Military medicine
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Comparative Study
Performance of the universal portable anesthesia complete vaporizer with mechanical ventilation in both drawover and pushover configurations.
Currently, a mechanical ventilator that can be adapted to the Universal Portable Anesthesia Complete (UPAC) vaporizer and anesthetic delivery system does not exist. The need for the anesthetist to concentrate on drug delivery and fluid resuscitation for the combat casualty in the field setting provides an expedient for the adaptation of a ventilator to the UPAC system. ⋯ The results of the comparison between the two ventilators indicated that there was no significant difference in vaporizer output between drawover and pushover configurations. The data indicated that vaporizer output could be reliably predicted in either mode and was correlated with tidal volume and respiratory rate.
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Comparative Study
Clinical evaluation of pushover mechanical ventilation with the Ohmeda Universal Portable Anesthesia Complete vaporizer.
Previous studies have not demonstrated the usefulness of a mechanical ventilator with the Universal Portable Anesthesia Complete (UPAC) field anesthesia delivery system in a pushover mode. This study demonstrated that the Lifecare PLV-100 ventilator can function effectively in a practical pushover configuration with the UPAC vaporizer. By comparison, vaporizer output followed the patterns of documented concentration curves for isoflurane at a given dial setting and minute ventilation. Measured airway pressures in the breathing circuit were within physiological parameters.
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Data from 12 Department of Veterans Affairs patients hospitalized for status asthmaticus were analyzed to determine the rate and degree of response to therapy. The time to achieve recovery was directly related to the level of baseline obstruction at the time of hospital admission. The recovery rate was constant and could be described by a single second-degree polynomial regression equation. Nomograms were constructed showing this rate of improvement of pulmonary function over time at four levels of baseline pulmonary obstruction.
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This study examines the effects of three types of unwanted sexual experiences in the workplace on the psychological well-being of male and female U. S. ⋯ Unwanted sexual experiences were found to be significant predictors of psychological symptoms for male and female soldiers. Certain aspects of organizational climate and appraisal of sexual harassment were also significant predictors of psychological symptoms.
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Cold weather injury (CWI) reports covering 272 U. S. Army soldiers from September 1990 to May 1995 were reviewed. ⋯ Seventy-one percent of CWIs occurred when the wind-chill factor was at or below -20 degrees F (-29 degrees C). Male African-American soldiers appear to be significantly more susceptible to frostbite than male Caucasian soldiers, especially with regard to frostbite of the distal extremities (relative risk = 3.94; 95% confidence interval = 2.77-5.59). Other identified risk factors include inadequate clothing, wet clothing, dehydration, inactivity, fatigue, and previous CWIs.