Complications from Administration of Vasopressors Through Peripheral Venous Catheters: An Observational Study

Background

The placement of a central venous catheter for the administration of vasopressors is still recommended and required by many institutions because of concern about complications associated with peripheral administration of vasopressors.

Current status of the rheumatologists’ workforce in Latin America: a PANLAR collaborative study

Clinical Rheumatology - Studies conducted by various scientific societies have shown that the demand for specialized rheumatology care is greater than the projected growth of the workforce. Our...     

Outcome of focused pre-Ramadan education on metabolic and glycaemic parameters in patients with type 2 diabetes mellitus

Background

Ramadan fasting is associated with the risk of acute complications including hypoglycaemia. Therefore, patients' education before Ramadan and follow up during Ramadan is essential for safe fasting.

2型糖尿病患者非酒精性脂肪肝患病率的回顾性分析

收集550名T2DM住院患者的临床、肝脏彩超及生化指标检查资料，统计非酒精性脂肪肝（NAFL）的患病率，并分析其危险因素。发现T2DM中NAFL的患病率为42%，且男性患病率明显高于女性（P〈0.05）。BMI、WC、FIns、TG、HOMA-IR是T2DM合并NAFL的独立危险因素。     

Hospitalized patients’ satisfaction with caregivers’ conduct and physical surroundings

The study examined the relative contribution of caregivers’ conduct and physical conditions of the hospital setting to patients’ global satisfaction with health care, while controlling for self-assessed health status. The study was performed in the Soroka Medical Center, which is the only inpatient facility for a population of 360,000 in southern Israel. Patients were interviewed using a structured questionnaire. Inclusion criteria were patients over 17 years of age, fluency in Hebrew, and hospitalization in the internal medicine wards for 24 hours or more. The dependent variable was “global satisfaction.” The independent variables were “satisfaction with caregivers’ conduct,” “satisfaction with physical surroundings and conditions,” and “self-assessment of health.” The three independent variables accounted for 36.8% of the variation in patients’ satisfaction with care, of which 87% related to “satisfaction with caregivers’ conduct.” In conclusion, hospital patients value the caregivers’ conduct more than the physical environment. From the Department of Epidemiology and Evaluation of Health Services, Faculty of Health Sciences, Ben-Gurion University of the Negev and Soroka Medical Center, Beer-Sheva, Israel The author is a Senior Lecturer of Epidemiology and Biostatistics.     

Infection by the retrovirus associated with the acquired immunodeficiency syndrome. Clinical, biological, and molecular features

Peripheral mononuclear cells from more than 160 persons from groups at risk for the acquired immunodeficiency syndrome (AIDS) have yielded AIDS-associated retroviruses (ARV). Antibodies to ARV can also be found in these risk groups. Antibody-negative, virus-positive persons have been identified with early infection or possible viremia with immune complex formation. Established lines of human T and B cells, monocytes, and promyelocytes have been infected with ARV. Moreover, infectious virus has been recovered from macrophages cultured from the blood of some persons with AIDS. The cytopathic effects of ARV in T cells is associated with the accumulation of unintegrated viral forms in the infected cells. The ARV has also been isolated from plasma, serum, saliva, semen, urine, cerebrospinal fluid, and brain tissue. All these results reflect the wide host range of ARV and support its role in neurologic abnormalities seen in some patients. Molecular studies of independent ARV isolates indicate a polymorphism of nucleotide sequences, particularly in the viral envelope region. All these features place ARV in the lentivirus subfamily of human retroviruses.