This article surveys the state of the art on microsample-quantitation systems in UV-Vis spectrometry. (C) 2011 Elsevier Ltd. All rights reserved.”
“Stroke rapid-response (“”code stroke”") teams facilitate the Selleck Stem Cell Compound Library evaluation and treatment of patients presenting to emergency departments (EDs). Little is known about the usefulness of code stroke systems for patients hospitalized primarily for other conditions. We hypothesized that the yield of code stroke evaluations would be lower in hospitalized than in ED patients, and sought to identify potential targets

for quality improvement efforts. Diagnoses and management of in-hospital and ED code stroke patients were assessed retrospectively in a Joint Commission-certified primary stroke center over a

1-year period. A total of 93 in-hospital and 204 ED code strokes were identified during this period. Compared with the ED patients, the hospitalized patients were less likely to have had a stroke/transient ischemic attack (26.8% vs 51.4%; P < .0001) and less likely to have been treated with a thrombolytic agent (odds ratio, 0.27; 95% confidence interval, 0.07-0.97: P = .03). Conditions not necessitating immediate neurologic care accounted for 63.4% of in-hospital strokes, compared with 31.3% of ED code strokes (P < .0001). “”Altered mental status”" was the sole presenting symptom in 48% of the hospitalized patients, compared with only 10% of ED patients (P < .0001), and was the only clinical feature independently associated with a stroke mimic in the hospitalized patients (odds ratio, 63.52; 95% confidence interval, 7.37-547.69; P = .0002). There was no association between a final diagnosis of a stroke see more mimic and patient age, sex or race-ethnicity or nursing shift. The proportions of patients with acute ischemic stroke and patients treated with thrombolytics after activation

of in-hospital code stroke were small, and were lower than those of patients with ED code stroke in the same hospital over the same time period. Developing a standardized assessment protocol for hospitalized patients with altered mental status may improve the efficacy of care.”
“Objectives: To identify and analyse existing evidence from published studies R406 evaluating the efficacy and safety of a percutaneous vessel closure device for the closure of large arterial femoral arterial access sites (>= 10 French).

Design: This study was a systematic literature review and meta-analysis.

Materials and methods: Electronic databases were searched for studies published on the evaluation of the Prostar XL vessel closure device. There was no restriction by study design or patient population. Appraisal of studies for inclusion and data extraction were performed independently by two reviewers. Meta-analysis was performed where feasible.

Results: Twenty-one studies were included, which reported data specifically for closure of large (>= 10 Fr) femoral arterial access sites using the Prostar XL device.