OBJECTIVES: To explore the views of lay and professional stakeholders about the donation of cord blood to public banks in England and the policies surrounding it. METHODS: Qualitative in-depth interviews were undertaken between April 2009 and August 2010 with 62 participants based in England who play a key role in ...

The relationship between blood viscosity, hematocrit (Hct), and mean arterial blood pressure (MAP) was studied in a healthy population of 91 men and 66 women with an average age of 30.6 ± 8.0 years, from the city of Victoria de Durango (1800 m elevation). In women and men, Hct values ...

Aim:  The aim of this study was to determine the correlation between cord blood and maternal serum magnesium levels among pre-eclamptic pregnant women treated with magnesium sulfate. Materials and Methods:  A total of 36 pregnant women, >28 weeks' gestation, diagnosed with pre-eclampsia and treated with magnesium sulfate (MgSO(4) ), were enrolled. ...

Moxibustion therapy is a commonly used treatment in Oriental medicine. Here, we provide evidence for the safety of long-term moxibustion therapy. and design: Forty-five subjects (10 men and 35 women) who complained of chronic fatigue were divided into control (5 men and 15 women) and experimental groups (5 men and ...

OBJECTIVES: Numerous studies indicate that certain genetic polymorphisms modify lead toxicokinetics. Metallothioneins are protective against the toxicity of many metals, including lead. The aim of this study was to determine whether the maternal metallothionein 2A (MT2A) -5 A/G single-nucleotide polymorphism is related to the lead levels in maternal blood, placental ...

Venous blood was drawn from 35 pregnant Hispanic women living in Brownsville, Texas, and matched cord blood was collected at birth. Gas chromatography/mass spectrometry was used to measure concentrations of 55 individual PAHs or groups of PAHs. Results indicate that these women and their fetuses were regularly exposed to multiple ...

Diazepam is one of the mostly used benzodiazepines and it is frequently analyzed in different biological samples, especially blood samples. The diazepam stability in the sample matrices is an important factor regarding reliable data obtaining. The storage is the main factor determining the stability of diazepam in blood samples and ...

Background:  Intraoperative blood loss is a concern in the surgical treatment of myomatous uteri. Misoprostol causes the myometrium and isolated uterine arteries to contract and has blood-saving effects in myomectomy. Aim:  To assess the efficacy of rectal misoprostol in reducing haemorrhage during laparoscopy-assisted vaginal hysterectomy (LAVH). Methods:  Retrospective case-control study. ...

As a contraceptive method, we investigated whether the levonorgestrel-releasing intrauterine system (LNG-IUS) has any effect on uterine artery blood flow when compared with copper intrauterine device (IUD). Sixty women with copper IUD and 60 women with LNG-IUS were included in the study. The age, gravidity, parity, body mass index (BMI) ...

In view of the remarkable decrease of the relative heart weight (HW) and the relative blood volume in growing pigs, we investigated whether HW, cardiac output (CO), and stroke volume (SV) of modern growing pigs are proportional to BW, as predicted by allometric scaling laws: HW (or CO or SV) ...

Analysis of cerebral and systemic hemodynamic consequences of ultrasound dilution cardiac output measurements. : Prospective, experimental piglet study. Animal laboratory. Nine piglets. Ultrasound dilution cardiac output measurements were performed in ventilated, anesthetized piglets. Interventions that are required for ultrasound dilution cardiac output measurement were evaluated for its effect on cerebral ...

With the introduction of orthotopic liver transplantation (OLT) almost 40 years ago, changes in the cardiovascular system that manifest during the different phases of the operation combined, sometimes with massive hemorrhage in likely critically ill patients have been a challenge. Here hemodynamic monitoring of the patients during OLT is addressed ...

Many situations are encountered in cardiac surgery, especially paediatric cardiac surgery, which are associated with significant myocardial oedema. In such cases it is inadvisable or impossible to close the sternum primarily. Here we describe a simple and inexpensive technique of temporary sternotomy wound closure with a sterile blood bag.

Cerebral autoregulation adjusts cerebrovascular resistance in the face of changing perfusion pressures to maintain relatively constant flow. Results from several studies suggest that cardiac output may also play a role. We tested the hypothesis that cerebral blood flow would autoregulate independent of changes in cardiac output. Transient systemic hypotension was ...

The wide-spread assumption that doping with erythropoietin or blood transfusion is only effective by increasing arterial blood O2 content because of rising hematocrit is not self-evident. "Natural blood dopers" (horses, dogs) increase both hematocrit and circulating blood volume during exercise by releasing stored erythrocytes from the spleen. Improvement of aerobic ...

BACKGROUND: Pulse diagnosis of the peripheral artery is an important technique in Traditional Chinese Medicine, where, in acupuncture therapy, the treatment is adjusted according to the observed changes of the pulse. We investigated the change of blood flow in the peripheral artery and the cardiac index during acupuncture treatment. OBJECTIVES: ...

