We report the case of a 37-year-old postpartum patient who developed a contained subacute spinal subdural hematoma causing mass effect on the cauda equina and severe spinal stenosis after undergoing an epidural blood patch for postdural puncture headache. Recovery occurred following administration of oral steroids.

Objective. To evaluate reliability of umbilical cord blood (UCB) for complete blood count (CBC) and blood cultures compared with the infant's blood from peripheral site for group B streptococcal (GBS) sepsis screening. Methods. A total of 200 neonates, at risk for GBS infection, were studied prospectively. After birth, UCB sample ...

A lack of screening techniques delays progress in research on salinity resistance in rice. In this study, we report our test of the hypothesis that an apoplastic pathway (the so-called bypass flow) causes a difference in salt resistance between rice genotypes and can be used in screening for salinity resistance. ...

Background and Objectives  One to two per cent of patients in need of red cell transfusion carry irregular antibodies to red blood cell (RBC) antigens and have to be supplied with specially selected blood units. To be able to respond to those requests, blood centres have to screen a significant ...

To the Editor: Transfusion-transmitted syphilis, which is caused by Treponema pallidum subspecies pallidum, is one of the oldest recognized infectious risks of blood transfusion (1). Routine screening of blood donors and refrigeration of donated blood before its use has resulted in only 3 reported cases of transfusion-transmitted syphilis over the ...

Abnormal sodium to potassium (Na : K) ratios can raise suspicion for hypoadrenocorticism (HA). Although dogs with HA usually have normal leukograms, their white blood cell counts may be useful in screening for HA. To examine the utility of combining the Na : K ratio with white blood cell counts to screen for HA ...

PURPOSE: A reliable, noninvasive screening method for urethral stricture recurrence after urethroplasty is needed. We hypothesized that changes in flow rates on uroflowmetry relative to preoperative values might help predict stricture recurrence. MATERIALS AND METHODS: All men who underwent urethral reconstructive surgery from 2000 to 2009 with adequate preoperative and ...

The electro-osmotic flow driven by a screen pump, composed of a line array of evenly spaced identical rectangular solid blocks, is investigated under the Debye-Hückel approximation. The geometry of the screen pump is determined by the spacing and aspect ratio of the solid blocks. A constant surface zeta potential is ...

BACKGROUND: The second most common mode of Trypanosoma cruzi or Chagas disease transmission is via therapeutic blood transfusion. In Mexico, control of T. cruzi is still in its initial phase; in fact, there are only 14 studies published covering 10 states on T. cruzi seroprevalence in donated blood in Mexico. Here we ...

BACKGROUND: Fear is an important contributor to the risk of presyncopal reactions to blood donation. However, concern that asking donors about their fears may increase the risk of reactions is a potential impediment to incorporating fear assessment into donor screening. STUDY DESIGN AND METHODS: Before donation, participants responded to a ...

The aim of the study was to construct a screening programme for disseminated histiocytic sarcoma (DHS) in Bernese Mountain dogs using diagnostic imaging and blood analysis and evaluate blood borne biomarkers as early disease detection biomarkers. Healthy Bernese Mountain dogs were screened on four occasions in an attempt to detect ...

BACKGROUND: Despite implementation of targeted individual-donor nucleic acid test (NAT) screening of blood donors for West Nile virus (WNV), three "breakthrough" WNV transfusion transmission cases were reported (2004-2008), suggesting that current plasma-based assays are unable to detect all WNV-infectious donations. A 2007 report found that 19 of 20 red blood ...

Surgical repair of an aortic aneurysm might be complicated by spinal cord injury and paraplegia. Since β-adrenoreceptor agonists showed neuroprotective effects, the study was designed to investigate the effect of clenbuterol on post-aortic clamping paraplegia and to identify if there is hyperemia associated with paraplegia. Thirty rabbits were divided into ...

The World Health Organization recommends screening donor blood for HIV in centralized laboratories. This recommendation contributes to quality, but presents specimen transport challenges for resource-limited settings which may be relieved by using dried blood spots (DBS). In sub-Saharan Africa, most countries screen donor blood with serologic assays only. Interest in ...

Using Brownian dynamics simulations, we investigate how hydrodynamic interaction (HI) affects the behavior of tethered polymers in uniform flow. While it is expected that the HI within the polymer will lead to a dependency of the polymer's drag coefficient on the flow velocity, the interchain HI causes additional screening effects. ...

BACKGROUND: Capillary hemoglobin (Hb) measurement before admission for whole blood donation is performed in many blood donation services, in spite of several studies reporting many donors with low Hb values being missed by capillary Hb screening. STUDY DESIGN AND METHODS: Predonation capillary and venous Hb levels of 9209 first-time donors ...

OBJECTIVE: The purpose of this study was to develop a simple screening technique for diagnosis of hyposalivation with dry mouth by estimation of capsaicin-stimulated salivary flow using filter paper. STUDY DESIGN: An assay system comprising 5 spots containing starch and potassium iodide on filter paper incorporating or without capsaicin and ...

