Resuscitation
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It is essential that all health care professionals are regularly trained in the practice of basic life support (BLS). In most cases of cardiac arrest, the chances of a favourable outcome depend not only on efficient BLS, but also on the early use of defibrillation. In a hospital environment, the first responders are most likely to be members of the nursing staff. ⋯ Throughout retraining all nurses appreciated the key importance of early defibrillation. We conclude that, although the initial workload is high, it is entirely feasible to augment BLS training for health care professionals with instruction in the use of AEDs. We recommend that this potentially life-saving tuition programme be widely adopted.
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We have assessed the deleterious effects of methylmethacrylate (MMA) on cardiac function and metabolism in the isolated heart-lung preparation with or without volatile anesthetics. Wistar rats were prepared for the heart-lung model. They were randomly divided into 5 groups as follows. (1) Control (C) group. (2) Cement (M) group; they received MMA. (3) Halothane (H) group; they received MMA and 1% halothane. (4) Isoflurane (I) group; they received MMA and 1.5% isoflurane. (5) Sevoflurane (S) group; they received MMA and 2.5% sevoflurane. ⋯ MMA 1000 micrograms/ml is much higher than the blood level (0.05-31.89 micrograms/ml) which was reported in clinical patients who had femoral prosthesis. Therefore, the direct contribution of MMA itself to cardiac depression may be less than the other factors such as embolism in clinical situations. Volatile anesthetics did not influence the deleterious effects of MMA on cardiac function and metabolism.