Burns : journal of the International Society for Burn Injuries
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Railway and subway-associated electrical trauma is rare and typically involves high voltage (> 20,000) arc injuries. Not all rail systems utilize such high voltage. We report 16 cases of electrical trauma due to 600 V direct contact with subway 'third' rails. ⋯ This is the largest report series of direct electrical trauma from a subway third rail. The high morbidity and mortality from this 600 V contact suggests that the traditional classification of low voltage (< 1000 V) exposure can be subdivided to reflect the serious and lethal potential of intermediate range exposures compared to household range exposures (0-220 V).
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A modification of the conventional split-skin graft is presented. This modification provides a gain in the length of the donor skin up to a maximum of 1:1.92. ⋯ This technique has been proved to be useful in burn cases having much less donor site than recipient area. Earlier recovery, shortened hospital stay, earlier rehabilitation, less scar contracture and less morbidity could be achieved with this type of simple modification of a sheet graft.
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Ninety-one patients burn-injured in their childhood were assessed by mailed interview and clinical re-examination in 1994. On average, the patients had sustained injuries to 11.9 per cent (SD = 8.8) of their TBSA (maximum 50 per cent), the injuries were mainly scalds (90.1 per cent). Nineteen patients (20.9 per cent) remembered the event and 23 (25.3 per cent) remembered their hospitalisation. ⋯ Only five (5.5 per cent) with visible scars had no memories or special psychosocial sequelae. Almost everyone burn-injured in childhood will have some memories of burn care as an adult. However, the negative psychosocial sequale are modest after the typical paediatric burns, scalds, in early childhood.
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The study was undertaken to examine the in vitro efficacy of Silvazine against micro-organisms commonly found in burn wounds. Two hundred non-replicative sequential clinical isolates were collected over a 2-month period. These comprised 50 Staphylococcus aureus (methicillin sensitive), 50 Staphylococcus aureus (methicillin resistant), 50 coagulase negative staphylococci and 50 Pseudomonas aeruginosa. ⋯ S. aureus 19.7 +/- 1.6 mm, MRSA 16.9 +/- 1.6 mm, P.aeruginosa 15.3 +/- 1.1 mm and coagulase negative staphylococci 20.8 +/- 2.1 mm. There was no bacterial regrowth within the zones of growth inhibition following long-term plate storage. In vitro testing of Silvazine has confirmed its efficiency against common burn wound isolates.