To test the hypothesis that the mesencephalic ventral tegmental area (VTA) plays a role in autonomic control of the cardiovascular system, we examined the cardiovascular effects of electrical stimulation of the mesencephalic ventral areas in anesthetized, paralyzed cats and rats. Electrical stimulation of the VTA for 30 s (100-μA current intensity; ...

Electrical stimulation of the superior ovarian nerve in rats reduces both the plasma flow rate of ovarian venous blood (ovarian blood flow) and the ovarian estradiol secretion rate. Here, we examined the possible roles of alpha-adrenoceptors in these processes. The reduction of the plasma flow rate was blocked by an ...

SUMMARY: BACKGROUND: Through the implementation of modern technology, such as nucleic acid testing, over the last two decades, blood safety has improved considerably in that the risk of viral infection is less than 1 in a million blood transfusions. By contrast, the residual risk of transfusion-associated bacterial infection is stable ...

BACKGROUND: Nucleic acid amplification testing is recommended for screening blood donations; however, they are not widely available in developing countries such as Iranian. Confidential unit exclusion (CUE) gives blood donors the opportunity to confidentially indicate whether their blood is or is not suitable for transfusion to others. Hoewever, its effectiveness ...

Animal studies have demonstrated an interaction between posture and the effect of positive end-expiratory pressure (PEEP) on regional ventilation and lung blood flow. The aim of this study was to explore this interaction in humans. Regional lung blood flow and ventilation were compared between mechanical ventilation with and without PEEP ...

The possibility that the increased pulmonary artery systolic storage (PASS) correlates with an improved distribution of ventilation/perfusion (V(A)/Q) and hence benefits gas exchange in acute respiratory distress syndrome (ARDS) was examined. Pulmonary artery systolic storage is the fraction of stroke volume stored in PA during systole and then discharged to ...

A pulmonary artery catheter placement is necessary for intrapulmonary shunt fraction evaluation. The purpose of this study was to investigate the feasibility for detecting the changes of regional pulmonary blood flow in non-ventilated lung by transesophageal echocardiography (TEE) during one-lung ventilation (OLV). 22 adult patients for selective thoracic surgery were ...

Lung recruitment maneuvers (RMs), used to reopen atelectatic lung units and to improve oxygenation during mechanical ventilation, may result in hemodynamic impairment. We hypothesize that pulmonary arterial hypertension aggravates the consequences of RMs in the splanchnic circulation. Twelve anesthetized pigs underwent laparotomy and prolonged postoperative ventilation. Systemic, regional, and organ ...

Precise lung perfusion quantification is essential for evaluation of patients with hemi-Fontan surgery. It is possible for two-dimensional cardiac magnetic resonance phase contrast flow (two-dimensional flow) to evaluate non-invasively the systemic-to-pulmonary collateral blood flow. This case report intends to illustrate the benefit of four-dimensional flow over the current two-dimensional flow ...

Pulmonary edema and venous congestion are well-recognized signs of congestive heart failure (CHF) in advanced canine chronic mitral regurgitation (MR). However, little is known about pulmonary blood volume (PBV), blood pulmonary transit time (PTT), and the regulation of these. To measure and evaluate the relationships of PBV, forward stroke volume ...

Alpha-thalassemia (alpha-thal) is one of the most common genetic disorders and in some populations has prevalence as high as 30%. Disorders in hemoglobin (Hb) synthesis lead to mild to severe reduction in alpha-chain synthesis. Diagnosis of alpha-thal by examining fresh blood taken from umbilical cord is a simple and appropriate ...

In this study, the effect of short-term exposure to welding fumes emitted by different welding techniques on workers was investigated. In a 3-fold crossover study, six welders used three different welding techniques for 3 hours. Before and after welding, blood and urine samples were collected to perform biomonitoring of metals. ...

Tracheal instillation of surfactant to premature newborns improves their survivability but may transiently obstruct airways resulting in undesirable acute effects on cerebral blood flow (CBF) and oxygenation. The acute peridosing hemodynamic effects of surfactant administration may be avoided by minimizing the volume of surfactant administered, but smaller surfactant volumes may ...

In this paper, we develop structured tree outflow boundary conditions for modeling the airflow in patient specific human lungs. The utilized structured tree is used to represent the nonimageable vessels beyond the 3D domain. The coupling of the two different scales (1D and 3D) employs a Dirichlet-Neumann approach. The simulations ...

The role, interplay, and relative importance of the multifactorial hemodynamic and myocardial mechanisms causing dysfunction of the Fontan circulation remain incompletely understood. Using an MRI catheterization technique, we performed a differential analysis of pulmonary vascular resistance and aortopulmonary collateral blood flow in conjunction with global ventricular pump function, myocontractility (end-systolic ...

Extracardiac nonsurgical vascular shunts in the thorax are a group of well-recognized heterogeneous conditions, frequently symptomatic, in which there is diversion of blood flow from one vessel to another or from a vessel to a cardiac chamber. The authors describe and classify many of these nonsurgical extracardiac shunts or fistulas ...

