Care of the child in a body cast

Caring for a child in a body cast is a stressful situation for most families and many families state they do not receive adequate information on how to care for their child. This paper presents a comprehensive guide on caring for a child in a body cast. It examines the physical care issues, transportation and cast care. An instrument for assessing the family’s ability to cope with caring for a child in a body cast is described, and further resources for parents and nurses are presented.     

Circulating levels of inflammatory markers and cancer risk in the health aging and body composition cohort.

BACKGROUND: Chronic inflammation is associated with processes that contribute to the onset or progression of cancer. This study examined the relationships between circulating levels of the inflammatory markers interleukin-6 (IL-6), C-reactive protein (CRP), and tumor necrosis factor-alpha (TNF-alpha) and total as well as site-specific cancer incidence. METHODS: Study subjects (n = 2,438) were older adults (ages 70-79 years) participating in the Health Aging and Body Composition study, who did not report a previous cancer diagnosis (except for nonmelanoma skin cancer) at baseline. Incident cancer events (n = 296) were ascertained during an average follow-up of 5.5 years. Inflammatory markers were measured in stored baseline fasting blood samples. RESULTS: The adjusted hazard ratios (95% confidence intervals) for incident cancer associated with a 1-unit increase on the natural log-scale were 1.13 (0.94-1.37), 1.25 (1.09-1.43), and 1.28 (0.96-1.70) for IL-6, CRP, and TNF-alpha, respectively. Markers were more strongly associated with cancer death: hazard ratios were 1.63 (1.19-2.23) for IL-6, 1.64 (1.20-2.24) for CRP, and 1.82 (1.14-2.92) for TNF-alpha. Although precision was low for site-specific analyses, our results suggest that all three markers were associated with lung cancer, that IL-6 and CRP were associated with colorectal cancer, and that CRP was associated with breast cancer. Prostate cancer was not associated with any of these markers. CONCLUSIONS: These findings suggest that (a) the associations between IL-6, CRP, and TNF-alpha and the risk of cancer may be site specific and (b) increased levels of inflammatory markers are more strongly associated with the risk of cancer death than cancer incidence.     

Optimization and validation of an ischemic wound model

Localized tissue ischemia is a key factor in the development and poor prognosis of chronic wounds. Currently, there are no standardized animal models that provide sufficient tissue to evaluate the effect of modalities that may induce angiogenesis, and in vitro models of angiogenesis do not mimic the complexity of the ischemic wound bed. Therefore, we set out to develop a reproducible ischemic model for use in wound-healing studies. Male Sprague-Dawley rats underwent creation of dorsal bipedicle skin flaps with centrally located excisional wounds. Oxygen tension, wound-breaking strength, wound area, lactate, and wound vascular endothelial growth factor (VEGF) were compared in flaps measuring 2.5 and 2.0 x 11 cm with and without an underlying silicone sheet. We found that the center of the 2.0 cm flap with silicone remains in the critically ischemic range up to 14 days without tissue necrosis (33+/-4 vs. 49+/-6 mmHg in controls). Wound healing and breaking strength were significantly impaired and tissue lactate from the center of this flap was 2.9 times greater than tissue from either nonischemic controls and 2.5 cm flap (0.23+/-0.05 mg/dL/mg sample vs. 0.09+/-0.02 and 0.08+/-0.02, respectively). Vascular endothelial growth factor was 2 times greater than the nonischemic control. This ischemic wound model is relatively inexpensive, easy to perform, reproducible, and reliable. The excisional wounds provide sufficient tissue for biochemical and histologic analysis, and are amenable to the evaluation of topical and systemic therapies that may induce angiogenesis or improve wound healing.     

High Carboxyhemoglobin Concentrations Occur in Swine during Desflurane Anesthesia in the Presence of Partially Dried Carbon Dioxide Absorbents

Background: Increased carboxyhemoglobin concentrations in patients receiving inhalation anesthetics (desflurane, enflurane, and isoflurane) have been reported. Recent in vitro studies suggest that dry carbon dioxide absorbents may allow the production of carbon monoxide.

Methods: The authors used high fresh oxygen flow (5 or 10 l/min) through a conventional circle breathing system of an anesthesia machine for 24 or 48 h to produce absorbent drying. Initial studies used 10 l/min oxygen flow with the reservoir bag removed or with the reservoir bag left in place during absorbent drying (this increases resistance to gas flow through the canister). A third investigation evaluated a lower flow rate (5 l/min) for absorbent drying. Water content of the absorbent and temperature were measured. Pigs received a 1.0 (human) minimum alveolar concentration desflurane anesthetic (7.5%) for 240 min using a 1 l/min oxygen flow rate with dried absorbent. Carbon monoxide concentrations in the circuit and carboxyhemoglobin concentrations in the pigs were measured.

