Irish journal of medical science
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Brainstem death is a concept used in cases in which life-support equipment obscures the conventional cardiopulmonary criteria of death. Brainstem death during pregnancy is an occasional and tragic occurrence. ⋯ The difficult issues raised by maternal brainstem death mandates a consensus building approach to decision making in this context.
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In the Republic of Ireland there are no paediatric surgeons outside Dublin. Most paediatric trauma is managed in general hospitals by general or orthopaedic surgeons. ⋯ The majority of paediatric trauma admissions were for minor injuries. A number of seriously injured children were successfully treated with no unexpected deaths.
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Chronic schizophrenia is challenging to manage in primary care. ⋯ GPs require appropriate back up from specialist services to enable their management of chronic schizophrenia.
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Since 1998, Irish general practice has developed 11 out-of-hours co-operatives, covering almost 40% of the population.The co-operatives vary in terms of triage mechanisms, treatment centres and domiciliary visits but no data exist on their role in the management of emergencies in the community. ⋯ Clarification is urgently required of the extent to which GP co-operatives and ambulance services support each other. Examples include procedures for passing calls between services, mutual understanding of each others roles and development of common procedures.
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The intravenous infusion of atrial (ANP) and brain (BNP) natriuretic peptides have been shown to increase urinary albumin excretion in type 1 diabetes. ⋯ Plasma concentrations of ANP and BNP are elevated in some patients with type 1 diabetes. Plasma ANP concentrations are closely related to UAER and elevated plasma concentrations are associated with poor glycaemic control and systemic hypertension. Plasma BNP concentration is related to LVMI.