ABSTRACT Transection of plastysmal bands has required a surgical approach that leaves scars and limits patient activities for a period of time. The author has developed a sirnple method to transect ...the platysmal bands under local anesthesia without resorting to skin incisions. The transection is performed with the use of a Vicryl® suture that is inserted through the skin, around the platysmal band, and then out thiOugh the original entry pOint. A back and forih motion of the suture cuts through the band.
Nitric oxide (NO) incorporation into the sweep gas of the extracorporeal life support (ECLS) circuit has been proposed as a strategy to ameliorate the insults caused by the systemic inflammatory ...response. This technical study describes circuit modifications allowing nitric oxide to be incorporated into the circuit and describing and validating the oxygenator sweep flow rates necessary to achieve consistent safe delivery of the therapy. For patients requiring sweep rates less than 2 L/min, a simplified setup, incorporating a pressure relief valve/low flow meter in the gas delivery line, was placed in line between the blender/NO injector module and the NO sampling port/oxygenator. This setup allows titration of sweep to low flows without the need to blend in CO
2
while maintaining the manufacturer recommendation of a minimum 2 L/min of sweep gas to safely deliver NO without nitric dioxide (NO
2
) buildup. This setup was tested three times at three different FiO
2
rates and eleven different desired low sweep flows to test for reproducibility and safety to build an easy-to-follow chart for making gas flow changes. For patients requiring oxygenator sweep rates greater than 2 L/min, the pressure relief valve/low flow meter apparatus is not needed. Maintaining consistent sweep rate and nitric oxide delivery is required in order to utilize this therapy in ECLS. We demonstrated gas delivery across all flow rates. There were no issues delivering 20 parts per million of NO and negligible NO
2
detection. The results from testing this setup were used to provide the specialist a chart at which to set the low flow meter to produce the desired flow rate at which the patient needs. This has been used clinically on 15 ECLS patients with success.
Cell saver blood is typically washed with normal saline (NS); however, recent studies have reported decreased red blood cell hemolysis and increased platelet function when a more physiologic washing ...solution, such as Plasma-Lyte A (PL-A) is used. We evaluated the in vitro and in vivo effects of NS compared to PL-A as washing solutions for cell saver blood in pediatric cardiac surgery. Cell saver blood was re-infused for up to 24 hours post-collection. Laboratory and clinical data were collected from infants receiving cell saver washed with either NS (
n
= 20) or PL-A (
n
= 21). Compositions of the cell saver blood were compared between groups at 5 in vitro time points and in vivo patient blood at 24 hours post-bypass. Although there were differences in in vitro laboratory values between groups; 24 hours post-bypass, in vivo results were similar. Our data supports 24-hour reinfusion of cell saver washed with either NS versus PL-A in pediatric cardiac surgery patients, and provides data on the differences in cell saver composition to guide future studies.
Medical simulation provides a realistic environment for practitioners to experience a planned clinical event in a controlled educational setting. We established a simulation model composed of ...synthetic ballistic gelatin that provided an inexpensive high-fidelity model for our extracorporeal membrane oxygenation (ECMO) team members to develop, master, and maintain clinical skills necessary for percutaneous cervical or femoral cannulation. The simulation component includes a cervical torso or femoral percutaneous synthetic gelatin model that is attached to either a static fluid model or to the high-fidelity perfusion simulator. Either model can be accessed with ultrasound guidance, cannulated with appropriately sized cannula, and connected to an in situ ECMO circuit. This article explains how the model is made and connected to the simulator with the purpose of re-creating this high-fidelity experience at any institution.
"I am no more lonely than the Mill Brook, or a weathercock, or the north star, or the south wind, or an April shower, or a January thaw, or the first spider in a new house," wrote Henry David Thoreau ...inWalden.In creating this list, and many others that appear in his writings, Thoreau was working within a little-recognized yet ancient literary tradition: the practice of listing or cataloguing. This beautifully written book is the first to examine literary lists and the remarkably wide range of ways writers use them.Robert Belknap first examines lists through the centuries-from Sumerian account tablets and Homer's catalogue of ships to Tom Sawyer's earnings from his fence-painting scheme-then focuses on lists in the works of four American Renaissance authors: Emerson, Whitman, Melville, and Thoreau. Lists serve a variety of functions in Emerson's essays, Whitman's poems, Melville's novels, and Thoreau's memoirs, and Belknap discusses their surprising variety of pattern, intention, scope, art, and even philosophy. In addition to guiding the reader through the list's many uses, this book explores the pleasures that lists offer.
Molecular biology operates at three levels - genes, proteins and metabolites. This book is unique in that it provides a comprehensive description of an approach (metabonomics) to characterise the ...endogenous metabolites in a living system, complementing gene and protein studies (genomics and proteomics). These "omics" methods form the basis for understanding biology at a systems level. The Handbook of Metabonomics and Metabolomics aims to be the definitive work on the rapidly expanding subjects of metabolic profiling, metabolite and biomarker identification, encompassing the fields of metabonomics and metabolomics. It covers the principles of the subject, the analytical and statistical techniques used and the wide variety of applications.
* comprehensive description of an approach (metabonomics) to characterise the endogenous metabolites in a living system, complementing gene and protein studies* aims to be the definitive work on the rapidly expanding subjects of metabolic profiling, metabolite and biomarker identification* covers the principles of the subject, the analytical and statistical techniques used and the wide variety of applications.
The first practical guide to research methods in memory studies. This book provides expert appraisals of a range of techniques and approaches in memory studies, and focuses on methods and methodology ...as a way to help bring unity and coherence to this new field of study.