Journal of clinical monitoring and computing
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J Clin Monit Comput · Dec 1999
Inhaled nitric oxide fraction is influenced by both the site and the mode of administration.
Inhaled nitric oxide (NO) can be delivered continuously or sequentially (= during inspiration) at different locations of the ventilation circuit. We have tested the influence of locations, modes of NO administration and the ratio of the inspiratory time over the respiratory cycle time (I/I + E ratio) on the accuracy of NO fractions, delivered by 2 devices: Opti-NO and Flowmeter. ⋯ For the continuous NO delivery, locations above the Y piece are mandatory. However, locations below the Y piece imposes a sequential system, which can also be used for the sites located above the Y piece.
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The Verbal Numerical Scale (VNS) for rating pain is bounded between 0 (= no pain) and 10 (= worst pain imaginable). We hypothesized that the limitations inherent to this boundary when rating extremely painful stimuli may be identified by integrating the VNS with an unbounded score such as magnitude estimation of relative change. ⋯ The combined use of VNS and magnitude estimation confirmed that the ceiling of the bounded pain scale may significantly limit a patient's ability to describe a new pain stimulus. VNSext may provide a means of overcoming this limitation.
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J Clin Monit Comput · Dec 1999
Hemodilution does not alter the aortic-to-femoral arterial pressure difference in dogs.
Distal arterial pressure normally differs from aortic pressure. This difference is modified by changes of vascular resistance. Hemodilution, due to decreased viscosity, decreases vascular resistance. Therefore, the difference between aortic and distal arterial pressures could be altered as well. We investigated whether acute hemodilution affected this difference in dogs. ⋯ Acute hemodilution did not alter the aortic-to-distal arterial pressure difference in dogs.