Israel journal of medical sciences
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Hypobaric spinal anesthesia was administered to 40 patients undergoing lower limb surgery. Twenty-nine of the patients were debilitated geriatric patients who presented with orthopedic emergencies, in most cases a fractured hip. ⋯ Due to its inherent nature, hypobaric spinal anesthesia does not necessitate positioning of the patient on the injured, painful side (unlike hyperbaric spinal or epidural anesthesia) and, therefore, facilitates a smooth and painless transfer of the patient to the operating table. Complications encountered were similar to those following hyperbaric anesthesia.
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Eight freshwater near-drowning victims were treated in the General Intensive Care Unit. The most prominent findings upon arrival were respiratory failure, hypoxemia and coma. ⋯ Six patients were discharged fully recovered from the unit on the 3rd to 6th day; one patient who recovered fully but had amnesia was discharged after 8 months; and one patient remained decerebrated and died 5 months later. A more aggressive treatment of near-drowning victims is justified and recommended.
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In a prospective study on breast-feeding in Jerusalem, 274 middle-class Jewish women were interviewed about their breast-feeding practices, and symptoms and signs of disease, episodes of illness and hospitalization of the infant. Women of a higher education level breast-fed more often and for a longer period than did women with less education. Infants exclusively breast-fed had significantly fewer symptoms of disease than did those not breast-fed or partially breast-fed. ⋯ Infants who were breast-fed for 20 weeks had the least number of illness episodes; 52% of them had no episode compared with only 15% who were not breast-fed. Comparison of the numbers of illness episodes among non-breast-fed infants of mothers with low and high education levels indicated that the infants of better educated mothers had a significantly lower percentage of illness episodes (P less than 0.05). Even infants of a middle-class and well-educated population benefit from the breast-feeding practice and its protective effect, more so if they are exclusively breast-fed and for a longer period.
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The need for alternative strategies in providing personal health services in the community is discussed in relation to Israel, which has a widespread network of community-based curative clinics and preventive family health centers. Community-oriented primary health care (C-OPHC) is the major alternative strategy, which has been developed and evaluated by the Hadassah Teaching and Research Health Center in Kiryat Hayovel, a neighborhood of Jerusalem. The case for adapting this C-OPHC approach throughout the country is presented in a review of existing primary health care services.