On the basis of an interesting case of a 40-year-old lady with an atrial septal defect, we describe a simple approach for complex shunt volume calculations based on the Fick principle using hemodynamic data obtained in the catheterization laboratory. Understanding Fick's principle allows determination of all relevant flows, flow ratio, ...

In the present study, the zebrafish breakdance mutant (bre) was used to assess the role of blood flow in development because it has been previously shown that bre larvae have a chronically reduced cardiac output as a result of ventricular contraction following only every second atrial contraction in addition to ...

The absence of respiratory movements is a major criterion recommended for use by bystanders for recognizing an out-of-hospital cardiac arrest (CA), as the persistence of eupneic breathing is considered to be incompatible with CA. The basis for CA-related apnea is, however, uncertain, since brain stem Po(2) is not expected to ...

M-mode echocardiography is considered to be obsolete by many. The technique rarely is included in American Society of Echocardiography standards documents, except for M-mode measurements, which have limited value. The superior temporal resolution of M-mode echocardiography is frequently overlooked. Doppler recordings reflect blood velocity, whereas M-mode motion of cardiac structures ...

Congestive heart failure represents a severe health condition with unfavourable long-term prognosis despite all the progress in pharmacological therapy of heart failure. Another therapeutic option is represented by mechanical cardiac support devices. Ventricular assist devices (VAD) constitute largest subgroup of these devices. Patients supported with VAD carry many considerations which ...

We have studied the potential role of CCK as a regulator/modulator of the postprandial increase in gastrointestinal blood flow. Rainbow trout (Oncorhynchus mykiss) were instrumented with pulsed Doppler flow probes to measure the effects of CCK on cardiac output and gastrointestinal blood flow. Furthermore, vascular preparations were used to study ...

AIM OF THE STUDY: Piston based mechanical chest compression devices deliver compressions and decompressions in an accelerated pattern, resulting in superior haemodynamics compared to manual compression in animal studies. The present animal study compares haemodynamics during two different hybrid compression patterns to a standard compression pattern resembling that of modern ...

BACKGROUND: Glucagon-like peptide-2 (GLP-2) is known to increase mesenteric blood flow. The aim of the study was to evaluate the effect of GLP-2 on blood flow in different vascular sites, and dynamic changes in cardiac parameters. METHODS: 10 healthy volunteers were given 450 nmol subcutaneous (SC) GLP-2 or isotonic saline ...

Eight male volunteers, aged 23 to 37, were selected to participate in a simulated ascent to 8848 m in a hypobaric chamber. They were first preacclimatized in the Observatoire Vallot (4350 m) before entering the chamber. The chamber was progressively decompressed down to 253 mmHg barometric pressure, with a recovery ...

Individually, the metabolic demands of digestion or movement can be fully supported by elevations in cardiovascular performance, but when occurring simultaneously, vascular perfusion may have to be prioritized to either the gut or skeletal muscles. Burmese pythons (Python molurus) experience similar increases in metabolic rate during the digestion of a ...

OBJECTIVE: To assess agreement between a new method of cardiac output monitoring, using ultrasound dilution technology and ultrasound transit time-based measurement of pulmonary blood flow in a piglet model. DESIGN: Prospective, experimental juvenile animal study. SETTING: Animal laboratory of a university hospital. SUBJECTS: Nine random-bred piglets. INTERVENTIONS: After the animals ...

Postmortem acidification of blood and the contribution of this phenomenon to increased flecainide concentrations in cardiac blood were evaluated in rabbits. Flecainide was administered intravenously, antemortem peripheral blood was collected 15 min after administration, then rabbits were sacrificed. Blood and organs were collected immediately or 24 h after death, or ...

BACKGROUND: Partial carbon dioxide rebreathing noninvasively measures the pulmonary capillary blood flow and estimates the cardiac output with the use of a predicted shunt value. It has been reported that the accuracy of the method is decreased in patients with high pulmonary shunt. The aim of this study was to ...

The use of preclinical rodent models of disease continues to grow because these models help elucidate pathogenic mechanisms and provide robust test beds for drug development. Among the major anatomic and physiologic indicators of disease progression and genetic or drug modification of responses are measurements of blood vessel caliber and ...

BACKGROUND: Perioperative beta-blockade and anemia are independent predictors of increased stroke and mortality by undefined mechanisms. This study investigated the effect of beta-blockade on cerebral tissue oxygen delivery in an experimental model of blood loss and fluid resuscitation (hemodilution). METHODS: Anesthetized rats were treated with metoprolol (3 mg x kg) ...

We recently had the opportunity to investigate the ventilatory effects of changing the rate of venous return to the heart (and thus pulmonary gas exchange) in a patient equipped with a venous-arterial oxygenated shunt (extracorporeal membrane oxygenation (ECMO) support). The presence of the ECMO support provided a condition wherein venous ...

