Anesthesiology
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Comment Letter
Does helium act on vascular endothelial function in humans?
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Patient satisfaction is an important measure of the quality of health care and is used as an outcome measure in interventional and quality improvement studies. Previous studies have found that there are few appropriately developed and validated questionnaires available. ⋯ This can lead to biased and inaccurate results. Researchers in this field should be encouraged to use available validated tools, to ensure that patient satisfaction is measured and reported fairly and accurately.
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The acetylcholinesterase inhibitor, pyridostigmine, is prophylactically administered to mitigate the toxic effects of nerve gas poisoning. The authors tested the hypothesis that prolonged pyridostigmine administration can lead to neuromuscular dysfunction and even down-regulation of acetylcholine receptors. ⋯ Prolonged administration of pyridostigmine (25 mg·kg·day) leads to neuromuscular impairment, which can persist even when pyridostigmine is discontinued 24 h before assessment of neuromuscular function. Pyridostigmine has the potential to down-regulate acetylcholine receptors, but induces neuromuscular dysfunction even in the absence of receptor changes.