The American journal of emergency medicine
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Asthma has been reported as one of the main causes of frequent attendance to the emergency department (ED), and many of those visits are potentially preventable. Understanding the characteristics of frequent attender (FA) patients with asthmatic exacerbations will help to identify factors associated with frequent attendance and improve case management. The aim of this study is to describe the characteristics of FA who present multiple times to the ED for asthma exacerbations. ⋯ We found that a small number of FAME patients accumulated a large number of ED visits and spent a significantly longer time in the ED. This group tended to be males with social, financial, and addiction problems.
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Recent guidelines have emphasized the need for uninterrupted chest compressions. The purpose of this study was to evaluate the rescuer's tolerability of uninterrupted chest compressions. ⋯ Performing uninterrupted chest compressions for 7 minutes is an arduous procedure. Higher noradrenalin levels before the procedure might be associated with incorrect chest compressions.
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In addition to its role in the endogenous control of erythropoiesis, recombinant human erythropoietin (rh-EPO) has been shown to exert tissue protective properties in various experimental models. However, its role in the cardiac arrest (CA) setting has not yet been adequately investigated. ⋯ Administration of rh-EPO in a pig model of VF-induced CA just before reperfusion facilitates ROSC and improves survival rates as well as hemodynamic variables.