Birds and mammals evolved greater aerobic abilities than their common ancestor had. This required expansion of the cardiopulmonary system's capacity for gas exchange, but while directional selection for this expanded capacity resulted in extremely similar avian and mammalian hearts, strikingly different lungs arose, and the reasons for this divergence in ...

In children who have undergone a bidirectional Glenn procedure without antegrade or additional pulmonary blood flow, we have often noted a discrepancy between apparent lung perfusion on scintigraphy and superior vena cava angiography when evaluating right and left pulmonary blood flow. We found a tendency for radionuclide, tracer 99mTc-MAA, when ...

Congenital heart diseases (CHD) consist of defects of the cardiac architecture which interfere with the venous drainage, septation of the cardiac segments and their sequences and regular function of the valve apparatuses. In the normal heart the segments are disposed in such a way to allow deoxygenated venous blood to ...

The clinical utility of indirect computed tomography venography (CTV) of the legs, performed after computed tomography pulmonary angiography (CTPA), to evaluate for deep venous thrombosis (DVT) remains a subject of ongoing debate. Visualization of DVT on CTV requires adequate opacification of venous blood. The objective of this study is to ...

OBJECTIVE: To evaluate lung tissue perfusion in fetuses with congenital diaphragmatic hernia (CDH) and to explore the association of lung tissue perfusion with the lung area to head circumference ratio (LHR) and intrapulmonary artery pulsed Doppler. METHODS: Fetuses with isolated left CDH were evaluated and compared with a group of ...

The objective of this study was to investigate early changes in oxygenation by means of the multiple inert gas elimination technique and in coagulation by means of thromboelastography (TEG) after right-sided pulmonary contusion (PC) in swine. Anesthetized swine (group 1; n = 8) sustained a right-chest PC by a captive-bolt ...

We used inhaled epoprostenol (with intravenous phenylephrine) during one-lung ventilation to improve oxygenation in a patient with severe interstitial lung disease undergoing video-assisted thoracoscopic surgery. The pharmacologic manipulation of pulmonary blood flow remains an underused strategy for the management of hypoxemia during one-lung ventilation.

This study presents a theoretical model of combined series and parallel perfusion in the human pulmonary acinus that maintains computational simplicity while capturing some important features of acinar structure. The model provides a transition between existing models of perfusion in the large pulmonary blood vessels and the pulmonary microcirculation. Arterioles ...

The lungs of birds move air in only one direction during both inspiration and expiration through most of the tubular gas-exchanging bronchi (parabronchi), whereas in the lungs of mammals and presumably other vertebrates, air moves tidally into and out of terminal gas-exchange structures, which are cul-de-sacs. Unidirectional flow purportedly depends ...

The ratio of pulmonary:systemic blood flow (Qp:Qs) remains problematic after single ventricle reconstruction. The adjustable systemic-pulmonary artery shunt (AS) was created as a solution for this problem. Prototype ASs were created using a screw-plunger mechanism as a variable resistor. A stepper motor controls plunger displacement. Six adult dogs underwent placement ...

Using small animal PET with (68)Ga-radiolabeled human albumin microspheres (Ga-68-microspheres), we investigated the effect of posture on regional pulmonary blood flow (PBF) in normal rats. This in vivo method is noninvasive and quantitative, and it allows for repeated longitudinal measurements. The purpose of the experiment was to quantify spatial differences ...

Rapid infusion of intravenous saline, a model of pulmonary interstitial edema, alters the distribution of pulmonary perfusion, raises pulmonary capillary blood volume, and increases bronchial wall thickness in humans. We hypothesized that infusion would disrupt pulmonary gas exchange by increasing ventilation/perfusion ((.)VA/(.)Q) inequality as opposed to a diffusive impairment in ...

Pulmonary blood flow is reflected in dynamic chest radiographs as changes in X-ray translucency, i.e., pixel values. Thus, decreased blood flow should be observed as a reduction of the variation of X-ray translucency. We performed the present study to investigate the feasibility of pulmonary blood flow evaluation with a dynamic ...

Studies using transthoracic thermodilution have demonstrated increased extravascular lung water (EVLW) measurements attributed to progression of edema and flooding during sepsis and acute lung injury. The authors hypothesized that redistribution of pulmonary blood flow can cause increased apparent EVLW secondary to increased perfusion of thermally silent tissue, not increased lung ...

The principles of ventilation and perfusion distribution in the lung form the foundation of pulmonary physiology and remain cornerstones in caring for critically ill patients. Due to improved imaging technologies with greater spatial resolution, our understanding of the determinants of local ventilation and blood flow have evolved over the past ...

There are a number of evidences suggesting that lung perfusion distribution is under active regulation and determined by several factors in addition to gravity. In this work, we hypothesised that autoinhalation of nitric oxide (NO), produced in the human nasal airways, may be one important factor regulating human lung perfusion ...

Previous studies demonstrate impaired nitric oxide (NO) signaling in children and animal models with congenital heart defects and increased pulmonary blood flow. However, the molecular mechanisms underlying these alterations remain incompletely understood. The purpose of this study was to determine if early changes in arginine metabolic pathways could play a ...