Articles: function.
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Anesthesia and analgesia · May 2014
TEG® Functional Fibrinogen Analysis May Overestimate Fibrinogen Levels.
Fibrinogen is of crucial importance in patients with ongoing bleeding. In this study, we compared fibrinogen concentration measured by thrombelastography (TEG®) with fibrinogen plasma concentration determined by Clauss. ⋯ Similar patterns were observed when patients and healthy controls were analysed separately. The fibrinogen level may be overestimated when assessed using TEG® compared with the fibrinogen plasma concentration measured by the conventional method.
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Clinical Trial
Young "healthy" smokers have functional and inflammatory changes in the nasal and the lower airways.
Smoking is responsible for most COPD. Although people with COPD often have concomitant nasal disease, there are few studies that report physiologic or inflammatory changes in the upper airways in young asymptomatic smokers. We investigated physiologic and inflammatory changes in the nasal and lower airways of young smokers and if these changes were related to smoking history. ⋯ Young adult smokers have functional and inflammatory changes in the nasal and lower airways and these correlate with smoking history. However, in these young smokers, smoking history was not associated with pulmonary function decline, probably because it is unlikely that spirometry detects early physiologic changes in the airways.
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Acta Anaesthesiol Scand · May 2014
Genetic and clinical risk factors for fluid overload following open-heart surgery.
Post-operative fluid overload following cardiac surgery is associated with increased morbidity and mortality. We hypothesised that genetic variations and pre-operative clinical factors predispose some patients to post-operative fluid overload. ⋯ A common variation in the UMOD gene previously shown to be related to renal function was associated with increased risk of post-operative fluid overload following cardiac surgery. Our findings support a genetic susceptibility to disturbed fluid handling following cardiac surgery.
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The aim of this study was to investigate cardiac function and haemodynamic indices using transthoracic echocardiography in women with severe pre-eclampsia who had already received treatment interventions. Fifteen women with treated severe pre-eclampsia were studied using transthoracic echocardiography. Mean (SD) cardiac output in women with treated disease was 5690 (1708) ml.min(-1). ⋯ Left ventricular mass was increased at 182.0 (44.4) g. There was large variability in haemodynamics in women with treated severe pre-eclampsia. Transthoracic echocardiography is acceptable and applicable and enables quantification of cardiac function in women with severe pre-eclampsia.
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Phantom limb pain (PLP) is a common consequence of amputation and is difficult to treat. Mirror therapy (MT), a procedure utilizing the visual recreation of movement of a lost limb by moving the intact limb in front of a mirror, has been shown to be effective in reducing PLP. However, the neural correlates of this effect are not known. ⋯ Experienced body appearance seems to be an important predictor of mirror treatment effectiveness. Maladaptive changes in cortical organization are reversed during mirror treatment, which also alters activity in the IPC, a region involved in painful perceptions and in the perceived relatedness to an observed limb.