducible form of haemoxygenase, haemoxygenase-1, is highly induced in response to oxidative stress in vitro. The effect of haemoxygenase-1 in oxidant stress in vivo is not known. We determined the effect of exposure to ozone on haemoxygenase-1 expression, and the ...

Tracheal intubation through a laryngeal mask airway is one option for securing an airway in the patient with a difficult airway. A variety of techniques and equipment have been used to stabilize the position of the tracheal tube while removing the laryngeal mask airway. We have shown that if a ...

Partially engorged adult female ticks, Haemaphysalis longicornis Neumann, received complete, incomplete, or no copulatory stimuli. Subsequently, they were inflated with physiological saline by injection into the haemocoel. Ticks that copulated received both preinseminational and inseminational stimuli and increased their body volume > 10-fold. Ticks that incompletely copulated received only preinseminational ...

Phorbol-1,2-myristate-1,3-acetate can induce rat macrophage to emit chemiluminescence. The kinetic curve of the chemiluminescence clearly showed two peaks when a proper ratio of phorbol-1,2-myristate-1,3-acetate and macrophage were mixed. It was proved that the first one mainly came from the oxygen free radicals and the second one from NO generated in ...

To reverse accidental extubation in the burn patient, a guide-wire can be passed retrograde through the cricothyroid membrane, and a thin tube changer can be placed over the guide-wire and down through the edematous airway and vocal cords. An endotracheal tube can then be passed over the tube changer to ...

The efficacy of piperazine dihydrochloride (Ascarex D, Rexolin Chemicals AB, Helsingborg, Sweden) was evaluated against natural infections of Ascaridia galli in broiler breeders. The compound was administered in the drinking water at a concentration of 1 or 2%. Efficacy against mature A. galli in controlled anthelmintic tests was 83%, 94% ...

The ultrastructure of the flame cell, excretory capillaries, ducts, collecting ducts, excretory bladder, and excretory pore of Brachylaimus aequans was studied 6-8 days p.i. The excretory ducts, collecting ducts and excretory bladder are provided with numerous lamellae on the luminal side. The cilia of lateral flames in the excretory ducts ...

A patient with palmoplantar psoriasis received a local treatment regimen of psoralens with long-wave ultraviolet A radiation (PUVA). After approximately 12 months of treatment, she developed hyperpigmented macules on her palms and soles. A biopsy showed changes consistent with PUVA-induced pigmented macules, as well as pronounced pigmentary incontinence. No cytologic ...

Immediate pigment darkening (IPD) was induced on the backs of 11 human volunteers of skin types III and IV by exposing the skin to UVA radiation (382 nm). The minimum erythema dose (MED) of UVB radiation was also determined by exposing sites to graduated doses of 304 nm radiation. The ...

Clostridium difficile produces one diarrhoeogenic toxin designed A, and one cytopathogenic toxin designed B. Toxin A was purified in a four-step-fractionation procedure. In the last purification step the toxin was separated by elution with galactose from an agarose gel. The purified toxin A induced a clear and watery hypersecretion in ...

In a series of 100 patients with carcinoma of the oesophagus or cardia undergoing palliative intubation at endoscopy using a latex rubber or a silicone rubber tube 2 cases of tube fragmentation were encountered and are described. The effects of hydrochloric acid, bile and irradiation on the tubes have been ...

The tetramine disulfide benextramine irreversibly blocked the noradrenaline-induced contraction of the isolated rabbit aorta in a manner similar to that observed with phenoxybenzamine. Cysteamine abolished the benextramine blockade but not the phenoxybenzamine blockade. Incubation of aortic tissue with benextramine prior to phenoxybenzamine exposure and followed by cysteamine treatment led to ...

Psammoma bodies and detached ciliary tufts, or ciliocytophthoria, were present in a cervicovaginal smear from a 38-year-old woman with a benign cystadenofibroma of the left ovary. This case demonstrates that psammoma bodies in cervicovaginal smears may occur in association with nonmalignant conditions of the female genital tract and that detached ...

Under conditions where the reversion of an amber mutant of bacteriophage lambda by gamma-rays is enhanced by subjecting the irradiated phage to SOS repair, gamma-ray-induced reversion of two T7 ambers is not influenced by this error-prone bacterial repair system. The survival of T7 gamma-irradiated under anoxic conditions is somewhat enhanced ...

Lesion experiments (in the rat) were designed to elucidate the function of the corpus striatum in neuroleptic- and narcotic-induced catalepsy, respectively. Bilateral lesions of the corpus striatum were observed to attenuate neuroleptic (CPZ)-induced catalepsy. However, analogous lesions of the corpus striatum potentiated narcotic (morphine)-induced catalepsy. These results suggests that (a) ...