Results: Pigs anesthetized with desflurane using Baralyme exposed to 48 h of 10 l/min oxygen flow (reservoir bag removed) had extremely high carboxyhemoglobin concentrations (more than 80%). Circuit carbon monoxide concentrations during desflurane anesthesia using absorbents exposed to 10 l/min oxygen flow (reservoir bag, 24 h) reached peak values of 8,800 to 13,600 ppm, depending on the absorbent used. Carboxyhemoglobin concentrations reached peak values of 73% (Baralyme) and 53% (soda lime). The water content of Baralyme decreased from 12.1 +/- 0.3% (mean +/- SEM) to as low as 1.9 +/- 0.4% at the bottom of the lower canister (oxygen flow direction during drying was from bottom to top). Absorbent temperatures in the bottom canister increased to temperatures as high as 50 [degree sign] Celsius. With the reservoir bag in place during drying (10 l/min oxygen flow), water removal from Baralyme was insufficient to produce carbon monoxide (lowest water content = 5.5%). Use of 5 l/min oxygen flow (reservoir bag removed) for 24 h did not reduce water content sufficiently to produce carbon dioxide with desflurane.     

Efficacy of Intraoperative Cooling Methods

Background: Patients may require perioperative cooling for a variety of reasons including treatment of a malignant hyperthermia crisis and induction of therapeutic hypothermia for neurosurgery. The authors compared heat transfer and core cooling rates with five cooling methods.

Methods: Six healthy volunteers were anesthetized with desflurane and nitrous oxide. The cooling methods were 1) circulating water (5 [degree sign] Celsius, full-length mattress and cover), 2) forced air (10 [degree sign] Celsius, full-length cover), 3) gastric lavage (500 ml iced water every 10 min), 4) bladder lavage (300 ml iced Ringer's solution every 10 min), and 5) ice-water immersion. Each method was applied for 40 min or until the volunteers' core temperatures approached 34 [degree sign] Celsius. The volunteers were rewarmed to normothermia between treatments. Core cooling rates were evaluated using linear regression.

Results: The first volunteer developed abdominal cramping and diarrhea after gastric lavage. Consequently, the technique was not again attempted. Bladder lavage increased heat loss 10 [nearly =] 10 W and decreased core temperature 0.8 +/- 0.3 [degree sign] Celsius/h (r2 = 0.99 +/- 0.002; means +/- SD). Forced-air and circulating-water cooling comparably increased heat flux, [nearly =] 170 W. Consequently, core cooling rates were similar during the two treatments at 1.7 +/- 0.5 [degree sign] Celsius/h (r2 = 0.99 +/- 0.001) and 1.6 +/- 1.1 [degree sign] Celsius/h (r2 = 0.98 +/- 0.02), respectively. Immersion in an ice water slurry increased heat loss [nearly =] 600-800 W and decreased core temperature 9.7 +/- 4.4 [degree sign] Celsius/h (r sup 2 = 0.98 +/- 0.01). Immersion cooling was associated with an afterdrop of [nearly =] 2 [degree sign] Celsius.     

Ki-67-determined growth fraction versus standard staging and grading parameters in colorectal carcinoma. A multivariate analysis.

BACKGROUND. The antibody Ki-67 binds to nuclei in all cell cycle phases except GO and can be used to measure growth fraction. Because proliferative activity has been linked to prognosis in neoplasia, the authors analyzed 100 cases of colorectal carcinoma, each with 3 or more years of follow-up, using Ki-67 immunostaining. METHODS. The Ki-67-positive nuclear area and total nuclear area of carcinoma cells in 20 microscopic fields were measured by computed morphometry. A Ki-67 score (percent positive nuclear area x 100) was calculated. The following characteristics also were recorded for each case: patient age and sex, tumor site and size, modified Dukes' stage, spread beyond bowel wall, lymph node status, tumor grade, histologic type, extramural venous spread, tumor growth pattern, fibrosis, lymphocytic infiltration, and mitotic rate. RESULTS. Ki-67 scores ranged from 1 to 90 (mean, 34.6). Ki-67 scores were higher in Stage A disease (versus Stage B, C, and D disease) but were not associated with survival. Survival curves differed by stage, lymph node metastases, infiltrative growth pattern, lymphocytic infiltration, fibrosis, extramural venous spread, and tumor grade in a univariate analysis. The infiltrative growth pattern (P = 0.04) and lymphocytic infiltration (P = 0.003) were features associated independently with survival after adjusting for modified Dukes' stage. Furthermore, the lack of a significant lymphocytic infiltrate was associated with a death rate 3.4 times greater than that occurring in patients with Stage B disease with a significant infiltrate. CONCLUSIONS. The authors conclude that proliferative activity in colorectal carcinoma as measured by Ki-67 immunostaining was not associated with prognosis.