South African medical journal = Suid-Afrikaanse tydskrif vir geneeskunde
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To determine characteristics of older infants and children admitted to the paediatric intensive care unit (PICU) at Johannesburg Hospital; and to evaluate an admission score based on the PRISM score (an index of severity of illness) as a possible means for selection of patients for admission to the PICU. ⋯ PICU facilities at Johannesburg Hospital are insufficient to meet the demand. An admission score based on the PRISM score could assist in the selection of patients for these limited PICU facilities.
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Biography Historical Article
George Orwell (1903-1950)--writer, socialist, eccentric and tuberculosis sufferer.
George Orwell, born Eric Blair in India in 1903, the third generation of colonial service stock, joined the Indian Imperial Police in Burma in 1922 after leaving school in England. Rejecting the racial and cultural barriers of colonial rule he encountered there, he returned to England to become a writer. ⋯ Although a fine essayist and master of English prose, he is best known for Animal Farm and Nineteen Eighty-Four, two political satires on the Soviet system and totalitarianism respectively. These brought him fame and financial security shortly before his death of tuberculosis at the age of 47, after a life of recurrent ill health and economic hardship.
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Not one of the present tests for the correct position of an epidural catheter can reliably detect intravascular, intrathecal and extra-epidural placement. A simple rapid test has therefore been developed. Following placement of the epidural catheter an initial aspiration test for cerebrospinal fluid and blood is performed. ⋯ Not one of the 6 failures to establish epidural analgesia could be attributed to intravascular or intrathecal placement. The sensitivity, specificity and positive predictive value for correct epidural placement of the catheter were found to be 95.5%, 63.6% and 98.5% respectively. The time required to perform the test was less than 30 seconds in 92% of the cases.(ABSTRACT TRUNCATED AT 250 WORDS)