The American journal of emergency medicine
-
Comment Letter Case Reports
CPAP as adjunctive treatment of severe pulmonary edema in patients with ESRD.
-
The purpose of this study was to evaluate the role of radiography in the assessment/treatment of toxic ingestions and to compare the radiopacity of extended-release formulations to their basic preparations using standard and digitized radiography in vitro. Medications were placed in an in vitro model of the human abdomen. Images were exposed at 80 kV, 20 MAS, with a tube to table distance of 101.6 cm. ⋯ Digital enhancement of a standard radiograph was shown to improve the detectability of the tested oral dosage forms in vitro. Sensitivity of digital radiography in vivo has not yet been established. Based on the data presented, however, further studies using digital radiography to document and to monitor acute toxic ingestions in-vivo are warranted.
-
Although patient comfort is a frequent rationale for antipyretic therapy, there have been few systematic studies of relationships between temperature and comfort. In this study, adult outpatients with febrile illnesses were asked to complete a symptom diary at multiple time points at which temperature was recorded. Temperature readings showed modest correlation (0.316) with scores of "feeling better or worse" and moderate correlation (0.586) with aggregate symptom scores. ⋯ Direction of temperature change was not significantly associated with overall subjective score of "feeling better or worse" although aggregate symptom scores were slightly higher with rising than falling temperature. These findings suggest that temperature is a partial determinant of morbidity in minor febrile illnesses but contribution of temperature change to well being may be small. Further study is needed to determine the appropriate priority of temperature reduction in symptomatic therapy.