To investigate whether venous occlusion plethysmography (VOP) may be used to measure high rates of arterial inflow associated with exercise, venous occlusions were performed at rest, and following dynamic handgrip exercise at 15, 30, 45, and 60% of maximum voluntary contraction (MVC) in seven healthy males. The effect of including ...

BACKGROUND: It remains a great challenge to measure systemic blood flow in critically ill newborns. In a former study we validated the modified carbon dioxide Fick (mCO(2)F) method for measurement of cardiac output in a newborn lamb model. In this new study we studied the influence of a left-to-right shunt ...

BACKGROUND: Noninvasive cardiac output (CO) monitoring is possible by indocyanine green (ICG) dilution measured by pulse dye densitometry (PDD). To validate the precision of this method, we compared hemodynamic variables derived from PDD (DDG-2001, Nihon Kohden, Japan) with those derived from simultaneously taken arterial blood ICG concentrations. METHODS: In 20 ...

BACKGROUND: Cardiac output is the fundamental determinant of peripheral blood flow however; optimal regional tissue perfusion is ultimately dependant on the integrity of the arterial conduits that transport flow. A complete understanding of tissue perfusion requires knowledge of both cardiac and peripheral blood flow. Existing noninvasive devices do not simultaneously ...

This study examines similarities and differences in fear potentiation between two protective reflexes: cardiac defense and eyeblink startle. Women reporting intense fear of animals but low fear of blood or intense fear of blood but low fear of animals viewed pictures depicting blood or the feared animal for 6 s ...

Techniques for the measurement of cardiac output from soluble gas uptake by the lungs include the rebreathing method using nitrous oxide. The accuracy of this technique is well accepted, but its repeatability of measurement (precision) has not been well documented. We assessed the repeatability of measurements of pulmonary blood flow ...

The response to hemodynamic force is implicated in a number of pathologies including collateral vessel development. However, the transcriptional effect of hemodynamic force is extremely challenging to examine in vivo in mammals without also detecting confounding processes such as hypoxia and ischemia. We therefore serially examined the transcriptional effect of ...

The objective of the present study was to apply two methods developed in ecology, the cycling index and input-output environs, to interpret nutrient flows in mixed rice-beef production systems. The cycling index (CI) was a quantitative measure of nutrient cycling. It was defined as the proportion of cycled nutrients to ...

Dopamine and norepinephrine are widely used as first line agents to correct hypotension in patients with acute circulatory failure. There has been considerable debate in recent years as to whether one is better than the other. Both drugs can increase blood pressure in shock states, although norepinephrine is more powerful. ...

BACKGROUND: Organs from the so-called marginal donors have been used with a significant higher risk of primary non function than organs retrieved from the optimal donors. We investigated the early metabolic changes and blood flow redistribution in splanchnic territory in an experimental model that mimics marginal brain-dead (BD) donor. MATERIAL/METHODS: ...

Anesthesia may be an important factor in maximizing the success of microsurgery by controlling the hemodynamics and the regional blood flow. The intraanesthetic basic goal is to maintain an optimal blood flow for the vascularized free flap by: increasing the circulatory blood flow, maintaining a normal body temperature to avoid ...

The heart is capable of maintaining contractile function despite a transient decrease in blood flow and increase in cardiac ATP demand during systole. This study analyzes a previously developed model of cardiac energetics and oxygen transport to understand the roles of the creatine kinase system and myoglobin in maintaining the ...

The instrument for continuous divergent flow IEF based on our principles set and outlined previously was further extended and tested. The separation and focusing area of a trapezoidal shape had a porous bed made from a nonwoven textile material with thickness decreasing from narrow input to wide output. A narrow ...

An in vitro investigation of turbulence intensity (TI) associated with a severe carotid stenosis in the presence of physiological cardiac variability is described. The objective of this investigation was to determine if fluctuations due to turbulence could be quantified with conventional Doppler ultrasound (DUS) in the presence of normal physiological ...

Studies of regional anesthesia are increasing in popularity not only for the purpose of technical advancement, but also to better understand the effects of neural deafferentation on the function of various organs. Thoracic epidural anesthesia (TEA) is one of the most versatile and widely utilized neural deafferentation techniques. The aim ...

In trout and salmon, the metabolic costs of exercise and feeding are additive, which would suggest that gastrointestinal blood flow during exercise is maintained to preserve digestive and absorptive processes related to the specific dynamic action (SDA) of food. However, in most published studies, gastrointestinal blood flow drops during swimming, ...

No simple method exists for repeatedly measuring cardiac output in intensive care pediatric and neonatal patients. The purpose of this study is to present the theory and examine the in vitro accuracy of a new ultrasound dilution cardiac output measurement technology in which an extracorporeal arteriovenous tubing loop is inserted ...

Multi-stress situations are a major question and low-oxygenated waters (hypoxia) are a growing problem. Importantly, hypoxia stimulates the ventilatory flow rate in aquatic animals and this increases gill exposure to contaminants. Surprisingly, in the freshwater clam Corbicula fluminea, this is associated with increased bioaccumulation of uranium in gills but not ...