TheScientificWorldJournal
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TheScientificWorldJournal · Jan 2012
Ill, itinerant, and insured: the top 20 users of emergency departments in Baltimore city.
The purpose of this study was to document the clinical and demographic characteristics of the 20 most frequent users of emergency departments (EDs) in one urban area. We reviewed administrative records from three EDs and two agencies providing services to homeless people in Baltimore City. The top 20 users accounted for 2,079 visits at the three EDs. ⋯ Hypertension, HIV infection, diabetes, substance abuse, and alcohol abuse were the most common chronic illnesses. The most frequent ED users were relatively young, accounted for a high number of visits, used multiple EDs, and often received high triage scores. Homelessness was the most common characteristic of this patient group, suggesting a relationship between this social factor and frequent ED use.
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TheScientificWorldJournal · Jan 2012
Diffuse alveolar damage of the lungs in forensic autopsies: assessment of histopathological stages and causes of death.
Diffuse alveolar damage (DAD) is a morphological prototype of acute interstitial pneumonia. Hospital autopsies or open-lung biopsies are used to monitor common alveolar damage and hyaline membrane (HM) development histopathologically. The aim of this study was to detect histopathological profiles and frequency of DAD and HM in adult forensic autopsies. ⋯ The detection of all DAD morphological criteria with the same intensity is not always possible in each case. Forensic autopsies may provide a favourable means for expanding our knowledge about acute lung damage, DAD, and interstitial lung disease.
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TheScientificWorldJournal · Jan 2012
Increased NTPDase activity in lymphocytes during experimental sepsis.
We investigated in rats induced to sepsis the activity of ectonucleoside triphosphate diphosphohydrolase (NTPDase; CD39; E. C. 3.6.1.5), an enzyme involved in the modulation of immune responses. After 12 hours of surgery, lymphocytes were isolated from blood and NTPDase activity was determined. ⋯ Histological analysis showed several morphological changes in the septic group, such as vascular congestion, necrosis, and infiltration of mononuclear cells. It is known that the intracellular milieu contains much more ATP nucleotides than the extracellular. In this context, the increased ATPasic activity was probably induced as a dynamic response to clean up the elevated ATP levels resulting from cellular death.
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TheScientificWorldJournal · Jan 2012
Randomized Controlled TrialEffect of low-frequency repetitive transcranial magnetic stimulation on naming abilities in early-stroke aphasic patients: a prospective, randomized, double-blind sham-controlled study.
Functional brain imaging studies with aphasia patients have shown increased cortical activation in the right hemisphere language homologues, which hypothetically may represent a maladaptive strategy that interferes with aphasia recovery. The aim of this study was to investigate whether low-frequency repetitive transcranial magnetic stimulation (rTMS) over the Broca's homologues in combination with speech/language therapy improves naming in early-stroke aphasia patients. ⋯ Inhibitory rTMS of the unaffected right inferior frontal gyrus area in combination with speech and language therapy cannot be assumed as an effective method for all poststroke aphasia patients. The treatment seems to be beneficial for patients with frontal language area damage, mostly in the distant time after finishing rTMS procedure.
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TheScientificWorldJournal · Jan 2012
ReviewBrain metastases research 1990-2010: pattern of citation and systematic review of highly cited articles.
High and continuously increasing research activity related to different aspects of prevention, prediction, diagnosis and treatment of brain metastases has been performed between 1990 and 2010. One of the major databases contains 2695 scientific articles that were published during this time period. Different measures of impact, visibility, and quality of published research are available, each with its own pros and cons. For this overview, article citation rate was chosen. ⋯ A large variety of preclinical and clinical topics achieved high numbers of citations. However, areas such as quality of life, side effects, and end-of-life care were underrepresented. Efforts to increase their visibility might be warranted.